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A Reformed
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                                  See "The Worldwide  Preaching  of the Gospel" - p. 114.

                                                                                  -  ._  `_

December I,1994


     CONTENTS:                                                                                 December  I,  1994
I                                                                                                                                           I
     Meditation  - Rev. Mitchell C. Dick
           Knowing Our Colors . ..~.......,,,.......~~................................................. 99
     Editorial  - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                        ISSN 0362-4692
           PRC Featured in a Dutch Daily Newspaper (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101                               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
     All Around Us - Prof. Robert D. Decker ,....,..........,.........,,...I...,,,,,,.......                                          102        Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
     Day of Shadows - Homer C. Hoeksema'                                                                                                         4949 Ivanrest Ave., Grandvilla. MI 49416. Second Class
                                                                                                                                                 Postage Paid at Grandvlile, Michigan.
           The Last Four Days of Creation Week (cont.) . . . ..*......................* 104
     A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C, Hanko                                                                                                Postmastrr: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                                                 P.O. Box 663, Grandvtlle, MI 494669663.
           William the Silent: Father of the Nbtherlands ,........................... 106                                                        EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
     The Strength of Youth - Rev. Wilbur G, Bruinma                                                                                              Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
           Communicating with Parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~.............. 109        Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                                                 Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
     In His Fear - Rev. Arie denHartog                                                                                                           DEPARTMENT EDITORS
           Weak and Strong Faith (II) ,.............,...................*......................... 112                                           Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
     Things Which Must Shortly Come to Pass - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                            Decker,.Rav.ArledenHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
                                                                                                                                                 Gritters, Rev. Carl Haak, Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Cornelius
           5. The Worldwide Preaching of tlie Gospel *............,.......w.........                                                  114        Hanko, Prof. Hsrman Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev. Date
     Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.*........................................*............. 116    Kuiper, Mr. James Lanting, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev.
                                                                                                                                                 Jalkishin Mahtanl, Rev. Thomas  Mlersma, `Rev. Charles
     NewsFrom Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger ,,.,.,,,,,.~.............,.,~,. 118                                                             Tarpstra, Rev. GlseVanBaren,  Rev. RonafdVanOverloop, Mr.
                                                                                                                                                 Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Barnard Woudsnberg.

                                                                                                                                                 EDfTORtAL OFFICE             CHURCH NEWS EDtTOR
                                                                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer          Mr. E-en Wiggsr
        hnl T!hi& hsa!/@ , ,, n                                                                                                                  4949 Ivanrest                6 5 9 7   49thAve.
                                                                                                                                                 Grandvilla, MI 49416         Hudsonvllle, Ml 49426
                                                                                                                                                 BUSINESS OFFICE             NEWZEALAND OFFICE
                                                                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer          The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                                                 Don Doezema                  c/o 8. VanHark
           In his "All Around Us" column, Prof. Robert Decker keeps our                                                                          P.O. BOX 603                 66 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                                                 Grandvilla, Ml               Walnulomata, New Zealand
     readers informed of certain developments in the Christian Reformed                                                                            49466-oSl3                 NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE
                                                                                                                                                 PH: (616) 531.1496           c/o Mr. Jonathan McAuley
     Church (CRC). Over the past few years, these have been develop-                                                                                      (616) 536-l 776     164 Church Rd.. Glenwherry
                                                                                                                                                 FAX: (616) 531-3033          Batlymsna, Co. Antrtm BT42 3EL
     ments of strife and schism. The present column reports on resistance                                                                                                     Northern Ireland
                                                                                                                                                 EDtTORlAL  POUCY
     to synod by a classis and on division resulting in significant separa-                                                                      Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
     tions @thin two more CR congregations.                                                                                                      articles. Contributions of general interestfrom our readers and
                                                                                                                                                 questions for The Reader Asks department are welcome.
            Members of the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC) have an                                                                            Contributions will be limited to approximately 396 words and
                                                                                                                                                 mustb-eneatlywrittanortypewritten,andmustbesigned.  Copy
     interest in these developments keener! than that of any others with the                                                                     deadlines are the first and fftaenth of the month. All
     exception of the members of the CRC themselves. The PRC are a                                                                               oommunicaticns relative to me contents should be sent to the
                                                                                                                                                 editorial office.
     daughter-denomination, though disowned, deposed, and disinherited                                                                           REPRINT POLtCY
     by mother. Besides, there are many, close ties of families and friends.                                                                     Pemtissicnisherebygrantedforthereprintlngofarticleslnour
                                                                                                                                                 magazfnebyotherpubllcaticns,pmvfded:  a)thatsuchreprinted
     Once, we shared the same rich and glorious tradition - the Dutch                                                                            articles am reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgment
     Reformed of 161811619; 1834; and 1886.                                                                                                      Is made; c) that a copy of the perlodlcai In which such reprint
                                                                                                                                                 appears is sent to our editorial office.
            Now playing themselves out, in the judgment of God, are the vital                                                                    S U B S C R I P T I O N   P O U C Y
     doctrinal and church political issues that resulted in the formation of                                                                     Subscription price: $12.69 per year in the U.S., $15.66
     the PRC in 1924. The CRC herself freely acknowledges this. Prof.                                                                            elsewhere. Unless a definite request for discontinuance  is
                                                                                                                                                 received, It Is assumed that the subscriber wishes the
     Decker quotes a leading spokesman of the CRC referring to the depo-                                                                         subscrfptlonto  oontinue,andhewill  be billsdfprrenswat.  lfyou
                                                                                                                                                 haveachangeofaddress,plsasenotf5ythel3uslnessOfficeas
     sition of consistories by major assemblies in the 1920s. In striking                                                                        early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of
     contrast is the determined silence of those who leave, carrying out to                                                                      Interrupted delttery.  lndude your Zip or Postal Code.
     the bitter end the policy of the "conservatives" in the CRC to "ignore                                                                      ADVERTISING POUCY
                                                                                                                                                 The StandardSearerdoes  not accept commercial advertising
     the PRC to death."                                                                                                                          of any ktnd. Announcements of church and scrod events,
                                                                                                                                                 annivsrsarles.  obituaries, and sympathy resolutions will  be
            Our attitude is grief.                                                                                                               placadforaSlO.O9fea.  ThssashouldbssanttotbeBuslness
            If only that church had listened to the prophets God sent to her,                                                                    Oniceandshwldbeaccompaniedbythe$lO.Wfee.  Deadline
                                                                                                                                                 for announcements is at least one month prior to publication
     proclaiming the antithesis, particular grace, and the autonomy of the                                                                       date.
     local church.                                                                                                                               BOUND VOLUMES
            Read "A Classis Still in Disobedience" and "Two Congregations                                                                        The !3usiness  Office will accept standing orders for bwnd
                                                                                                                                                 copiesofthscurrentvotume. Suohordersarefrlladassoonas
     Split in NW Iowa."                                                                                                                          pos$Ms  after completion of a votume ysar.
                                                                                                                                - DJE            i6mm microfilm, 35mm mlcrofilm  and 195mm  mlcrofiche,  and
                                                                                                                                                 article copies ara available through University Microfilms
                                                                                                                                                 InternatIonaL
     99lStandard  Bearer/December I, 1994


                       Knowing Our Colors

    Blessed is the man that walketh not            The black and white of Psalm 1        advice. Nor do the godly stand in
in the counsel of the ungodly, nor             is the truth of the blessed man. To       the way of sinners. That is, they do
standeth in the way of -sinners,  nor          teach this the psalmist speaks first      not live a life of sin. Further, the
sitteth in the seat of the scornful.           of all of the godliness of the blessed    godly do not sit in the seat of the
    But his delight is in the law of the       man. The blessed man is godly.            scornful. That is, they have no fel-
LORD;  and in his law doth he meditate         And his godly life is distinguished       lowship with sinners.
day and night.                                 from the life of all others. There are        Positively, the godly do the
                             Psalm 1:1,2.      godly men, and there are the un-          good. They bear good fruit, verse 3
                                               godly.                                    teaches. They serve God. They walk
    When light passes through a                    Ungodly men are described in          in the way of a life of good works.
suitable prism it is diffracted or dis-        our text in three ways. They are          They fellowship with those who are
persed so that one can see a whole             ungodly. That is, they are unholy         godly that they may encourage god-
spectrum of different colors. So,              and unrighteous, unlike God who is        liness among themselves.
when the light of God's Word shines            holy and righteous. They are sin-             The text emphasizes that the
into the believing mind, the effect of         ners: those who disobey God's law.        godliness of the blessed man is seen
it is that the believer can see a whole        They are scorners: those who mock         especially in his delighting in the law
variety of colors. These are the col-          God and holy things.                      of the Lord (v. 2). The law here
ors of the gospel. Our text, in fact,              The Psalm teaches that the un-        may be interpreted to include the
is very colorful! God grant us grace           godly  are  thoroughly  ungodly. They     ten commandments, the promises,
rightly to divide the Word and to              have an ungodly heart. Arising from       and indeed the whole counsel of
see its many colors, ,,                        an ungodly heart are ungodly              God revealed in the Scriptures. The
                                               thoughts and desires. From these          godly man loves the promises, loves
Black and White                                come ungodly plans or "counsels"          the gospel, takes pleasure in the rev-
    Black and white are two colors             (we call them "schemes") to sin and       elation of God as Savior  in Jesus
one never sees in the natural light            get others to sin. Besides, the un-       Christ. And he shows this delight
spectrum, but they are colors, nev-            godly man walks in a UwayN  or life       in meditation upon it. He takes time
ertheless, which the believer must             of sin. In his home, at work, at play,    to think on it, contemplate it, study,
see first if he is to understand God's         the ungodly man lives in sin. To          reflect, pray over it. Indeed, the
W o r d .                                      promote his sinful way the ungodly        godly man meditates upon the law
    When we talk as believers of the           man has a "seat." His seat is where       of the Lord day and night, accord-
"black and white" of things, we are            he likes to be. He sits where he can      ing to the text. This does not mean
using these colors to express our un-          sin and mock openly and freely and        that the godly man is a monastery
derstanding of truth. `By speaking             with others of like mind.                 man. No, the godly man lives in
in terms of black and white we say                 But the godly are not so. They        the world, and has an earthly call-
that truth can be clearly distin-              are . . . godly! They are image-bear-     ing. But his meditation is, never-
guished from all that it is not. Just          ers of God. God has graced them           theless, regular, constant, consistent.
as black can be easily distinguished           anew with true knowledge of God,          And the godliness gained through
from white, so, we believe, truth can          righteousness, and holiness. They         meditation is seen in all hislife.
be easily distinguished from the lie.          have the mind of Christ. They have,           Thus the godly man is distinct
                                               like David, a heart after God's own       from the ungodly. There is a sharp
                                               heart.                                    contrast between the two. The un-
                                                   Being godly, the godly do not         godly is in no wise godly. The godly
Rev. Dick is pastor of the First Protes-       walk in the counsel of the ungodly.       man is not ungodly. He is still a sin-
tant Reformed Church of Edmon$on,              That is, they do not listen to their      ner, with only a small beginning of
AB;Canada.                              .i.
                                                                                               December 1,1994/Standard  Bearer/99


