A   R & f o r m e d BEARER
Semi-Month/y
Magazine




                    "Divine  grace  i
                    sovereign arid saving
                    favor  of  God ex
                    &sed  in  the  bestow-

                    upon-th
                    no merit in them and
                    for which no compen-
                    sation  is  demanded
                    from them'" (ArthurW. Pink).


                     See "The God of All Grace" - p. 205


vol. 70, No. 9
Februa y I, 2994


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          "WE
CONTENTS:                                                                                                                                                    February   I,  1994                                                                        STANDARD
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Bil54ER
Meditation - Rev. Richard G. Moore
           The Counsel Stands .,..,.,..........,.....................*........,......*...............195
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                                           ISSN 0362-4692
           The PRC Contra Mundum. . . . . . . . . ..~...................~............*................~ 197                                                                                                                   Swnl-monthly,  except monthty during June, July, and August.
Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     199       PuMlshed bytha Reformed Free PuMlshlngA8uxlatlon, Inc.,
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                                                                                                                  4040  lvanrwt AVE.,  Qrsndvilb, MI 43413.  Semnd  Class
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           Zacharias Ursinus: Author of the Heidelberg Catechism . . . . . . . . . . . 200                                                                                                                                    Posbnut~: Send address changaa to the Standard barer,
Letter from the Seminary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203                                                  P.O.  Box 603, Qrandvllle, MI 48433-oBx.
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper                                                                                                                                                                                     EDlTORlALCCMMlTlEE
           Trumpets .I...,,,,................................................................................ 204                                                                                                             Editcx Prc4.  David J. Engelsma
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Charles J. Terpstra                                                                                                                                                                        Secrstary:  Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ManagIng EdItor: Mr. Don Doezerna
           The God of All Grace (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .."....................... 205                                                                                DEPARTMENT EDITORS
In His Fear - Rev. Ark denHartog                                                                                                                                                                                              REV. Wilbur Bnhm4  Rev. Ronald Cnmmenga, Prof. Robert
           Counseling Those with Marital Problems (2) . . . . . . ..n....................... 207                                                                                                                              Decker. REV. Aria dmHartog,  Rev. Bury Qrtttan,  Rev. Cad
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Haak, Rev. Cornellus Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. John
Contribution - Rev. Allen Tomlinson                                                                                                                                                                                           Hey& Rev. Stwsn Kay. Rev. Dale Kulper. Mr. James L&nUng.
           The Cross and a Frustrated Devil!,,,,....,.............,....,.~,,,,,,,..~,......,.. 209                                                                                                                            Rw. George Lubbers. Mm. Mar@& Lubber., Rw. l%inaa
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Mlersma, Rw. Audred Sprisnsma, Rw. Charlw Terpatra,
The Strength of Youth - Rev, Wilbur G. Bruinsma                                                                                                                                                                               Rw.QlwVanBaren,Rw.RonaldVanOverlwp,Mr.BsnJamln
           The New Age Movement and Entertainment .s....m.m..............**........ 212                                                                                                                                       Wlgger,  Rw. Bernard Woudenberg.
Book Reviews ,..,..,.,...,..............................~.........~...................................                                                                                                              214       EDITORIALCFFICE             CHURCH NEWS EDtTOR
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ThaStandardSaamr            Mr. Ben Wlgger
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194lStandard Bearer/February 1,1994


                        The Counsel Stands

    Declaring the end from the begin-           the promised deliverance would ever        God, the cry issues forth that we don't
ning, andfrom ancient times the things          come.                                      want to hear about these things, for
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel           And it is so also in our day when      they belong to mystery. But we must
shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:     the seventh andlast head of antichrist     not so speak, for, in the first place, the
Callinga  ravenous birdfvom  theeast,  the      appears, and when the apostasy again       truth of God's counsel is not a secret
man that execu teth my counselfrom afar         is so great the question can be asked,     thing. In fact, God has been pleased to
county: yea, I have spoken it, I will also      "Are there any that have faith?" And       reveal His eternal will unto us in
bring it to pass; I have purposed it, 1 will    it may seem that it is impossible that     many ways, and He shows us His
also do it. Hearken unto me, ye stout-          Christ come.                               counsel before it comes to pass. He
hearted, thatarefarfiomrighteousness:  I          But God's counsel stands!                does that exactly in order that we may
bring near my righteousness; it shall not           How precious a word! It is some-       be.led to appreciate His infinite and
be far offi and my salvation shall not          thing that the true saints throughout      almighty power and majesty as He
tarry:  and I will place salvation in Zion      the ages loved to hear. It has been a      brings all things to pass. We must
for Israel my glo y.                            precious truth to those saints, as it      also remember that the truth of God's
                          Isaiah 46:10-13       was also for Judah when she was in         counselisnotremovedfromlife, even
                                                captivity.                                 as the Reformed doctrine of Scripture
    We take note that God reminds                  ~Thisiswhyourfathersandgrand-           is not. It is not at all impractical to
Judah, as she is brought into captiv-           fathers loved to study the Scriptures      preach the counsel of God. In fact, it
ity, that although there is a reason for        about the counsel of God, and why in       is the height of practicality, as is evi-
the captivity, namely her sin, and              our Reformed faith the counsel is so       dent from the text that we consider.
although in herself she cannot expect           important to the understanding of all          The preaching of the counsel of
deliverance, for a twofold reason,              the doctrines of the Scriptures, for it    God-inspires within the heart of the
namely her unworthiness and her in-             has a central place in the whole testi-    child of God humility and reverence,
ability, nevertheless there is hope             mony of salvation. However, in the         from which alone a true Christian life
for the remnant according to election,          days of which our text speaks, the         proceeds. And it alone can provide
for His counsel stands.                         counsel of God, as revealed, was all       us comfort and assurance as we pass
    This is the message that we must            but forgotten, as is evident from our      through this vale of tears.
hear when the way looks impossible.             context, where,Judah  must be re-              Scripture is filled with the testi-
    It was so in the days of our text,          minded of the wonder word of God           mony of the counsel of God, as that
when for sin Judah had been carried             concerning His eternal will.               counselundergirds the whole of all of
into captivity by a power of antichrist             Certainly in our day the subject of    the history of the salvation of the
that appeared invincible. It was so in          God's counsel does not often hold a        church. In Psalm 33:11-12  we read
the days preceding the birth of Christ,         place dear to the members of the           that "thecounselof theLordstandeth
when there was such apostasy and                church. Rather, their concern is for       for ever, the thoughts of his heart to
deadness in Israel, and such a captiv-          the problems that they face in their       all generations. Blessed is the nation
ity to sin, that the true elect seemed          everyday life, as they are busy at-        whose Godis thelord;  and the people
nowhere to be found. At that time               tempting to find ways to improve this      whom he hath chosen for his own
anotherheadofantichristhadrisento               world. The matters that have to do         inheritance." We find the same in
power. It appeared impossible that              withtheetemalgreatnessofGodseem            Proverbs 19:21: `There are many
                                                to modern man in the church of today       devicesin a man's heart; nevertheless
                                                to be abstract and far removed from        the counsel of the Lord, that shall
                                                practical concerns in life.                stand." Notwithstanding the imagi-
                                                    And if the church preaches the         nation of man and his efforts, there is
Rev. Moore is pastor of the Protestant          counsel of God, or if conversation         nothing that can change God's coun-
Reformed Church  of  Hull, Iowa.                happens to turn to the eternal will of     sel, which stands forever. We read

                                                                                                 February 1,1994/Standard  Bearer/l95


that it indeed is the counsel of God             Andwemayyetmentionthatwhether               wisdom, and thus serve the glory of
that determines even Jesus' death on             one is a child of God, or one is not, he    His Name. The holy writer calls this
the cross, and the wicked work of                is likewise included in the sovereign       to the attention of Judah as she looks
man in placing Him on it (Acts 223).             will of Jehovah, for "He hath mercy         for deliverance, for salvation.
These texts, and literally hundreds of           on whom he will have mercy, and                  This purpose to glorify Himself
other passages, set forth the impor-             whom he will he hardeneth." Fur-            God has determined to accomplish in
tance of our confession that God's               ther, we would emphasize that the           the salvation of the church in Christ
counsel stands.                                  counsel of God is efficacious. By this      Jesus, His Only Begotten Son. There-
    When we speak of the counsel of              we mean that it is causative. That          fore all things in God's counsel serve
God, we speak of the living will of              which God has  eternally  willed is         the coming of Christ and the salva-
God according to which He rules all             broughttopass. Incontrast,ourknowl-          tion that He brings. Through Jesus,
things. Immediately we must under-               edge is dependent upon our observa-         God is pleased to reveal this glory.
stand that the mind and will of God              tion of things; and it is upon this         The creation served this purpose of
according to which He brings to pass             observation that we also determine a        God. In Hebrews 11:2 we read that
all things is absolutely not to be mea-          certain course of action. However,          God, "hath in these last days spoken
sured by our standards. We read of               God's  knowledge precedes that which        unto us by his Son, whom he hath
this literally in Isaiah 55:7-9: "Let the        comes to pass. He knows eternally           appointed heir of all things, by whom
wicked forsake his way, and the                  the course of all things, and they come     also he made the worlds." This is the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and                to pass. Thus we read of our God in         reason that Jesus is called the first-
let him return unto the Lord, and he             Isaiah 55:ll: "So shall my word be          born of every creature, and is called in
will have mercy upon him; and to our             that goeth forth out of my mouth: it        the book of Revelation the Alpha and
God, for he will abundantly pardon.              shall not return unto me void, but it       Omega. And it is because of this that
For my thoughts are not your                     shall accomplish that which I please,       He is the One who is first in the
thoughts, neither are your ways my               and it shall prosper in the things          counsel, and is that toward which all
ways, saith the Lord. For as the heav-           whereto I sent it."                         things work All things find their
ens are higher than the earth, so are                 Further, because we are speaking       purpose only in Him, as through Him
my ways higher than your ways, and               of the counsel and will of God, we see      God will take to Himself all glory.
my thoughts than your thoughts."               ~ the counsel of God as eternal. This         Thus the Incarnation is central to the
    We understand that the counsel               means that God did not go through a         gloryofGodasdeterminedfrometer-
of God is all-comprehensive. For the             process of gathering information to         nity .
saints that had been carried into cap-           put it together in order then to deter-          God glorifies Himself in Christ as
tivity this was important to know, as            mine that whichHe would do; but the         Christ stands as the Head of His
it is also for us who await                                    whole of His counsel is       church. The members of this church
Christ's return upon the                                       ever before Him and it        are chosen in His eternal counsel.
clouds of heaven. The                                          changes not.                  They are to be saved through the way
counsel of God includes                 . ..a11 things            Therefore, Godis not       of sin and grace. The reprobate also,
all things, in heaven and        in God's counsel              limitedbytimeorevents.        as well as their end in perdition, are
in earth, in the sea and in              serve the            While the captivity            decreed according to God's eternal
all deep places (Ps. 135).       coming  of  Christ            seemed to the elect to be     counsel to serve His purpose. Thus
The truth of Acts 17:26is                 and the              overwhelming, it can          a.llhistoryservestorevealGod'sglory
important for those in                                         change in a very short        as He saves His church in Christ, and
captivityandwaitingfor                   salvation             time, whenever it pleases     judges the wicked in their sin, while
the Lord: "And hath               that  He  brings.            God. This is the truth        governing all things in order that His
made of one blood all                                         that the prophet  now          eternal purpose be fulfilled. It is also
nations of men for to                                         brings to the remem-           in this light that we see the comfort of
dwell on all the face of the earth, and         brance of those in captivity: God's          our text. God teaches us that all men
hath determined the times before                 counsel stands, all things are in His       must serve His counsel, and all things
appointed, and the bounds of their               hand, and He shall deliver His own.         must serve this counsel, and shall
habitation." This is important for                    The purpose of God's counsel is        therefore serve our deliverance.
those in captivity to understand, that           the glory of the name of God, as God             For the people of Judah in the
thecaptivityisinthehandofourGod.                 Himself tells us in Numbers 1421:           captivity, this meant that there would
The bounds of habitation are gov-                "But as truly as I live, all the earth      beanendtothecaptivityandaretum
erned according to the counsel of God.           shall be filled with the glory of the       to Jerusalem. For God now reveals
The duration of man's life (John 146;            Lord." All things that take place in        that He will bring Cyrus out of the
Eph. 2:lO); the good deeds of man; the          time come forth of His counsel, and          east. As a bird of prey shall Cyrus
evil deeds of man (Prov. 16:4) - all            they all therefore are a manifestation       come swiftly to overcome Babylon.
are determined by the will of God.               of His greatness, power, holiness, and      And this Cyrus did come, out of Per-

196lStandard  Bearer/February 1,1994


sia, and he did overthrow the power           had to serve the counsel of God -          God's people, that the people might
of Babylon and allowed the Israelites         Babylon, in the chastening of God's        return to Jerusalem, and that an elect
to return to Jerusalem. This deliver-         people that they might be brought to       remnant might be saved, yea even
ance was to save the church, to keep          repentance and thus be preserved;          unto the day of our Lord. Likewise do
alive the covenant seed. Hence it             and Cyrus, in judgment against             all things continue to serve our salva-
served the coming of our Lord Jesus           Babylon for what Babylon did to            tion as we pass through this life. 0
Christ. The wicked world of unbelief





