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A Reformed ,  BtER
Semi-Monfhly
Magazine
                                                                                        1
                                   I                                                         I





                                        Newly organized Georgetown PRC -
                                                     Bauer, MI
                                                See "News From Our Churches - p. 310


Vol. 70, No. 13 '
April 1, 1994


CONTENTS:                                                                                                            April  I,  1994                                ~$$j j &-jgvltAjqtt
,                                                                                                                                                            I    II
                                                                                                                                                                          `.*, ^             BWER
Meditation - Rev. Richard G. Moore
        Wonder Work: Our Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..**..................................... 291                                                   /SSN 0362-4692
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma
       The Nose of the Camel (2) . . . . . . ..~.~~~....~.................~...~.~~~.............~~...                                            293              Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
The Reader Asks ,..........a......................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295           Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
                                                                                                                                                                  4949 lvanrest Ave., Grandvilla, MI 49416. Second Class
Decency and Order - Rev, Ronald Cammenga                                                                                                                          Postage Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
        Classical Meetings .~,~.......~.~.,~...............~~~~~............~..........~............ 295                                                          Postmaster: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer.
Contribution - Rev. Chris Coleborn                                                                                                                                P.O. Box 663, Grandvilla, MI 494666663.
        The Calling of the Westminster Assembly of Divines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298                                                                EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                                                                                                  Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
All Around Us - Prof. Robert D. Decker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300                      Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
Day of Shadows - Homer C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doererna
        Chapter 3                                                                                                                                                 DEPARTMENT EDITORS
        The First Three Days of Creation (cont.) **,.,~.,,..............~.~..........~~. 302                                                                      Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Ronald Cammanga  Prof. Robert
                                                                                                                                                                  Decker, Rev. Arie denHartog, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Carl
Things Which Must Shortly Come to Pass - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                  Haak, Rev. Cornelius Hank&  Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. John
        3. The Great Apostasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~.........................~~.~.........~~~..~... 304                                                Heys, Rev. Steven Key, Rev. Date Kulper, Mr. James Larding,
                                                                                                                                                                  Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, RexThomas
Church and State - Mr. James Lanting                                                                                                                              Miersma, Rev. Audred Spriensma, Rev. Charles Terpstra,
        Recent Developments in Church State Law .**.,.,,,,.................*..... 307                                                                             Rev. GiseVanBarsn,  Rev. RonaldVanOverloop,  Mr. Benjamin
                                                                                                                                                                  Wigger, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg.
Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*......................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*............ 308         EDfTORIAL OFFICE            CHURCH NEWS EDlTOR
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger ,,.....*......**,.,.,,..,......* 310                                                                                 The Standard Bearer         Mr. Ben Wlgger
                                                                                                                                                                  4946 Ivanrest               6587 4Dth Ave.
                                                                                                                                                                  Grandville, Ml 49416        Hudsonville, MI 49426
                                                                                                                                                                  BUSINESS OFFICE              NEW   ZEALAND  CFFICE
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                                                                                                                                                                  PI+ (616) 631-1490          c/o Mr. Jonathan McAuley
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        In our circles, the birth of a baby is cause for celebration. The reason                                                                                  FAX (616) 531-3633           Ballymena, Co. AnMm BT42 3EL
                                                                                                                                                                                               Northern Ireland
is indicated by the Rev. Richard Moore's meditation, "Wonder Work                                                                                                 EDTTORIAL  POLICY
                                                                                                                                                                  Every edttor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
Our Children": the covenant of grace with believers and their children.                                                                                           articles.  Contrtbutionsofgeneralinterestfromourreadersand
                                                                                                                                                                  questions for The Reader Asks department are welcome.
The pastor of the Hull, Iowa Protestant Reformed Church grounds this                                                                                              Contributions will be llmited to approximately 300 words and
truth in a passage of Scripture that the Reformed have always viewed as                                                                                           mustbeneattywr'ktenortypewrkten,andmustbesigned.  Copy
                                                                                                                                                                  deadlines are the first and fifteenth of the month. All
especially compelling: Luke 1:39-44. Unborn John leaped for joy at the                                                                                            communicattons relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                                                                                                  editorial office.
presence'of Jesus Christ - Himself yet in the womb.
        Pastor Moore writes:                                                                                                                                      REPRINT POLtCY
                                                                                                                                                                  Permiesicoishsrebygrantedforthereprintkrgofarticlesinour
                                                                                                                                                                  mag~sbyotherpublica~r,pmvided:a)thatwchreprinted
                                                                                                                                                                  artides  are reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgment
     In our churches our children are counted most precious, a rich heritage given us of                                                                          I8 made; c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
      God. They are a wondrous part of the work of our God, a part of that work that                                                                              appear9 Is sent to our edllorlal offlce.
     is so great as to fill the parents of the newborn infant with exceeding joy.                                                                                 SUBSCRIPTtON POUCY
                                                                                                                                                                  Subscrtptton price: S12.W per year in the U.S., 515.00
                                                                                                                                                                  elsewhere. Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
        If there is joy within the fellowship of a congregation at the birth of                                                                                   received. tt is assumed that thesubscriber  wishes the
a child, there is certainly joy throughout the denomination at the birth                                                                                          subacdption~continue,andhewillbebilledforrenewel. lfyou
                                                                                                                                                                  haveachangeofaddress,pteasenott5ythsBusinessOfftceas
of a congregation.                                                                                                                                                early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of
                                                                                                                                                                  interrupted delivery. lndude your Zip or Postal Code.
        The Protestant Reformed congregations have a new sister. Church
news editor Benjamin Wigger informs us that she was born on March 2,                                                                                              ADVERTISING POLICY
                                                                                                                                                                  The SrendardBearerdoas  not acceptcommercial  advertising
1994 at an organizational meeting -held in the auditorium of the                                                                                                  ol any kind. Annwncemsnta of church and schod events,
                                                                                                                                                                  anniNersartes,  obkuartee, and sympathy resolution8 will be
Hudsonville, Michigan Protestant Reformed Church. Her size at birth                                                                                               placed for a 53.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business
                                                                                                                                                                  OffiwandshMlldbeaccompaniedbythe$3.Wfw.  Deadline
was 34 families. Her name is Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church.                                                                                               for announcements is at least one month prior to publication
     At present, the newly formed congregation is holding worship                                                                                                 data
services each Lord's day in the rented facilities of the Bauer Elementary                                                                                         BOUNDVOLUMES
                                                                                                                                                                  The Business Offkx will accept 8tanding orders for bound
School in Bauer, Michigan. She extends a hearty welcome to visitors.                                                                                              copiesofthecurrentvolume. Suchordemarefilledassoonas
        The  Stundurd Bearer extends congratulations.                                                                                                             possiMe after completion of *volume year.
                                                                                                                                           - DJE                  16mm microfilm, 35mm miuoftlm  and 105mm  microfiche, and
                                                                                                                                                                  article copies are available thrcugh  Unhrem.ky Microfilms
                                                                                                                                                                  Intemationat.
29OlStandard  Bearer /April 1,1994


    Wonder Work: Our~Children

                                           I             !                                                                                  1

    He hath made his wonderful works to         reason hy their parents cannot ob-           hill country with haste, into a city of
be remembered: the LORD is gracious and         tain the t ' gs they want. Children,         Juda; And entered into the house of
full of compassion.                                     G
                                                so it is t ,ought, curtail the indepen-      Zacharias, and SalutedElisabeth.  And
                          Psalm 111:4           dence of a man and woman. Children           it came to pass, that, when Ehsabeth
                                                are there1 ore looked upon as some-          heardthe salutation of Mary, thebabe
    The works of the Lord are great,            thing to 6e avoided, or at the least         leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth
the psalmist exclaims in the one hun-           very car fully planned, so that they         was filled with the Holy Ghost: And
dred eleventh Psalm; and this sets the                   i
                                                will not i terfere with the fulfillment      she spake .out with a loud voice, and
theme of comfort and strength for               of one's desires.                            said, Blessed art thou amongwomen,
God's church. As a pastor I some-                   In fact, so great is this attitude of    and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
times use this passage on visits that I         unbelief that many kill their own chil-      And whence is this to me, that the
make to parents of newborns and                 dren while those children are still in       mother of my Lord should come to
apply its instruction to this blessing          the womb, so that they do not have to        me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy
that God gives to His church as she             care for-them. And as the people of          salutation sounded in mine ears, the
brings forth the covenant seed. In like         this world live to the glory of man,         babe leaped in my womb for joy."
manner I consider some of the in-               selfishly they claim that abortion is        Now, the testimony of the Spirit of
structionofthisPsalmforthismonth's              not murder, for life begins not until        Christ is that, when John was yet in
meditation.                                     the actual time of birth. How foolish        his mother's womb, he'was already
    In our congregation we have been            this is, and how very contrary to the        regenerated, not only alive physically,
blessed with many children, like the            Word of God. Do they who consider            but alive spiritually. He was a spiri-
true church throughout the ages. In             themselves Christian and yet abort           tually regenerated child of God, for
our churches our children are counted           life really think that they stand in         only then could the Spirit say through
most precious, a rich heritage given            harmony with the Word? Then they             Elisabeth that the child leapt for joy.
us of God. They are a wondrous part             have not considered what the Scrip-          And we take note that the infant who
of the work of our God, a part of that          tures declare about life in the womb.        was in the womb of his mother was a
work that is so great as to fill the            The psalmist teaches that God has            little over six months. Even more
parents of the newborn infant with              made him hope upon God from the              conclusive is the fact that Jesus, in the
exceeding joy. And as a pastor I find           womb. And again we read in Psalm             womb of Mary only about a month, is
that this is true of the covenant par-          139:13,  "For thou hast possessed my         considered the Lord by Elisabeth, as
ents whether it is their first child or         reins: thou hast covered me in my            she is led so to confess by the Holy
their eighth.                                   mother's womb. I will praise thee: for       Ghost. The life and spiritual being
    This is as it should be, for our            Iamfearfullyandwonderfullymade:              begins at conception, as the wonder
children are the heritage of Jehovah,           marvelous are thy works; and that            work of God. How foolish and how
His gift to His people. 0, how differ-          my soul knoweth right well." At the          sinful is the world that denies this
ent this attitude toward children is            least, both references speak of a re-        truth.
from the thinking of the world of               generation that took place already at            The child of God, when he is
unbelief. Children, for this world, are         the time of birth, and the unborn child      given children, sees this as a wonder-
a burden. In fact, for the most part,           is already a spiritual being.                ful work of God, and knows that God
children are unwanted; for they con-                But even more clearly is this truth      is gracious and full of compassion in
stitute, in the minds of the world, the         emphasized in the history of the birth       all of his work (v. 4). This is important
                                                of Christ. We read that, soon after the      for us to remember as we bring forth
                                                conception of Christ, Mary went to           our children in this day and age. It is
                                                hercousinElisabeth's home. Weread            noteasyforthepeopleofGodtobring
Rev. Moore is pastor of the Protestant          in  ,Luke  1:39-44 this: "And Mary           forth children today. This is true
Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa.                  arose in those days, and went into the       because of the many temptations that