the new obedience. But he is godly.       ing through him, the godly man                Mediator, came to earth to save us.
God has made him that way. And            prospers in all he does. In poverty,          While on earth He never sinned. He
that is the black and white of it.        in a drought of material goods,               in whom the fullness of the Godhead
                                          through striking his roots deep into          dwells bodily was always godly. He
A Rainbow of Colors                       Christ and reaching for the waters,           ever delighted in the law of the Lord
    Being enabled, by faith, to see       the godly man still flourishes. In            - day and night! And as Mediator
the black and white of things, we         death itself, there is the rich eternal       He did this all for us.
can discern many other colors in our      life of heaven on the other side.                He went obediently even to the
text. These are the colors  of. the         Then there is  this  blessedness:           cross for us, paying the penalty for
blessedness itself of the godly man.      the blessing of being- able and will-         our sins. Yes, there at the cross was
    What colors do we see in our          ing to serve God. That is the bless-          red. The first color of the rainbow.
text? All the colors of the rainbow!      edness of which the psalmist sings            The most important color: red.
This is because the blessedness of        first of all in this psalm, in verse 2.       Blood-red. Blood shed for us. The
which the text speaks is covenant         The blessed godly man has the riv-            blood, the red of the covenant.
blessedness. It is the blessedness of     erside life, a house on the rivers of                    And Christ was blessed! That
God being our Friend. According           grace. He is so glad for this, so             is, the Father honored Jesus' perfect,
to Genesis 9, one beautiful sign of       thankful to his God, that his chief           atoning death. He raised Him from
covenant blessedness, and therefore       delight is to honor this God. And             the dead, He `seated Him at His right
of the friendship of God, is the rain-    thus, to obey God, to live the godly          hand, and gave Him all power and
bow.                                      life, is in itself a great blessing to the    authority to rule and to gather and
    Just as there are many beautiful      godly man. God's law, and doing               defend and glorify His church.
colors in the rainbow, so also, many      it,' is his delight, his meditation, his                 Therefore, we are blessed! Jus-
and beautiful are the blessings of        blessing.                                     tified by His blood!
God's covenant friendship enjoyed                                                                  Thus there is black and white.
by godly men. The psalmist rejoices       Red                                           All the colors of the rainbow. And
in this when he cries out, literally,         Would the godly man fully ap-             red. Let us be thankful that God
"0 the blessedness" of the godly          preciate God's rainbow of blessings           has given faith to see and take a
man! The blessednesses are de-            to him he must always remember                stand about the black and white of
scribed in verse 3. They are the          the black and white of his blessed-           things. Let us be warned when the
blessednesses of the covenant life.       ness. The black and white of it is            devil and the world want us to see
The psalmist compares the covenant        this: there are only certain ones who         gray where there is black and white.
life with God to the life of a tree       receive these blessings. Covenant             Let us rejoice in God's covenant
planted by the rivers of water. There     blessings are for God's elect only.           blessings, so manifold in our life,
may be desert and drought all             The portion of. the ungodly repro-            and even painted in the sky in rain-
around, but the godly man is as a         bate is cursing. Many grow up, even           bows. Let us trust in the blood of
tree with an abundant and wonder-         in the church, but they are not               Christ only, the shedding of which
ful water supply. The rivers are the      planted by the rivers of water, they          is our salvation.           I.`:
life-giving Spirit, the Word, and the     bring forth no good fruit, they de-                      But more. There is a deeper rea-
grace of God. The godly man is            light not in the law of the Lord.             son yet for our salvation. That is
planted there, by these rivers  -         These are under God's curse. And,             the love of God. It is a love whereby
taken out of the contaminated soil        like the chaff which is separated             God knew us and chose us in Christ
of humanity and engrafted by faith        from the wheat in the time of har-            before the foundation of the world.
into the new humanity in Christ.          vest, so the ungodly will be sepa-            Love explains why Christ would die
There the godly man is rooted so          rated from God's godly elect in the           for ungodly ones such as we are in
that the life of God courses through      day of judgment when they are                 Adam. Love explains the electing
him, he knows this God, he enjoys         blown, by the wind of God's wrath,            distinction of God, the rainbow, and
this God. There by the rivers are         to hell.                                      the red. That God loves us is why
peace,. happiness, joy, and hope.             But why? That is the question             God keeps us in the right way of
And there by the rivers, is a' grove      the godly man asks when he per-               faith, repentance, and godliness.
- many trees. This is God's oasis,        ceives the black and white of the             Love is why there is heaven.
the church of Jesus Christ.               rainbow. Why `is the rainbow for                         And what is the color of love?
    And there by the.rivers is pros-      me? I am just as ungodly in myself            No color compares. God is love.
perity. The rivers cause the godly        as the sinner given over to sin. What         Worship and bow down. o
man to bring forth fruit in his sea-      is'the reason for my godliness and
son - good fruit. And his leaf does       blessedness?.                                  _  i
not wither;his  life does not`ebb. In-      The reason is the Godly Man,                     I
deed, due to the life of God cours-       Jesus Christ::~ Jesus, God's appointed          `- `j                             :

1 W/Standard Bearer/December 1,1994


                           PRC' Featured in a
               Dutch Daily' Newspaper 1

                                                                                                                             I
                                         I                                                                                   I

                                                                                        only in the way of an extraordi-
        In  the preceding issue of the  Standard Bearer,  I began the trans-            nary experience. Our denomi-
   lation of a lengthy article in the Dutch religious newspaper, Refer-                 nation is strongly opposed to
 matorisch  DagbZad,  featuring the Protestant Reformed Churches in                     this (conception).
   America (PRC). The article appeared in the August 12,1994  edition.
   Written by the paper's correspondent, K. vander Zwaag, the article                     To the question whether this im-
   was based on interviews that he had conducted earlier in the year                  plies that all baptized children in the
   with Rev. Richard G. Moore, pastor of the Hull PRC in Hull, Iowa,                  PRC are regenerated, or are sup-
   and with the editor of the SB.                                                     posed to be regenerated, Engelsma
        The first part of the article, which appeared in translation in the           answered:
   November 15,1994  issue of the SB, dealt with the history of the PRC
   and with the defense by the PRC of the truth of particular grace in                  We view our baptized children
   the preaching of the gospel. The second part of the article treats of                from the standpoint of election.
   the  PRC's distinctive doctrines of the covenant, marriage, and the                  Election must determine our at-
    sovereignty of God.                                                                 titude, as also our instruction.
        What follows is my translation of the concluding section of the                 Many children are regenerated
    article in Reformatorisch  DagbZad  on the PRC without comment.                     in infancy. How would they be
                                                                                        able to sing the psalms, if they
                                                                                        are unregenerated, or to worship
                                                                                        the LORD? Our children grow
         Instruction in Faith                   liever. In that case, you are also      up under the Word of God in a
  To the question, how members                  obliged to show the death of            spiritual atmosphere. (Conver-
of the  PRC. come to faith, Prof.               Jesus Christ (by partaking of the       sion) takes place in a gradual
Engelsma answers that children are              Lord's Supper). If after some           process.
instructed in catechism. When it is             time that does not take place,
time to make confession of faith, the           the consistory asks whether per-          According to his own testimony,
young people appear before the                  haps there are spiritual  prob-       Engelsma himself never knew an
consistory to be examined whether               lems, and it will carefully ap-       "unspiritual earlier time" (when he
they "are sound in doctrine" and                ply discipline.                       was unconverted).
whether they can testify to "the liv-
ing reality of faith."                            The PRC differ with the Nether-      If. there had been no work of the
                                              lands Reformed Congregations              Holy Spirit, I would never have
  Young people must have sorrow               (NRC) in America  (Amerikaanse            come to make confession of
  over sin, must trust in Jesus               Gereformeerde Gemeenten) on the mat-      faith. I would not. have been
Christ, and must have desire to               ter of the view that is taken of the      able to pray (as a child). You
  be obedient to the law of God               children of the congregation.             do not recognize the work of the
  out of love to Him. Making con-                                                       Holy Spirit by a special feeling.
  fession (of faith) is more than               The NRC teach that all the chil-        I fear that the demand for that
  possessing intellectual knowl-                dren who are baptized are               extraordinary feeling, that ex-
  edge of doctrine. Indeed, you                 unsaved, are unregenerated.             traordinary mystical experience,
  confess that you are a true be-              -Conversion is possible for them         causes problems for people, be-