            The PRC Contra Mundum

     "Contra mundum"!  "Against the           the being of God (homoiousios), rather     tination as the source and foundation
world" !                                      than that it is the same being of God      of salvation. Thus, they reject the gos-
    This was what they said of the            (homoousios).  The difference, so they     pel of grace. All embrace the doctrine
preacher and theologian of the early          pleaded, is only one smallletter of the    of salvation by the sovereign will of
church, Athanasius: "Athanasius               Greek alphabet.                            the sinner, whether in the form of the
contra mundum. "                                  The controversy raged for some         willfreelyacceptingtheofferofChrist
    It was true.                              60 years. There were times when            or in the form of the will not resisting.
    The issue for the catholic church         Athanasius stood alone. It was                 Within the Reformed churches,
of Christ was the Godhead of Jesus            Athanasius contra mundum, and the          including the Presbyterians, bare pro-
the Messiah. The Council of Nicea             world contra Athanasius. He was            fession of predestination with its re-
(A.D. 325) had declared the full              reproached as a stubborn man and           lated doctrines of grace becomes in-
Godhead of Jesus: "of one substance           persecuted as a heretic. Church syn-       creasingly rare. Many have openly
with the Father." The young                   ods condemned him for his doctrine.        renounced this theology, opting in-
Athanasius had played a part in               Five times he was driven from his          stead for free will or for outright uni-
achieving this confession.                    church and city into exile.                versa&m.
    But the doctrine thatJesusis  God             In addition, the ecclesiastical at-        The churches that yet profess the
was by no means established in the            mosphere was beclouded by confu-           "doctrines of grace" fatally compro-
church. The enemies of the truth,             sion over the meaning of the crucial       mise these doctrines by the teaching
refusing to consider the decision of          word  "homoousios fl and poisoned by       that Christ Jesus is gracious to every-
the Nicene Council as settled and             political intrigue.                        one who hears in the preaching of His
binding stepped up their opposition.              Seemingly the truth of Christ's        blessed gospel. In the preaching,
Jesus is a creature of God. He was            Godhead was lost, and Christianity         Christ is the Savior who loves and
made, not begotten. There was a time          with it.                                   desires to save all without exception.
when He was not. To affirm His                    Except that Athanasius stood           His grace in the preaching is not a
Godhead would be to deny that God             contra mundum.                             power that effectually saves some,
is one.                                           Similarly, the Protestant Re-          but a well-meant offer to all. The
    As always in a theological contro-        formed Churches (PRC) today stand          salvation that results from thepreach-
versy, there was a large party of com-        contra mundum.                             ingis not by grace (for grace is offered
promisers. They were the "moder-                  The issue is the doctrine of salva-    equally to all, including many who
ates" of that day. They advocated             tion by sovereign, particular grace.       arenotsavedbythisgrace),butbythe
peace at the expense of the sharp             At bottom, the issue is the doctrine of    sinner's acceptance of the offered
expression of the truth and the pointed       salvation by the grace of the almighty     grace.
rejection of the error. One earlyhisto-       Lord and God, Jesus Christ.                    The PRC, in radical contrast, con-
rian of the church called them the                All the non-Reformed churches          fess that the grace of God in Jesus
"simpletons."        They pressured           oppose the doctrine. FromRome and          Christ is sovereign and particular in
Athanasius to compromise his (and             Eastern Orthodoxy to American fun-         the preaching of the gospel, as it is in
Nicea's) doctrine. Say of the sub-            damentalism, all reject the theology       eternal predestination (II Tim.  1:9),
stance, or being, of Jesus that it is like    of eternal, sovereign, double predes-      the redemption of the cross (Eph.

                                                                                                   February 1,1994/Standard  Beam097


5:25), and preservation (Rev. 13:8)         the truth of sovereign, particular grace          The basic truth of Christianity
and as it will be in the final judgment     in the gospel without wavering. They          that God saves sinners is the connec-
(Rev.  20:11-15).  In the gospel, the       have defended it faithfully. They             tion between the  "contra mundum"  of
Savior is gracious to His elect alone,      have promoted it vigorously. On this          Athanasius and the "contra mundum"
loving them alone, desiring to save         point of doctrine, they will not com-         of the PRC. Many  wilI deny any
them alone, andbestowingupon them           promise. It is as non-negotiable as           connection. Even those who might
alone the gift of faith. He                                was the Godhead of             agree with the position of the PRC
preaches the gospel to                                     Jesus to Athanasius.           would say that there can be no com-
the many, but is gracious                                  They will discuss it, ex-      parison between the doctrine for
to the few (Matt. 22:14).                                  plain it, and debate it.       which Athanasius stood and that for
    In this confession,                                    Buttheywillnotsurren-          which the PRC stand as regards their
the PRC stand virtually                                    der it. They will not          importance. Both are mistaken.
alone among the Re-                                        considersurrenderingit.            AthanasiusstoodfortheGodhead
formed churches. With                                         The sovereign par-          of Jesus contra mundum, not because
the rare, and happy, ex-                                   ticularity of grace is fun-    of some abstractinterestin the Trinity
ception of an Evangeli-                                    damental to the  Re-           but because of his practical concern
cal Presbyterian Church                     - formed faith. This has                      for the salvation of sinners. Only if
of Australia, it is the PRC                                been established cree-         Jesus is God, "of the same substance
contra mundum.                              dally at Dordt and Westminster even           with the Father," can and does He
    As was the case with Athanasius,        as the Godhead of Jesus was estab-            save sinners. If He is not God, He
it is also the world contra the PRC.        lished creedally at  Nicea. No Re-            cannot save. There is reason to think
    The PRC are reproached for their        formed church or theologian can de-           that Athanasius stood as firmly as he
doctrinal stand. The epithets are,          fend a loving desire of the Savior to         did because he knew the teaching of
" hyper-Calvinists"; "scholastics"; "ra-    save all men from Head I of the Can-          Scripture from his own experience:
tionalists." Their firm stand is por-       onsofDordtorfromChapterIIIofthe               Only the One who is "of the same
trayed as stubbornness.                     Westminster Confessionof Faith. No            substance with theFather" couldhave
    For some 70 years, the PRC have         Reformed church or theologian can             saved such a sinner as Athanasius
been exiled from the fellowship of the      defend universal grace in the preach-         knew himself to be.
Reformed and Presbyterian churches.         ing from Heads III, IV of the Canons             In the gospel, it is the incarnate
Their beginning was excommunica-            or from Chapters IX and X of                  Son of God who saves sinners. The
tion from the influential Christian         Westminster. No Reformed church               grace behind and in and through the
Reformed Church. Through the years,         or theologian can defend a death of           gospel is simply Jesus Christ,
they have been deliberately ignored         Christ for all men, in any sense what-        "homoousios," in His favorable atti-
publicly, and systematically dis-           ever, from the Canons, II/S, 9 or from        tude and saving power.
missed privately, as of no account to       the Westminster Confession, VIII, 5,              If the grace of the gospel is for all
the Reformed cause.                         8. No Reformed church or theologian           alike, who then really saves those
    What discussion of the issue has        can defend the teaching that salva-           who believe? Christ or themselves?
taken place in the Reformed commu-          tionis by the sinner's acceptance of an       And if sinners save themselves, what
nity has often been confused by mis-        offer, that is, by free will, from Heads      need is there for the Son of God, "of
understanding of themain  term. Some        I&IV/ 14 and Heads II&IV, Rejection           one substance with the Father"?
have taken the term "well-meant of-         of Errors/3-9  of the Canons or from              If the Savior, in the gospel, fails to
fer" to refer only to the urgent, pro-      Chapters IX, X of the Westminster             save many whom He loves and sin-
miscuous preaching of the gospel.           Confession.                                   cerely desires to save, canHe be "truly
The PRC's denial of the "offer," then,          That the grace of God in the gos-         God"?
was supposed to be nothing more             pel is sovereign and particular is fun-           What child is the Christ of the
than disobedience to the apostolic          damental to Christianity itself (which,       well-meant offeranyway,ignoringas
mandate to preach the gospel of Christ      of course, the Reformed faith is). For        He does the will of the Father who
to every creature.                          Christianity teaches that  Godin Christ       sent Him and doing His own thing?
    All the church-world agrees that        saves sinners. It is not the message of       The Christ of Scripture carries out the
the grace of Jesus Christ is universal      Christianity that God enables sinners         will of His Father, saving "all which
in the preaching of the gospel.             to save themselves, whether by their          he hath given me" (John 6:35-40).
    Seemingly, today, the gospel of         works or by their will, but that God              The doctrine that Jesus is God
sovereign grace is lost, and the genu-      saves sinners. This means sovereign,          preserved the truth of gracious salva-
ine Reformed faith with it.                 particular grace. God saves sinners           tion. The doctrine of gracious salva-
    Except that the PRC stand contra        by the preaching of the gospel. This          tion, in the preaching of the gospel, de-
mundum.                                     means sovereign, particular grace in          fends the truth of the Godhead of
    To this day they have stood for         the preaching.                                Jesus.

196IStandard Bearer/February 1,1994


     Because Athanasius stood  contra         If ever God does send true reforma-          confession of salvation by sovereign,
 mundum, the doctrine of the Godhead          tion to the Reformed churches -not           particular grace.
 of Jesus prevailed. Christianity was         mere revival of warm feeling nor                 Until that day, or the Day of this
 preserved.                                   mere reaction against practical evils,,      confession by all the church before
     For me to make a similar claim for       but genuine, doctrinalreformation-           the throne and before the Lamb (Rev.
 the PRC would be presumptuous.               it will be born of zeal for the gospel of    7~9, lo), God grant that the PRC stand
 But this may be said, at the very least.     grace, and it will end in the heartfelt      contra mundum.  0
                                                                                                                            - DJE




 n What is this                               of goodness to His creation at large         grace,II see Gertrude Hoeksema, A
 " C o m m o n   G r a c e "?                 (Matt.  5:45), and though I believe this     Watered Garden, GrandRapids,  1992,
                                              is a sloppy use of "grace," I thought        pp. 41,42; 50; 54).-The most objection-
     I have been a subscriber to the          the users still held to salvation only by    able element is the "-well-meant of-
StandardBearerfornearlyayearnow.              sovereign, distinguishing grace. I           fer." This is the teaching that God is
I want to express to you my great             know that Arminians use the term in          gracious in the preaching of the gos-
 satisfaction with thismagazine. It has       an unbiblical manner to try to get           pel to all who hear, those who finally
 been a great spiritual and doctrinal         around their inclusion of man's ef-          perishinunbelief as well as those who
 encouragement to me.' I hold, with-          forts in the salvation process. How-         believe and are saved. The doctrine
 out reservations, to that doctrine  ex-      ever, it appears that some who claim         of the "well-meant offer" holds that
 pressedintheWestminsterstandards.            to be Reformed use it in regard to           God in Christ loves and sincerely
 I have not studied the Dutch stan-           God's saving sinners, and that in a          desires the salvation of everyone who
 dards as thoroughly, but in my study         manner very unbiblical (if I have un-        hears the preaching, that is, in reality,
 so far I believe I am in absolute agree-     derstood the references in the SB cor-       every human without exception. This
 ment with them as well. (It appears to       rectly). Could you advise me on who          aspect of the doctrine of common
 me. to be the same understanding of          and what I should read to find an            graceimplies the universalatonement
 the truth, with slightly different em-       example of this particular usage of          of Christ and the free will of the sin-
 phases at a few points.) The SB has          "common grace"? If this teaching is          ner. It is the Arminian conception of
 helped me become a little more famil-        aspopularincertainReformedcircles            the preaching of the gospel (for the
 iar with the Dutch Reformed move-            as the magazine articles have indi-          Arminian view of the preaching of
 ment, and especially with the con-           cated, I need to be more familiar with       the gospel, see Ctisis in theReformed
 flicts within the American branch of         it for purposes of rebuttal. I would         Ckurckes, Peter Y.DeJong, ed., Grand
 that movement in this century. Thank         appreciate any help you can give me          Rapids, 1968, pp. 226,227).
 you.                                         in this.                                         The older, traditional Christian
     Iamwritingfortworeasons. First,              Again, thank you for such a won-         Reformed defense of the notion that
 for your consideration I enclose an          derful job! I love the Protestant Re-        the, preaching of the gospel is com-
 article which I wrote recently. It is        formed Churches, though I have never         mon (universal) grace is found in
 concerned with how God reveals His           attended even one of your services or        Louis Berkhof,  Systematic Theology
 absolute sovereignty not only in spite       known personally one of your minis-          (Grand Rapids, 4th rev. and enlarged
 of, but actually through, the evil ef-       ters. However, I can tell that we            ed., 1965,) pp. 454-464, "Calling in
 forts of the Devil.*                         subscribe to the same faith and to           General and External Calling"; A.C.
     Secondly, I need some help in            much of the very same practice. God          DeJong,  The Well-Meant Gospel Of-
 understanding better one of the is-          bless!                                       fer (Franeker, n.d.); and Anthony A.
 sues brought up frequently in the SB.                        (Rev.) Allen Tomlinson       Hoekema,  Saved by Grace  (Grand
 Exactly what is the "common grace"                                 Merrimack, NH          Rapids, 1989), pp. 68-79, "The Gospel
 mentioned so often? When I have                                                           Call."
 heard this termused, I always thought        RESPONSE:                                        The more recent Christian Re-
 the users referred to God's displays             The Protestant Reformed                  formed development of this doctrine
                                              Churches (PRC) reject the doctrine of        of the "well-meant offer" includes the
                                              common grace that was adopted as             series of articles by Harold Dekker
                                              official church doctrine by the Chris-       advocating universal atonement in
     *The arficle,  "The Cross and a Frus-    tian Reformed Church (CRC) in 1924           the periodical, Reformed Journal in
 trated Devil!" is published elsaohere  in    (for the full, translated text of the        the years 1962-1965; James Daane,
 this issue - Ed.                             CRC's "three points of common                The Freedom. of God (Grand Rapids,