                                                                                                       April 1,1994/Standard  Bearer/291


are set before the church. It is true          eredfrom the terrible sin that we have      shall face temptations that are greater
because godly parents realize the              committed in father Adam, and from          than those which the church has ever
many trials and sufferings that their          all the transgressions in which we          before faced-for Antichrist is com-
children must pass through as the              have walked. As God has chosen His          ing "after the working of Satan with
day of Antichrist comes ever closer.           church, He has determined to gather         all power and signs and lying won-
Further, God-fearing parents realize           that church in the line of continuing       ders" (II Thess. 2:9) - yet they shall
that, as time goes on, the church of           generations. As He has redeemed             stand. As parents we will be sus-
Christ becomes an ever smaller rem-            her, so surely does He send forth the       tained in our calling to .provide for
nant. This means that it will be still         Spirit of His Son to quicken her. And       our children the instruction that shall
harder for their children to have the          powerfully,by the Word that He sends        give them the strength for the battle.
covenant fellowship and the strength           through the ministry, He calls His          Again, this is not because of any natu-
of that fellowship for the battle of           children out of darkness and into the       ral understanding that we have as
faith.                                         light of His fellowship. Indeed Hesent      parents,but is due to the fact that God
     Even more, in the light of our            redemptionuntoHispeople, andHehath          quickens His children, as He has re-
calling to instruct our children in the        commanded His covenant for ever (v. 9).     deemed them, and applies His Word
way.sGf God and in His                                            This affords cov-        to our hearts under the preaching,
fear, the parents know                                        enant parents much           thus giving us the understanding to
their own weaknesses,                                         comfort and strength as      lead our children in the fear of His
their own sinfulness, and                                     they are called to raise
                                      God does not                                         precious Name.
this leads them to ask,                                       up their covenant chil-              The work of the Lord is great.
How shall we rightly                    give to us            dren in the fear of the      And the Word that He gives to us to
bringup  the children that           children without         Lord. For then the child     increase our understanding, thus en-
we bring forth in those              also giving to us        of Godrealizes that God      abling us in faith to lead our children
ways that are wellpleas-             the grace to care        does not give to us chil-    into the paths that shall serve their
ing to God, and that shall                                    dren without also  giv-
                                        for  them.                                         salvation and the coming of the Lord,
serve their eternal wel-                                     ing to us the grace to        is a Word that is sure. His command-
fare? But, beloved                                        ~ care for them. God does        ments are sure, for they are infallibly
reader, our children and L                                    not give to our care the     given to His people in the Scriptures,
our family are a part of                                      children of His  cov-        and they stand forever. Armed with
the wonderful work of GIodi that He            enant, and then forsake those chil-         His Word, led by His Spirit in perfect
shall make to be remembered (v. 4).            dren that He has given. But our God         confidence, we may then bring forth
    Psalm 111 answers the above                willprovideHiscovenantpeop1ewitl-t          our children and instruct them in the
question, and all questions that godly         all things necessary for their salva-       walk of faith and in the fear of Jeho-
parents have as they bring forth and           tion.                                       vah.
raise the children that God has given                 According to this Psalm God will             As God gathers His church from
them. For God is ever mindful of His           sustain us even in earthly things, as       our seed, with each child who is
covenant (v. 5). This is a most blessed        He is mindful of His covenant (v. 5).       brought forth, Christ comes ever
word for us to hear. Godwillprosper            As the child of God brings forth many       nearer, Trustingthereforeinthefaith-
His work. He will provide for our              children, and wonders how he will           fulness of our God, the child of Godin
children. He will give us the grace to         provide even for the earthly needs of       faith brings forth the covenant seed.
raise themin the fear of His name. He          such a family in the day in which we        And also in this prays, yea, Lord,
will provide them strength in the days         live, he has the confidence that all he     even so, Come quickly. 0
of temptation. He will deliver us              needs for each day God will gra-
from the enemy that would destroy              ciously provide. Thus the godly fa-
the cause of God. And He will do all           ther goes about his daily labors faith-
this because He is mindful of His              fully in the confidence that God will
covenant.                                      through those labors provide those
    That covenant is rooted already            things necessary for the family. 0, it
in eternity, as God chose His people           may be that we will have to forego
to be the body of His dear Son, to be          earthly pleasures which have become
living stones in the temple,in  which          so much a part of the world in which
Fe dwells. He chose us in covenant            we live; but we shall not lack that
love to be sons of God. And He real-          which is needed for this life, for God
izes that covenant with His elect by          is ever mindful of His covenant.
sendingHis only Begotten to come as                   Even more importantly, as our
our Head, and to impute our guilt to           children will face a world ever in-
Him in order that we might be deliv-           creasing in ungodliness, and as they

292/St&xlard  Bearer/April 1,1994


             The Nose of the Camel (2)

        Last year, the synod of the Re-       are the very passages that are always      tional meeting are either so foolish or
formed Churches in the Netherlands            appealed to in support of women            so chauvinistic that they think that
("Liberated" - hereafter GKN-Lib)             preachers,-elders, and deacons in the      the Scriptures give a general order for
decided that women may participate            church. By appealing to these pas-         the women to be silent in the congre-
in the congregational meeting as vot-         sages in support of the participation      gation. Women may not even open
ing members. Virtually ignored by             of womenat  the congregationalmeet-        their mouths to join in singing at pub-
the conservative press, this was a            ing, the GKN-Lib gave credence to          lic worship. Womenmaynotspeakin
significant decision by a denomina-           the appeal to these passages onbehalf      the organic life of the church: the
tion of churches that has been sharply        of women officebearers.                    Bible study meetings; the gatherings
critical of other Reformed churches in             In fact, these passages say noth-     for fellowship; the Sunday School
the Netherlands for caving in to the          ing about voting at congregational         classes; the evangelism societies; and
pressures of worldliness and that has         meetings. But they do speakof  women       the like.
influence with conservative churches          laboring in the gospel and helping as           But elide the word "general," and
in North America.                             a servant (Greek  diakonon)  in  the       the .decision of the GKN-Lib flatly
        The decision authorized the nose      church. Therefore, if the passages         contradicts the express statements of
of the camel of feminism within the           prove anything at all along the lines      the apostle of Christ in I Corinthians
church-tent of the GKN-Lib and, by            intendedby the GKN-Lib, they prove         14:34 and in I Timothy 2:11,12:  "Let
example, within the church-tents of           that women may be preachers and            your women keep silence in the
all those in fellowship with the GKN-         deacons in the church.                     churches: for it is not permitted unto
Lib.                                              What the GKN-Lib ought to have         them to speak"; "Let the womanlearn
        The editorial in the preceding is-    said about these passages is that they     in silence with all subjection. But I
sue of the StundardBearev  (March 15,         do not at all refer to women holding       suffer not.a woman to teach, nor to
1994) summarized the grounds of the           office in the church and that they do      usurp authority over the man, but to
decision.                                     not conflict with the clear passages in    be in silence."
        The grounds are ominous. They         theNewTestamentthatforbidwomen                  The Scriptures do give an order
threaten the camel of women                   to teach and to rule in the church. In     for the women to be silent at church.
officebearers and the inseparably re-         view of the powerful threat of femi-       It is a specific order prohibiting all
lated rejection of the headship  of the       nism today, and the fierce struggle of     female speaking that exercises au-
husbandinthehome. Thefirstground,             faithful Reformed churches to with-        thority and that teaches. And this is
concerning the biblical basis for the         stand this threat, the GKN-Lib ought       precisely the issue in the question
decision, appeals to Acts 2:17, 18;           to have said this sharply and em-          whether women may vote at the con-
Acts  21:9; I Corinthians  11:5; Acts         phatically.                                gregational meeting.
l&26; Romans 16:lff .; andPhilippians             The second ominous and objec-              The most objectionable and
4:3, 4. These passages teach that             tionable aspect of the first ground is     threateningelementinthefirstground
women have the gift of prophecy;              its ambiguous declaration, "the Scrip-     is its interpretation of I Corinthians
that Phoebe was a "servant of the             tures do not give a general order for      14:34-36andITimothy2:11-15.  These
church"; and that women labored               the women to be silent in the congre-      are the two crucially important, in-
with Paul in the gospel. The synod of         gation." The ambiguous word is the         deed decisive, passages on the issue
the GKN-Lib explained the passages            word "general." By this word, the          of women ruling and teaching in the
as portraying yan active involvement          GKN-Lib made the opponents of              church. There are two ways in which
and participation of women in the             women voting at the congregational         the advocates of women officebearers
service of the gospel."                       meeting look ridiculous. Opponents         set aside the plain, powerful force of
        What is foreboding is that these      of women voting at the congrega-           .these passages. One is the blunt rejec-

                                                                                                      April 1,1994/Standard  Beam293


tion of their teaching as limited to that    general order for the women to be                  The analysis of the decision by
day and those local circumstances.           silent in the congregation," the GKN-          the magazine of the GKN-Lib, De
The other is an interpretation of the        Lib explained I Timothy 2:11-15  thus:         fifomzatie, bears this out. This analy-
passages that empties them of their                                                         sis occurred in the September l&l993
real, full meaning.                            ITim.ZAl-15forbidswomentospeak               issue of that religious periodical. With
    In defense of its declaration that         in a position of leadership and au-          specific reference to the two passages
"the Scriptures do not give a general          thority during worship, since that           of Holy Scripture that were brought
order for the women to be silent in the        causes her to abandon her own posi-          up by the opponents of women vot-
congregation" and in the interests of          tion and to usurp the `place of the          ing at the congregational meeting,
                                               man.
women voting in the congregational                                                          I Corinthians 14:34-36  and I Timothy
meeting, the first ground of the deci-           Clearly, the GKN-Lib intended to           2:11-15,  the writer in De Reformaiie
sion of the GKN-Lib explained                                                               commented:
                                             limit  the  apostle's restriction upon
I Corinthians 1434-36  thus: "I Cor.         women to the services of public wor-
1434-36  denies women the judging of         ship: "during worship." One asks,                Slechts  twee (!) Schriftplaatsen  worden
prophets during worship, because                                                              daaringenoemd,  waarvan bovendien  niet
                                             "May women speak in a position of
that would give those women author-                                                           kan  worden volgehouden dat zij
                                             leadership and authority in the church
ity over them." This is all that is                                                           betrekking hebben op de verkiezing  van
                                             before, after, and apart from wor-               ambtsdragers  (p. 957).
taught by the passage: Women must            ship? at the congregational meeting?
not speak out in worship to judge the        in the consistory room? at  synod?"            The English translation would be:
prophets. Presumably, the applica-           Also, the sole activity of women that          "Only two (!) passages of Scripture
tion to the present is that women            is forbidden, according to the deci-           were named therein, about which
must not criticize the minister during       sion of theDutchReformedchurches,              moreover it cannot be maintained that
the public worship service.                  is that of speaking: II . . . forbids women    they have relation to the election of
    This interpretation empties the          to speakin a position of leadership and        officebearers."
passage of its full force. For in            authority." One asks, "May women                   "Only two (!) passages of Scrip-
I Corinthians 14~34-36  the Holy Spirit      exercise leadership and authority in           ture." With the significant exclama-
forbids all teaching by women in the         the church, if this does not involve           tion mark included.
gatherings of the church for worship.        speaking, say, by voting at the con-               Thus was the fundamental argu-
Women may not speak at church in             gregational meeting?"                          ment of the opponents of womenvot-
any capacity of teaching. This is                In reality, the apostle commands           ing at the congregational meeting dis-
grounded in their being "under obe-          the silence of subjection upon the fe-         missed.
dience" (v. 34) and directly related to      male members of the church in all the              But the same dismissal of "bnly
their submission to their husbands (v.       life of the institute. The woman may           two passages of Scripture" that
35: "And if they will learn any thing,       not teach "during worship," but nei-           opened the door for women into the
let them asktheir  husbands at home").       ther may she teach in any other offi-          congregational meeting can easily
     Although the reference is to-the        cial function of the church institute,         open the doors for them also into the
gatherings for public worship, there         e.g., the instruction of the children in       seminary and into the consistory
is implication for the issue of women        catechism. Not only is the woman               room. In other Reformed churches, it
voting at the congregational meeting.        forbidden to teach in the church, but          already has. Against those who were
The implication is found in the state-       also she is forbidden to exercise au-          opposed to women in office on the
ment that the woman is under obedi-          thority over the man in any aspect of          basis of I Corinthians 14~34-36  and I
ence and in the exhortation that she         the life and labor of the instituted           Timothy 2:11-15,  it was said, "Only
ask her husband at home. The apostle         church. Shemaynotruleinthechurch.              two  (!) passages of Scripture." In
rules out the possibility that a woman       And this is basic to the issue of women        these instances, the dismissal of "only
get into a rip-roaring debate with a         voting at the congregational meeting,          two passages of Scripture" in order to
man, perhaps her own husband, at             as it is basic to the issue of women           make way for women officebearers
the congregationalOmeeting  and that         elders and deacons.                            was also accompanied by the state-
she nullify her husband's vote for                With such restrictive and weak-           ment, "And these two passages do
some officebearer by her own, con-           ening interpretation of the two pas-           not really relate to the issue of women
trary vote.                                  sages that are fundamental to the is-          preaching and ruling in the Reformed
     The interpretation of I Timothy         sue of women officebearers in the              churches in the 20th century."
211-15  by the synod of the GKN-Lib          church, the decision of the G&N-Lib                 The nose is in.
was even more woefully inadequate.           permitting (in reality,  demanding)                 The rest of the camel must be
Again-in defense of the odd, ambigu-         women voting at the congregational             expected to follow. Q
ous declaration in its first ground for      meetitig  welcomed the nose of the
having women at the congregationa!           feminist camel into their tents.                                                     - DJE
meeting, "the Scriptures do not give a

2941,Standard  Bearer /April 1,1994


The' Lord's Supper at Home                      Order of the Protestant Reformed                public gathering of the congregation,
                                                Churches: "The administration of the           but does so in her own home. There
    I have worked for an invalid, a            Lord's Supper shall take place only              is goodreasonfor this secondstipula-
sincere Reformed Christian woman.              where there is supervision of elders,            tion. Part of the symbolism of the
The Sunday worship services were               according to the ecclesiastical order,           sacrament is the fellowship which the
brought into her home by telephone             and in a public gathering of the con-           believers have in the body of Christ.
line. On the Saturday evening before           gregation."                                      Hence, the people of God congregate
the administration of the Lord's Sup-               This article contains two stipula-          at the Lord's Table. Still more, the
per, the elders brought her the bread          tions regarding the administration of           preaching of the Word must accom-
and wine. Then, on Sunday morning,             the Lord's Supper. 1) It must be                 pany the administration of the sacra-
she ate the bread and drank the wine           under the supervision of the elders.             ments (cf. also Article56 of TheChurch
in her home at the same time that the          This makes "open communion" im-                  Order).
congregationwaspartakingatchurch.              possible. We practice close or super-                   Both the Reformed Churches in
    Would this be improper adminis-            vised communion. 2) The Lord's Sup-              the Netherlands and the Christian
tration of the Lord's Supper?                  per must be administered in a public             Reformed Church in North America
                        Ellen VanDenTop        gathering of the congregation.                  have by synodical  decision made ex-
                           Lynden, WA               The instance you cite is in viola-          ceptions to the stipulations of Article
                                               tion of this second stipulation. The             64.      The Protestant Reformed
ANSWER:                                        fact is that the lady in question does           Churches continue to maintain the
    In response to your question we            not partake of the Lord's Supper in a            stipulations of Article 64.
point you to Article 64 of the Church                                                                            -Editorial Committee

 D~memqy igmd iQ?&~~~                                                             .;            R@iYz  !FT?O/fl3jd   QMiii/iEV@/~~

                        Classical  Meetings


         The classical meetings shall consist of neighboring churches that respectively delegate, with proper credentials, a
    minister and an elder to meet at such time and place as was determined by the previous classical meeting. Such meetings
    shall be held at least once in three months, unless great distances render this inadvisable. In these meetings the ministers
    shall preside in rotation, or one shall be chosen to preside; however, the same minister shall not be chosen twice in  succession.
        Furthermore, the president shall, among other things, put the following questions to the delegates of each church:
        1. Are the consisto  y meetings held in your church?
        2. Is church discipline exercised?
        3. Are the poor and the Christian schools cared for?
        4. Do you need the judgment and help of the classis for the proper government of your church?
        And,finally,  at one but the last meeting and, ijnecessa y, at the last meeting before the (particular) synod, delegates
    shall be chosen to attend said synod.
                                                                                                           Church Order,  Article 41.