                                                                                           December 1,19WStandard  BearerI 01


  cause they do .not have that ex-        PRC-preacher Rev. R. G. Moore of                    go further only by a special rev-
  perience.                               Hull, Iowa rejects the offer of grace.              elation and  .experience.      The.
                                          "Our startingpoint is this, that the                problem is that this quickly leads
               Remarriage                 gospel is not offered," he says.                    to Pharisaism. The entrance to
    According to Prof. Engelsma, the                                                          the Lord's Supper is dependent-
PRC depart from the Reformed tra-           Christ commands repentance.                       upon  mans own work rather
dition in only one point, namely, in        and faith. If there is a general                  than going out from this, that
the belief that remarriage after di-        offer, God is dependent upon                      man is nothing with a view to
vorce is condemned.                         men, who either accept or do                      redemption. Indeed, it is the
                                            not accept that offer. It is God                  question whether they really see
  There is one biblical ground for          who hardens or gives life. We                     their sins. If they would do that,
  divorce and that is sexual un-            strongly emphasize God's sov-                     they would surely embrace
  faithfulness. But marriage is a           ereignty and reprobation. We                      g r a c e .
  lifelong bond, so that remarriage         preach the gospel, but we do not
  is the same as adultery, even for         know who is elect.                                   Says Moore:
  the "innocent party." The life-
  long bond which God has estab-              His denomination remains so                     We must stand for certainty, not
  lished between two persons is           small because "it is not popular                    for doubt. The danger of mysti-
  unbreakable. Divorce cannot             when the sovereignty of God is so                   cism is great. .We experience the
  break that bond, but is only the        sharply preached," says Rev. Moore.                 work of the Spirit, not directly.
  decision to live apart from your        This preacher, who unlike Engelsma                  but in the preaching. Of course,
  marriage companion. Only                is unable to read the Dutch, knows                  grace is only for the elect. In
  death dissolves the marriage            Dr. Steenblok by name and says that                 this, I am in agreement with the
  bond.                                   he feels kinship with everyone who                  NRC. But they make grace so
                                          teaches an "unconditional covenant."                narrow that members of the con-
    Engelsma distinguishes this                                                               gregation think that they receive
view from the Roman Catholic con-           First there is the law, then the                  it by a special revelation.
ception, which sees marriage as a           gospel. From the beginning of
sacrament rather than as a creation         the spiritual life, it is the sover-                 Rev. Moore. was asked whether
ordinance.                                  eign work of God--from the call-                every member of the congregation
                                            ing by means of the preaching                   in the PRC is considered as an elect.
  In the Bible, marriage is com-            to the working out (of the call-                However, Rev. Moore does not want
  pared with (the) covenant that            ing) in which Christ applies His                to go this far: .,.
  is established by God with His            work.
  church. (The) covenant that is                                                              No, there is also a carnal seed.
  established by God in His sov-              What he has heard of Steenblok                  At the same time, on the,basis
  ereign grace can never be bro-          has a great deal of similarity to the               ,of the covenant we .hope for the
  ken. Therefore, also marriage           NRC-congregation in neighboring                     good regarding the members of.
  can not be broken. That the cov-        Rock Valley, according to Moore.                    our congregations. We' do that,
  enant can be broken is taught in        But he has serious criticism of this                therefore, not on the basis of the
  the "liberated" churches and in         denomination.                                       supposition that they are elect.
  the Christian Reformed Church.
                                            The NRC stop with the first part
    "We are not Very Popular"               of the Heidelberg Catechism:                                                     - DJE
    Just as does Engelsma, so also          misery. It is said that one can




                                          q   "HOLY LAUGHTER" or                            attending meetings of a group called
                                          "THE TORONTO BLESSING"                            Airport Vineyard. They are seeking
                                              Ever since January 26, people                 what is being called "the Toronto
                                          have been traveling long distances                blessing." Apparently the "Toronto
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical    to a modest warehouse in an indus-                blessing" is a special anointing of ,a
Theology in the Protestant Peformed       trial district near Toronto's Lester B.           p&on by the Holy Spirit, an anoint-
                                                                                    Y.`.                                          :.
Seminary.                                 Pearson Airport. These people are
                                                     :     .>                               irigmarked by U holy laughing." i
102Etandard  Bearer /December d,lQ94


    People from a wide spectrum of       and lives of God's people? Scrip-          release women elders by June 1995
churches attend: Pentecostals,  Pres-    ture does teach that the "fruit of the     and not to ordain more women el-
byterians, dispensationalists, Roman     Spirit is love, joy, peace,  long-         ders. These resolutions came from
Catholics, and others. Meetings of       suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,    a five-member committee appointed
about 1000 people are held every         meekness, temperance" (Gal. 5:22-          by the July  Classis "to do further
night except Mondays. Those at-          23). Where this fruit is seen in the       work and refinement" on the mo-
tending come not only from all over      lives of people there is the Holy          tion. Dr. Henry  DeMoor,  professor
Canada, but from all over the world.     Spirit. What is more, "against such        of Church Polity at Calvin Seminary,
So many Britons are attending that       there is no law" `(Gal. 5:23).             served as reporter for this commit-
flights from London to Toronto are                          Christianity Today      tee.
often sold out for days.                            National  b International               The July decision provoked a
    How did all this begin? A year                             Religion Report      great deal of negative reaction. Ob-
ago St. Louis pastor Randy Clark at-                                                jections came from Classis Illiana,
tended a conference in Tulsa con-        n A CLASSIS STILL                          First CRC of Chino, California, and
ducted by South African Pentecos-        I N   D I S O B E D I E N C E              the Presbytery of Southeast Alabama
tal pastor Rodney Howard-Browne,             Earlier in this column (Oct. 1,        of the Presbyterian Church in
whose name has become most               1994 issue) we reported on a deci-         America (a denomination with
closely linked with the "holy laugh-     sion made by Classis Grand Rapids          which the CRC has fraternal rela-
ter" phenomenon. Last November           East of the Christian Reformed             tions).  DeMoor  told the  Classis
(1993) Airport Vineyard's pastor,        Church, which decision put that            (September session), "You've got to
John Amott, during a Vineyard lead-      Classis in disobedience to the deci-       do something to fix July, because
ership conference in Palm Springs,       sion of the 1994 CRC synod concem-         there are many people who are re-
California, learned that `Clark had      ing women in office. The synod re-         ally upset." Concerning the Septem-
experienced powerful manifestations      fused to ratify a change in its Church     ber decision DeMoor  said, "This says
in ministry since Howard-Browne          Order which would allow women              something different from defying
prayed. for him. Arnott invited          to be ordained as ministers and el-        synod. One thing classis can't do is
Clark to a January conference at his     ders. The synod also "urged" local         say, we're going to say Article 3 does
church in Toronto. On January 20         congregations which have already           not apply to churches in  classis,
about 120 people gathered at the Air-    ordained women elders to release           that's defiance, we can't do that."
port Vineyard. Arnott says both he       them from office by June 1995.             Concerning Classis' decision not to
and Clark felt a heightened sense of     Meeting in special session in July,        urge the churches to release women
faith. At the service most church        the Classis decided to "permit its in-     elders or elect more women to that
members fell on the floor "laughing,     dividual churches the freedom to           office, DeMoor  said, "Synod is go-
rolling, and carrying on," recalls       decide whether or not the word             ing to have to understand that there
Arnott. Clark ended up staying at        `male' in article 3a of the Church Or-     are churches, not just one or two,
the church for two months.               der is operative in their particular       that cannot do what synod urges
    By then people were coming to        settings." The Classis, by taking this     them to do. We're saying to synod,
Arnott's Airport Vineyard in large       decision, allows what the synod said       do not, please, expect us to go to
numbers from distant parts of the        "the clear teaching of Scripture pro-      those particular churches and say,
globe. "It went from something hard      hibits." In so doing the Classis de-       you're going to have to get rid of
to catch to something very conta-        cided "in principle" to disobey the        these women elders or we  wilI have
gious," Arnott says. "Our whole          synod's ban on women in office.            to depose your entire council, then
ministry team - boom they were               Not wanting to be in disobedi-         you have another 1926 on our
anointed."                               ence to the synod, the Classis at its      hands."
    What's occurring in Toronto is       regular session in September de-                   The 1926 date refers to the year
nothing new, according to John           clared that "recognizing synod's le-       when the CRC synod upheld the
Wimber, founder of the Vineyard          gal right to insist on the retention of    deposition of three CR councils by
movement. "Nearly everything             the word `male' in Church Order            Classis Grand Rapids East (Eastern
we've seen  - falling, weeping,          Article 3a, classis nevertheless ac-       Ave., pastored by H. Hoeksema) and
laughing, shaking - has been seen        knowledges its congregations' moral        Classis Grand Rapids West (Hope,
before, not only in our own memory,      right of conscientious objection (with     pastored by G. M. Ophoff and
but in revivals all over the world,"     any attendant consequences) to that        Kalamazoo I,  pastored  by H.
says Wimber.                             insistence with respect to the office      Danhof). Those depositions of
    Where in Scripture do we find        of elder." The Classis also resolved       course led to the formation of our
that "laughing, rolling, and carrying    "not to attempt to force its congre-       Protestant Reformed Churches.
on" are evidences or fruits of :the      gations to comply with the decision                In spite of DeMoor's  opinions
work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts    of- Synod 1994" urging churches to         concerning the September decisions,