                                                                                                 February 1,1994lStandard  BeamilQ9


1973); Harry R. Boer, The Doctrine of       Baptists in the United States have             popular in nearly all Reformed circles
Reprobation in the Christian Re-            been seriously considering adding a            today. It is every bit as popular as this
formed  Church  (Grand Rapids, 1983);       section on the preaching as common             magazine indicates. No doubt, it is
and Philip C. Holtrop, The Bolsec           grace to their edited version of the           more popular than we suggest. The
Controversy on Predestination from          Westminster Confession of Faith.               proof is that, whereas the most vio-
1551 to X%5,2 vols. (Lewiston, NY,              It is also an aspect of the doctrine       lent attacks in Reformed circles upon
1993).                                      of common grace adopted by the CRC             the truths of particular, sovereign
    The doctrine of the preaching of        and generally held by the others re-           grace are passed over in silence by the
the gospel as grace to all is by no         ferred to above that the Holy Spirit           Reformed press, there is constant
means, however, limited to the CRC.         restrains sin in the unregenerate by an        (though always veiled) sniping at (un-
TheOrthodoxPresbyterianChurchis             internal work that keeps them from             named) rejection of common grace.
committed to it as the doctrine has         being totally depraved and that en-            Thereis alsopersistentinsistence that,
been set forth by John Murray and           ables them to perform good works.              come what may, regardless that the
Ned B. Stonehouse in the booklet,           The PRC oppose this aspect of the              doctrine of the "well-meant offer"
"The Free Offer of the Gospel" (n.p.,       doctrine of common grace as flagrant           has plainly developed into.universal
n . d . ) .                                 denial of the confessional doctrine of         atonement and the repudiation of the
    Presbyterians abroad vigorously         the total depravity of the natural man         eternal decree of predestination, theo-
defend the !`well-meant  offer," some,      (cf. Heid. Cat., Q. 8; Bel. Conf., Art. 14;    logians and churches will maintain
notably Donald Macleod, in shock-           Canons of Dordt, III, IV/l-4; West.            the precious doctrine of universal
ingly universalist language. See K.W.       Conf. of Faith, Chap. VI). Inevitably          grace in the preaching.
Stebbins'  Christ Freely Offered            such affirmations of the remaining                `It is safe to say that where in
(Strathpine North, Australia, 1978)         goodness of the unregenerate sinner            Calvinist circles there is still profes-
and Donald Macleod,  Behold Your            lead to the doctrine of the freedom of         sion of both the particular grace of
God  (Fern, Ross-shire, Scotland, 1990).    the will.                                      predestination and the common grace
    The "Calvinistic" Baptists are              This doctrine of common grace              of the "well-meant offer," predesti-
zealots for universal grace in the          (andnot merely the teaching that God           nation plays Leah to the Rachel of the
preaching. See Erroll Hulse, "The           gives good gifts of rain and sunshine          offer.  0
Free Offer of the Gospel" (Haywards         to the reprobate ungodly, which the                                 ~.           - Ed.
Heath, Sussex, England, 1973). These        PRC, of course, maintain) is indeed




                         Zacharias  Ursimis: . ,'
              Author of the Heidelberg Catechism 1:

Introduction                                    Not only those who belong to               truth which brings comfort. It echoes
    Without question the Heidelberg         churches which have made the Cat-              thewordsofGodinIsaiah40:l:"Com-
Catechism is one of the most beloved        echism their theological basis, but            fort ye, comfort ye my people, saith
Confessions of all time, if not indeed      God's people from any tradition and            your God."
the most beloved. Those who cherish         from all ecclesiastical backgrounds,               We wrote last time about the role
the heritage of the truth, and who          love and cherish this glorious creed.          that Frederick the Pious played in the
turn to the Confessions of the church           Its attractiveness lies in two char-       writing of the Heidelberg Catechism.
to learn  ,it, will rejoice in the          acteristics.$  The first is its warm and       In this and in a following article we
Heidelberger as a precious gift of God      personal style. It speaks to the expe-         will let the authors themselves step
through the Spirit of Truth whom            rience of the child of God. It tells him       out of the obscure past and take their
Christ promised the church.                 what the truth means to him person-            place momentarily on the stage of
                                            ally in his own life and calling in the        history to tell us of what God worked
                                                                                                                             _"
                                            world. The second is its dominating            inthem."  '
Proj Ha&o is professor of Church His-       theme of comfort. The personal and
toy and New Testament in the Protes-        experiential aspect of the Catechism           Ursinus's Early Life
tan t Reformed Semina y.                    looks at the truth in all our life as a            Zacharius Ursinus was born on

2OOlStandard Bearer/February 1,1994


July 18,1534  in the town of Breslau of      studies. It is not surprising that            whispering campaign against him,
Silesia, a province of Austria. He was       Ursinus became an ardent Lutheran.            finally exploding into public debate,
born of a family by the name of Baer,        But already Melanchthon was having            which persuaded Ursinus to resign
or Bear. Ursinus is only the Latin           second thoughts about Luther's view           his position and leave the city. He
word for bear.                               of the Lord's Supper and was more             never did enjoy controversy, and the
    His parents were poor, for the           inclined to agree with the Swiss theo-        bitterness of the hatred in Breslau
wages of a tutor were meager and his         logians on the presence of Christ in          was more than he could bear.
father was a tutor. Two advantages,          the bread and wine. Ursinus was                   From Breslau Ursinus went to
however, were his, brought up as he          influenced by Melanchthon and de-             Zurich for a short time of peace and
was in a tutor's home. The first was         veloped his own views, which were             quietness in which he became a close
that he was surrounded from infancy          not Lutheran at all.                          friend of Peter Martyr, the Reformer
with learning, and the second was                Ursinus spent seven years with            from Italy who had made such a no-
that he had an opportunity to meet           Melanchthon and even accompanied              table contribution to the Reformed
many of the rich and famous in the           him to WormsandHeidelbergin 1557.             doctrine of the Lord's Supper. His
course of his early years.                   This latter was the city in which             decision to go to Zurich was a diffi-
    Ursinus studied in Breslau until         Ursinus would do his most important           cult one. He told his uncle:
his 15th year, when he went to               work. He saw it for the first time in
Wittenberg. Four years after Luther's        the golden autumn of October. On                Not unwillingly do I leave my fa-
body had been laid to rest in the            the hillside covered with trees stood           therland, since it does not permit the
cathedral of Wittenberg, and while           the imposing castle in which the Elec-          confession of the truth, which I can
Philip Melanchthon, Luther's col-            tor lived. The city was in the narrow           not with good conscience give up. If
league and close friend, was still teach-    valley of the  Neckar  River which              my teacher Melanchthon still lived, I
                                                                                             would go nowhere else but to him.
ing, Ursinus came to this notable and        flowed through the Black Forest to              But as he is dead, I will go to Zurich
famous school. Because his parents           the Rhine just a few miles away. The            where there are pious, great and
could not support him, his expenses          Church of the Holy Spirit dominated             learned men. As for the rest, God
were underwritten by the Senate of           the city, with its spires soaring above         will care.
Breslau, with the understanding that         the roofs of the houses. Almost at the
he would return to his native town to        feet of the spires was the most famous        Ursinus found companionship and
teach after he had completed his edu-        and oldest university in Germany,             fellowship herewithmenwithwhom
cation.                                      the University of Heidelberg. It had          he was in complete agreement.
    Although he was a very able and          been Roman Catholic; it was now                   Frederick the Pious wanted a
gifted student, Ursinus was shy and          Protestant. Whether it would be               ReformedprofessorinHeidelbergand
retiring, tending somewhat to be             Lutheran or Reformed had yet to be            called Peter Martyr. Martyr declined
moody, and not at all inclined to par-       decided. It WasMelanchthon's  home,           the call on the grounds of old age, but
ticipate in the intellectual rough and       the land for which he longed. But             recommended Ursinus. When Ur-
tumble of classroom life in a univer-        Melanchthon had not come to stay;             sinus received the call fromFrederick,
sity. Nor did he eagerly seek the            his life`s work was on the sandy and          he was most reluctant to go. He as
companionship of his fellow students         dusty soil of Wittenberg.                     well as anyone knew the tensions and
who, oftentimes with excessive gai-              After traveling together to Hei-          controversies which were tearing
ety, would-. celebrate the freedom of        delberg, Ursinus and Melanchthon              apart that city. To a,friend he wrote:
an academic life. He preferred to            parted ways, Ursinus to travel for a          "Oh that I could remain hidden in a
compose Greek and Latin verses in            year throughout Europe visiting the           corner. I would give anything for
the solitude of his study.                   Protestant centers of learning in Ger-        shelter in some quiet village."
    He would probably have passed            many, France, and Switzerland. He                 But God has a way of calling a
through the halls of the university          could read the Hebrew lectures of             person to a work from which he
scarcely noticed if it were not for the      Jean Mercier  in Paris, sit at the feet of    shrinks. So it was with Moses. So it
fact that Melanchthon observed his           Bullinger in Zurich, and talk with            was when Calvin, at the threats of the
ability, took Ursinus into his own           Calvin in Geneva. In fact, Calvin             fiery Farel, was persuaded to stay in
home, and became a friend and com-           presented him with a gift of a com-           Geneva. So God called Ursinus, shy
panion as well as teacher to the shy         plete set of Calvin's works, signed by        and retiring, to the swirling ecclesias-
student. It was a strange but rich           their illustrious author.                     tical and doctrinal hubbub of Heidel-
friendship  - a 53 year old gifted               For a few short years he fulfilled        berg.                  .
theologian with a poor student of 16.        his obligations to Breslau by teaching
    The Lutheran Reformation had             there. But the Lutherans suspected            Years In Heidelberg
penetrated Breslau prior to Ursinus's        him of being more Reformed than                   Times in Heidelberg were trying.
birth and had influenced his parents..       Lutheran in his views of the Lord's           Although, through the wise and godly
Wittenbergwas  thecenterofLutheran           Supper. They were right; but it was a         rule of Frederick the Pious, Roman

                                                                                                    February i,W941Standard Beared2Ol


Catholicism had been pretty much            ward at the swiftest possible rate.            Disputes in Heidelberg contin-
rooted out of the city, Lutheranism         When the Catechism was nearly ready        ued, now over church government.
and the Reformed faith were vying           in early 1563, he summoned a large         Did the discipline of the impenitent
for dominance. The differences were         company of ministers and teachers          rest with the State or with the church?
almost exclusively over the doctrine        from throughout the Palatinate to          The controversy was sharp and bit-
of the Lord's Supper, but violent and       meet in solemn assembly to discuss         ter. The main defender of  Pres-
radical Lutherans were doing every-         and, if possible, approve the work.        byterianism was an Englishman
thing they could to rid the city of any     After solemn worship services and          named George Withers. Bullinger
men who disagreed with their posi-          lengthy discussion, the assembled          and Beza were called in to give ad-
tion.                                       group was so moved by the genius of        vice. FinalIy, annoyed by the silence
    Ursinus was appointed head of           the work that they unanimously rec-        of Ursinus, Frederick ordered him to
the Collegium  Sapientiue,  the College     ommended to Frederick that it be           express his views. He did so in a
of Wisdom as it was called. But it was      adopted without change. And so it          public assembly and in such a candid
not long after, that he was appointed       was.                                       and kindly way that his views carried
to occupy the chair of Dogmatics.               In the second edition, Frederick       the day, and presbyteries were estab-
And every imaginable chore and ob-          ordered Q.  & A. 80 to be added,           lished with discipline safely in the
ligation were thrust upon him, as           though without the sharp language          hands of the church.
Frederick and others sought to make         concerning the mass; but when the              All these years he had remained
use of his enormous abilities and clear     attacks of Roman Catholics increased       unmarried and had lived with the
understanding of the truth.                 in bitterness and intensity, Frederick     students in the dorms of the Univer-
    It was not as a joke that Ursinus       made another change in this same           sity. But in 1572, at the age of 38, he
put a sign on the door to his office in     question and answer which included         began to consider the possibility of
the University which contained on it        the words which have ever afterward        marriage. He hadnoticed a quiet and
a bit of Latin doggerel which trans-        vexed the souls of Roman Catholics,        friendly woman only a block away
lated read: "Friend who enters here:        words which branded the mass as            from the University, and one day,
be quick, or go; or help me with my         "an accursed idolatry." Frederick          summoning up his courage, he took
work."                                      also ordered that it be divided into 52    time out from his studies to propose
    Yet the work for which he is re-        sections, or Lord's Days, so that it       to her. She accepted; they were mar-
nowned is his authorship of the Hei-        could be preached from beginning to        ried, lived together nine years, and
delberg Catechism. With Caspar              end in one year.                           brought forth one son.
Olevianus, he was instructed to draw            It quickly ran through many edi-           But things were soon to change in
up a confession which could be used         tions and was soon translated into         Heidelberg. Frederick died, worn
for the instruction of the people of the    different languages, including the         out by the cares of his kingdom. The
Palatinate and could serve as a basis       Dutch, where it became a treasured         Elector Louis came to the electorate.
of unity.                                   confession of the Dutch Reformed           Louis was an ardent Lutheran and
    Ursinus had earlier written a small     Churches.                                  determined to force Lutheran&m  on
Catechism in Latin, which also had                                                     the Palatinate. Within one year he
proceeded from the idea of comfort.         Ursinus's Post-Heidelberg Years            succeeded in doing this, and the Re-
It had suggested toursinus the theme            The rest of Ursinus's years in         formed faculty at the University, in-
of this Catechism, and much of this         Heidelberg were busy and relatively        cluding Ursinus, were dismissed;.
earlier work was absorbed into the          unhappy. Not only did his duties           Over 600 teachers and preachers left
Heidelberger. It is hard for us to          continue in the University, but he was     the Palatinate during this unhappy
believe that Ursinus was only28 years       now also asked to preach each Lord's       time.
oldatthetime,buthehadbeensteeped            Day on the Heidelberg Catechism.               Although Ursinus was invited to
from infancy in Reformational theol-        Furthermore, he became the chief           teach at Lausanne in Switzerland, he
ogy and he was a man of brilliant gifts     defender of the Catechism against the      chose instead to go to Neustadt, where
with which God had endowed him.             many and vicious attacks made              he set up a school in a nunnery with
The work began in 1562 and took             against it by Roman Catholics and          the help of his good friend Casimir,
nearly a year. It was a great time for      Lutherans alike. They so wearied           son of Frederick the Pious. The school
Confessions: the Thirty-Nine Articles       him who loved peace, so physically         obtained a good faculty and soon
had been -adopted  by the Church of         exhausted him, and so impaired his         attracted many students from
England; Bullinger had written his          health, that in 1566 he ceased writing     throughout Europe.
beautiful Second Helvetic Confession;       and two years later resigned his chair         But Ursinustaughtonlybrieflym
and Spanish persecutors in the Low-         of Dogmatics. The chair went to the        it. He was asked by a Reformed
lands were hunting the author of the        esteemed Italian Reformer,  Hier-          Convention which met in Frankfurt
Belgic Confession, Guido de B&s.            onymous Zanchius, whose work on            in 1577 to draw up a confession which
    Frederick pressed the work for-         "Predestination" is still widely read. could serve as a-basis for unity-of all