                                                    This article introduces the sec-           of classis. The present article pro-
                                               tion of the Church Order that deals             vides for regular-and structured clas-
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of Southwest           with classical meetings. Articles 41            sical meetings - this in the interests
Protestant Reformed Church in                  through 46 concern the meetings of              of decency and good order in the
Grandville, Michigan                           classis andvarious aspects of the work          churches. We will treat the main

                                                                                                            April 1,1994h3tandard  Bearer1295


contents of Article 41 this time. In a         with their alternates, to the meetings       dividual or delegation is to be seated.
future article we will treat the "Ques-        of classis. The congregations are to be      If, however, the delegates have for-
tions of Article 41" which are asked of        equally represented, whether small           gotten to take their credentials, or for
the delegates from each consistory at          or large, inasmuch as each congrega-         some understandable reason cannot
the close of every meeting of classis.         tionisacompletemanifestationof the           produce their credentials, the classis
     A classis is made up of "neigh-           body of Christ. In case a congregation       may take a decision to seat them with
boring churches," that is, churches in         is vacant, two elders are delegated.         the provision that their credentials be
geographic proximity. From the very            Our churches have permitted dea-             sent to the Stated Clerk or to the next
beginning, the Reformed churches               cons to be delegated from our smaller        meeting of classis. Our churches are
urged the formation of classes. The            consistories when circumstances              small enough and delegates familiar
Synod of Wezel, 1568, urged that as            make this necessary. There have even         enough with each other that this poses
soon as the war and persecution sub-           been instances in the history of the         no serious problem.
sidedsufficiently, theDutchchurches            Reformed churches when  non-                     Havingbeen seated, the delegates
should organize classes. The Synod             officebearers were delegated to  classis     are authorized to take part in all the
of Emden, 1571, decided: "Besides              when only one officebearer in a con-         deliberations of  classis. Each del-
these consistories, classical meetings         gregation was in a position to be del-       egate exercises one decisive vote. In
of churches located near each other            egated. This is not to be done except        the voting, delegates ought to vote
shallbeheldeverythreeorsixmonths               in extreme situations.                       their own conscience. No consistory
according to the circumstances and                 It is the consistory, not the con-       ought to bind its delegates ahead of
necessity." The Synod of Dordt, 1578,          gregation generally, that selects and        time to vote in a certain way.
ruled: "The classical meetings shall           authorizes delegates to'the meetings         Consistories may advise, but del-
consist of ministers of the Word and           of classis. According to Article 41, the     egates must be permitted the free-
elders of neighboring churches which           serving minister of each congrega-           dom to vote as they deem right and
shall meet every month or six weeks            tion is required to be delegated. Ar-        proper. This follows, too, from the
more or less according to the circum-          ticle 41 does not prescribe a certain        fact that our broader assemblies are
stances of the congregations, just so          method for selection of elder delegates      deliberativeinnature. Even thougha
three months do not go by (without a           to classis. Choosing of delegates can        delegate should have familiarized
meeting) in those places which have            either be by rotation or by a free           himself with the agenda and arrived
beendesignatedbycommonconsent."                election within the consistory. The          at some tentative opinions, he must
Some churches didnot feelso  strongly          usual practice in Reformed churches          come to classis open to the insights
the urgency of federation, so that the         has been that the elders are delegated       and instruction of the other delegates.
Synod of Gelderland, 1582, found it            by rotation, whether alphabetically
necessary to urge that `I... it is neither     or according to length of term served.       Frequency of Classical Meetings
advisable nor edifying, that a few             This is the method followed by most              Article 41 requires that classical
churches should continue to exist by           of our consistories. It is to be pre-        meetings II... be held at least once in
themselves, but each church is bound           ferred, since it provides all the elders     three months (four times yearly), un-
to join itself to a classis."                  the opportunity to participate in this       less great distances render this inad-
     Early on in the history of our            vital aspect of the life of the churches.    visable." In our churches, Classis
Protestant Reformed Churches the               It also serves as a greater safeguard        East meets three times a year and
combined consistories met in order to          against hierarchy, which might sooner        Classis West twice yearly. The decid-
take care of the work of the churches          creep in if only the same few were           ing factor is not so much distance, in
in common. With the formation of an            repeatedly delegated.                        ourage of modernmeans of transpor-
annual synod in 1940, the denomina-                Classical delegates are to come to       tation, but cost. Nevertheless, we
tion was divided into two classes,             the meetings of classis "with proper         ought to be more serious about ad-
Classis East and Classis West. As a            credentials." A credential is the offi-      hering to the requirement of Article
result of the split of 1953-`54,  classical    cial, black-on-white, proof of delega-       41. Although this wouldbeabit more
boundaries were adjusted, but the              tion. Each consistory fills out and          costly, especially in the West, our
two-classis arrangement remained               adopts its own credentials, specify-         churches are in good enough finan-
intact. An overture to divide into             ing its delegates, and sends its del-        cial shape that we ought to conform to
three or four classes was rejected by          egates to the meeting of classis with        the requirement of the  Church Order
the Synod of 1991. As a result, our            these credentials in hand. The first         as closely as possible.
churches continue to be made up of             business of every classis is to examine          Our Church Or&r makes no pro-
two classes, East and West.                    the credentials and seat the delegates       vision for the cancellation of a sched-
                                               specified in the credentials. Thus           uled meeting of classis. Some Re-
Constitution of Classis                        classis is declared to be legally consti-    formed church orders contain such a
    Each church (consistory) del-              tuted.                                       provision. Usually, the calling church
egates one minister and one elder,                 Withoutpropercredentialsnoin-            and a neighboring church can decide

296lStandard  Bearer /April 1,1994


to cancel a scheduled meeting if there       expenses in our churches are paid for          lowed that at one classis a given min-
is little or no material on the agenda.      out of synodical funds, a portion of           ister functions as vice-president; at
Ordinarily, however, this may not be         the annual synodical assessments               the next classis he serves as the presi-
done twice in succession. Perhaps            designated for this purpose.                   dent; and at the following classis he
our churches should consider some                Classical expenses include the             holds the office of secretary.
such addition to Article 41.                 travel expenses of the delegates. The              The duties of the president have
    At the end of each meeting of            cost of meals and services provided            already been treated in connection
classis, the time and place of the next      by the host church are included in             with Article 34. The Church Order
meetingareset. Noprovisionismade             classical expenses. In addition, elders        makes no provision for the office of
in Article 41 for the calling of an early    may be compensated for wages lost              vice-president at the classical meet-
or special classis. However, provi-          while traveling to and attending               ings. The regulations of each classis
sion is made for this in the "Classical      classis. A limit is set on this reim-          do, however, provide for a vice-presi-
Regulations" of ourrespective classes.       bursement for lost wages, and in or-           dent, whose duty generally is to as-
A consistory can call for the conven-        der to claim such lost wage compen-            sume the office of the president if for
ing of. a special classis by gaining the     sation, a delegate must have the prior         some reason he is unable or unwilling
assent of a neighboring consistory           approval of his consistory.                    to carry out his office.
and submitting their request to the
classical committee. The classicalcom-       Chairmanship of Classical Meetings             Choosing Synodical Delegates
mittee, then, informs the churches               The presidency of the classical                A couple of important items on
and prepares the agenda.                     meetings rests with the ministers: "In         the agenda of the classis are referred
    Even though the time and place           these meetings the ministers shall             to in Article 41. One of these items is
of each classical meeting is set by the      preside in rotation, or one shall be           the asking of the "Questions of Ar-
last classis, announcements of the           chosen to preside; however, the same           ticle 41" of the delegates from each
convening of the classis are to be           minister shall not be chosen twice in          consistory at the conclusionof each
made. These announcements are                succession.R Why the ministers?                meeting of classis. More about this
handled by the stated clerks, who            There is no principle reason. It is not        next time. Article 41 also calls for the
send notices to each consistory and          that the ministers are greater in au-          election of delegates to the annual
place an announcement in the Stan-           thority or that their office is superior       synod: "And, finally, at one but the
durd Bearer. In this way the churches        to that of the elders who are delegated        last meeting and, if necessary, at the
are kept well informed of the meet-          to classis. Article 41 calls for the chair-    last meeting before the (particular)
ings of the broader assembly.                man to be one of the minister del-             synod, delegates shall be chosen to
    Each classis decides where next it       egates for purely practical consider-          attend said synod."
will meet. The Synod of Wezel, 1568,         ations. Generally the ministers have               Delegates to the annual synod are
decided that all of the churches in          more experience and are more in-               chosen by the classis, not by indi-
each classis shouldtake turns at host-       formed about presiding over meet-              vidual consistories. An equal num-
ing the meetings of classis. Article 41      ings. For this simple reason, it is to be      ber of minister and elder delegates
contains no such stipulation. Not            preferred that the ministers chair the         are chosen. Besides the delegates
every church is conveniently located         sessions of classis.                           (primi),  their alternates  (secundi)  are
or is sufficiently large to be able to           Article 41 provides for two ways           chosen. At present, eachof our classes
host the number of delegates coming          in which the president is selected.            sends five minister and five elder
to  classis. Nevertheless, there is ben-     The ministers may preside by alpha-            delegates to synod. Delegates are
efit to as many churches as are able         betical rotation, or the president may         paired with their alternates alpha-
hosting classis. This gives the mem-         be chosen by vote of the assembly.             betically. The alternate who secured
bers of the various churches opportu-        The method of rotation is to be pre-           the most votes is therefore not neces-
nity to attend the sessions of classis       ferredandisthepracticeinourclasses.            sarily first in line to be called upon to
and to have fellowship with the del-         This is another safeguard against hi-          attend synod.
egates. Especially for far-flung and         erarchy and upholds the principle of               Voting for synodical delegates is
isolated congregations this is a very        the parity of officebearers,all  the min-      done by free election. All the minis-
worthwhile experience.                       isters being essentially equal in the          ters of the classis are considered eli-
    Expenses for the meetings of             authority of their office. Neverthe-           gible. Strictly speaking, this would
classis are to be borne by the churches      less, if the classis considers it advis-       include retired ministers and mis-
in common, not by the individual             able, it may depart from the practice          sionaries. Elder nominees .come  usu-
congregations or their delegates. If         of rotation and elect a president. In          ally by way of each consistory's cre-
the individual congregations were to         this case, however, the same minister          dentials. Some consistories have the
bear their own expenses, smaller, fi-        is not to be chosen twice in succes-           rule  that the elders are all eligible and
nancially less able congregations,           sion.                                          willbelistedonthecredentialsunless
would be disadvantaged. Classical                In our classes the policy is fol-          they are able to give good reason to

                                                                                                      April 1,1994/Standard  Beam'297


the consistory  why their name should         synod. Nevertheless, some care              sends three or four delegates to a
not be included. This is a good policy        should be exercised so that one con-        given synod. Some care should be
that also assures a full slate of elder       gregation is not unduly represented         exercised so that delegates are chosen
nominees from which to choose.                at synod. Because delegates are se-         from a number of different congrega-
     Delegates to synod ought to be           lected by free election, it is possible     tions. As many of the churches as
chosen on the basis of individual             thatanumberofdelegatesbeselected            possible ought to be involved in the
qualifications. Each classis ought to         from one congregation. It has hap-          labors of the churches in common at
send, not necessarily its most popular        pened at times that one congregation        the broader assemblies.  c;I
or older, but its most capable men to