                                                                                            December 1,1994/Standard  Bearer/l03


they do not get Classis Grand Rap-               sions of Article 30 of the CRC             of the church are leading the inde-
ids East "off the hook." According               Church Order. Unless the  Classis          pendents in Orange City. Dr. Nelson
to Article 29 of the CRC Church Or-              does this, she is still in defiance of     Kloosterman, professor at  Mid-
der, decisions of ecclesiastical assem-          the synod of 1994.                         America Reformed Seminary, is also
blies, `I... shall be considered settled            Reformed Believers Press Service        a member of the newly formed in-
and binding, unless it is proved that                                                       dependent church.
they conflict with the Word of God               3 TWO CONGREGATIONS                            First CRC of Orange City was
or the Church Order." What Classis               SPLIT IN NW IOWA                           organized in 1871, making it the old-
must do, therefore, is not merely                    Recently approximately 70 of the       est congregation in  Classis  of the
plead conscientious objection to                 140 families of the Sanborn CRC left       Heartland. Numbering 180 families
those synod&l decisions, but Classis             the church to form an independent          before the split, it was also the larg-
must appeal to the synod of 1995                 church. Soon after the Sanbom split,       est congregation in the classis. Q
and prove to that synod that the 1994            some 50 families left the First CRC                                        The Banner
decisions re women in office con-                of Orange City. Rev. Ralph Pontier,                               Christian Renewal
flict with the Word of God. This                 former pastor of First Orange City,           Reformed Believers Press Service
the'classis may do, under the provi-             and several former council members

 `/Dqy            (Qc%g?dOM~                          `,                                              l=&~~@~~H~~~mD@
                                                                                                           >:..
                                                                                                         .  ..`..' ,  .i


                                                            Chapter 4
                        The Last Four Days
                of Creation Week (cont.)
                                            I                                                                   :,  :_ .             I
God's Creation of the Heavenly                   of the heavens. Nevertheless, the          night is concentrated in the moon
Luminaries (Gen. 1:14-19)                        work of creation has its center in the     and the stars, they serve to divide
    The next question to be consid-              earth, and finally in man. Particu-        between day and night. There is a
ered is: for what purpose did God                larly concerning the two great lights,     continuous dividing line between the
create the heavenly luminaries?                  the sun and the moon, we are told          day and the night on the earth, de-
    The text informs us, in the first            that they, together with the stars, are    termined by the earth's relation to
place, that they were created to give            for the purpose of light upon the          the sun and the earth's rotation
light: "And let them be for lights in            earth, which is to be man's habita-        around its axis.
the firmament of the heaven to give              tion. There is no conflict here with           Moreover, in this same connec-
light upon the earth" (v. 15). Again,            the record of the creation of the first    tion we may note that these lights
in verse 17: "And God set them (re-              day. As we have already noted, the         serve to measure off time. Not only
ferring to the two great lights) in the          hght that was created on the first         do they divide between day and
firmament of the heaven to give light            day is now fixed in these heavenly         night; but also seasons and days and
upon the earth." Hence, both the                 light fixtures and is permanently          years, according to the text, are mea-
light centers and those luminaries               regulated, so that these luminaries        sured according to these light-bear-
which reflect the light are for lights           now serve to give light upon the           ers. Also here, of course, there is no
in the heaven and on the earth.                  earth.                                     conflict with the first part of Gen-
These luminaries not only give light                 Secondly, they serve to divide         esis 1. Time is not created on the
upon the earth, but they light the               between the day and the night. On          fourth day. Time, with all that it im-
entire universe, also the firmament              the first day already God brought          plies, is created with the very begin-
                                                 about the division of day and night.       ning of the heaven and the earth and
                                                 Now, however, that division is per-        belongs to the very increated nature
The late Homer Hoeksema was profes-              manently regulated and fixed. Be-          of the creature. But the measure-
sor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in            cause the light of the day is concen-      ment of time is fixed and ordered in
the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                trated in the sun and the light of the     connection with the heavenly lights.

104lStandard  Bearer/December 1,1994


The days and the years are measured         and as gods; and they worshiped the         arises out of the corruption of man's
off by the relation of the sun to the       host of heaven - something against          totally depraved nature. But, in the
earth, the month by the relation of         which God's people are repeatedly           first place, the reference here is to
the moon and the earth. Minutes             warned in Scripture. They worship           natural signs. It is in connection with
and hours and days and months and           the host of heaven as ruling not only       the heavenly bodies that the four
years - time in its minute division         over day and night, but over man.           quarters of the compass are deter-
- were ordered by the creative              This is the folly of sin, and it is the     mined. They are signs for direction
work of the fourth day.                     perversion of God's ordinances. For         and navigation. Signs there are, too,
    In the third place, the Scriptures      it was iprecisely  in the foolishness of    of the weather  - something to
inform us that these lights are for         sin, according to Romans 1, and un-         which the Lord Jesus alludes in em-
Useasons." The reference here is            der the revelation of the wrath of          phasizing the Pharisees' ignorance of
hardly to the four seasons of the           God from heaven, that they changed          the signs of the times.
year. In the first place, the general       the glory of the incorruptible God              But especially does Scripture
meaning of the word is that of set,         into an image made like unto the            point us to the fact that the lights in
or appointed, times, including hours        corruptible creature. They changed          the firmament are signs in the spiri-
and days and months and years. Be-          the truth of God into a lie, and wor-       tual sense of the word. In the first
sides, it is not at all impossible that     shiped and served the creature              place, quite in general, these works
the seasons as we know them were            rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:18-         of God's hand, according to many
not known in the world before the           25). But the meaning is that cre-           passages of Scripture, though they
Flood, but rather originated at the         ation is governed through the influ-        have no gift of speech, nevertheless
time of the Flood. It is after the          ence of sun and moon. The sun by            utter a powerful language concern-
Flood that we read of God's word            day controls the atmosphere, gath-          ing God's power and wisdom. This
to Noah:        "While the earth            ers the rain in clouds and disperses        we have already mentioned in con-
remaineth, seed time and harvest,           them. It controls the wind and the          nection with Psalms 8 and 19 and
and cold and heat, and summer and           storms, it quickens the seed in the         136. In the book of Job one will find
winter, and day and night shall not         earth, produces life and light and          many similar references to the stars
cease.N If this view is correct, then       joy, and rules over the period of la-       and their constellations. In the sec-
we also have another glimpse of the         bor and toil for man and for beast.         ond place, Scripture points us to the
nature of the catastrophe of the            In this sense the sun is divinely ap-       fact that at the end of the world there
Flood. For this would mean that             pointed to govern the day. The              will be special signs in the sun and
the earth was tilted on its axis, thus      moon with its weaker and borrowed           in the moon and in the stars - signs
bringing about our seasons, through         light rules the night. This is not only     that are fearful and terrifying to the
the Flood. However this may be,             to be understood figuratively, as           wicked, but signs of the final com-
the reference is to the various ap-         pointing to the fact that the moon is       ing of our Lord Jesus Christ in glory.
pointed times, the different periods        the chief light in our night, even as       In the third place, Scripture points
determining and regulating the life         the sun is the light of our day. But        us to this truth also with respect to
of the creatures and the cycle of their     also the moon has its influence in          the sun and moon and stars, namely,
life, such as the time for sowing and       the creation, determining, for ex-          that God, having before determined
for harvesting, the time for the            ample, the ebb and flood of the tides       that all things should be united in
breeding of animals, time for growth        in the oceans. Also the moon, there-        Christ, made of the temporal a pic-
and for dormancy, the time for the          fore, keeping watch in the silence of       ture of the eternal, of the natural a
migration of the birds and for the          the night, has its function of rule,        symbol of the spiritual.
hibernation of the beasts of the for-       together with the sun. In fact, as its          To this Scripture points very of-
est, and so forth. We must always           powers of investigation increase, sci-      ten. Let us note only a few of the
remember that all these aspects of          ence discovers more and more of the         many references. In Psalm 8411  we
the life of God's creatures are not a       details of this rule which was or-          read: "For the Lord God is a sun
matter of some ill-defined and vague        dered in the creation on the fourth         and shield: the Lord will give grace
instinct, but are a matter of their cre-    day.                                        and glory: no good thing will he
ation and of divine regulation and              Finally, Scripture speaks in this       withhold from them that walk up-
ordering.                                   connection of `Ksigns.n  Again, these       rightly." Malachi  42 prophesies that
    Further, the Scriptures speak of        signs are not to be understood in           "the Sun of righteousness shall arise
the greater light ruling the day and        the sense of the superstitions of as-       with healing in his wings." The Lord
the lesser light ruling the night. This     trology, so that by the stars and their     Jesus tells us in Matthew 13:43 that
ruling is, of course, not to be under-      constellations future events in the         "the righteous shall shine forth as
stood in the heathen sense of the           history of mankind may be foretold.         the sun in the kingdom of their Fa-
word. They soon conceived of the            This is nothing but a perversion of         ther." According to Isaiah 60:19,20,
heavenly bodies as being animated           these God-instituted signs which            the sun and moon are descriptive of