202lStandard  Bearer/February 1,1994


Reformed Churches in Europe, but                         the age of 49, he died in Neustadt,        was not for him an intellectual matter
he declined on the grounds of ilI-                       leaving his wife a widow and his           however; it was his "comfort," that
health.                                                  child without a father.                    which alone could sustain him
    The great workof  these years was                        Ursinus was not a very good            through the grueling years of his work
the writing of his well-known com-                       preacher; his gifts lay in the class-      in Heidelberg.
mentaryontheHeidelbergCatechism,                         room, where his lectures were learned,         God thrust this shrinking man
a volume which all who love this                         incisive, instructive, and delivered in    into the maelstrom of Heidelberg.
creed ought to purchase. The volume                      a most interesting way. He was ever        God knows what to do with His ap-
was put together from his lectures on                    the cautious man, so much so that          pointed servants - even when it
the Catechism in Neustadt, lectures                      when questions were asked of him in        seems all wrong to them and others.
which he edited and prepared for                         class, he almost always postponed          Out of all this came those treasured
publication, although thislatterwork                     the answers to the following day so        words that countless saints have taken
he never finished. The book was                          that he could have time to formulate       with them through life and sang at
published in 1584 after his death.                       a careful answer. His strength was in      death: "What is thy only comfort in
    His health continued to decline                      his penetrating mind and his deep          life and in death? That I belong to
and his teaching became increasingly                     commitment to the truth. The truth         Jesus...."  B
sporadic. Finally on March 6,1583, at

                                                        Protestant Reformed Seminary
                                                                    4949 lvanrest Avenue
                                                                 Grandville, Michigan 49418
                                                                   Phone: (616) 531-1490

    Robert  D. Dtckcr,  Rector
    Professor o/Practical lkology  and New Testament



                                                                                                                      January 7,1994
   Dear Friends in Christ:
           We continue to enjoy God's blessing in our life and work at the seminary. We are thankful to God for the
   harmony which prevails and for the good progress being made by the students at all levels.
           The January interim class, taught this year by the undersigned, is a seminar on pastoral care. In this class we
   are dealing with some of the problems the students are likely to face in the pastorate, such as alcoholism, eating
   disorders, depression/anxiety, and marriage problems. Two of our ministers and an elder made presentations
   to the class. While all of the students attend, the class is especially designed to prepare our two third-year students
   for their internships.
   5-      The faculty and students are looking forward to hearing two lectures by Dr. John Gerstner, professor of
   Church History Emeritus of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, in April. Dr. Gerstner, an expert on Jonathan
   Edwards, is our guest lecturer for 1993-1994.
           Among the many much-appreciated recent donations to our building expansion fund were two very large
   gifts, which figured significantly in bringing the total amount received thus far to approximately  $310,000.00.
   This means we are very close to the $330,000.00  which the synod decided we needed before construction could
   begin. With a little help from you, our loyal supporters, we could begin construction in the spring or summer
   of this year. We hope that proves possible. The shelves in our present library facilities will very soon be filled
   to capacity. In addition to providing a larger, quieter library and office space for the professors, the new part
   of the building will include a climate-controlled room where the archives of the churches can be securely stored.
   In this connection we are thankful to have received recently assurance that the papers of Prof. Homer C.
   Hoeksema and Rev. Herman Hoeksema will be given to the archives.
           We covet your prayers and support, for through these means God gives us grace to be faithful in committing
   the truth to faithful men who shall be able to teach others (II Tim. 2:2).



                                                                                                             Prof. Robert D. Decker
   RDD:jd                  :

                                                                                                          February 1,1994/Shndard  Bearer/203


                                                                                            Rev. Dale Kuiper
                                                   Trumpets

         . The harp has a solemn sound which soothes             deals with the misuse of speaking in tongues
      the restless spirit; the trumpet's call has the unique     during the worship services, the clear implication
      ability to quicken and excite. Who is not stirred by       is that the preaching of the Word must send forth
      the trumpets of a military band, or by the trumpet         a certain sound. The preaching must be clear,
      solo that precedes the bass recitative of I                sharp, distinctive, and unmistakable, so that no
      Corinthians 15:52 in Handel's Messiah?                     one wonders what Godis saying. Repentance and
          The trumpets of early Israel were made of              faithmust be commanded. The antithesis must be
      ram's or goat's horns. Moses was instructed by             emphasized. The way of life must clearly be set
      God to make two trumpets of silver (Num. 10:12)            forth in distinction from the way of destruction.
      to be blown at certain ceremonies. All these               The doctrines of grace must be sharply defined in
      instruments (variously translated trumpets, horns,         distinction from every Arminian tendency. Oth-
      or cornets) were without valves and produced               erwise, who will prepare himself for the battle, or
      sound of one pitch.                                        even know that there is a battle?
          Trumpets were used to herald the year of                   There are the seven trumpets of Revelation 8
     jubilee, announced the appearance of the new                and 9, which come out of the seventh seal and end
     moon and full moon, warned of approaching                   with the seven vials. The seven angels with their
      danger, were blown at the dedication of the temple,        trumpets announce God's judgment and woe
      coronations of kings, and burnt offerings and              upon the earth and her inhabitants. These woes,
     peace offerings. But the main purpose of these              seen by John in a vision, are worse than those
      horns was to give signals in battle. Outstanding           pictured by the seven seals, and are happening at
      examples are found in Exodus 6 (Joshua at Jeri-            the present time. The comfort for the church is that
      cho), Judges 6 (Gideon), and II Samuel 2 (Joab).           these angels stand before, and are given trumpets
     The trumpet's martial sound was used to pass on            by, God! All these things are under His sovereign
      commands, signal the attack, encourage the sol-            control and work for our good.
      diers, strike fear in the hearts of the enemy, and             Lastly, trumpets have eschatological signifi-
      signal the end of the battle.                              cance. Matthew 24:32, I Thessalonians 4~16, and I
          Scripture also uses the trumpet in the figura-         Corinthians 15:52 agree that the coming of Christ
      tive sense. The labors of officebearers are com-           in His glory will be accompanied with angels and
     pared to the sounding of the trumpet. In Ezekiel            the great sound of a trumpet! Paul tells the
      33 the prophet's workis compared to a watchman             Thessalonians that when Christ comes, He does
      on the city walls: if the watchman sees the sword          so with the trumpofGod!  Just as God gave the Law
     coming upon the land andblows the trumpet, and              to Moses at Sinai by the hands of angels with the
     the people do not take heed, their blood is on their        voice of the trumpet which sounded long, and
     own head; but if the watchman does not blow the            waxed louder and louder (Ex. 19), so at the end of
     trumpet and the sword comes on some, their                  theworldGodwillsoundHistrumpet.  That'sHis
     blood is required at the watchman's hand. This             mighty voice! And that clear sound will signal the
     passage applies to the elders of the church who             end of the battle, it will strike fear in the hearts of
     must sound the alarm against every spiritual                the enemy, and it will announce perfect victory for
     danger that threatens the souls of God's people.           all that are in Christ. In response to that glorious
          Then there is I Corinthians 148: "For if the           sound, we will be raised, changed in a moment,
     trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall pre-            and quickened unto endless praise of God and the
     pare himself to the battle?" Although the context          Lamb in the church triumphant! 0
     :I."
                       Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protesfant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.




204lStandard  Bearer/February l,l994


                  The God of All Grace (5)

         "But the God ofa2l grace,  who hath    274 quoted above  -  beauty. That             Even though our church buildings
called you unto his eternal glory by            God is gracious speaks of the truth           are not temples, yet they ought to
Christ Jesus, . . . make you perfect..." (I     that He is beautiful, lovely, attractive.     reflect the beauty of God by being
Pet. 5:lO).                                     We use the word this way when we              artistically beautiful and structurally
         "... The LORD, the LORD God, mer-      speak of someone who is "graceful,"           attractive. But chiefly must it be our
ciful and gracious... " (Ex. 346).              such as a figure skater. When some-           desire when we worship in the pres-
         "One thing have I desired of the       one has grace in this sense, he has           ence of God on Sundays to observe
LORD, . . . that I may dwell in the house       beauty. Likewise, James 1:ll speaks           God's beauty in our midst. Can you
of the LORD..., to behold the beauty of         of "the grace (i.e., beauty) of the fash-     say with David that the one thing you
the  LORD..."  (Ps.  274).                      ion" of a flower. Inaninfinitelygreater       longforandseekafteristodwellwith
         "Remember me, 0 LORD, with the         sense, our God as the God of all grace        Jehovah so that you may behold His
@our that thou bearest unto thy                 is beautiful. He is altogether lovely         `beauty?
people: 0 visit me with thy salva-              and desirable, not because of mere                Especially is God's grace, in the
tion" (Ps. 106:4).                              outward "looks" but because of who            sense of beauty, displayed in the sal-
         "For by grace are ye saved through     He is. His very nature, perfections,          vation of His elect people. It is re-
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is        and life constitute His beauty. And           vealed in Christ, their graceful (i.e.,
the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). (All em-           for this reason, too, His gracefulness        full of grace, John 1:14) Savior. In all
phases are mine, CJT.)                          andbeautydonotfadeliketheskateis              that Christ is for the elect and in all
                                                and like the flower's!                        that He did for them He is lovely. For
         In revealing His character to us in        God's beauty-grace is displayed           this reason the bride of Christ says of
His Word, God makes known to us                 in His creation. The beauty of a sunset       her beloved, "His mouth is most
that another of His marvelous at-               over Lake Michigan is the beauty of           sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely"
tributes isgruce. Not only is He majes-         God. The loveliness of a summer               (Songof  Solomon5:16).  Further,when
tic, sovereign, and holy (as well as            azalea in full bloom is the loveliness        God saves His own, He becomes their
eternal, immutable, omnipotent,wise,            of God. The attractiveness of a bright        God, and as such is their "crown of
good, righteous, etc.); He is also gra-         red cardinal against the white snow           glory" and their "diadem of beauty"
cious. He is "the God of all grace."            of winter is the attractiveness of God.       (Is. 28:5). Believers are beautiful be-
That means, first of all, that all grace        God's grace was manifested in the             cause their God is! But also, when
is found in God Himself; and then,              Old Testament in the                                        God saves His own, He
secondly, that He is the source of all          appearance of the priests                                   gives them "beauty for
grace in the creature. For, as we shall         and the temple. Aaron's                                     ashes" (Is.  61:3). He
see, grace is one of those communicable         holy garments (includ-             The beauty               gives them the beauty of
attributes of God, given to and found           ing his breastplate, robe,      of a sunset over           forgiveness and peace
in His elect people through Jesus               and mitre) were made            Lake Michigan              withHim;  He gives them
Christ.                                         "for glory and for                                         the beauty of Christ's
                                                                                       is the
                                                beauty" @x.28:2). When                                     righteousness and of life
The Basic Idea - Beauty                                                          beauty 
                                                Solomon had the temple                       of God.       with Him. And then,
         What is God's grace? The basic         constructed, he covered                                    too, when God saves His
idea of grace is to be found in Psalm           much of it with gold and                                   people, He adorns them
                                                "garnished it with precious stones for       with His own beauty. He replaces the
                                                beauty" (II Chron. 3:6). And because          ugliness of their sin with the beauty of
                                                GodHimselfdwelledwithHispeople                a new heart and a holy life which
                                                in that sanctuary, "`strength and             reflect the `very beauty of God's na-
Rev. Terpsfra is pastor of the Profestanf       beauty" were there, and His people            ture. This is the real beauty of the
Reformed Church of Squth.~olland,  Illi-        were called to "worship.the  LORD in          saints! Do you find your fellow be-
nois.                         ^._ -             the beauty of holiness" (Ps. 96:6) 9).        lievers attractive for these reasons?