                             The Calling of the
                 Westminster Assembly
                                              of Divines*

     June the 12th, 1993, was the 350th       Him. We believe the Reformed faith          who thought that the reforms that
anniversary of the calling of the             most. consistently summarizes these         had taken place under Edward VI
Westminster Assembly of Divines.              truths.                                     were enough. Then there were the
Because the work of this justly fa-                                                       Presbyterians, who had close ties to,
mous assembly means so much to the            Background                                  and links with, the Reformed church,
Evangelical Presbyterian Church, as                Following the Reformation in           in Switzerland, and finally there were
it should to any who bears the name           England, several Protestant groups          the Independents.
"Presbyterian" and "Reformed," we             emerged. Out of one of these, the               When Elizabeth I came to power,
ought to pause to remember what it            Puritans, came the English Presbyte-        her policy was in favour of the Epis-
was about, and to thank the Lord, the         .`rians. These early groups were greatly    copalianmoderate reform group. She
Ring and Head of the church, for              influenced by the work of Tyndale           ignored the Presbyterian Puritans, and
using the times and labours  of the           and Hooper, proponents of covenant          thought of the Independent Puritans
men who sat and worked on this                theology. Later, during the reign of        (Congregationalists and Baptists) as
assembly to help build His church.            King EdwardVI,  the Reformationwas          dangerous subversives. This forced
What a blessing that Assembly has             given royal support. During this time,      the Presbyterians and Independents
been - to all who love the Saviour            European Reformers visited England,         into secret meetings. Under God's
and to all who love those truths of the       and the church there was closely knit       blessing, the Puritans understand-
Word of God which most honour                 with the Reformed church on the con-        ing of the Bible was spread by faithful
                                              tinent and in Scotland.                     preachers and writings, and many in
                                                  The early death of Edward and           England became convinced Puritans.
                                              the ascension to the throne of Mary         Eventually the majority of the elected
*    Last year, Presbyterians celebrated      Tudor brought the Roman Catholic            members of the Parliament of En-
the 350th anniversa y of the meeting of       Church to power again, and one of           gland were Puritans, and this resulted
the Westminster Assembly. This  assem-        the consequences was the persecu-           in the Parliament becoming very sup-
blyproduced theconfessional, catechetical,    tion of the Protestants or Reformed         portive of the Puritans, most of whom
and church political ,documents of the        Christians. Many of the English Re-         were now generally Presbyterian but
Presbyterianchurches- the Westminster         formers fled to Europe in what is now       with some Independents. The Pres-
Standards. This article commemorates          known as the "marian exile;" Some           byterians believed that the authority
the historic event of the calling of the      gave their lives as martyrs for Christ      for state and church was ultimately
assembly. The Rev. Chris Coleborn is          and His truth.                              Christ's good ways and rule by His
pastor of the Evangelical Presbyterian            Three distinct groups emergedat         Word, the Bible. However, the mon-
Church in Brisbane, Australia.                this time. There were the moderate          archs of England/ Scotland and their
                                    - Ed.     Reformers, generally Episcopalians,         followers believed that the king had

298lStandard  Seam /April 1,1994


      absolute authority over the nation           mon with the Scats, and asked them         divines were called to meet. About
      and church.                                  to join with them in drawing up a          twenty-five never attended. Those
          Eventually, due to the excesses of       common Confession of Faith for the         present worked at the confessional
      King Charles I, the Parliamentary-           Christians of England, Scotland, and       standards with prayer and fasting,
      Presbyterian group gained the great-         Ireland. The Scats agreed, provided        the diligent study of God's Word, and
      est following and support in England.        the basis of that common work was a        Christian debate. They laboured, in
      At this time, there were great troubles      Scriptural agreement or covenant.          the words of the historian J. Wylie, to
      economically, socially, politically  -       This covenant was called The Solemn        build a "temple in which three na-
      in fact, in all departments of life. They    League and Covenant. It bound the          tions might worship; to erect a citadel
      faced the same sort of problems that         nations, by God's grace, to work to-       within which three kingdoms might
      face our country now, only far worse.        getherforabiblicalbasisforthechurch        entrust their independence and liber-
      This group also had the support of the       and nations. The English agreed to         ties."
      Presbyterians of Scotland. There had         this, and then requested the aid of the        The Assembly consisted of a few
      been a great workof  Godin Scotland,         Scats  at the Westminster Assembly.        mild Episcopalians, five Indepen-
      so that theland was deeply persuaded         The church and the Parliament of           dents, and the majority, about one
      that Presbyterian beliefs and prac-          Scotland sent commissioners to' at-        hundred, Presbyterians. The Assem-
      tices were the most biblical. The Par-       tend the Westminster Assembly to           bly drafted a Confession of Faith,
      liament then abolished episcopacy as         help it in its work. The original com-     Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and
      the National Church in England.              missioners were five ministers,            Form of Government and a Directory
          In Scotland, in God's providence,        Alexander Henderson, Samuel                for Public Worship.
      a development similar to that in En-         Rutherford, Robert Douglas, Robert
      gland occurred. Charles I had tried to       Baillie, and George Gillespie. There       The Events that Followed the Meet-
      force the Presbyterian Church (the           were three ruling elders: John, Lord       ing of the Westminster Assembly
      great majority church in the nation of       Maitland, afterwards Duke of Lau-              The Westminster Standards were
      the Reformation) to accept that he,          derdale; Archibald Johnston of             speedily adopted by the Scottish.
      the king, had authority to tell the          Warriston; and John, Earl of Cassilis.     church and Parliament. The English
      church how to worship, and what to                                                      Parliament did not adopt them be-
      believe. The church, however, was            The Calling and Work of the                cause of the military power and influ-
      deeply persuaded that only Ring              Westminster Assembly                       ence over the Parliament of the Inde-
      Jesus, speaking to His people in the             On June 12th,  1643, the Parlia-       pendents. One of their soldiers, Oliver
      Bible, had that authority, and not Ring      ment of England summoned an As-            Cromwell, became the military dicta-
      Charles I. The Scottish Parliament,          sembly of Divines to meet at               tor of the three kingdoms. Sadly, be-
      "The Four Tables," met, and as the           Westminster to do several things.          cause of this, the English church was
      nation was overwhelmingly Presby-            They were to act as advisors to the        never given the opportunity to adopt
      terian, the Parliament supported the         Parliament withbiblical and spiritual      them, as was the church and Parlia-
      Presbyterian cause as just and right.        advice. More importantly, however,         ment in Scotland.
      The king would not listen to the Par-        they were to draw up a biblical consti-        Oliver Cromwell, who supported
      liament, however. The nation then,           tution for England, Scotland, and Ire-     theIndependents,alienatedtheScots,
.-    under the leadership both of the             land. It was believed that one of the      and in 1648, because of his military'
      church and Parliament, called the            best ways to solve the problems of the     power, purged the Parliament of En-
      nation to prayer and fasting, and it         nationswastotumsincerelyandtruly           gland of all 140 Presbyterians, leaving
      was decided to bind all the Presbyte-        to the Lord and His ways for us, and       about 50 Independents. This "Rump
      rians in a National Covenant, to be          to establish the nation on a proper        Parliament" tried and executed
      faithful to the King of the church, the      spiritual basis, and that this would       Charles I, and set up a military dicta-
      Lord Jesus. The king continued to            lead to the solving of the problems of     torship under Cromwell. It termi-
      oppose his Parliament and people,            the land to a wonderful extent. The        nated the Presbyterian establishment
      contrary to the constitution of the          gospel and truth of Christ and the         in England, and while Presbyterians
      land, and even raised an army to force       grace of God would heal the country.       were allowed to worship, it granted
      them to do his will. The nation and          A representative of each English           special privileges to theIndependents
      churchralliedundertheirParliament,           county was chosen.                         (Congregationalists and Baptists).
      and their banner was, For Christ's               The Assembly sat for five and a            Thekingdomsreturnedtoamon-
      Crown and Covenant.  When Ring               half years, from 1643 to 1649, to draw     archy following the death of Oliver
      Charles saw this opposition he did           up the Westminster Confessional            Cromwell, and, sadly, this brought a
      not use his army against the Scats.          Standards. The Assembly met four           return of the royal extreme episcopal
          When the English Parliament met          times a week, with over one thousand       group, with their despotic claims, to
      (with a Presbyterian majority), the          one hundred and sixty-three recorded       power. The Solemn League and Cov-
      English felt they had much in com-           sessions. One hundred and fifty-one        enant was abjured, and the govern-

                                                                                                        April 1,1994lStandard  Bearer/299


ment tried to force Presbyterians and         is not mere dogma. It is life, and it is      gave the Lord the glory due to His
other Puritans to deny their faith in         to be a hearty, warm, and personal            name, and was for our happiness and
both England and Scotland.                    belief that impacts upon all of our life.     good.
         After years of persecution of the    We are to have a "new heart" from the
Presbyterians in England, Scotland,           Lord; Christ Jesus is to be our King          The Work of the Westminster As-
and Ireland, the Lord finally brought         we are to be bound to Him in His              sembly and our Church Today
Ring Wilham and Queen Mary of the             everlasting covenant, if we are to find           The Westminster Confessional
royal house of Orange in Holland to           true life in this world and the next.         Standards, that fruit and labour  of
accept the thrones of Scotland and                2.They deeply believed that the           such godly and good men, are what
England. Queen Mary was a descen-             visible and true church of the Lord           the Evangelical Presbyterian Church
dant of the royal house of Scotland           Jesus had obligations to teach what           unashamedlyholdsasitsconfessional
and England, a Protestant daughter            absolutes God had to say about civil          standards in 1994. We continue to
of JamesII.  Thel'resbyterianchurches         rulers and civil life and its limits and      believe that these standards most con-
of England, Ireland, and especially           duties, as well as about the church           sistentlysummarizethetruthofGod's
Scotland were able once more to serve         and its life and calling.                     Word. We have a godly and great
the Lord according to the summary of              3. They held, in the light of God's       heritage in these standards. We be-
His Word, the Bible, which they be-           Word, that liberty, justice, and pros-        lieve they are the ways for the glory of
lieved was most faithfully  summa-            perity for daily true life, natural and       Godandourgoodinbothchurchand
rizedin the Westminster Confessional          civil, not just spiritual, is hadin Christ    nation. May Christ Jesus,. the Ring
Standards.                                    Jesus andHis covenant, andbelonged            and Head of the church, guide us as a
                                              to the common people to enjoy and             church in our day and age by His
Some Principles of the Men of the             possess as much as to the aristocracy         Word and Spirit into those truths of
Westminster Assembly                          and scholars.                                 His Word that bring healing to indi-
     The men of the Westminster As-               4. The Divines were very .con-            viduals, families, and nations, and
sembly were unashamedly attached              cerned to give a consolidated form            establish and keep His true church in
to the following grand principles:            and statement to one hundred and              our day and age faithful to Him and
         l.They were greatly persuaded        fifty years of biblical study, begun          the faith of our fathers.
of the truth that Almighty God has            and rediscovered at the time of the               Let us thank God for the work of
revealed Himself and His will for             Reformation. They prayerfully                 the Westminster Assembly that was
both faith and life through the Media-        laboured to confess true biblicalchris-       called to meet on the 12th, June, 1643.
tor of the Covenant, Jesus Christ. This       tianity as a faith that uplifted Christ,                                           0





                                                  TheAssemblyalsonamedastudy                religion, which offered a rationale for
                                              committee to review a report on               earlier Japanese imperialism.
                                              women in church office which had                  According to the Rev. Richard
n The Reformed Church                         been adopted by the 1992 General              Sytsma, a missionary of the Christian
of Japan                                      Assembly. We have no idea what is             Reformed Church in North America
     The General Assembly of this             stated in the 1992 document. We               and a fraternal delegate to the RCJ
denomination (9,000 members) is               hope and pray that the RCJ will main-         assembly, the denomination has a
working on statements on evange-              tain the biblical teaching on this mat-       vigorous home mission program and
lism and the doctrine of election. They       ter and not allow women to serve in           is working in five outlying areas in
hope to have these statements com-            church office.                                Japan or its territories.
pleted by their 50th anniversary in               The Assembly established formal                            REC News Exchange
1996. The RCJ is also working on              ecclesiastical relations with the Or-
contemporary supplements to its               thodox Presbyterian Church in North
main confessional statement, the              America. In another action the As-            4 A Significant Withdrawal
Westminster Confession.                       sembly addressed a letter to the gov- .           In January the Reformed
                                              ernment in which they expressed               Churches in South Africa (RCSA) ter-
                                              opposition to a government plan to            minated their membership in the Re-
Prof, Decker is profekor of Practical The-    construct a Shinto monument for Japa-         formed Ecumenical Council (REC).
ology in the Protestant &eformed Semi-        nese soldiers who died in World War           These churches suspended theirmem-
nary.                                         II. Shintoism is a native Japanese            bership in 1988, but postponed a final