                                                                                             December 1,1994/Standard  Bearer/i  05


the church's glory. Very often Scrip-           righteousness and holiness do we            the light has ,dawned  in our hearts,
ture points to the stars as spiritual           see the light. His people are light,        the light of the eternal day. To that
signs, and symbols. In their multi-             but only as they receive their light        eternal day, in which there shall be
tude the stars are a sign of the mul-           from Him and reflect it, through our        no night and in which the light of
titude of Israel's seed, the church.            Lord Jesus Christ. They are not light       God shall fill the city of God, all
To mention no more, in the book of              in themselves, but only reflect the         things point, and all the signs in the
Revelation the angels  `of the seven            light, and that, too, only in continual     firmament of the heavens remind us
churches are pictured under the                 communion with God, who is light            of it. Even the silvery moon in the
symbolism of the seven stars in the             and life in `Himself. All of this has       silence of the night is a reminder of
right hand of Christ. The Lord Jesus            its unity in Christ Jesus; the Sun of       the presence of the sun and thus a
Himself is called the bright and                righteousness, the bright and mom-          reminder of the faithfulness of our
morning star.                                   ing star. Through Him we receive            God, a reminder that though we are
    Thus, in the light of Scripture,            the light of eternal life from God.         surrounded by the darkness, yet we
in the light of Christ, there is rich               Thus conceived, there is also           are not without light, the light of His
gospel in the firmament with its                clear prophecy here. In Paradise the        Word, and that ere long the day shall
heavenly lights. God is the Sun, the            first, the night of death fell over us.     dawn, the eternal morning, when we
Light of lights, the sole fount of all          But the Sun of righteousness has            shall see face to face. 0
goodness and glory. In His light of             arisen in Christ Jesus. Through Him





                        William The Silent:
          -Father of the Netherland
                                          `,                                                                                           I
Introduction                                    to be the savior of Calvinism that he       House of Nassau.
    William of Orange is to the citi-           is of interest to us. The Calvinism             Charles V, a Spaniard, had been
zens of the Netherlands what George             of Dort, of the great theologians in        chosen shortly after the Reformation
Washington is to Americans. If any-             Dutch Reformed theology, of the             in Germany to be emperor of the
one at all can claim to be the father           Afscheiding, of a robust Calvinistic        Holy Roman Empire, an Empire
of that country, it is William. And             church in the Netherlands and in Re-        which included Spain, Germany,
yet he is more than father; he is also          formed churches in this country is          parts of Italy, and the Lowlands.
the savior, under God, of Calvinism             due to the courageous work of Wil-          The Lowlands, though belonging to
in the Lowlands. He occupies a cru-             liam the Silent.                            the Empire from earlier times, had
cial place in Dutch history, and he                                                         always been granted a great deal `of
is honored in the Dutch national an-            Ehrly Life and Youth                        autonomy, and had become, under
them: "Wilhelmus van Nassau; ben                    William was born in the last half       the h-ard-working and thrifty
ik van Duitschen bloed..." (William             of April, 1533l  in Germany - hence         Lowlanders, far and away the most
of Nassau; I am of German blood).               the line in the national anthem. His        prosperous part of the emperor's
    That he could be both father of             family was of the nobility (of the          domain. But the Lowlanders loved
his country and savior of Calvinism             House of Nassau) and lived in               their independence and would be
was due to the close relation between           Dillenburg in Nassau. William was           loyal to the king and emperor only
church and state in those times; but            ohe of 12 .children, and. the family        as long as he did not interfere un-
it was also because God used him                was brought up and educated in the          duly in their affairs. So it was that
                                                principles of the Lutheran Reforma-         each province had its own
                                                tion. From an early age William was
                                                prepared to take over family prop-
Proj Hanko is professor of Church His-          erty of Orange in Southern France.
toy and New Testament in the Protes-            Thus, in later years, his official title    l Some disagreement exists as to the
tant Reformed Semina y.                         was: William I of Orange of the             exact date.

106/Sfandard Bearer/December 1,1994


"stadholder," the principal magis-       fortune, honor - and a life in the        the tyranny of the Spaniards. His
trate who had effective rule in his      Romish Church, when suddenly              heart went out to those who suffered
province. The Lowlands included          God intervened in a strange way.          under Philip's relentless blows, -
what is now the Netherlands, Bel-            Charles V, weary of the cares of          One event brought the `whole
gium, and Luxembourg.                    empire and the struggles with the         matter to a head. A diplomatic mis-
    Because they were nobility, his      problems confronting Europe when          sion brought William to France while
family had contact with the emperor,     the whole continent was in turmoil        Henry  LI, a dedicated Roman Catho-
and Charles V became interested in       because of the Reformation, decided       lic, ruled. Here in France William
William's career. Charles took Wil-      to abdicate and to spend the rest of      learned of the secret plot which
liam to court to learn the ways of       his life wearing a hair shirt in an       Henry and Philip had hatched to de-
imperial policy.                         obscure monastery in Spain. An-           stroy Protestantism. Henry thought
    It was while in the court of         nouncing his abdication while lean-       William occupied the same confiden-
Charles that William learned the art     ing on William's arm, Charles turned      tial position in the court of Philip
of ruling, but the price that had to     the empire over to his son, the cold      that he had occupied in the court of
be paid was training in and com-         Philip, who hated the Reformation         Charles; and so, in the woods, on a
mitment to Roman Catholicism and         with an implacable fury.                  hunt, in a moment when no one else
a loss of his Reformation heritage,          From that time William occu-          was around, Henry told William of
for Charles was a bitter enemy of        pied a rather anomalous position in       the plan to destroy "that cursed ver-
the Reformation and was deter-           the court. He continued to be used        min, the Protestants," even though
mined to stop the spread of              in various diplomatic tasks, although     it would require treachery.
Lutheranism in his realm.                Philip hated him for his close asso-          Appalled at such an outrage,
    The king took a special liking to    ciation with Charles V.                   William managed to keep an out-
William, and he became Charles'              It was during this time that          ward demeanor which did not re-
closest intimate. William was the        William's sympathies began to             veal his true feelings.2  But as soon
only one present with the king when      change to concern for and interest        as he was able, he informed the Prot-
Charles met foreign ambassadors on       in the battered and beleaguered Cal-      estant leaders in Brussels of the foul
important official business; he be-      vinists in the Lowlands.                  plan. It did not take long for Philip
came a confidant of the king in the          What events God used to bring         to learn that the secret was out, but
most secret matters of the empire;       about this change are not entirely        he did not suspect William.
he even could give advice to the king    clear, for God often works in myste-
which the king acknowledged was          rious ways, and perhaps William           Savior of the Calvinists
useful to him. No one was more           himself was not altogether sure of            William's work in the Lowlands
powerful. Although some dispute          what was happening to him or of           increased in importance.- He served
exists over the question, most histo-    how to give account of the changes        as a representative of Philip; he was
rians claim that William received the    taking place in his soul. But several     a member of the council of state
name "the Silent" because of his         things, are clear. William had been       which was to assist the Spanish re-
complete discretion in matters of the    brought up in Lutheranism. And            gent in ruling in Philip's name.3 He
realm.                                   one never forgets what one learns         was even stadholder of the prov-
    God prepares His servants in         as a youth. He may forsake it, as         inces of Holland, Zeeland, and
ways in which they themselves are        many do, but he cannot forget it.         Utrecht. In these positions he did
not conscious of being prepared.         Sometimes God is merciful and will        what he could to help the Protes-
William's education in the court in-     use that early instruction for good       tants, ease the horrors of persecu-
cluded a study of languages which        even after a terrible period of apos-     tion, and restore political power to
made him fluent in Flemish, Ger-         tasy.
man, Spanish, French, and Latin.             William saw Roman Catholicism
William's family possessions in Or-      at its cruelest under Philip. Philip      2 Some historians claim that this si-
ange gave him entry into French po-      was determined to eradicate Calvin-       lence of William in the forests of
litical circles. William's appoint-      ism from the Lowlands, and he used        France gave him the name, William
ments and assignments as a servant       the Spanish Inquisition at its cruel-     the Silent.
of Charles brought him into contact      est to accomplish this task. William,     3 The regent was first Margaret of
with and gave him knowledge of the       often in the Netherlands, saw at first    Parma, who had some sympathy for
Lowlanders. All these were to be         hand the blood and heard the              the Protestants. But she was re-
used at a later date in William's im-    screams of thousands who died for         placed with the Duke of Alva, one
portant work.                            their faith. It made an indelible im-     of history's most cruel men. The
                                         pression on him.                          regent was responsible to carry out
Conversion To Protktantism                   William hated tyranny of every        Philip's determination to destroy
    William was on his way to fame,      kind and in every land. He hated          Calvinism.