                                                                                                    Febrk& 1, 196Wtandard Bear&k


Undeserved Favor                               attitude shown only to the elect. Be-         way to describe and remember God's
    The second main idea of God's              cause He is sovereign, God deter-             abundant grace.
graceinScriptureisthatofundeserved             mines to whom He will show His                    Fourth, it is stressed throughout
favor. The beauty of God's grace is            saving favor: "And (I) will be gra-           Scripture that God's favor-grace is
not something He hides within Him-             cious to whom I will be gracious" (Ex.        absolutelyfree and wholly  unmerited.
self, keeping only for Himself; it is a        33:19). He has determined to be gra-          To be saved by grace means to be
perfection which He reveals to sin-            cious to and bless not all men but            saved without any worthiness of our
ners. When the Scriptures describe             some only, namely those whom He               own, without any merit of our own,
this aspect of God's grace,they  speak         has chosen in Christ. According to            without any deserving of our own,
of Him as being gracious (cf. Ex. 34:6         Scripture the stream of God's saving          and without any works of our own.
above; Ps. 86:15; 103:8; 116:5). And           grace flows down one streambed  -             Grace ever stands opposed to works
when this beauteous                                           Jesus Christ (cf. Jn. 1:14;    and merit: Romans  4:4, 5;  11:6;
grace shines outside                                          Rom. 1:7; II Cor. 13:14).      Ephesians 29. It is, after all, favor
Himself, it manifests it-                                     And in order to receive        shown to sinners -guilty, depraved,
self as an attitude of fa-             . ..outside            Christ's fullness- and         wicked sinners as ourselves! And
vor, as a heart of good-        of  Christ there is           "grace for grace" (Jn.         therefore it is favor shown to the ill-
ness, and as a hand of            no favor and                1:16), one must be "in"        deserving and to the hell-deserving!
blessing  - all of which          no salvah'on,               Him, i.e., united to Him.      J.I. Packer speaks to this in his book,
iswhollyundeservedby                                          This union is by God's
                                       only God's                                            Khowing God: "The grace of God is
the sinner. Arthur Pink                                       gracious election and by       ,love freely shown towards guilty sin-
defines it this way: "Di-              consuming              His gift of faith (Rom.        ners, contrary to their merit and in
vine grace is the sover-                disfavor              9:6-16;2Tim. 1:9; Jn. 1:12,    defiance of their demerit: It is God
eign and saving favor of               and curse.             13). Hence, outside of         showing goodness to persons who
God exercised in the                                          Christ there is no favor       deserve only severity, and had no
bestowment of blessings                                       and no salvation, only         reason to expect anything but sever-
upon those who have no merit in                God's consuming disfavor and curse.           ity" (p. 120). But let us not forget that
them and for which no compensation             Pinkalso confirms the particularity of        while this grace is free to us, it was
is demanded from them" (The At-                God's grace where he writes: "Grace           costly to God and to Jesus Christ. It
tributes of God, p. 66).                       is a perfection of the Divine character       cost God His Son and it cost Christ
    There are a number of important            which is exercised only toward the            His life. Indeed, grace is God's riches
elements to this aspect of God's grace.        elect. Neither in the Old Testament           at Christ's expense!
First, the favor of which Scripture            nor in the New is the grace of God
speaks is a  saving  favor. It is an           ever mentioned in connection with             Divine Power
attitude of God's beautiful nature             mankind generally.... Grace is the                The thirdmainideaof God's grace
which saves the sinner. This needs to          sole source from which flows the              in Scripture is that it is His power to
be stressed because there have been            goodwill, love, and salvation of God          do all things He has determined to do
those in the Reformed camp who have            unto His chosen people" (Attributes,          for His people, and the power by
taught that God has a "common                  p. 66).                                       which they are enabled to do all that
grace" or "general favorN for all men.                Third, God's favor-grace is abun-      He commands them to do. God's
But this cannot be, if God's grace is         dant. It manifests itself in countless         beauty and favor is also I-& might
saving - unless one desires to be a           benefits which God bestows on I$Iis            whereby He actually delivers His
full-blown universalist, holding that         people. The Scripture refers to this           people from their sins and misery,
all men are saved. According to Scrip-        whenit speaks of the "riches" of God's         raises them from death to life, trans-
ture there is only one kind of grace -         grace (cf. Eph. 1:7; 2:7). When God           forms them from ugly sinners into
saving grace. "For by grace are ye             showsHissavingfavoronHispeople,               beautiful saints, keeps them in this
saved, II says Ephesians 2% In Psalm          He does not deal stingily with them;           world of sin and darkness, and brings
106:4  the psalmist identifies God's          He showers His blessings on them!              them into eternal glory (Eph. 2:1-8).
favor with His salvation (cf. above).         He gives to His own out of the abun-           God's grace is His sovereign strength
Throughout Scripture God's favor               dance of His own heart and through            worked in the elect by which they are
accounts for the whole of His people's        the generosity of His own hand! He             enabled to bring forth the fruits of
salvation. It is by grace that they are        does not even spare I-&own Sonbut             repentance and good works in their
chosen, redeemed, regenerated,                 gives Him up for His peopie,  iynd            lives, to obey His Word; to~mamtain a
called, given faith, justified, sancti-        therefore freely gives them all things        life of prayer, to grow in spiritual
fied, preserved, and glorified. God's         with Him (Rom. 8:32). With this in             character, and to walkin holiness(Ti.
beautiful favor is saving.                    mind it is sometimes said that the             2:11:14).:  God'sgrace is His saving
: Second, this saving attitude of             word "grace", stands for God's&iches           power which sustains:andstrength-
God is particular. It is a favorable          At Christ's Extien&- Thatis a good             ens believers in their trials and

SOB/Standard Bearer/February 1,1994


troubles and temptations andtribula-              of the God of all grace calls for our         grace calls for returning grace on our
tions in this present world (II Cor.              response of gratitude. Fittingly, the         part. To "say grace" is to render
12:9, 10). This is why as Reformed                New Testament word for grace also             thanks to the Lord for all His saving
Christians we hold that God's grace is            has the meaning of "thanks," as in II         beauty, favor, and power. Are you a
always  efficacious  and  all-sufficient.         Corinthians 9:15: "Thanks be unto             recipient of this amazing grace? Then
                                                  God for his unspeakable gift." The            return His grace to Him by giving
The Response of Thankfulness                      revelation and reception of God's             Him thanks! 0
       This beauty and favor and power




                              Counseling Those
                 with Marital Problems (2)

       Our dealing with marital prob-             marriage is God's reward to those             Though most of the world today ab-
lems in the church must center in                 who fear Him and who keep His                 solutely mocks God's order for mar-
maintaining and teaching authorita-               commandments. God's people need               riage, we firmly believe that marital
tively, but also compassionately and              toberemindedofthisagainandagain.              problems can be solved only where
skillfully, the great biblical principles             The Lord has outlined the role of         God's order is restored, as difficult as
of marriage. The most basic principle             each partner in marriage. The hus-            thatmaybeinourmodem-dayworld.
is that marriage is an institution of             band is called to be the head of his              The Lord intended that marriage
God, not merely an invention of men.              wife. This is a calling of greatest           should be a communion of life be-
Because marriage is an ordinance of               responsibility. This role does not give       tween husband and wife. That is the
God, God Himself has given to us a                the husband the right to be a self-           heart of marriage. There can be no
definite order and pattern for mar-               seeking and cruel tyrant over his wife.       happy marriage unless communion,
riage in His Word. That pattern is                He has the calling to lead his wife           friendship,andfellowshipisfostered.
good and wise because it was estab-               spiritually in the way of the Lord. The       The chief part of that communion in
lished by the good and wise God.                  Bible calls the husband to nourish and        Christian marriage must be commun-
       That basic pattern is the same for         cherish his wife, to be kind and gentle       ion of husband and wife together with
allages.  Themodern-day philosophy                to her because she is the weaker sex.         the Lord. Many modern-day life-
that seeks to overthrow this pattern              He has the calling to protect and sup-        styles make no provision for this com-
must.by all means be resisted. The                port his wife in all of life. The greatest    munion. Husbands and wives have
calling of God's people in marriage is            responsibility for the welfare of mar-        their separate careers and hardly live
to live according to God's order in the           riage is the husbands. Those who              one life together. Both are often so
fear of the Lord and for His glory.               ignore this calling can expect trouble        busythattheyhavelittletimeforeach
This is the highest calling for mar-              in marriage. The wife has the calling         other. So much of this busyness is
riage. The first objective of marriage            to serve her husband as helpmeet,             nothing but crass worldliness and
is not our own pleasure and satisfac-             submitting herself to his authority.          materialism. The wife who does not
tion, certainly not the gratification of          She is called to be the keeper of the         make keeping the home for her hus-
our own lusts. It is not even first of all        house, to care both for her husband           band and children the main occupa-
the pursuit of our own happiness and              and the children.                             tion in life, but consumes all her ener-
fulfillment. Rather, the highest call-                These are the simple and plain            gies with her worldly career, will have
ing we have in marriage is to serve the           teachings of the Word of God. No one          little energy, time, or interest to com-
Lqrd and to live in marriage in a way             can violate God's rules for marriage          mune with her husband. She will
that is.pleasing.to I-Iim._Happiness  in
 .I  _  ."                                        without suffering the consequences            create a great conflict within herself
        .I?.     `,
 `.                           .::.  i'            of trouble in marriage. As pastors we         because of guilt feelings regarding
                                       ._         need to he16  build broken marriages          the neglect of her children.
                                                  according to the pattern of the Scrip-
Xev. denHartogis pastor of HopepLotes-                                                              Likewise the husband who has
                                                  tur,es, in the conviction that this alone
t&ft  Rtjorliied  Church iiz~Redlhnd$Cali~                                                      wrongly, made his career the main
f&-n&            :I,    L      ,`:     .:    _    &R-bring flte blessing of the Lord.           thing in his life; for which he con-

                                                                                                      February 1,19dlStandard Bearet7h7


sumes all his time and energy, will            people must be admonishednot to try           feelings of resentment and bitterness
not be able to live in true communion          to escape these problems by breaking          between husband and wife that de-
with his wife. When he comes home              their marriages, but rather to work           stroys marriages. To say that sin is the
he will be irritable. He will not have         very hard at overcoming them. This            cause of all marital problems is not
the time and energy to deal properly           may take a long time and may mean             saying something simplistic and ir-
with his marriage and the problems             that one must suffer grievous wrong           relevant. It is not psychological, or
that arise in it. He will not be able to       from his marriage partner, but this is        social problems, or innocent person-
give himself as he should to leading           the will of the Lord. Most important          ality differences, or hopeless incom-
his family. If his wife is staying at          of all, exactly because marriage is of        patibility that causes marital prob-
home to care for the children he will          the Lord there is hope for solving the        lems. It is plainly and definitely sin.
have little energy to sup-                                   problemswefaceinmar-                  When dealing with marital prob-
port his wife and truly                                      riage by the power of the       lems we need to realize the compli-
share with her the bur-                  Pastoral            grace of God.                   cated and involved character of sin.
den of rearing the chil-                                         Pastors need con-           Sin is a terrible monster that grips
dren. The communion                     counseling           stantly to remind mar-          mantightlyandbecloudsallhisthink-
of marriage must be fos-           must  operate             ried couples of their call-     ing and judgments. Our calling as
tered by the husband.                     within             ingtolivewiththeirpart-         pastors is to help couples unravel the
He must be ready to               the framework              ners in the love of God.        tangled web of a sinful life that has
share his life with his           that according             The love that God re-           resulted in the breakdown of their
wife and take a genuine                                      quires of us in marriage        marriage. It is seldom that one sin
interest in her life in the       to God's Word              must be clearly distin-         alone brings a marriage to ruin. It is
home. If either partner                 marriage is          guishedfromthewicked            a complicated mass of sin. God's
fails to work towards             an absolutely              and depraved notions of         people often need to be shown in
the communion of mar-              unbreakable               "love" present in the           great detail and very specifically
riage the heart of their                  bond.              world. Pastors need to          where and how exactly they have
marriage will die.                                           teach that such love is         sinned against their partner.
     Pastoral counseling                                     firstofalltheloveofGod,               In our pastoral labors we need to
must operatewithin the                                       the love that comes from        show God's people again and again
framework that according to God's              God, and that is characterized by the         especially the horriblenature of sexual
Word marriage is an absolutely un-             holiness and truth of God. It is a gift       sins. The Bible singles out this sin as
breakable bond. There may be no-               that we must receive from God                 a particularly awful sin. (See I
compromise on this. The godly pas-             through daily prayer together as hus-         Corinthians 6.) There is a definite
tor certainly does not suggest that if         band and wife. We need to teach that          reason why this sin alone, according
the problems in a marriage are too             love is first of all a command of God.        to the Lord's permission, is ground
great it is better for a couple to be          We are under solemn obligation to             for separation. The extra-marital es-
separated. Onlyveryrarelywould he              `obey that command of                                       capade of evil, adulter-
counsel separation, when there is con-         the Lord in our mar-                                        ous pleasure is abomi-
tinual violence in the home, for ex-           riages. That takes con-                                     nable before God and
ample, or when an ungodly partner              stant work and much               There is hope             does unspeakably griev-
wants to depart, as Paul permits in I          effort. It is a holy love        for couples in             ous hurt to marriage.
Corinthians 7. God made marriage               that demands dailyself-                 marital                 Pastors needto help
an unbreakable bond for good, for the          sacrifice and self-denial,                                  couples in marital prob-
                                                                                       problems
glory of His own name, and in order            something which is to-                                      lems face the seriousness
                                                                                  at the cross
that it might reflect the love and faith-      tally opposite `to all the                                  of all their sins and rm-
fulness of Christ for His church.              philosophy of the world.         of Jesus Christ            derstand the grievous
Couples must be told that they have                  We need to main-              and in the              consequences of those
no other optionbefore the Lordbut to           tain the biblical position               power              sins for their marriages.
work towards the resolution of their           that marital problems,           of                         Marital problems cannot
                                                                                       forgiveness.
problems and the restoration of their          as all other great prob-                                    be overcome unless sin
marriages.                                     lems of human relations,                                    is dealt with in a biblical
    It is a great evil that so many            are sin related. Our sins                                   way, truly confessed,
counselorstodayareadvisingcouples              are awful, first of all, because they are     and forsaken by the grace of God.
who are having serious problems that           committed against God. They are               Husbands and wives need to be
they are better off separating. What           awful also because they do great hurt         brought to the cross of Jesus Christ for
God has joined together let not man            to our partners and do great damage           forgivenessandrestoration. Nomari-
put asunder." Marriage problems                to our marriage. Sin that is not con-         tal problem can be truly solved unless
may be extremely difficult. God's              fessedandrepentedof cancause deep             that is done. That is the great work of