3OOlStandard  Bearer/April 1,1994


decision until their synod of this year.      n An Explanation is in Order                    The question of the church of the
This withdrawal of the South African              So it is with the merging churches      fatherland is one of history. History
churches is significant when one con-         in the Netherlands. The two Re-             is the terrain where God works and
siders the fact that this denomination        formed denominations and the                makes His salvation real. There is a
was one of the founding members of            Lutheran who are involved in "to-           firm belief among some NRC mem-
the REC (formerly called Reformed             gether on the way," have produced a         bers that the Reformation in the low-
Ecumenical Synod). The otherfound-            booklet called Church Conversations,        lands was a place where the hand of
ing members of the REC are the Re-            which deals with issues that have           God was present. The church that
formed Churches in the Netherlands            surfaced during the union process. It       arose there ought to be seen as some-
(RCN) and the Christian Reformed              covers three basic areas, namely, the       thing God planted.
Church in North America (CRC).                confessions, birth membership, and              As we commented previously,
Several smaller denominations have            the idea of the church of the father-       this union of the threeDutch churches
recently withdrawn from the REC,              land. In the January issue of               does not bode,well for the future of
but thisis the first of the larger, found-    Kerkinformatie,  B. Wallet, the secre-      Reformed faith in the land of our
ing member churches to withdraw.              tary of the union process, outlined the     fathers.
    The reason given for the with-            basic ideas.                                REC News Exchange
drawal was the membership of the                  Wallet admitted that the Re-
Reformed Churches in the Nether-              formed confessions were a dead let-
lands in the REC. The RCN, the South          ter for many church members. For a          W Noted American Cleric
African churches charged, no longer           minority they have remained the ba-         Dies
shared the same fundamentalbeliefs.           sic summaries of the faith and have             Norman Vincent Peale, a prolific.
The RCSA also expressed their dis-            current relevance. The booklet sug-         writer and considered by many to be
satisfaction with the REC's toleration        gests that the members look at the          the patriarch of the twentieth-cen-
of membership in both the REC and             church from the center. That is, they       tury self-help movement, died the
the World Council of Churches. The            should recognize that through the           daybeforeChristmasathisfarmnorth
Dutch churches are members of the             preaching of the Word and celebra-          of New York City. Peale had suffered
WCC.                                          tion of the sacraments the church con-      a stroke a few weeksearlier. He was
     The RCSA did not accept a pro-           fesses salvationin Christ. From there       95 years old.
posal to unite with two black daugh-          members could recognize the dated               Ordained a Methodist, he trans-
ter denominations. They instead re-           character of the confessions, whether       ferred to the Reformed Church in
quested further conversations. The            they fully agree or not. Furthermore,       America (RCA) when he became pas-
advisory committee of the synod re-           Wallet argues, the church says more         tor of the Marble Collegiate Churchin
marked that deep-seated differences           in its praise and worship, in its pro-      New York City. Peale served there
existed, and that forcingunion would          phetic witness, in its priestly prayer      from 1932 untilhe retired in 1984.
have serious consequences for the             and diaconal deeds than ever can be             Dr. Peale is probably best known
churches. The proposal for unity              put in words in a confession.               for his book, The Power @Positive
called for the three national synods to           In the Netherlands Reformed             Thinking. This book, published in
become one. The three national syn-           Church (NRC) there is a category of         1952, remained on the best-seller list
ods are presently defined by race and         members called birth members. These         for more than three years.
language. The synod decided that              are people who have loosely associ-             Peale was a member of the RCA.
such a union was not essential to the         ated with the church, but have never        But was he Reformed in his thinking?
nature of the church. This matter will        been baptized. The NRC created this         Hardly. His biographer, Carol V. R.
be reviewed at the next synod which           category to make people eligible for        George, wrote, "He knew that to talk
meets in three years.                         the church's nursing homes. Wallet          about sin, suffering, and guilt was not
     The RCSA reported a stalemate            suggests that the nature of the church      going to produce the numbers he
in their relationship with the CRC.           should be God's electing action             wanted." American religious histo-
The CRC has suspended bi-lateral              through the Word and sacrament              rian, Randall Balmer, is quoted as
relations with the South African              (Whatever this means?! RDD). Grace          saying, "His genius was in the sim-
churches, and thelatter said that they        is the watchword of the church. When        plicity of his message . . . that message
had made no progress in the discus-           thinking from this center, Wallet says,     fit the tenor of the times in the middle
sions since 1991. The synodinstructed         one understands that the church is          decades of this century. It was a
its ecumenical delegates to seek new          not a closed community. Wallet may          message of hope, optimism, and
relationships with other denomina- -          write and say as he pleases, but the        American middle-class values."
tions.                                        fact is that the church is closed to all        Would to God it had been the
                  REC News Exchange           who refuse to repent of their sins and      messageof salvationbygrace through
                                              believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!           faith in Jesus Christ! 0
                                                                                                               Christianity Today
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                                                          Chapter 3
                       The First Three Days
                                      of Creation (cont.)

God's Creation of the Light                   The Bible, however, does so; and              There is but one explanation for this.
(Gen. 1:3-5)                                  thereby it presents us with a distin-         That explanation is not to be found in
     By way of introduction, we call          guishing mark which sets it apart as          the knowledge and investigation of
attention to the fact that in this pas-       the unique, divine record of a unique,        Moses or of any other man, but in the
sage of Genesis 1 we have what must           divine work                                   knowledge and revelation and infal-
beinterpretedasanunmistakablesign                 On the other hand, this same as-          lible inspiration of the Most High,
that the creation-record is not of hu-        pect of the creation-narrative ought          who created all things at the begin-
man origin, and that Moses did not            toconstituteaverystrikingtestimony            ning. This is one of the marvelous
write the creation-narrative except as        to the modern man of science., For it         aspects of the Genesis record which
he was infallibly inspired by the Cre-        would appear that if anything is plain        ought not to be overlooked.
ator of all things Himself. We find           in the light of all the modem research             It behooves us, therefore, to as-
this indication in the fact that in the       into the nature and activity of light         sume an attitude of deep humility
Genesis narrative light is presented          and into the nature of energy and into        and to be silent as the Lord our God
as being created first. On the one            the interaction of light and physical         tells us concerning His work on the
hand, the ordinary man-of-the-street,         matter, it is this, that, in the reality      first day. For from Him, and from
who is unschooled in the intricacies of       which is called light, man confronts          I+im alone, do we receive the answer
such studies as astronomy and phys-           one of the ultimate and insoluble             to the question concerning the origin
ics and in all the ramifications and          mysteries of our universe, a reality          of that mysterious reality calledlight.
significance of the reality that is called    that is basic to allexistence and which       ~    When we face the question what
light, certainly would not think of           can be studied, and whose behavior            God created on this first day, we may
presenting the creation of light as the       can be investigated and to a certain          well begin with a confession'of our
first work-of God' the Creator if he          extent explained, but  '           .I                      ignorancewithregard to
were to concoct a creation-story. He          which can itself  ulti-                                     the essence of light. We
is surroundedbylightoneveryhand,              matelynotbeexplained.                                      .donotktiowwhatitis.A
and the reality of light is so common-        Certainly, the man               In the reality             certain Dutch poet, hav-
place that he takes it for granted; but       Moses in his time did           which is called            ing been blind, and his
he would never have thought of mak-           not and could not possi-                 light,             eyesight having been re-
ing this God's first creation. He might       bly know all that men           man confronts              stored, exclaimed. in
probably place first in such,a man-           today have discovered                                      wonderment: "Light!
madeaccount the creationof the heav-          concerning light. He cer-          one of the              What is light? Heights
enlyluminaries- the sun, moon, and            tainly knew nothing              ultimate and              of the heavens, depths of
stars. But he certainly would not give        about such things as the           insoluble               the seas, and thou, oh
first place to the creation of light, nor     wave theory or the car-'           mysteries               earth, answer me! What
would he think of distinguishing be-          puscular  theory of light;                                 is light?" And so it is,
tween the creation .of light and the                                         of our universe.
                                              nor could he know any-                                     indeed. We walk in the
creation of the heavenly luminaries.          thing about such an in-                                    midst of this wonder,
                                              volved thing as the                                        and pay little or no at-
                                              quantum theory. And yet in the Gen-           tention to it, so insensible have we
The late Homer Hoeksema was professor         esis record the creation of this light,       become because of sin.
of  Dogmatics and Old Testament in the        which is so basic to the existence of              Nevertheless, we may say some-
Protestant Reformed Seminary.                 the entire universe, is placed first.         thing about light, in order to see some-

302lStandard  Bearer /April 1,1994


thing of its significance, and in order      must also have been cold, as well as         of God is the basic condition for the
that we may be brought to contem-            dark-absolutely cold. The universe           existence of every creature. If we
plate and appreciate a little the won-       as it is now is full of heat. And there      consider this work of creation in its
der work which God accomplished in           is no other proper place for the cre-        broadest scope, we can understand
this creation.                               ation of this heat than on the first day.    somewhat why it is God's first cre-
    Then we may say, in the first            Togetherwiththelight,therefore,heat          ative work. The sacred record in-
place, that physical light is of the very    was created. That light and heat are         formsusthatlightiscreatedinantith-
essence of the existence of all matter       also the condition of all other exist-       esis to the darkness, that is, not to the
in the universe. That is evident from        ence and of all life. Power and energy       absolute darkness that is mentioned
this very passage in Genesis and from        are implied in the.light. Electricity is     in verse 2, but in antithesis to the
many passages of Scripture which             in the light. Fire is in the light. Mag-     darkness of the night. For we read
speak in one way or another of light.        netism belongs to the creation of the        that God divided the light from the
The chaos was dark, absolutely dark,         light. Radioactivity belongs to that         darkness, and that God called the
and as such was utterly lifeless. The        same creation. All these related reali-      light Day and the darkness He called
waste and void spoken of in Genesis          ties belong to the one category of the       Night.
1:2 was without light: darkness was          formation of physical light. More-               Darkness itself, in the absolute
upon the face of the deep. And it was        over, that light is the life also of the     sense of the word, is nothing. And in
therefore without that  life, that en-       living creatures. Plants and animals         that sense there was darkness before
ergy, which is essential to the exist-       and man cannot live without light            the light was created. God did not
ence and form of all things. There was       and heat. All of these have light as the     create the darkness: He is the Father
no movement whatsoever in it, and            very condition of their life. Take it        of light. Absolute lifelessness, dead-
therewas  no revelation in the dark-         -away, and they could not exist.             ness, coldness, motionlessness, noth-
ness. There was no communication                 We must remember, too, that light        ingness, is the darkness of the original
possible in it. It was simply dead. But      is the means of communication. Light         chaos. But the text speaks here of the
by the brooding of the Spirit lie and        moves, we are told, with the unimag-         darkness of the night. This suggests
energy is-engendered into that mo-           inable speed of 186,000 miles per sec-       that not all darkness was removed on
tionless chaos, and thingsbegin to stir      ond. It moves against various objects,       the first day. The absolute darkness is
and to move. And the, very first             and it moves back, is reflected from         no more. It is dispelled by the light.
manifestation of that fact, that the         those objects. And when it reflects          But the shadows are left; and our
Spirit brooded upon the waters and           from those objects, it. contains the         night is a shadow of turning. On the
engenderedlife-energy into that dead         picture of those objects in it. That         first day the light is so formed by the
chaos, is the light. That was the first      l%ure is caught by the eye of animal         creative Word of God that it is di-
expression of life and movement in           and man, and reveals'in picture form         vided from the darkness. God caused
the chaos. God said, "Let there be           theobjectthatisreflectedbythelight.          that division by His almighty, cre-
light." By theWord of God the reality        Light, therefore, reveals. It is the         ative Word. The result is that already
calledlight is separated from the rest,      means of communication between               on the first day the light is so formed
thinned out into the invisible atmo-         manandthkworld,betweenmanand                 that it does -not shine&erywhere  at
sphere; and its motion, or waving, or        man,, between God and the world,             once. The darkness of the night from
vibration, is so formed as to be light.      `and between God and man. This is            the very first day forward alternates
Light is the very life-energy of the         also suggested when Scripture here           with the light of day. There are those
material universe.                           states specifically in connection with       who suggest that the light of the first
    In this connection, we must not          the first day that "God saw the light,       day must have surrounded the entire
overlook the fact that in the six days of    that it was good." The idea is ex-           unformed mass of the earthly cre-
creation we have in each case only           pressed here that in the light is the        ation at first, and that at the end of
one central expression of what God           reflection of the world to God Him-          each day, in the evening, God re-
created on that day. Light means much        self, and that the light is the means of     moved that light, destroyed it, and
more than only the light as we under-        communicationbetween God and the             brought about the night.
stand it in the everyday sense. Also         world, and, by implication, between              Now it may be granted that it is
the atmosphere, that whichwe some-           God and man. The light that God              very difficult for us to form any con-
times call the "ether," must have been       created was good. It served the pur-         ception at all of the earth in the midst
created on that day. And the move-           pose whereunto God created it. God           of the original chaos, prior to the
ment that is caused in that "ether,"         saw the light, that it was good. In this     finishing of creation. But it is also
that exceedingly rapid motion, is.           same connection, we must not forget          extremely difficult, if not impossible,
called light. But to this creation be-       that color and form and number and           to conceive of it that God destroyed
longs much more. Light<also implies          movement are all conditioned by the          and recreated the light every time
heat. The. two, as we know, are very         light.                                       during the first three days, before the
closely related. The original chaos              Hence, light as the first creation       sun was created. This is an extremely