                                                                                        December 1,1994/Standard  Beared 07


         the stadholders of the provinces in       with which the Lowlanders fought.         vi&tic throughout. Although fight-
         the Lowlands.                             Surrounded by Spanish forces who          ing ceased, the war was not officially
             All his efforts proved unsuccess-     were unable to breach the thick walls     over until the Peace of Westphalia
         ful. Philip multiplied his cruelties      of the city; the' inhabitants were        was signed in 1648, which Peace
         and continued his treacherous con-        nearly starved into submission. See-      brought to an end all the religious
         duct. At last William could take it       ing their families and children dead      wars in Europe.
         no more; he increasingly considered       from the famine, many spoke of ca-            William was something of an
         himself responsible for what was          pitulation until the burgomaster          enigma through it all. He suffered
         happening.                                stirred their failing spirits with the    greatly, for he lost all his possessions
             He retired briefly to his home in     words: "Here is my sword; plunge          in the interests of helping the perse-
         Nassau in 1568 where he evaluated         it,: if you will, into my heart, and      cuted people of God. His motives
         his life; scrutinized his loyalties,      divide my flesh among you to ap-          for coming to their rescue have
         brought his dilemma before the            pease your hunger; but expect no          never been completely clear. No
         Lord, and decided to cast his lot,        surrender as long as I am alive."         doubt he hated tyranny, of all kinds
         for better or for worse, with the per-        The Beggars of the Sea had            and in all lands. He hated the Span-
         secuted people in the Lowlands.           breached the dikes in an effort to        ish for their persecution of the
             The whole story of William's          sail to Leiden's rescue, but contrary     Lowlanders. He was moved by op-
         long and difficult struggle for free-     winds prevented the waters from           position to the presence of Spanish
         dom in the Lowlands is too compli-        moving sufficiently far inland to sail    troops on Dutch soil; to the forma-
         cated to tell here. It is a story of      the boats over the land. But on Oc-       tion of new Roman Catholic bishop-
         victories and defeats, of courage and     tober 3,1574 God turned the winds         rics in a land in which the people
         sacrifice, of suffering and grief, of     about so that the tidal waters rushed     had chosen for the Reformation; to
         losses and gains, but finally of vic-     inland carrying the boats with them,      the persecution of those whose only
         tory which came more through stale-       and bringing supplies to the belea-       crime was a determination to wor-
         mate than success on the battlefield.     guered garrison. The Spaniards            ship God as they believed right.
             Three different times William         were routed, the siege lifted, and the        He was a man of deep religious
         raised an army in Germany or              city spared.                              convictions, though he cared little
         France or the Lowlands themselves.          : For the courage of the citizens       for the forms of religion. He was a
         Every time his efforts failed, some-      William proposed the establishment        man of faith, resolution, and un-
         times because of changing political       of: a university within the city, and     bending tenacity of purpose. But
         fortunes (such as in France), some-       the University of Leiden became one       his motives were political as well as
         times because his armies were in-         of' the great schools in subsequent       religious. He had to be moved by
         sufficiently equipped to fight the        Dutch history.                            love for His God and for the faith of
         skilled and well-equipped Spaniards,          Althoughthe Lowlanders never          Calvin or he would never have sac-
         sometimes because of financial re-        could whip the Spaniards in pitched       rificed all that he possessed for a
         sources, sometimes because the hor-       battle, the Spaniards never got any       cause which often seemed hopeless.
         ror of persecution overwhelmed the        closer to subduing the nation and         Out of his untiring efforts was born
         people.                                   overcoming the Dutch. What was            not only the land of our forebears,
             But several events helped gradu-      to, the advantage of the Dutch was        but also a bastion of Calvinism
         ally to turn the tide. The  .Dutch        the possession of key cities which        which was to influence thousands
         navy, manned by men called "Beg-          Spain could not recapture, and total      upon thousands in that land and
         gars of the Sea," was successful in       supremacy at sea.                         abroad.
         .raiding Spanish shipping, seizing          I In 1576 seven Dutch provinces             Above all he was a man who,
         Spanish armed boats, and harassing        (Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Fries-        before the times were ripe for it,.
         Spanish troops in lightning raids on      land, Groningen, Overijsel, and           wanted nothing so much as freedom
         the mainland. Noted-for their skills      Gdlderland), under the leadership of      of religion. When he marched with
         in seamanship, their unmatched            William, signed the Union of Utrecht      his army into the Netherlands, he
         courage, their knowledge of the ca-       by'which these provinces became a         issued a proclamation which read in
.  .     nals, dikes, bayous, marshes, and         republic. William became the King,        part:
s-1
. . .    swamps of the Lowlands, they kept         and the Netherlands was formed.
         the Spaniards from overcoming the         The Spanish were not defeated, but            My taking up of arms is because
,..'
 . .     country and were the main reason          were gradually driven from the              of "the security of the rights and
         why many cities inthe Lowlands de-        North and pushed to the South so            privileges of the country, and the
         clared themselves independent from        that two nations emerged: Belgium,          freedom of conscience."
         Spanish rule.                             primarily Roman Catholic to this
             The siege of Leiden is a remark-      day, and the Netherlands, a strong,           In instructions issued to his
         able instance of the courage and skill    independent country which was Cal-        deputy he required of him:

         108IStandard  Bearer /December 1,1994


  First of all, to deliver the towns of      His Death                                 isted, to give pause to anyone who
  that Province from Spanish slavery,            Philip hated William and offered      seeks peace and union with the Ro-
  and to restore them to their ancient       25,000 crowns and nobility to any-        man Catholic Church. Never in all
  liberties, rights and privileges, and      one who would kill William.               history has this apostate church
  to take care that the Word of God                                                    breathed so much as one word of
  be preached and published there,               Many tried, lured by such prom-
  but yet by no means to suffer that         ises,' and one succeeded. He was a        remorse for her cruelties. God de-
  those of the Romish Church should          down-in-the-heel scoundrel by the         livered his people in the Netherlands
  be in any sort prejudiced, or that         name of Balthazar Gerard who ob-          from them, as God always delivers
  any impediment should be offered           tained an audience with William on        His people from their oppressors.
  to them in the exercise of their reli-     the pretense of having important              But more importantly, God
  gion.                                      business. Mad with covetousness,          made the Netherlands the cradle of
                                             Gerard shot him through the body          the Reformed faith. It did `not re-
    When the Union of Utrecht was            in Delft on July 10, 1584. William        main that; but it was such for a suf-
formed, William insisted absolutely          died shortly thereafter with the          ficiently long period of time `to be
that freedom of religion be practiced        prayer: "My God, have mercy on my         the means for the Reformed faith to
in the land.                                 soul and on these poor people."           be brought to many places around
                                                 The enormity of Rome's crimes         the world. To that faith we are the
                                             ought, even if no other reason ex-        heirs.  Q





                                 Communicating
                                            with Parents

    I'm a minister - a minister who          God, and I can apply it to the point          Maybe that is another reason
is himself a parent. What makes me,          in question. Besides, as a pastor I       you should at least hear me out by
therefore, think that I can give you         do listen to the complaints of young      reading this article. I am a parent
as young people good advice on               people in this regard. (This was a        and I do see and understand the
communicating with parents? It               topic at one of our young people's        other side of the issue as well. This
would seem that a minister is in the         outings a couple of years ago.) I         does not mean that parents ought
wrong camp. He cannot possibly               know what you commonly say:               not to consider their faults and
know the difficulties involved in            "Parents just do not understand!          weaknesses and attempt from their
communicating with parents because           Every time I try to talk with them        end to improve communication with
he is not a young person himself.            they end up yelling at me. I can't        their children. If they are at all sen-
All he will do is take the part of           talk to them as I can with my friends     sitive to the needs of their children
parents, and as a result young               because they always seem to be look-      they will. That, however, is not the
people will hear another lecture on          ing down on me and judging me.            aim of this `a&Se. My concern is
their duty to obey father and mother.        My parents do not trust me. They          for the strength of  youth!  So  per-
    Maybe I am not the best quali-           are always looking at me like I'm a       haps, I can offer a perspective on
fied to give all the answers in this         little kid and cannot make any deci-      communicating with parents that
regard. But I do know the Word of            sions for myself." I think that if I      you have never considered before
                                             were to take an honest look at my-        and maybe, just maybe, this will lead
                                             self as a parent I would be forced to     to better communication.
                                             agree in some of this assessment.             There are several truths the Bible
                                             Not that I necessarily agree with all     teaches that you must remember
Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Prot-       of it. You must admit as well as I        when holding a conversation with
estant Reformed Church in Holland,           that there are two sides to the issue.    your parents. The first of these is
Michigan.