208lStandard  Bearer/February 1,1994


     the true pastor. There is hope for            the church, marriages will sometimes        ment to continue their Christian life.
     couples in marital problems at the            break down even after much pastoral         Especially important is helping such
     cross of Jesus Christ and in the power        labors. Sometimes there are innocent        a person to live as a single Christian
     of forgiveness. There is hope in the          victims of these breakdowns, wives          fortherestofhislifeforthesakeofthe
     power of the grace and Spirit of the          or husbands who have been cruelly           honor of the name of the Lord. This
     Lord to restore the broken and devas-         treated and cast aside. Sometimes           oftenwillbeverydifficult. Suchsheep
     tated marriage, no matter how ter-            only one partner of a marriage will         need much care and support.
     rible and hopeless the situationmight         truly repent. Such people need a lot of           May the Lord make us faithful
     seem to be before men.                        pastoral counseling and encourage-          pastors and shepherds of His flock. 0
              Because there areungodly menin



                                                   The Cross
                         g~tid a Frustrated Devil!
                                           (Luke 10:18; Revelation 12)

              A close friend in the Lord died      God to His glory and the ultimate                 God was always protecting His
     some time ago. Another friend and I           goodofHispeople.  Inthisweseethat           prophet. The prophet knew this-by
     were rejoicing over her homecoming            even these frustrated onslaughts of         faith. But only the eyes of faith could
     in heaven, in spite of the devil's at-        the devil are part of God's great plan,     perceive this. May God grant us such
     tempts to discourage her at the end.          in spite of Satan's intention to the        faith to see how absolutely frustrated
     The brother to whom I was talking,            contrary.                                   .our enemy really is, because of the
     made a statement along this line:                 However, to see this biblical doc-      Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and
                                                   trine, and to believe it, requires the      King.
       The devil is the most frustratedbeing       eyes of faith. Only faith looks ahead
       in all the universe. Everything he          totheend,.whenallthingsarebrought           I.    The Biblical History
       tries, in his war against God, is taken     togetherinCh&  (Eph. l:lO-11).  Only
       upandusedbyGodtoadvanceGod'6                                                            of the Devil's Frustration
       kingdom.                                    faith can see the eternal realities of            A. The devil's war against God
                                                   God's Word, through the temporal                  As soon as this earth and its first
              This is a most important biblical    illusions of the devil, the master illu-    inhabitants are created, we find Satan
     doctrine. In every way, at all times          sionist. Only God can open up the           at work trying to spoil Gods perfect
     and in all. places, -in everything he         eyes of our minds, so we can see the        world. Satan especially tries to de-
     attempts, the devil is frustrated. His        reality obscured to our earthly vision      stroy Adam and Eve and their de-
     war against the God of Heaven is              by these demonic magic tricks. God          scendants; they were made in God's
     always;and  everywhere, and in ev-            does this by His Word, as. the Holy         image, and Satan hates God. Satan
     ery way, an absolute failure. Further-        Spirit illuminates our minds and en-        appears, at first glance, successful.
     more, every attempt of Satan to thwart        ables us to perceive the truth.                   Even before this time we find that
     and defeat God's plan of eternal sal-             We must cry out for spiritual vi-       Satan has rebelled against Gods au-
I    vation  for His elect people of grace is      sion, as Elisha cried out for his ser-      thority. In Isaiah 14, as the prophet is
     not only unsuccessful, but invariably         vant, when his servant was terrified        prophesying against the wicked king
     these demonic attacks are used by             because a Syrian army had sur-              of Babylon, he suddenly seems to
       ,'       I                                  rounded their town. God responded           begin to speak of someone who has
      :.  .:                                       to Elisha's prayer, and opened the          attempted to usurp God's throne, but
                                                   eyes of the servant, and what does the      has been thrown down. God alone is
                                                   sacred text tell us? "... and he looked     God! Throughout the centuries, many
     Rev. Tomlinson is pastor of the First         and saw the hills full of horses and        scholars have been persuaded that
I    Congregational Church of Merrimack,           chariots of fire all around Elisha" (II     the prophet in theseverses has ceased
I    NH. ,                                         Kings 6).                                   to speak of the king of Babylon, and

                                                                                                        Febniary 1,1994/ESan&mf  Bearer/209


 has begun to speak of the power be-         Romans: all of these are Satan's weap-        Can we not see here Satan's most
 hind the king of Babylon's wicked-          ons. By direct attack and war; and            desperate and all-out attack on the
ness, the devil. "How you have fallen        more subtly by infiltration and temp-         God of heaven?
 from Heaven, 0 morning Star, son of         tation to compromise and disobey                   Finally, his attack on the church. -
the dawn."                                   God's covenant, Satan makes war.              Temptations to sin, controversies and
     In Ezekiel 28, this happens again,           Oh, how he attacks God's people!         divisions, heretics and false doctrine,
 only this time in the midst of an oracle    In Esther's day the order went out to         even persecution and martyrdom.
 against the king of Tyre.                   all the nations to exterminate the Jew-            We see in the biblical record, and
                                             ish people. Pharaoh would have all            in subsequent church history, an an-
   You were the model of perfection,         the boy babies drowned, so that the           gry devil carrying on a long war
   fullofwisdomandperfectinbeauty.           nation of Israel would not multiply.          against God and Gods people. We
   You were in Eden, the garden of           The Midianites attack, an invading            see a devil cast out of heaven, filled
   God.... Youwereanointedasaguard-          army so huge it cannot be numbered.
   ian cherub, for so I ordained you....                                                   withgreat rage against God. So God's
   You were blameless in your ways                But beyond all this, this war            people are warned (Rev. 12) that he
   from the day you were created tiil        againstGod'.speopleisseeninSatan's            will try to vent his spite on Gods
   wickedness was found in you.... So        efforts to destroy the line of David.         representative, the followers of Jesus
   I drove you in disgrace from the          God had promised to send, of the line         Christ.
   mount of God,and I expelled you, 0        of David, a Ring who would fulfill all             The ded's  war against God!
   guardian cherub.... Your heart be-        Gods good promises for His people
   came proud on account of your             of faith.                                          B. The devil's absolute frustra-
  beauty,andyoucorruptedyourwis-                  Normally this attack took the form       tion and ultimate impotency!
   dom because of your splendor. So I
   threw you to the earth; I made a          of temptation; that is, Satan's goal               Even in the garden, God says to
   spectacle of you before kings.            was spiritual destruction. Solomon's          the serpent, "I will put enmity be-
                                             wives andidolatry. Rehoboam's fool-           tween you and the women, and be-
     In Revelation 12, Satan (alias the      ish pride. Asa's backsliding. Godly           tween your seed and hers; he will
devil, the serpent who tempted Eve,          Jehoshaphat's lack of biblical separa-        crush your head, and you will strike
and the great red Dragon) rebels             tion. His son's unlawful marriage.            his heel." Here is God's revelation of
against God but is cast down to earth,       Ahaz's idolatry. Manassah's total             His plan to save, by the crucifixion of
absolutely losing the war. His tail          spite for GodandHislaws.  Zedekiah's          our Lord Jesus Christ, His elect, from
sweeps down a third of the stars of          rejection of God's call.                      Satan's attacks. Jesus, by His own
heaven. These are the angels who                  And there were even directphysi-         death, will absolutely destroy the
foolishly side with Satan against God,       cal attacks. Egypt and Babylon killed         devil! From the beginning God dem-
but are defeated and cast down with          some of David's line. Wicked Atha-            onstrates that nothing Satan does
him. They are no longer angels but           liah murders all her male descen-             takes God by surprise. All demonic
are now called demons or unclean             dants; but God preserves one little           attacks against Gods kingdom are
spirits.                                     descendant of David, one year-old             used by God to fulfill His ultimate.
     So this cosmic rebel ties to frus-      Joash. A vast army of Assyrians sur-          plan of good for that kingdom.
trate Gods plan of good for Adam             rounds good king Hezekiah, and                    God preserves Abraham and his
and his seed, by the temptation in the       Gods angel slays 185,000 of them in           seed. Hepresenresa  faithfulremnant
Garden. But that is not all. He also         one night, to protect this son of David.      in Israel, even during the most wicked
tempts Cain to murder his brother.              And I have not even mentioned              times. He protects the line of David.
He is the source of the temptations          the droughts, the famines, the many           He chastises; He judges His people's
that resulted in widespread corrup-          wars, the civil wars, the national            idolatry; He exiles. But there exists
tion in Noah's day. By temptation to         back&dings, the hiding of Gods Law            the seed of Abraham, when the time
sin from within, and by attacks from         book, etc. The eye of faith sees the deuil    comes for Abraham's blessing for the
enemies without, Satan ties to stop          behind all these troubles!                    world to be born in Bethlehem. There
God's good plan for His people.                  And Satan's ultimate war against          is a line of David, when the Son of
    We see this especially in his at-        God - his attacks on the Lord Jesus           David comes to build Gods true
tempt to destroy Abraham's seed, the         Christ, who is both God and perfect           temple,apeopleindweltbyHisSpirit.
chosen nation. Israel's own sin and          Man.  Herod's  attempt to destroy             The Son of man does not die by stones
idolatry, the Egyptians, the Philis-         baby Jesus. The Jews' attempts to             or by a fall from a rocky cliff, or by
tines, the Edomites, the Ammo&es,            stone Jesus, to throw Him off a cliff, to     Herod's  sword. His church is pro-
the Amalekites, the various Canaanite        bring legal charges against Him.              tected, disciplined, and preserved, in
peoples; then later, the Syrians, the        Pilate's refusal to carry out justice.        spite of the heresies, the divisions, the
Assyrians, theBabylonians,  theMedes         The Roman soldiers crucifying the             sin, the persecution, and the martyr-
and the Persians, the Greeks, and the        Son of God; His blood and agony. A            doms. These evils are actually used to
                                             cold, lifeless body, laid in a cold cave.     purify and cleanse, to mature, to cause
21 O/Standard Bearer /February 1,1994