                                                                                                    April 1,1994/Standard  Bearer1303


difficult conception both because it          rotated, and that in this way the alter-       their alternation from the very first.
seems inconceivable that God would            nation of day andnight were created.           Thus we have the night and the dark-
destroy a creature which He first             For we must also remember that the             ness as a shadow-not as the original
made, andbecause that creature, light,        division of the light from the dark-           darkness, but as a shadow left to
included too many other things. On            ness and the alternation of the Day            remind us of that darkness. God
the basis of the fact, therefore, that the    and the Night is the work of God's             created the antithesis. The night is the
earth was already separated from the          creative Word. We read specifically            antithesis of the day; and the dark-
heavensin the very beginning, and on          in the text: "And God called to the            ness is the antithesis of the light. God
the basis of the fact that light is move-     light Day, and to the darkness He              lets part of the darkness remain, in
ment and that it is the condition of the      calledNight." These expressions sug-           order to show the beauty of the light,
existence of all matter, it may be sug-       gest, therefore, that God separated            and He reveals Himself antithetically
gested that already on the first day          the light from the darkness on the             also innature. The light always shines
the light was placed by God in some           very first day, and that He left it so,        in the darkness. 0
central position and that the earth           and that He created day and night in





                   3. The Great Apostasy

     Another sign of the end of the             cause iniquity shah abound, the love         24: "If it were possible, they shall
worldis  apostasy. "Apostasy" means             of many shah wax cold. But he that           deceive the very elect." Therefore,
departure. You find this mentioned              shall endure unto the end, the same          the question is an urgent one: who
as a sign of the end in II Thessalonians        shah be saved.                               and what are these false prophets,
2:3, where, in the original Greek lan-                                                       and what is .the nature of their work?
guage, the word "apostasy" is used:               Verse 24 also speaks of this:                  We can answer the question,
"that day (i.e., the day of Christ, the                                                      "What is a false prophet?" only by
day of Christ's second coming-D@)               For there shall arise false Christs,  and    first asking and answering another
shall not come, except there come a             false prophets, and shall shew great
                                                signs and wonders; insomuch that, if         question, "What is a true prophet?"
fallingawayfirst." Literally, thewords          it were possible, they shall deceive         A prophet is a man sent by God to
"falling away" are the word "apos-              the very elect.                              speak God's Word on God's behalf.
tasy," so that the apostle says that the                                                     Two things about a prophet stand
coming again of Christ will be pre-               The cause of apostasy, according           out: God sends him, and he speaks
ceded by an apostasy.                         to Jesus, willbe false prophets. Many          the Word of God. The importance of
    Apostasy is something that takes          false prophets  will deceive many              the work of the prophet is that God
place within the churches. People who         people, so that they fall away from the        uses it to save His people.' For the
once knew and confessed the truth             truth. The seriousness of being de-            prophet brings the Word of God, and
depart from the truth; those who once         ceived and falling away is .indicated          the content of that Word is God's love
were close to Christ fall away from           when Jesus says, "But he that shall            and grace in His Son, Jesus Christ,
Christ.                                       endure unto the end . . . shallbesaved."       unto the salvation of everyone that
    Jesus foretold this apostasy in           The implication is that those who are          believes.  Through that Word of the
Matthew 24 in answer to His dis-              deceived will not be saved. False              prophet, God brings the elect to faith
ciples' question: "What shall be the          prophets, therefore, pose a threat to          in Jesus Christ, by which faith we are
sign of thy coming, and of the end of         the church, to us and our children. It         saved. God saves men by the truth!
the world?" Although the word "apos-          was the purpose of Jesus in forewarn-          God saves men by the preaching of
tasy" does not occur, this is what the        ing us of the false prophets to put us         the truth! Romans  10:13-15  teaches
Lord spoke of in verses 11-13:                on guard against these clever, de-             this: whoever calls on God shall be
                                              structive emissaries of the devil. To          saved, but no one can call on God
  And  many false prophets shall rise         shake us into watchfulness, Jesus              unless he believes in God, and no one
  and shall deceive many. And be-             spoke the astounding words of verse            can believe unless he has heard God,

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butnoonecanhearwithoutapreacher,             Think of their opposition to Jeremiah.           that liberals and conservatives are
or prophet.                                  They were in large part responsible              equally Christian and equally have a
    The Chief Prophet and Teacher is         for the spiritual decline of Judah that          place in the congregation. The Bible
Jesus Christ Himself. He is God's            resulted in the destruction of Jerusa-           knows nothing of "liberals" and "con-
great Servant sent into the world fully      lem and in the Babylonian captivity.             servatives" - politics, maybe, but
to reveal to us God's counsel concern-       False prophets arose within the New              not Scripture. Scripture knows only
ing our redemption. He is the One            Testament church soon after the ap-              offaithfu.lpastorswhobringtheWord
who in all ages reveals the truth in the     ostolic times and deceived many. In              and faithful saints who receive and
hearts and minds of God's people. It         fact, the apostles themselves had to             confess the Word - who belong in
is Christ Jesus who today gives the          oppose the Gnostics, who denied that             the church - and heretics who cor-
church pastors and teachers (Eph.            Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, as           rupt the Scriptures and those whom
4:11), and it is He who speaks in their      I John shows. Then the Arians ap-                they deceive -who have no place in
preaching, so that God's elect hear          peared who denied that Jesus is God.             the church and must be cut off.
Jesus Christ and are taught by Jesus         There was also the false prophet                     There is good reason for Jesus'
Christ (Eph. 4:21).                          Pelagius, who denied that man is by              condemnation of the false prophet.
    In this light, we can understand         nature totally depraved and who                  First,thefalseprophetdeniesthetruth
what false prophets are. They are            taught that man's salvation depended             which glorifies God. Secondly, he
preachers and teachers who claim to          upon man himself. There has been                 denies Jesus Christ, who is the truth.
be sent by God, but are not. They are        continuous succession of false proph-            And, thirdly, tlie false prophet leads
false as regards their origin and cre-       etsin the world, working in the sphere           man away from salvation to damna-
dentials. Outwardly, they appear pi-         of the church, from the time that the            tion. Nothing less than this is his
ous and religious. For this reason,          father of lies himself, that ancient             work. Matthew 24 implies this when
Paul in II Corinthians 11:13,15  refers      deceiver, the devil, contradicted                in verse 13 it states that only those
to them as those "transforming them-         God's Word in the Garden of Eden.                who endure, only those who are not
selves into apostles of Christ" and          But they increase as the end draws               takeninby the false prophets, shallbe
"ministers of light" (v. 14). In Mat-        near. At the end, says Christ, the false         saved. The false prophet causes many
thew  715, Jesus noted their decep-          prophets will be multitude, and they             to fall away!
tive, false appearance when He called        will deceive many. Culminating in                    Since the meaning of apostasy is
them wolves in sheep's clothing. The         the false prophet of Antichrist, they            that people who once professed Christ
fact is that they are sent out by the        will deceive the whole world, except             do so no longer, that many who once
devil, and, therefore, Paul calls them       those whose names are written in the             manifested themselves as goodmem-
Satan's ministers in II Corinthians          Lamb's book of life (Rev. 13).                   bers of the church forsake her, and
11:15.                                            The attitude of Jesus and of all            that many who once confessed the
    These prophets and preachers are         Scripture toward the false prophet is            truth depart from the truth, the ques-
also false as regards their message, or      quite different from the religious tol-          tion arises: can believers fall away?
word. It is not the truth, but the lie,      eration so warmly praised today in                   This is impossible. No saint, cho-
although they herald it as the gospel.       the churches. Scripture calls them               sen by God from eternity, born again
They claim to teach the truth. They          wolves, seducers, evil men,                      by the Spirit and believing in Christ
ComewiththeirBiblesin                                        antichrists, andheretics.        with a true faith, can be deceived, fall
hand and spout texts left                                    This must be the atti-           away, and perish in hell. The very
and right. But they cor-                                     tude of us who are Jesus'        words of Christ in verse 24 that are a
rupt and adulterate the             The wolf                 disciples, even thoughit         strong warning to us concerning false
truth, and they pervert           is welcomed                gains us the reproach of         prophets prove that the saints cannot
the gospel.                       into the fold              being unjustly called fa-        apostatize. Christ says, "If it were
    Thus, the false                                          natics and bigots. For           possible, they shall deceive the very
prophets deceive many.             as a sheep,               onlythenwillwebeware             elect." The plain implication is: It is
Many are fooled by their           and there                 of false prophets and            not possible, and, therefore, they shall
appearance and mes-               he promptly                only then will we keep           not deceive the elect. ,AsJesus  taught
sage. The wolf is wel-              devours                  them out of our congre-          in John 10, none that the Father gave
comed into the fold as a          men's souls.               gation and churches.             to Jesus as His sheep shall perish. This
sheep, and there he                                          Tolerance of the false           is necessary comfort for us who be-
promptly devours men's                      p r o p h e t1   i s   s u r r e n d e r   t o    lieve, as we see the number and
                             L
souls.                                                       him. Even such a thing           subtlety of false prophets and as we
    The presence of false prophets is        as the practice of our time to speak of          look forward to an increase in the
no new thing at the end of the ages.         "liberals" and "conservatives" in the            future. They will not deceive us, nor
False prophets plagued the church            church is an unbiblical, dangerous               will we fall away. But this comfort is
throughout the Old Testament times.          thing. It soon leads people to suppose           nogroundforcarelessness.Godkeeps

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us and our children in the way of           They often remain rather ignorant of        to miss this sign today. A huge part of
giving us this warning about false          it. Above all, they do not love the         that which has the name of the Chris-
prophets and in the way of our heed-        truth. So, they can forsake it.             tian church remains enslaved to the
ing this warning by rejecting the false         Men's lack of heartfelt love for        lie of salvation by works from which
prophets and their messages.                the truth of God's Word is the reason       the Holy Spirit delivered us through
     If the apostasy before the end         why God punishes them by giving             the Reformation and its gospel of jus-
does not mean the falling away of the       them over to deception, so that they        tification by faith in Christ alone. The
saints, what does it mean? How does         fall away. For apostasy is not only the     cults grow with all the astounding
the falling away actually take place?       devil's work. It is also a judgment of      speed of a cancer, and their growth is
First, the deceiving of many, and their     God on men. This is Paul's teaching         from,  the body of the Christian
falling away into perdition, happens        inIIThessalonians2:10-12.  Godsends         churches, i.e., by way of the apostasy
over a period of time in the course of      many people a strong delusion, that         of many. And what dirge can lament
several generations. At a certain time,     they should believe a lie,                                  the pitiful condition of
a church becomes contemptuous of            so that they all might be                                   the Protestant  churches
the truth or accepts false doctrine.        damned who believed                                         today? There is forsak-
From that time on, the deception in-        not the truth, but had               What dirge             ing of the truth of the
creases and the departure from the          pleasure in unrigh-                                         infallible inspiration of
truth becomes greater and greater.          teousness. The reason for          can lament               Holy Scripture; of the
The inevitable result is that the decep-    this terrible, but just,             the pitiful            truth of theDeity  of Jesus
tion becomes total: The Word of God         judgment is: "because                condition              Christ; of the truth of
disappears altogether; the grandchil-       they received not the                  of the               atonement in the blood
dren or great-grandchildren of those        love of the truth, that              Protestant             of the cross; of the truth
originally guilty of heeding false          they might be saved."                                       of salvation by grace
prophets are unbelieving and go lost.       God cannot stand con-              churches today?          alone, and not by man's
This is one way in which Jesus'             tempt for the truth of                                      works or free-will. As
words," Many shallbe deceived," are         His Word.                                              J    theyleave the truth, they
fulfilled. There is deception on a gi-          It is important that                                    also forsake holiness of
gantic scale. It is not that individuals    Jesus' disciples, the church, know that     life, permitting the violation of all of
here and there are deceived, but en-        apostasy is a sign of the end of the        God's commandments. And all of
tire denominations of churches fall         world. For one thing, we do not             this must pass as Christianity. To
away.                                       expect -that the church is going to         such an extent are men deceived.
     A second way in which apostasy         grow tremendously in numbers and                  Does Christ give you eyes to see
occurs is the departure of individuals      that almost the entire world will be        this sign? Then, look for the coming
who for a time, and maybe even for a        converted to Christ. This is not Scrip-     of Christ, which is near. And be spiri-
long time, were members of the              ture; this is not Matthew 24. Not only      tually awake, sober and watchful.
church, confessed the truth, seemed         do many never join the church, but          This was Jesus' purpose when He
to love Christ Jesus, and showed them-      there are many who are deceived and         told His disciples of the coming of
selves as believers. Under the influ-       whose love waxes cold. Not only             false prophets and their deception of
ence of some strange wind of doctrine       does the church not grow numeri-            many. This comes out in the words of
or the allure of the riches and plea-       cally, but there are many who fall          verse 13: "But he that shall endure
sures of the world, they fall away.         away. We preach and teach dili-             unto the end, the same shallbe  saved."
They leave the church; they love Christ     gently, both to the saints within and       Endurance is required of us. The false
no more; they deny and despise the          the.unbelievers without, andweleave         prophets tempt us. Effort is made to
truth. Invariably, theytake  theirfami-     the outcome in God's hands; but in          deceive us. Only those who endure
lies to destruction with them, not only     the light of the Scriptures, we look for    shall be saved. We must endure.
their wife andchildren, but also their      the church to become smaller and                  How?
grandchildren. Now, they never were         smaller. We do not despair when we                By knowing and loving the truth!
true believers. They were the repro-        see the apostasy taking place, even         Know andlove the gospel of the Scrip-
bate seed that the devil is always          though we grieve.                           tures! Hear it in the preaching every
sowing in Jesus' wheatfield. The                As a sign of the end, apostasy          Sunday. See that your children hear it
apostle John had' his eye on them           speaks to us of the certainty and the       in catechism, every week Study the
when he wrote in I John 2:19, "They         nearness of the end of the world.           Bible with other saints who love the
wentoutfromus,buttheywerenotof              Apostasy prepares the way for Anti-         truth, and read it daily yourself.
us: but they went out,that they might       christ. Antichrist will persecute the             This is the Spirit's way of pre-
be made manifest that they were not         church. Then, Christ willcome on the        serving you to the end,.that  you may
all of us." The trouble with them is        clouds. And the time of the great           be saved.  Q
that they are careless about the truth.     falling away is now! It is impossible