                                                                                            December 1,1994/Standard  BearedlO9


their God-ordained authority. Does            believe it or not, they have experi-           realize that adolescents (read the last
that sound threatening? It ought not.          enced many of the same difficulties           article written in this rubric) tend to
God is a God of order, and He has              and'problems as you have. They may            do something before really thinking
established a certain chain or order          have taken on different forms, but             it over. A young person is a bit
of authority in the home as well as           the difficulties and problems of               impetuous (not always, of course),
in every area of life. To parents God         youth are the same from generation             and will do something and think
has commanded: raise your children             to generation. Having themselves              about its consequences later.
in the fear of the Lord. Instruct and          gone through straits similar to yours,            It is true that parents do not al-
admonish your children in the ways             your parents have learned something           ways call the shots right every time.
of God. Parents have no choice but            along the way. They have learned               Perhaps that is because the many
to listen to that command of God.             where they failed and where they               temptations in the world that seek
They must obey God in their duty to            had victories as young persons.               to lure young people into sin, at
teach and discipline their children. I        When they talk to you about your               times frighten your parents. But if
know, at this point in your lives you         walk and way as a young person,                you can sit with them and reason
wish to assert your own indepen-               they do that with this knowledge in           with them, they also are wise to see
dence from this authority. You wish           mind. They do not wish you to com-             and understand if you are right. Do
to decide for yourselves' what is right        mit i the same sins they may have.            not forget, however, to approach
and wrong according to God's                   Also, they want you to follow in the          them in the right way! The wiser
Word. This is good. There is noth-             right ways that they chose when               you show yourselves in the things
ing wrong with that. But always                they were young. They wish you to             you do, the more your parents will
bear in mind that all of your deci-            use God's Word to keep you in the             give to you the responsibility of
sions are subject to the will of your          way of holiness.                              making your own decisions.
parents. God has placed them over                      "Well," you may ask, "what                Up to this point I realize that it
you, and the Word of God in                    makes parents think we are not go-            may seem as if I as  a, pastor and
Colossians 3:20 holds true for young           ing: to be wise in the ways we                parent am intent on defending the
people too: "Children, obey your               choose?" It is true, sometimes par-           parent. It may seem to you that I
parents in all things, for this is well-       ents do not give the adolescents in           am dictating changes in your atti-
pleasing unto the Lord."                       their family the credit that they de-         tude, but as for the parent, he does
     When a young person addresses             serve. Maybe parents are too suspi-           not need to change in the least. That
his parents out of disrespect,                         cious or too narrow-minded.           is not my intent. Yet, it is true that
when he argues with them                                   When you deserve their            you too as young people must ex-
as if they are his peers, or                                 trust, they must be will-       amine your attitude in approaching
when he challenges their                 When a                ing to give it to you. Is     parents and attempting to commu-
authority, then we can                 young persoy             it not true, however,        nicate with them. Your attitude also
expect the parent to            addresses his parents            that parents know           matters if ,proper communication is
react to this with righ-           out of disrespqct,            their children,  in-        to take place.
teous indignation.                  when he argues                  eluding  you, quite          There is a third truth the Bible
The result? Commu-                      with them i                 well? What does          teaches us concerning parents that
nication       breaks           as if they are his beers,           Solomon write in         you must bear in mind when at-
down. Whose fault               or when he challqzges               Ecclesiastes  11:10?     tempting to converse with parents:
is it?                              their authority,                "Therefore remove        your parents are sinners. Parents,
     The second truth             then we can exject                sorrow from thy          too, have their spiritual ups and
that we must remem-               the parent to react            heart,and  put away         downs, their good times and their
ber in our conversation                to this wit&              evil from thy flesh: for    bad. Parents are not free from bad
with godly parents is                   righteous               childhood and youth          moods any more than you are.
that God has given them                indignation:          are  vanityTN Or again          Sometimes parents say "yes, dear"
wisdom.  Solomon,. a godly                                   in Proverbs 22:15, "Fool-       to everything; at other times they
father, writes these words in                             ishness is bound in the heart      may say "no way" to everything.
Proverbs 2, the first few verses:                  of a child." I'm sorry! I do not          Sometimes parents do not raise their
"My son, if thou wilt receive my              mean this as a personal insult to you!         voice at all; at other times they seem
words, and hide my commandments               But Ihere is the fact: you as well as          to raise their voice with everything
with thee; so that thou incline thine         your parents are sinners! We all are.          they say. It is important to under-
ear unto wisdom, and apply thine              We all carry with us the old man of            stand that your parents, just as well
heart to understanding . . . then thou        sin. A young person is no  excep-              as you, carry with them an old man
shalt understand the fear of the Lord,        tioni to the rule.                             of sin. They do not do or say every-
and find the knowledge of God."                        God has given your parents wis-       thing right. They do not always treat
No, parents do not know it all. But,          dom to discern that fact. They also            you the way they should.

llO/Standard Bearer/December 1,1994


    What can I say? I am one of              the church. It is a fact, however,            have done evil in the sight of God.
those imperfect parents too. I must          that there are children in the church         To hide such sins from a parent only
ask God every night to forgive me            who must deal with that kind of par-          makes the problem worse. Yes, our
of sins that I commit against my own         ent. How can you communicate                  parents will be enraged. Can we
family. I must thank God every night         with parents of this nature? You              really blame them? Yes, they will
that He uses weak means to ful-                     cannot. More drastic measures          probably at first react out of total
fill His will. The only rea-                          must be taken in these  in-          frustration. They may even wish to
son I bring this up is in                               stances: the church must           punish us on top of the shame we
order that you as young              The wiser            become           involved.       experience due to our sin. But those
people might  under-                you show               Troubled young men and          same parents will in love lead us to
stand your parents and              yourselves             women, tell your pastor or      the cross of Jesus Christ in sorrow
might be sensitive to              in the things            an elder if this is true of    and repentance. They will help us
when and how you ap-                  you do,               one or both of your par-       with sound advice. They will tell
preach  mother and fa-               the more               ents. And, by all means,       us what to do to relieve us of the
ther with a matter.                your parents             if you need, an adult to       burden of our sin. And they will do
When you are sensitive               will give              talk to (and what young        this because they love us.
                                    to you the
to the moods and pres-                                      person doesn't) find one           We wish to talk about best
sures your parents ex-            responsibility           in your congregation.           friends. Godly parents are our best
perience, then you will             of making              Please, do not forget,          friends, young people. We must
know when to speak to                your own             your pastor is one such          learn to trust them as such. Then in
                                     decisions.
them and when to back                                    person to whom you c'an           good times and in bad we can sit
off respectfully. You will                             speak! Maybe we can ad-             with them and enjoy a good conver-
also see in Mom or Dad                               dress this in another article.        sation. We will learn to communi-
someone who can understand your                     One last truth which Scripture         cate to them our needs and discuss
sins and weaknesses because they             teaches us about godly parents is             with them issues of concern and im-
have them too. Who better to talk to         that they love their children. If there       portance. "Thy wife shall be as a
than those who can empathize with            is one thing that motivates godly             fruitful vine by the sides of thine
you? Will there be times you butt            parents in all their decisions with re-       house: thy children like olive plants
heads with Mom or Dad? There                 spect to their children and youth it          round about thy table. Behold, that
surely will! Will there be times when        is a :deep and unbreakable love for           thus shall the man be blessed
Dad or Mom may be wrong? There               them. There is nothing closer than a          (happy) that feareth the Lord" (Ps.
surely will! Then we should give             parent-child relationship. Our chil-          128:3, 4). Happiness is sons and
heed to the Heidelberg ~Catechism            dren are bone of our bone and flesh           daughters sitting around the table,
in its explanation of the fifth com-         of our flesh! What is more, God has           not necessarily to eat, but commu-
mandment:        Honor father and            promised us that He would estab-              nicating with one another, sharing
mother. "That I . . . also patiently bear    lish His covenant of friendship not           in the richest fellowship and friend-
with their weaknesses and infirmi-           only with us, but with you, our chil-         ship. How often do we sit with our
ties, since it pleases God to govern         dren. Sometimes anger and frustra-            parents around the table and talk?
us by their hand." If you can grasp          tion may alienate parents from chil-                                                0
that, then you will understand your          dren. Never does it sever the bond
parents better and will talk with            of love a parent has for his child.
them as well.                                       The love of a parent for his child
    Now, I realize that there can be         overcomes the biggest obstacles that
more involved than simply the "nor-          might seem to stand between us and
mal" sins of a father and mother.            our parents. We at times convince
There are sometimes extraordinary            ourselves, when we have done
sins, even unrepentant sins of which         something foolish and sinful, that we
parents are guilty that only serve to        must hide these things from parents.
alienate us from them. Some par-             Especially is this true when we have
ents are guilty of neglect and abuse         committed such heinous sins as
of their children. Other parents are         drunkenness or fornication. I know
guilty of drunkenness or even un-            that the reason we hide these sins
faithfulness in the marriage.                from parents is that they have
    There are parents like that in the       warned us repeatedly of the serious-
church?  0 yes there are! They are           ness of such sins. We know they
good at hiding it from everyone else.        are going to be angry; no, more, en-
That is why they are members of              raged! They have a right to be. We

                                                                                                December 1,1994/Standard  Beami  11


                                             Weak and
                              St&g Faith (II)

     The real test of whether our faith          Those who go through life mur-                     Weak faith is faith that has mea-
is weak or strong will often come            muring and complaining and yet call            ger fruit. The inspired apostle James
when we face some serious trouble            themselves children of God are weak            says in his epistle that faith without
in our life. Weak faith cannot stand         in faith. This was the great sin of            works is dead. A dead faith is re-
in the trials and difficulties of life in    the children of Israel throughout the          ally a contradiction. True faith must
this world. Those who have weak              wilderness wanderings. God re-                 manifest itself in good works. God
faith go to pieces when great trials         vealed His mighty and glorious pres-           comes to every man, especially to
come; they do not know what to do            ence among His people. In fact, there          those who claim to be Christians,
or where to turn. Our life is full of        was, no people in all the world like           and demands, -"Where are your
trials, some greater than others. Al-        Israel, who had God dwelling in               works of faith?" John the Baptist
most every child of God will at one          their very midst. Israel should have          said to the proud religious leaders
time or other have to face great ca-         known that by faith. God led them             of the Jews who came to him by the
lamities, deep sorrows, and extreme          through the desert. He wonderfully            Jordan River, "0 generation of vi-
hardships in his life. Do we fall apart      provided for their every need  -              pers, who hath warned you to flee
when this happens? Are we cast               daily bread from heaven, water from           from the wrath to come? Bring forth
into the depths of despair and de-           the rock and, strength to fight with          fruits meet for repentance." Even
pression? This happens because of            andjovercome their enemies. Yet  Is-          the child of God can at times show
the weakness of faith. Weak faith            raelawas  given to constant murmur-           weakness of his faith in the meager-
fails to lay hold on the truth of God's      ing `and complaining. How shame-              ness of the fruits he brings forth. Let
absolute sovereignty and the faith-          fully weak was their faith. What              us not console ourselves in a life of
fulness of His promises. Weak faith          about us? We have a far greater               weak faith by thinking that faith
does not rely upon the strength of           revelation of God than Israel did in          must be entirely passive and so there
God to endure hardness, neither              the days of the Old Testament. We             is no need to strive to bring forth
does it trust in His goodness and            have the glorious revelation of God           the fruits of good works. This is a
mercy. The proud man can easily              in the face of Jesus Christ.                           perversion of the truth of the
imagine sometimes that he can face           Christ has now performed                                   Word of God concerning
life alone and solve its mysteries and       the mighty work of salva-                                    faith and is an evil excuse
overcome its great troubles in his           tion: He has fully  ac-                Weak faith              for a shamefully weak
own wisdom and strength. But                 complished our  righ-               fails to lay hold          faith.
when real trouble comes he finds out         teousness. He dwells                   on the truth                When a man is
the foolishness of this imagination.         with us and in our                      of  God's              weak in faith he com-
This is shameful for the child of God        hearts through His won-       absolute sovereignty             promises the truth of
to whom the Lord has revealed His            derful Holy Spirit. He             and the faithfulness        God. This is certainly
great salvation and given the prom-          daily pours down upon               of  His promises.         one of the most shame-
ise of His.help and guidance. The            us  t:he exceeding great                                     ful of all characteristics of
world will say to such a one:                riches of the blessings of sal-                            weak faith.       God  com-
"Where is now your God?"                     vation. He has given His truth                          mands His children to confess
                                             to be our guide. What a shameful              His glorious truth before men. We
                                             thing it is for us, then, to go through       are called to maintain this truth
                                             life murmuring and complaining                steadfastly. We are called to do this
                                             about the small difficulties we have          not merely as individuals but also
Rev. denHartog  is pastor of Hope Prot-      to face. How miserably weak our               as members of the church of Jesus
estant Reformed Church in Redlands,          faith is when we do that.                     Christ, united with our fellow saints
California.                                                                                in supporting the ministry of the