Gods people to learnlessons of faith,        star of the morning, the apostate          the people God would have us to be.
patience, and trust in Gods sover-           cherub!                                    We learn obedience by our suffering,
eignty.                                                                                 following in the footsteps of the Son
     But the climax of Satan's attack is     II. Our Own History of the Devil's         of God. We even find an evidence for,
itself also the climax of his frustration    Frustration, as Believers in the Lord      and derive an assurance of, our eter-
and defeat. He uses wicked desires in        Jesus Christ!                              nal salvation by these trials. God
human hearts to crucify the Son of               Satan would have kept you out of       disciplines every son He is preparing
God. His ultimate victory over God?          Gods Kingdom from the start, but           for glory!
No! His absolute defeat! The cross,          Gods Spirit called you by the Word              Satan would keep you from eter-
and the resurrection made possible           and wooed you (as a lover woos a           nal glory. He would have you burn in
by the cross, spell the end of Satan.        lover), and you came to faith in the       Hell! But he is frustrated and de-
God has taken Satan's ultimate               Lord Jesus Christ and repented of          feated by the power of the Lord Jesus
weapon against God, and used it de-          your sins.                                 Christ. This is true for all God's elect
cisively as His ultimate weapon to               Satan would like to trip you up,       people of grace.
destroy Satan. For now the sin of            with evil schemes, with temptations
God's people is atoned for, redemp-          of the world and the flesh, with com-      They overcame him
tion and salvation are complete, death       promiseandapathyandlaziness. But               by the blood of the Lamb
is conquered, the world of sin is over-      the work God begins, He completes.             and by the word of their testi-
come!                                        So He disciplines you; He speaks to                 mony;
                                             your heart by His Spirit through the       They did not love their lives so much
  Since the children have flesh and          Word; and the Spirit continues His             as to shrink from death
  blood, he too shared in their human-       leading ministry, sanctifying you by                                     (Rev. 12:ll)
  ity, so that by his death he might         the power of Christ's cross and resur-
  destroy him who holds the power  of
  death-that is, the devil - and free        rection.                                   III. Conclusion
  those who all their lives were held in         The Lord Jesus Christ has pro-             Are you trusting in the blood of
  slavery by their fear of death (Heb.       vided on His cross for your full atone-    the Lamb for your forgiveness and
  2:14,15).                                  ment from sin and your complete            salvation from sin? Are you follow-
                                             reconciliation with God. "It is fin-       ing God's Word, so that you can per-
    After His disciples returned, joy-       ished!"                                    sonally testify of His power and love
ful because they could cast out the              And the Spirit teaches you les-        in Jesus Christ the Lord? Have you
demons in His Name, Jesus said to            sons by these temptations and even         thrown away your old life, and come
them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning       by your failures: lessons about God's      to the Lord Jesus for life, willing even
from heaven" (Luke 10:18).  Jesus had        power and your sinfulness, lessons         to die for Him? "He that would save
given this power to His disciples, and       about trusting God, and lessons about      his life will lose it. But he who loses
it was a sign of His victory over the        the fear of God and the joys of obedi-     his life, for my sake and for the
d e v i l .                                  ence.                                      Gospel's sake, will save it to life eter-
    In Revelation 12, the Son is born,           Satan would discourage you by          nal."
carries out His ministry, and returns        trials and troubles. Frustrated dreams         If you can honestly answer "yes"
to the Father; Satan loses the war and       and goals, death of loved ones and the     to the above questions, then know
is thrown down from heaven forever!          accompanying grief, desertions or          this: the cross of Jesus Christ guaran-
Jesus will come again! And the devil,        betrayals by loved ones or friends,        tees you the following! In every way,
who was bound for a thousand years           sickness, pain, financial setbacks.        in all things, at all times, Satan is
(a symbol of the Gospel age) by the          Disappointments and tribulations of        frustrated and defeated. Because of
preaching of the gospel, is finally cast     every name, shape, and form.               the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
into the lake of fire and brimstone              But the Lord Jesus Christ uses all     God will be glorified in all things and
forever. And with him are all his            these satanic weapons as sanctifying       all His people with Him! Satan's
followers, human and demonic. But            tools. He teaches us to depend on His      greatest weapon against God andHis
a22 God's elect are glorified and in         love and power, to know He is always       people hasbeen turned against him to
eternal bliss!                               in charge, no matter what is happen-       his own final destruction!
    This is biblical history! The eyes       ing. He shows us that we can do all            In every way, in all things, at all
of faith alone can see it! The story of      things through Christ who strength:        times, Satan is frustrated and defeated.
God's absolute victory over the devil,       ens us. We learn our weaknesses and        The devil does not want you to see
through the Gospel of Jesus Christ!          limitations -yes! But we also learn        this; he longs to make God's children
At every point,. in every way, at all        Gods power, and learn to trust in His      miserable and discouraged! He is a
times, God is defeating the devil.           love!                                      sore loser! Ask God to open your eyes
There is no being in the universe more           We grow in our faith, love, and        to see the horses and chariots of fire
frustrated than Lucifer, the former          purity. We become more and more            surrounding all Gods children! 0

                                                                                                 February 1,lQWStandard Bearer/21 1


                The New Age Movement
                            and Entertainment

(At the September 1993 meeting of the         religions of Hinduism and Zen Bud-              In the 1960s and perhaps even
Eastern League of Men's and Ladies'           dhism. Other young people left their        more so in the 197Os, as in no prior
Societies, Rev. Bruinsma spoke on the         college campuses in marches and pro-        time in history, there was a synthesis
above topic. The substance of his speech      tests, some peaceful and others not so      of Eastern and Western mysticism.
will appear in this rubric in two install-    peaceful, in order to change the struc-     The mysticism of the Eastern reli-
ments, the first  of  which follows here.)    ture of society.                            gions of Hinduism, Zen Buddhism,
                                                  Few were left unscathed by the          and Chinese Taoism was blended to-
        A different spirit prevails in the    1960s. The decade brought nothing           gether with the radical occultism of
world today as compared to, say, 40           short of a revolution in culture. And       Western mysticism. Given the well-
years ago. Many who have lived                this change in popular culture was          fertilized seedbed  of humanism, the
through these years perhaps did not           not simply a passing fad; it began a        fundamental teachings of mysticism
even notice the change. This is true          movement that has affected the course       have taken solid root in our country
because the change was gradual, and,          of history to the present day.              and culture - and even in the world!
more than these people realize, their             The counter-culture of the 1960s        This is the New Age Movement!
own world-and-life view has been              has given rise to a movement that was           TheMovement  of which we speak
shaped by the events that took place          heralded then as the "Age of                is not an organization. It is not an
during these years. This can be said          Aquarius." Today it is called the           institution that can be identified with
not only of the world in generalbut of        "New Age Movement." It is true that         any certain building. It is, rather, a
the church in the world as well.              the hippies of the 1960s have cut their     newworld-and-lifeviewthathasbeen
        But what has happened to effect       hair and taken off their peace signs.       adopted by the general population of
this great change?                            We do not today see the protests and        our country and world. It is a new
        The 1960s happened! WritesKen-        marches that were so prevalent then.        way of thinking a way not at all
neth A. Myers in his book on popular          On the surface, things seem to have         shaped by the norms of God's Word
culture, entitled,  AI2 God's Children        settled down. But the frightening fact      or governed by the morals set forth in
and BZue Suede Shoes, "Hell had been          is this: the young people of the sixties    the Scriptures, but a way of thinking
waiting in the wings for over a cen-          are now in control of our country and       that is directly opposed to the God
tury; it finally broke loose in the           culture! This struck me when just           and the Christ of the Scriptures. In
1960s." Young people, disillusioned           recently I read in Time magazine an         other words, the New Age Move-
with the threat of nuclear holocaust,         article describing the present lives of     mentis nothing else than the "spirit of
social inequality, and the stale              several individuals who were radical        antichrist." It is the force which Paul
moralisms of an apostate church went          revolutionaries in the sixties. After       in II Thessalonians  2:7 identifies as
to the streets in protest. There were         serving prison terms one went on to         "the mystery of iniquity." The New
the hippies who paraded with their            become a sociologist and another a          Age Movement is a humanistic phi-
peace signs, crying out for love. They        lawyer. This same generation which          losophy that more and more prevails
rebelled against all establishment and        has rejected Christian values, spit on      in our society. And it has tentacles
sought their peace in hallucinogenic          the Bible, and trampled God's law           reaching out into every sphere of life.
drugs such as marijuana and LSD.              underfoot in the sixties is in charge of    `Satan has gone out to deceive the
They embraced the Eastern mystical            the media and entertainment today.          nations! This is the New Age Move-
                                              But we will consider that in a mo-          ment.
                                              ment.                                           WhyisitcalledtheNaoAgeMove-
                                                  First of all, we wish to consider
Rev. Bruinsma is pastor  of  First Protes-                                                ment? Becausethosewhoconsciously
                                              what this New Age Movement is, and
tant Reformed Church in Holland, Michi-                                                   adhere to its teachings believe that
                                              what it teaches.
gan.                                                                                      our world is headed toward a New

212lStandard  Bearer/February 1,1994


Age - an age in which all the social,             Now,Irealizethatthismaysound              table of the Lord. (Our form certainly
economic, and medical problems of             a bit bizarre and unbelievable. But           isnot outdated!) Though condemned
our world will be solved. It will be an       the truth is that there are many today        by God, these very sins are propa-
age of perfect peace and happiness,           who in fact believe this is true of man.      gated by the New Age Movement as
an age in which man will have finally         And they set themselves to the taskof         a way to discover unlimited power
achieved for himself                                        discovering that higher         and happiness in life! And the vast
perfection. It willbe an                                    self, that altered state of     majority of the people of our world
age in which man will                                       consciousness, through  .,
                                 . ..the New Age                                            have accepted them! Statistics show
have discovered his full                                    various means. Medita-          that about 70% of the people of the
human potential and                 Movement                tion is the most popular.       United States believe in this in one
will control his own             is nothing else            Drugs have been used.           way or another!
destiny. It is not diffi-             than the              Yoga is a trigger. Fan-             A second error of the New Age
cult to recognize that                 "spitit              tasy,     visualization,        religion is that there is no objective
"new age" after which                                       guidedimagery#biofeed-
                                  of antichris ti "                                         right or wrong. This is inherent in the
our world strives, is it?                                   back, and so on- all are        teaching that manis God. If I am God,
ItistheageofAntichrist.                                     means by which we can           then I determine for myself-not for
And the movement so                                         trigger a trance-like state     another, mind you, but for myself -
influential in our world today is that        and get in touch with our godhead.            what is right and wrong. Others have
which will eventually usher in that               If we can do this, the New Age            to discover what is right and wrong
New Age.                                      optimist declares, then we can achieve        for themselves. I may not stand in
    But what are the fundamental              anything we desire. We can discover           judgment of what they do. What is
teachings of the New Age that have            in ourselves  alI the happiness, joy,         right for them is right for them, and
become the order of the day? All the          and peace we need in this world. If           what is right for me is right for me.
errors of this godless movement flow          we can "feel" knowledge, then we can          This is the teaching of the Eastern
out of one basic claim that the New           discover unlimited human potential.           religion called Taoism. Life is made
Ager makes: man is God. But this              If Ifeel that I can jump 30 feet, and if I    up of yin and yang (maybe you have
view of man is more than simple               concentrate or meditate for a time on         seen the symbol on shirts or jewelry).
humanism. At root it is pantheism.            that feeling, then I can jump thirty          Everything consists of opposites. If
All of the universe and every life form       feet. If I feel myself attacking the          there is light, it exists in relation to
in it is God, the New Age proponent           cancer cells that have pervaded my            darkness. The male cannot exist with-
declares. Thereisineverythingliving           body, then I can cure myself from             out the female, benevolence cannot
a certain life-force, a certain innate        disease. All we are and all we need is        exist without malevolence. And so
power, that is itself, God. And as            to be found in ourselves, in the life-        we could continue. What we might
much as every creature partakes of            force within us. We are God.                  consider right and what we might
this life-force, be it plant, animal, man,        Itisforthisveryreasonthatmany             consider wrong are simply two poles
or some extra-terrestrial being that          who are involved in the New Age are           of one reality. Both are necessary.
creatureisGod.  Thislife-forceinman           also involved in occultism. They be-          Wrong is right and right is wrong.
is what makes us God too.                     come involved in what we call white,              This God-defyingphilosophy has
    The human species has finally             or black, magic. We ought to be fully         spread like wildfire in our society.
evolved to that point where it under-         aware of this whole aspect of the New         God declares (Is. 5:20,21), "Woe unto
stands this about itself. But the vast        Age Movement. It has had the great-           them that call evil good, and good
majority of men and women have not            est impact on television and music -          evil; that put darkness for light, and
yet discovered how to tap into that           especially, believe it or not, cartoons.      light for darkness; that put bitter for
higherlife-forceinthemandfindtheir            The occultist believes that  man can          sweet, andsweetforbitter! Woeunto
divinity. This life-force in us can be        acquire this hidden potential which           them that are wise in their own eyes,
found onlyinan altered state of mind,         he possesses by means of incanta-             and prudent in their own sight!"
a higher consciousness of self. This is       tions, spells, enchantments, necro-           Despite this Word of God the world
true because that life-force in us is         mancy (calling upon the dead), witch-         does exactly that. Abortion - pro-
pure intuition and feeling. Our               craft, sorcery, contacting spirits (good      choice: one can decide for herself if it
godheadcanbediscoveredonlywhen,               or evil), or speaking with beings of          is right for her or wrong for her.
in a trance-like state, we tune into our      another dimension, world, or time.            God'scommand,"Thoushaltnotkill,"
true inner feelings. When we are in           These sins are clearly condemned by           is not determinative. Euthanasia:
that state we can attain knowledge            the Scriptures (Deut. l&9-14). They           same thing. Fornication: if it feels
without the need of reasoning. We             are also condemned by our form for            good, do it. It is up to the individual.
feel  knowledge, because we have              the administration of the Lord's Sup-         No one may impose his will on an-
tapped into the life-force of nature,         per, in the part dealing with those           other. It is narrow-minded and big-
which is God.                                 who must keep themselves from the             oted to condemn another for what he