306lStandard  Bearer/April 1,1994


                      Recent Developments
                         in Church State Law

n Abortion Protestors Suffer                   eteer Influenced and Corrupt Organi-       devastating judgments which could
Legal Setback                                  zation (RICO) chapter of the federal       bankrupt these organizations.
                                               Organized Crime Control Act. NOW               There is some indication that the
                                                                                          Court this summer may clarify its
        We thereforemaintain that thelabor-    alleged the abortion protestors fell
                                               within the scope of this anti-rack-        views on the freedomof speechrights
tion rights advocates] may maintain this       eteering law because the protestors        of peaceful abortionprotestors. Mean-
lawsuit ifthe[protestors]conducted  their      were allegedly members of a nation-        while PLAN and OR will be forced to
enterprise through a pattern of racketeer-     wide conspiracy characterized by a         defend these RICO lawsuits in the
ingactivity.  Wehold thatRICOcontains          pattern of racketeering activity. This     future.
no economic motive requirement.
                     U.S. Supreme Court,       activity allegedly included threats of
                                               actual force and violence to induce
      National Organization for Women
,-     ( NOW) v. Schiedler, et. al. (1994)     clinic doctors and employees to give       H Church-State Test
                                               up their economic right to practice        to be Reviewed
        The U.S. Supreme Court held in         their profession.                              Constitutional scholars are ea-
                                                   The lower federal courts ruled in
January that abortion rights advo-                                                        gerly awaiting the U.S. Supreme
                                               favor of PLAN and OR, holding that
cates may use a federal racketeering                                                      Court's decision this summer in the
                                               a RICO suit required the defendants'
law to sue abortion protest groups                                                        case called Board of Education v.
that organize confrontations at abor-          enterprise to be directed toward some      Grumet. This case has attracted na-
                                               profit-making or economic goal. But
tion clinics across the nation. The case                                                  tionwideattentionbecauseitinvolves
                                               NOW, aided by briefs filed by the
pitted the National Organization for                                                      the most hotly debated issue in
                                               Clinton administration, took the case
Women (NOW) against a coalition of                                                        church-state law - the use of public
anti-abortion groups called the Pro-           up to the U.S. Supreme Court, argu-        funds for the education of children in
                                               ing that RICO suits did not require
Life ActionNetwork(PLAN), includ-                                                         a religious setting.
ingRandallTerry'sOperationRescue               proof of a profit-making goal by the           The suit involves the village of
 ( O R ) .                                     defendant enterprise.                      Kiryas Joel, located 40 miles north of
        NOW leaders hailed the ruling as           The Supreme Court agreed (see          New York City. The small commu-
a stunning victory against PLAN's              headline quote above) and  accord-         nity is highly populated by Satmar
"nationwide campaign of terror"                inglyNOWwasRermittedtoproceed              Hasidim, a strict Jewish sect that edu-
                                               with its suit against PLAN and OR in
against abortion clinic employees.                                                        cates their children in private schools,
Randall Terry denounced the deci-              Chicago. Of course, NOW will still         segregating the boys from the girls
sion as a "vulgar betrayal of over 200         have theburden of proving" a pattern       and speaking Yiddish more than En-
                                               of racketeering activity," but proof of
years of tolerance towards protest                                                        glish. These schools, however, do not
                                               an ueconomic motive" will no longer
and civil disobedience."                                                                  have resources for special education
                                               be necessary in RICO suits.
        NOW had brought a civil suit in                                                   programs for'disabled children.
                                                   Many constitutional scholars are
Chicago against PLAN for an injunc-                                                           The Hasidic parents historically
tion and damages under the Rack-               concerned about this seemingly ex-         sent their disabled children to anearby
                                               pansive application of RICO which          public school system, but complained
                                               was originally intended to target the      that these children were "trauma-
                                               Mafia and other organized crime fig-       tized" by attending schools outside
Mr. Lanting,  ainemberof South H#and           ures. And since RICO contains a            their community. The public school
Protestant Reformed Church, is a prac-         triple-damage provision, PLAN and.         officials, however, refused to accede
 ticing attorney.                              OR are now exposed to potentially

                                                                                                     April 1,1994iStandard  Bearert307


to their request to set up a special             This case also bears watching                The pastors appealed their con-
school at a site in the Hasidic village.    because a possible re-tooling of Es-          victions, arguing that the law vio-
In an attempt to resolve the standoff,      tablishment Clause jurisprudence              lated theFirst Amendment guarantee
the New York legislature created a          could have profound impact on the             of religious freedom to "handle prob-
special public school district (consist-    constitutionality of parental tuition         lems within the church" using bibli-
ing of one small building) to provide       vouchers proposals that are currently         cal principles of discipline. They also
special education exclusively for the       beingconsideredbyanumberofstate               argued that application of the child
disabled Hasidic children.                  legislatures.                                 abuse reporting law to pastors consti-
     But in 1990, some officers for a                                                     tuted forbidden excessive state en-
state public schoolboard association                                                      tanglement with religion.
brought suit, contending the special                                                          The California court disagreed.
school district for 200 Hasidic dis-        n Clergy Convicted for                        Upholding the pastors' conviction,
abled children violated the non-es-         Failure to Report Child Abuse                 the court held: "The state may justify
tablishment clause of the First Amend-           A California appellate court re-         aninroadonreligiouslibertybyshow-
ment. The New York courts all held          cently upheld, the criminal convic-           ing it is the least restrictive means of
the school was unconstitutional, stat-      tions of a senior pastor and an associ-       achieving some compelling state in-
ing that it had the "primary effect" of     ate pastor who were convicted by a            terest. There is no indication teachers
advancing religion since it acceded to      jury for failing to report a case of child    and administrators of religious
"the demands of a religious commu-          molestation to state agency authori-          schools would voluntarily report
nity whose separatist tenets create a       ties. All states now have such child          known or suspected child abuse. The
tensionbetween theneeds  of its handi-      abuse reporting laws. Many of these           protection of all children cannot be
capped children and the need to ad-         laws require even ministers to report         achieved in any other way."
here to certain religious practices."       instances of child abuse to state child           Accordingly, it is becoming in-
     But the Hasidic school officials                                                     creasingly clear that whenever a min-
plan to argue to the Supreme Court          protective agencies.                          ister (or school teacher, for that mat-
that their special education school              In this case, the senior pastor was      ter) is aware of or suspects child abuse
"has, at most, the affect of accommo-       the president, and the associate pas-
                                            tor the principal, of a private school        (defined as physical, sexual, or emo-
dating the needs of a community of          operated by the church. The church            tional abuse or neglect of a child un-
devoutlyreligiouspeople." Theyalso          and the school shared buildings and           der 18 inflicted by a parent or guard-
will argue, strangely enough, that the      facilities. A 17-year-old  high school        ian), he should consult with a local
educational program at the chal-            senior was referred to the senior pas-        attorney to determine whether state
lenged school is secular and non-reli-      tor after she reported to her teacher         law requires him to report the abuse
gious, and that none of the teachers        that she was being molested by her            to local authorities, regardless of
are Hasidic Jews.                           stepfather. After the pastor con-             whether church discipline has been
     For the last 20 years, the Court       fronted him with the allegations, the         initiated.  0
has looked to the Lemon test (from the      stepfather confessed. The senior pas-
1971 decision in the case of Lemon v.       tor later presented the girl with a
Kurtzman)  to resolve Establishment         letter of apology from her stepfather
Clause ("Congress shall pass no laws        and told her that he had been sent to
respecting an establishment of reli-        a "retreat" for counseling. The stepfa-
gion....") cases. Under the Lemon           ther was also required to confess his
test, government action passes con-         sin in front of the entire congregation.
stitutional muster only if it has (1) a
sectarian purpose, (2) a primary ef-             The pastor then urged the girl to
                                            return home with her parents. The
fect that neither advancesnorinhibits       girl reluctantly did so, but soon after
religion; and (3) does not foster exces-    graduation ran away from home and
sive government entanglement with
religion.                                   reported the incidents to local law
                                            enforcement. The state authorities
     Many  of.the justices have indi-       not only prosecuted the stepfather-
cated they may be anxious to jettison       they filed a criminal suit against the
the  Lemon test in favor of a new           pastors for failing to report the case to
Ncoercionn  test or a "government en-       a state agency. California law pro-
dorsement" standard. If so, this school     vides that "any child care custodian
case could be a landmark decision in        . . . shall report a known or suspected
this controversial area of church-state     instance of child abuse to a child pro-
law where even the Supreme Court            tective agency immediately . . . . II
justices are often bitterly at odds.

306lStandard  Bearer /April 1,1994


                                                                                                                 March 2,1994
                                                                                        Hope Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                                                         Redlands, California


    Classis West held its regular              Classis met the following day.          they could not select a diversified
March sessionin the warmth of south-       Rev. Wayne Bekkeringbegan the ses-          consistoryfromthemembersremain-
ern California. The warmth was that        sion with a devotional based on II          ing, that there was little organic life
of the weather, but especially it was      Corinthians 4:6, 7. He showed the           because the total membership was
that of the fellowship of the saints of    emphasis of the text to be the fact that    ten souls, that there was little pros-
the congregation located so far away       officebearers are servants of the Lord,     pect for internal growth, that church
from any of its sister-congregations.      which position is the source both of        extension work had failed, and that it
    An Officebearers' Conference was       proper humility and great encour-           would be for their spiritual good that
held the day preceding the meeting of      agement. Rev. Arie denHartog  then          they move to another congregation,
Classis. This gave the members of          took the chair.                             even though such a move might be
that congregation who were able to             The agenda of Classis was short.        difficult. At this meeting of Classis,
do so an opportunity to have more          There were regular reports from the         Doon  reported that the majority of
fellowship with the brethren of the        Classical Committee, thestated Clerk,       the male confessing members did not
Classis. The theme of the Conference       and the Reading Sermon Committee.           wish tovote  to disband. InSeptember
was "The Reformed Practice of Cat-         At the March meeting, the Church            Classis had told the saints in Isabel
echism Instruction for the Youth." A       Visitors annually give their report. It     that if the advice to disband was "not
volunteer committee of two minis-          was a great encouragement to hear           followed they would by that fact be
ters chose this excellent topic and        their report, as they related their joy     setting themselves outside the fed-
arranged the day into four periods.        atfindinglove,peace,andunityinthe           eration of the Protestant Reformed
The keynote address was given by           churches. They heard the officebearers      Churches." After noting this fact,
Rev. Richard Moore, who spoke on           testify of each other's Zealand dedica-     Classis adopted a letter to the saints
"Our Calling to Faithfulness in Cat-       tion. In order to lend variety to their     expressing grief that their advice had
echism Instruction." This was fol-         visits, the Church Visitors annually        notbeen followed. In the letter Classis
lowed by two sectionals.  A choice         discuss a particular theme. The theme       expressed its earnest desire that they
had to be made between "Elders             of "Officebearers as Examples to the        "as God's people, may experience
Teaching Catechism" by Elder Ed            Flock" worked out very well. Usually        God'sblessingin a well-roundedcon-
Gritters (a member of Hope,                the idea of being an example is fright-     gregationallifeunder the oversight of
Redlands) and "Teaching Church             ening to every officebearer. How-           the officebearers of God's church."
History in Catechism" by Rev. Arie         ever, the best example officebearers            In other business Classis received
denHartog.  After a delicious lunch        can give is not one of perfection but       a letter of thanks from Trinity, Hous-
Rev. SteveKey spoke on "TheHistory         one of admitting their faults andtrust-     ton for the financial assistance they
of Catechism Teaching in Reformed          ingin the Lord. While no officebearer       receivedformovingtheirpastorfrom
Church History," which was followed        can be perfect, by God's grace each         Singapore. A request from Trinity for
by discussion. Rev. RonaldVanOver-         can attain to confession and childlike      additional subsidy for 1994 to cover
loop introduced the subject "Practi-       faith. While perfection was not found       medicalinsurance for their pastor and
ca.lApplicationsinCatechismInstruc-        by the Church Visitors, they reported       his family was passed on to Synod
tion," which was followed again by         being greatly encouraged by many            with approval.
some lively discussion. Once more it       evidences of God's gracious blessing.           Subsidy requests for 1995 were
was the experience of all who at-              The consistory of the Doon, IA          received from Bethel  ($21,300),
tended that these Conferences not          congregation was given the responsi-        Edgerton  ($12,000),  First, Edmonton
only are times for rich fellowship, but    bility by the September, 1993 Classis       ($32,252),  Im manuel, Lacombe,
also give opportunity to exchange          to exercise care and supervision of         Alberta ($16.677),  Pella ($22,500),  and
ideas. Our prayer was that the result      the saints in Isabel, SD. After the tiny    Trinity, Houston ($34,000). These re-
of the Conference would be that the        congregation in Isabel lost all but one     quests wereexamined, and forwarded
covenant youth receive the most ben-       of its officebearers, Classis, in Sep-      to synod with the approval of Classis.
efit, through the renewed zeal with        tember, 1993, advised the saints there       Loveland's request for classical
which each pastor and elder returned       to hold a meeting to vote to disband.       -appointmentswasgrantedasfollows:
to the catechism room.                     This was grounded in the fact that          VanOverloop  - April 24 and May 1;

                                                                                                 April 1,1994/Standard  Bearer/309


Houck-May22 and 29; Dick- June               VanderMeulen  (Lynden);  Secundi:                The meeting may have been
19 and 26; Lanting - July 17 and 24;         Ray Ezinga, John Hoksbergen, Jack            shorter than usual and the business
Dykstra - August 14 and 21; Moore            Lenting, Eric Ophoff, Bert Worries,          concerning Isabel sad, but the fellow-
- September 11 and 18.                       Jr.                                          ship experienced was rich. It is a great
        Voting for synodical  delegates             Rev. R. Dykstra was elected to        encouragement for difficult labors
resulted in the following: Ministers:        serve a three-year term on the Classi-       when you know that that brother in
Primi: R. Dykstra, C. Haak, R. Moore,        cal Committee. Rev. S. Houck was             every sense of the word is toiling
C. Terpstra, R. VanOverloop;  Secundi:       elected to serve a three-year primus         beside you.
W. Bekkering, A.  denHartog, M.              term as SynodicalDeputy andRev. C.               The next meeting of Classis will
DeVries,  S. Houck, T. Miersma. El-          Terpstra to a three-year  secundus  term.    beinHull,IowaonSeptember7,1994.
ders:  Primi:         Allen Brummel          Rev. G. Lanting and Rev. R. VanOver-                        Respectfully submitted,
(Edgerton), John Feenstra (Hope,             loop were elected to be church visi-                   Rev. Ronald VanOverloop
Redlands), Henry Hoekstra (Hull),            tors, with Rev. C. Bekkering as alter-                                 Stated Clerk
Ron Koole (Loveland), Henry                  nate.





Congregational Activities                    the passage found in Isaiah 43:21,
        What better place for us to begin    "This people have I formed for my-
this installment of the "News" than          self; they shall show forth my praise."
with a report of-the organizational          And he entitled his sermon, based on
meeting of our churches' 26th congre-        that text, "A People Formed for Him-
gation  - the congregation of our            self." The underlying theme in that
Georgetown PRC, presently meeting            message was that this newly orga-
inBauer,  MI. Organization tookplace         nized church, like the church of all
on the evening of March 2 in the             ages, is formed by God to show His
auditorium of the Hudsonville, MI            praise. It is a church formed solely for
PRC, the church chosen by Classis            that purpose. After this brief mes-
East to oversee this organization.           sage, the actual organization took
        Rev. G. VanBaren;Hudsonville's       place. The `charter members of
pastor, chose for his text that evening      GeorgetownPRCconsistedof28fami-
                                             lies and one individual from the
                                             Hudsonville, MI  PRC, two families
                                             each from Grandville and Faith,  one
                                             from Southeast, and finally one newly           Signing Formula  of  Subscription





            Rev. Gise VanBaren

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant
Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michi-                             Georgetown's newly elected officebearers
gan.

310lStandard  Bearer/April 1,1994


                                                                                         At their January meeting, the
                                                                                     Council of the South Holland, IL PRC
                                                                                     received a request from a Bible study
                                                                                     group in Florence, Kentucky to have
                                                                                     a visit from their pastor and another
                                                                                     council member in order to preach for
                                                                                     them and investigate the possibility
                                                                                     ofaReformedworkinthatarea.  South
                                                                                     Holland's Evangelism Committee has
                                                                                     had contact with one of the men from
                                                                                     this Bible study group for over two
                                                                                     years, and this man, along with an-
                                                                                     other, also visited South Holland's
                                                                                     services in August of `92. The Council
                               Fellowship time                                       decided to send their pastor and a
                                                                                     council member sometime in the
                                                                                     spring of this year.
married couple from the Third Chris-     bothservices. WhileinRedlandsRev.
tian Reformed Church in Zeeland,         Dykstra also gave a slide presenta-         Young People's Activities
MI, and the Calvin CRC of Holland,       tion of his recent trip to Ghana on             In early February, the Young
MI - for a total membership of 145       behalf of our Foreign Mission Com-          People's Societies in the West Michi-
souls.                                   mittee. And on Thursday, the day            gan area were invited to attend a
    The meeting continued with the       after  Classis, Rev. Dykstra was the        Mass Meeting held at the Hope PRC
election of three elders and two dea-    guest speaker at a specialHope  Chris-      in Walker, MI. Rev. J. Slopsema,
cons, their signing the Formula of       tian School chapel.                         Hope's pastor, spoke on the theme,
Subscription, and their installation         On the day before Classis met,          "The Problem of SexualImmorality."
into office. The evening concluded       Redlands  Church also hosted an                 The Young People's Federation
with a closing doxology and benedic-     officebearers conference on the sub-        Board just recently completed their
tion, followed by refreshments in        ject"CatechismTeaching." They also          annual apple pie fund-raiser. Mem-
Hudsonville's Fellowship Hall.           planned an evening of diff erent sport-     bers from each society in the Grand
    What a blessing to have an oppor-    ing activities and fellowship at their      Rapids, MI area were asked to call
tunity to exchange greetings with        church and school.                          members of their church to obtain
friends and families gathered to wit-        In ,an attempt to make the cat-         orders. The young people got to-
ness this historical event.              echism collection a more significant        gether on Saturday, March 5, at Heri-
    For your information, we also        part of the catechism classes, ,the         tageChristianSchoolinHudsonville,
include here the name, address, and      consistory  of the Faith PRC in Jenison,    MI, to make pies to fill those orders.
phone number of Georgetown's bul-        MI decided to designate the collec-         Between 7:30 a.m. and noon, these
letin secretary. She is Tammy  Bouma,    tions for a worthwhile cause. So, for       young people turned out 1,300 apple
5486 `36th Street, Hudsonville, MI       the rest of this year's catechism sea-      pies. After expenses were met, the
49426, (616)-669-2262.                   son, these collections at Faith will be     profits were designated for this year's
    When one of our congregations        for Faith Christian School in               convention in Lynden, WA, the first
in Classis West volunteers to host a     Randolph, WI                                week in August.
meeting of Classis, they make the            The Council of the Byron Center,
most of that opportunity. The con-       MI PRC has once again made Bible            Minister Activities
gregation of Hope PRC in Redlands,       reading schedules available to their            Rev. G. VanBaren,  presentlypas-
CA hosted last month's Classis meet-     congregation. These schedules were          tor of the Hudsonville, MI PRC, has
ing, but they sandwiched that event      intended to encourage Byron's mem-          received the call to serve as Loveland,
between other activities. Because        bers systematically to read through         CO PRC's next pastor. 0
some ministers in the Classis had to     the whole of the Scriptures, and to
be in Redlands  over a weekend, Hope     promote the private reading of the
invited three different ministers to     Scriptures.
preach for them. On Sunday, Febru-                                                            FoodFor  27iought
ary27, Rev. R. Moore, from our church    Evangelism Activities                           If you believe what you like in the
in Hull, IA and Rev. M. DeVries  from        Inlate January there was anorga-        gospel, and reject what you like, it is not
our church in Edgerton, MN preached      nizational meeting of a Church Ex-          the gospel you believe but yoursel$
for them. The next Sunday Rev. R.        tension Committee of our Loveland,                                         Augustine
Dykstra, from Doon,  IA preached         CO PRC.
                                                                                                April 1,1994/Standard  Bear431  1


        =PE
     gg;4JlQ@$!.J                                                                                                               SECOND CLASS
       ~F&y/qq                                                                                                                  Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                                Grandville, Michigan
       P. 0. Box 603
       Grandville, MI 49468-0603

1                                                                                                                                                       I





        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                     TEACHER NEEDED!!                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
        The Lord willing, on March 25,                       Covenant Christian High School                   Thefaculty, staff, andstudent body
     1994, our parents and grandparents,                 is seekirig applicants for a part-time           of the Protestant Reformed Seminary
        ARIE and ANN GRIFFIOEN,                          Special Education teacher. Applicants            extend their deepest sympathy to
celebrated their 40th wedding anni-                      forthispositionareaskedtocall Agatha             Seminarian David and Mrs. Higgs and
versary. We give thanks to our heav-                     Lubbers, Administrator (616) 453-                children in the sudden death of Mrs.
enly Father for giving us God-fearing..                  5048, or write the school at:                    Higgs mother,
parents. It is our prayer that God will,                         14Q1 Ferndale S.W.                            MRS. GREATBATCH.
continue to bless them and keep them                          Grand Rapids, Ml 49504.                     "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the
in His care for the years to come.                                                                        death of his saints" (Psalm 116:15).
        "For the Lord is good: his truth                                                                                Prof. Robert D. Decker,
endureth to all generations" (Psalm                                                                                                          Rector
100:5).
% Kurt and Debra Griffioen
           Roger, Gerald                                                                                                NOTICE!!!
$ Douglas and June Griffioen                                                                                  Classis East will meet in regular
          Jeffrey, Emily, Steven, Todd,                                                                   session on Wednesday, May 11,1994
                        Esther, Betsy, Lucy                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                          in the First Protestant Reformed
% David and Phyllis Griffioen                                On March 24,1994                             Church of Holland, Michigan, at 9 A.M.
          Jennie, Jill, Joy                              MR. and MRS. JOE VAN KAMPEN                      Material to be treated at this session
%% Robert and Kristi Buiter                              celebrated their 45th wedding anni-              must be in the hands of the Stated
          Thomas, Michael                                versary. We rejoice with them and                Clerk by April 11, 1994.
                                    Jenlson, Mlchlgan    thank God for the years they have                                           Jon J. Huisken,
                                                         shared together. May God continue                                              Stated Clerk
                                                         to keep them in His tender care and
                                                         richly bless them.
                  Mass Choir                                 "The LORD bless thee, and keep
                   Concerts                              thee: The LORD make his face shine
               (over  170 voices)                        upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:                                                     -
         of the Protestant Reformed                      The  LORD  lift up his countenance upon
                   Churches                              thee, and give thee peace" (Numbers
                                                         6:24-26).                                                   Introducto  y
               Sunday, April 24                          0 Dan and Mary VanKampen                                   .suhwiptio?ls
                   9:oo P.M.                                   Michael, Andrew                                           to t/i42
             Sunshine Ministries                         0 Bruce and Cheryl Jabaay                                Standard Bearer
       3300 E. Beltline, Grand Rapids                          Julie, Richard, Brian, Lisa
                                                         0 Larry and Pat Dutmer                                         are stilT
             Saturday, April 30                                Jodie, Betsy, Ross                                      fidjpti
                   7:30 P.M.                             0 Steve and Cindy VanKampen                               ($6.00  domestic,
               Dimnent Chapel                            0 Joe and Deb VanKampen                                    $7.50 fore@).
       Hope College Campus, Holland                            Laura, Kane
                                                         0 Mark and Cindy Ophoff
      . . . for His name alone is excellent!                   David, Kristin, Bradley                                Do afriend
                 Psalm 148:13                                                                                          a favor!
                                                                                     Holland, Michigan




312lStandardBearerlAprii            1,1994