                                                                                                  February 1,1994/Standard  Brxued213


feels is right for himself. Homosexual-        concrete? Whatever you feel to be               can be entertained?
ity: it's not for me, but if you like it,      good for you at the moment, do it! Do               That is the society in which we
then who am I to condemn you? I                you want money new? Go to Action                live - one that is influenced by New
accept you for who you are. Religion:          24atOldKentBankandgetit.Doyou                   Age thought. I, I, I. What I want . . .
believe what you want                                            want that new dress           and  nuzu. "Get it your way, right
to believe, we are all                                           now, but do not have the      away, at Burger King." "You only go
going to get to heaven                                           money? Charge it on           around once in life, so grab for all the
anyway. And so the list             :.. the New Age              one of your 15 credit         gusto you can get." Or, if it is shoes
! goes on. Do what is right              promotes                cards. Is it two-thirty in    rather than beer, "Just do it!" "You
in your own eyes. That                    instant                the morning and you           deserve a break today, so get up and
is what the New Age                        self-                 have a craving for a          get away, to McDonalds." "I think I
teaches.                            gratification.               snack? Go to a 24hour         am going to color my hair. Why?
       The result of these                                       foodstoreandbuyitnow.         Because I'm worth it!"
two basic errors (and                                            Areyouinterestedinthe             That is the teaching of the New
there are many others)                                           classic  Huckleberry          Age Movement in a nutshell. Man is
is that the New Age promotes instant           Finn? Why spend a day reading the               God. Man and what he feels, there-
self-gratification. Man is of the es-          book? Go to the local video store and           fore, is everything. God and His laws
sence. What he feels is truth.                 rent it and watch the story in two              are nothing. Man does everything for
       How does this translate into the        hours. Why strain the brain, if you             himself and his enjoyment. o




The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back: An                 Its goal is quite simply (1) the cre-      and clear. The style is beautiful. The
Old Heresy for the NewAge,  by Peter                ation of a new humanity, freed of the      approach is popular.
Jones. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R                inhibiting ethical, sexual, and spiri-         This is part of Lawson's comment
Publishing, 1992. 112 pages. $6.95                  tual strictures of out-moded  Christi-     on Proverbs 11:29: "He that troubleth
(paper). [Reviewed by the Editor.]                  anity, and (2) by whatever means
                                                    necessary - civil law, societal pres-      his.own house shall inherit the wind;
                                                    sure, false accusation, ridicule-the       and the fool shall be servant to the
       Presbyterian theologian Peter                elimination of faith in the true bibli-    wise of heart":
Jones makes a convincing case for his               cal God, the Creator and Redeemer
contention that the New Age move-                   of heaven and earth (p. 98).                 A man is a plague to his family when
ment is the reappearance of the an-                                                              he is of a domineering and quarrel-
cient heresy of Gnosticism. The                In this connection Jones introduces               some temper, bursting into passion
apostles themselves and the early              Vice-President Al Gore as the "first              at every trifling omission of his will
post-apostolic church opposed and              New Age contender for the presi-                  and pleasure; when by covetousness
condemned Gnosticism. "The New                                                                   he oppresses his servants and chil-
                                               dency of the United~States"  (p. 100).            dren with bondage and hard labor,
Age," writes Jones, "is in fact a mod-                Peter Jones is professor of New            scarcely allowing them'td enjoyiife;
ern form of ancient Gnosticism" (p.            Testament at Westminster Seminary                 when by prodigality he wastes the
7).                                            in California.  H                               -' bread -and portion of his children;
       Thereaderlearnssomethingboth                                                              when by his disregard to mercy and
about the old Gnostic error and about                                                            justice he brings the curse of God on
the New Age error. Both deny the                                                                 himself and his house; when by
truth of creation; reject any law from                                                           irreligion  he neglects the spiritual
a sovereign, independent God, in-              Commentary on Proverbs, by George                 welfare  of his family, and encour-
cluding the law of sexual difference                                                             ages them in evil by a bad example
                                               Lawson. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel                  (p. 146).
and morality; find salvation in one's          Publications, 1980. 571 pp. $19.99
own knowledge; and inform all per-             (paper). (Reviewed by the Editor)                   Writingonthewell-knownprayer
sons that they themselves are God.                                                             of Agur  in Proverbs 30:7-9, Lawson
       Jones warns that the new Gnosti-               Good commentaries on Proverbs            says:
cism is an organized conspiracy; that          in English are few and far between.
it is a force that true Christians must        Charles Bridges comes to mind, and                Had Agur prayed against poverty
reckon with; and that the church must          William Arnot. The commentary by                  only, we would have all joined with
expect persecution from it, since it is        George Lawson is very good. The                   him; but few men would choose to
tolerant of all beliefs except genuine         explanation is sound. The applica-                have him for their chaplain, because
Christianity.                                  tion is pointed. The language is simple           to poverty he adds riches, as a thing

214lStandard  BearerJFobruaty  1,1994


 e&ally undesirable to him. Riches              There is wisdom in this book--          to read it. My family is going to read
 are the desire of allmen, except those     real help for life. Those young people      it, passage by passage, as part of our
 whoknow theweaknessof  their own           especially (Lawson, like Proverbs, has      evening devotions.
 hearts, and believe what our Lord          them prominently in mind) who are               The author was a minister and
 tells us of the danger of riches (p.       interested in a life that pleases God       professor of theology in the Churchof
 540).                                      andprospersunderHisblessingought            Scotland. He died in 1820. Ll



Evangelism Activities                       consider some other interesting pro-        by the staff of Hope. This year's
    "The Reformed Bookshelf," the           posals. Hope PRC in Walker, MI              Christmas collection was a gift to the
book store in the basement of the           passed proposals concerning parking         children of our new school planned in
South Holland, IL PRC, is off to avery      lot maintenance and air-conditioning        Randolph, WI. The gift was desig-
encouraging start. As `of the end of        for their parsonage. However, they          nated for library material for the new
November, over $2,300 worth of books        postponed an item on their agenda           school.
have been purchased by visitors as          about a discussion concerning the
well as members of South Holland's          need for a daughter congregation.           Young People's Activities
congregation. Obviously, South              First PRC in Holland, MI approved               The young people of the Hope
Holland's congregation is taking the        their Council's proposal to paint their     PRC in Redlands, CA sponsored a
advice of their Evangelism Commit-          church auditorium and narthex.              Christmas Singspiration on Sunday,
tee to stop in and browse through all       HudsonvilIe,  MI PRC approved two           December 26th. The program  in-
the books which now fill up the west        proposals - one to resurface their          cludedaudience singing, specialnum-
wall of the church basement. Each           entire parking lot, and another to          bersbytheyoungpeople,andsinging
book has a card in it with the title,       purchase a new computer for their           by Hope's Men's Chorus.
author, and price. To purchase a            church secretary.                               The Young People's Federation
book, all one need do is write his              Our congregations in the Chicago,       sponsored a Christmas singspiration
name and address on the card, drop          IL area were asked to reserve the           at the Hudsonville, MI PRC on De-
the card in aslot on the bookrack, and      Sunday evenings of December 12 and          cember 26th. Besides audience sing-
wait for a bill to arrive later.            19 for two choir programs. On De-           ing, special numbers included sev-
    The auditorium of the Lynden,           cember 12 the South Holland, IL             eral selections from Covenant Chris-
WA PRC was recently the site of a           PRC's choir sponsored a Christmas           tian High School Choir and a solo by
meeting of the Trinitarian Bible Soci-      singspiration-choir program. And            Mrs. Virginia  Hugg. The collection
ety U.S.A., the head office of which is     the next Sunday evening, the Peace          taken that evening was for the Free
in Grand Rapids, MI. The aimsof  the        Choral Society of the Peace PRC in          Christian School in Edgerton, MN.
Trinitarian Bible Society are as fol-       Lynwood, IL hosted a Christmas                  The Young People's Societies of
lows: to publish and distribute the         singspiration.                              the Grandville, MI PRC placed a re-
Holy Scriptures throughout the world            The Adult Bible Society of Peace        questinarecentbulletinseekingthose
in many languages; to promote Bible         PRC went Christmas-caroling at              in their congregation who might be
translations which are accurate and         Buford Walker Senior Housing in             interested in serving on committees
trustworthy; and to be instrumental         Lansing, IL as part of their celebration    to organize the 1995 Young People's
in bringing light and life, through the     of the birth of our Lord and Savior,        Convention, whichwillbe sponsored
Gospel of Christ.                           Jesus Christ.                               by the Grandville Young People's
                                                                                        Societies, D.V.
Congregational Activities                   School Activities
        Many,of  our congregations have         On the evening of December 16,          Ministerial Calls
annual congregational meetings to-          the student body of the South Hol-               On January 9 Rev. Barry Gritters
ward the end of the year, first to elect    land, IL PRC Christian School pre-          announced his decision to decline the
new officebearers and second to adopt       sented their All-School Christmas           call extended to him from the
budgets for the coming year. Al-            program. The students developed             Loveland PRC congregation.
though most .of these meetings are          the theme "Rich Through His Pov-
routine, several of our churches did        erty," based on II Corinthians 89:          Foodfor z?ioght
                                                In what has become an annual                 Stewardship is not the leaving of
                                            event, the students of the Hope PR          a tip on God's tablecloth; it is the
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant    Christian School in Walker, MI were         confession of an unpayable debt at
Reformed Church of Hdsonville, Michi-       again encouraged to contribute to-          God's Calvary.
gan.                                        ward a worthwhile cause determined                                      P. Reas  0
                                                                                              February 1,1994/Standard  Beam'215


                                                                                                                      SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                                      Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                      Grandvile, Michigan
   P.O. Box 603
   Grandvilie, MI 49468-0603





        TEACHERS NEEDED                                   NOTICE!!!                                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
     Covenant Christian High School             Classis West of the Protestant                           The Ladies' Society of the
of Grand Rapids, Michigan is accept-        Reformed Churches will meet at the                   Hudsonville Protestant Reformed
ing applications for teaching positions     Hope Protestant Reformed Church in                   Church expresses Christian sympa-
forthe 1994-l 995 school year. Those        Redlands, CA, on Wednesday, March                    thy to one of her members, Mrs. Myra
interested in the position of choir or      2, 1994 at 8:30 a.m., the Lord willing.              Kamps and family in the death of their
band director are also invited to,apply.    Material for the Agenda is to be in the              son,
Call Miss Agatha Lubbers at school          hands of the Stated Clerk thirty days                        MATTHEW JOHN KAMPS,
(616) 453-5048 or home (616) 458-           before  Classis convenes. All del-                   whom the Lord called home on De-
2057, or Mr. Rick Noorman (816) 457-        egates in need of lodging or transpor-               cember 22,1993.
6087. Applicants may also write the         tation from the airport in Ontario, CA                       May they be comforted with the
school at 1401 Ferndale S.W., Grand         should notify the clerk of Hope's                    words of Scripture, "The eternal God
Rapids, Ml 49504.                           consistory, using the forms provided                 is thy refuge, and underneath are the
               NOTICE!!                     for this purpose.                                    everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy
     For the benefit of those who are                  Rev. Ronald VanOverloop,                  33:27).
able to make use of the word-search                                       Stated Clerk                      Rev. G. VanBaren, President
capabilities of computers, Seminarian                                                                         Marty Holstege, Secretary
Doug Kuiper has put all of the Psalter
numbersandtheThreeFormsofUnity                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
on computer disk. This is not an                On December IO, 1993,
independent program. It is a docu-            BILL and SHIRLEY FEENSTRA
ment prepared with Word Perfect 5.1         celebrated their 45th wedding anni-
for DOS, so in order to use this docu-      versary. We, their children, grandchil-
ment one must have an IBM-compat-           dren, and parent rejoice with them                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
ible word processing program. The           and pray that God will continue to                       The Adult Bible Study Society of
disk can be purchased through the           bless their lkfe together.                           Southwest Protestant Reformed
SfandardSearer,for  a minimal charge            "The Lord bless thee out of Zion:                Church expresses its sincere Chris-
of $2.00 -to cover cost of diskette,        and thou shalt see the good of Jerusa-               tian sympathy to our members, Tom &
mailer, and postage. For more infor-        lem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou              Laurie Buiterand Les and Bev Kamps,
mation, or to order a diskette, contact     shalt see thy children's children and                inthedeathoftheirbrotherand brother-
the  Standard Bearer                        peace upon Israel" (Psalm 128:5,6).                  in-law,
          4949  lvanrest Ave.                   %i% Jeanette Feenstra                                       MAlTHEW KAMPS.
        Grandville, Ml 49418,                   #z Steven and Neva Feenstra                      May they find comfort and joy in the
        or call (616) 531-1490.                     Joshua, Travis, Jeremy,                      confidence that Matthew is now re-
When ordering, please tell us whether                              Brandon, Grant                joicing in heaven with his Savior.
you need a HD or DD diskette; whether           @ Rob and Joanne Levstik                         "Therefore the redeemed of the Lord
you need a 5 l/4" or 3 l/2" diskette;               Keri, Kim                                    shall return, and come with singing
what word processing program you                @Wayne  and Janice Baker                         unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be
use; and whether you wish to have'                  Bryan, Courtney,                             upon their head: they shall obtain
only the Psalter numbers, only the                                   Kellie, Kindra              gladness and joy:. and sorrow and
Three Forms of Unity, or both.                 .%fz Larry and Linda Feenstra                     mourning shall flee away" (Isaiah
    (Perhaps at a later date the Litur-             Luke, Jennifer, Jacqueline                   52:ll).
gical portion of the Psalterwill also be                                  Redlands,  CalWomle             Rev. R. Cammenga, President
put on computer disk.)                                                                                       Joyce Noorman, Secretary

21 G/Standard Bearer/February 1,1994