112lStandard  Bearer/December 1,1994


church. We are called to confess the             of God without murmuring. Strong           that we believe that also adversity,
truth of God with our mouth and to              faith is self-denying and ready to          poverty, and sickness are under the
live our whole life in harmony with             bear suffering and persecution and          control of God and are ordered for
this truth. The world in which we               reproach for the Lord's sake. Strong        our good and salvation. Strong faith
live hates and opposes the truth.               faith is manifest in quiet trust in the     believes that God is the One who
There is a constant and real danger             Lord and hearty confidence in Him.          determines the course of our life. He
in the life of every child of God to            It keeps the child of God from                      alone knows what is best for us.
compromise the truth of God. It is               despair even when the                                   In a very real sense it takes
much easier to remain silent about              ways of God are so deep               The faith'           much stronger faith to
the truth of God and to go along                that they are beyond                of the child            trust in God in adversity
with the world in its evil philoso-              comprehension. It                 of God shines             than to trust in Him in
phy and life  .style than to take a             knows for certain that            most gloriously            health and prosperity.
strong stand on the truth of God.                God is good and righ-            and wtindevfully           The faith of the child of
How often opportunities to testify              te0u.s  in all that He             in thegreatest            God shines most  glori-
for the truth of God pass us by and              does, even when the ex-            of adversity.           ously and wonderfully in
we fail miserably to bring glory to             periences of life seem to                                 the greatest of adversity.
God. Nothing can excuse such                     contradict this. Strong faith                         Strong faith is submitting to
weakness of faith or make up for it.            believes that all things, no matter         God's will no matter how hard that
    Lively, active, robust faith that           how difficult, no matter how dark,          may be for us personally. Strong
glorifies God is the opposite of all             are ordered by the wisdom and              faith seeks not the will and pleasure
the above. Such faith gives the child           goodness of God for the salvation           of man but the glory of God, even if
of God strength to persevere in the             of His saints and the glory of His          that should mean death for us.
deepest of all trials and difficulties          name. It is truly a wonderful faith         Strong faith enables the child of God
of life. Faith does not deny the real-          that believes this.                         to endure all the sufferings of this
ity of those trials. One who is strong                  In this connection something        present time in the steadfast hope
in faith is not one who is unaffected           must be said about a terribly false         of the glory that God has prepared
by the sorrows and troubles of life.            notion about strong faith that is cur-      for him in eternal life in heaven.
He does not live like a stoic. There            rent in some circles. This is the no-               Strong faith is the faith that
is no virtue in being a stoic. The              tion that strong faith means that a         abounds in good works. The child
Christian is not one who never                  person can do whatever he wants             of God who is strong in faith is
weeps in anguish over the troubles              or decides on his own to do. This is        deeply concerned about good works
of lie. In fact there are times when            the evil idea that strong faith is iden-    in his life. The strong in faith do
he is troubled in the deepest depths            tified with the power of "positive          not at all imagine that such good
of his soul and experiences inex-               thinking." If you want something            works in any way merit their salva-
pressible sorrow. The strongin  faith           badly enough, the advocates of this         tion. The strong in faith understand
cry out to God constantly for                   idea suggest, just convince yourself        that the whole of their salvation has
strength in trials. The strong in faith         that somehow you are going to get           been merited by the perfect work of
find mighty comfort in God's sure               it and that God is going to give it to      Christ Jesus. But the strong in faith
promises of salvation. The                              you no matter what it is. God       are zealous unto good works in or-
strong in faith steadfastly be-                            wants everyone to be rich        der that they might show their grati-
lieve in the sovereign good-              The strong        and prosperous in this          tude to the God of their salvation
ness of God in the greatest                in faith          world, and if you have         and bring glory to the name of the
of life's troubles. The             cry out to God           strong enough faith you        God they love and confess. In His
strong in faith testify of                                    will achieve what you
                                          constantly                                        beautiful allegory of the vine and the
the tender mercies of God                 f$ZS:"             want.                          branches recorded in John 15 Jesus
even when all things from                  * . .             There is hardly a more un-     says, "Herein is my Father glorified,
a human and earthly per-                                    godly idea of, faith imagin-    that ye'bring forth much fruit." The
spective seem bleak and dark.                            able than this, and yet there      Lord has redeemed us to be a people
Such faith will not be ashamed be-              are those who in the name of Chris:         zealous of good works. o
fore God. God is pleased with such              tianity promote this idea. Strong
faith. His name is glorified by it. He          faith does not make the Christian
will reward that faith with increased           imagine that he can get from God
strength and joy in this life and with          anything that he happens to want.
His eternal reward in the day- of               Strong faith certainly does not make
judgment.                          `-'          the Christian imagine, that  ,God
L  ,The child of God who is strong              wants him always tobe. in health
in faith submits to the sovereigi&ill           and to prosper. Strong faith means

                                                                                                     Dizcember 1,1994/Standard  Bearer11  13


     5; Th.e Worldwide .Preaching
                      ._                 of the Gospel
                                           I                                                                                             I
    It would be proper for anyone               who knows it because He has deter-          God has revealed that the time from
making a study of the last things as            mined it in His eternal counsel, fixed      Jesus' ascension to the end, our age,
we are doing to begin with the                  the time of the end with a view to          is "the age of the preaching of the
preaching of the gospel in all the              the preaching's running its course          gospel."
world. Instead of treating it after             through the world. All of the other             In light of this, it is pathetic, al-
war, heresy, and lawlessness, we                things that happen in the last days,        most incredible, not to say wicked,
could have treated it first. Jesus              all of the other signs of the end, are      that there is a powerful and even
Himself made plain in Matthew 24                secondary to the preaching of the           respectable movement within the
that the preaching of the gospel has            gospel and stand in the service of          churches today to downgrade, and
the place of primary importance as              the, preaching of the gospel. These         even dispense with, preaching.
far as the end of the world is con-             other events are tremendous, world-         Churches that trace their ancestry
cerned. He taught this in verse 14:             shaking events, but they are all sub-       back to the Reformation which re-
"And this gospel of the kingdom                 ordinate to the preaching, like satel-      stored the preaching of the Word to
shall be preached in all the world              l&s about a great planet.                   its proper place at the center of the
for a witness unto all nations; and               Take the Antichrist, for example.         church's worship and which viewed
then. shall the end come."                      The Scriptures teach that in the days       preaching as the church's one, main
    In answer to His disciples' ques-           ahead, the whole world will unite           task are now replacing preaching
tion, Jesus instructed them - and               under one, mighty ruler, who will           with dialogues, movies, song-fests,
us - as to what must be expected                oppose God, His Christ, and His             love-ins, activities for social reform,
to happen on earth prior to His com-            church. But II Thessalonians 2              and demonstrations.
ing again. He gave various signs of             teaches that there is something which           But there is another attack on
the end of the world. Here He tells             hinders the coming of Antichrist, so        preaching today.  T,his consists of
us what the main thing is that must             that he does not arise until his time.      preaching something other than the
take place, and what the primary                The Antichrist will put a stop to the       gospel of the kingdom. Jesus says
sign of the end is: the preaching of            preaching of the gospel, and the sov-       in Matthew 24114 that it is ythis  gos-
the gospel in all the world.                    ereign God sees to it that he does          pel of the kingdom" that shall be
   . Jesus makes a truly astounding             not come until the gospel has been          preached. The gospel of the king-
claim  for'the activity of preaching.           preached in all the world. What is          dom is simply the good news of
He maintains that the end of the                true of the Antichrist is true of ev-       God's grace towards us sinners in
world ,and His coming again wait                erything that happens in history be-        His Son Jesus Christ. It is the good
on the preaching. Until the gospel              tween the first and second comings          news of salvation from sin and death
has been preached everywhere, the               of Jesus Christ; everything is sub-         and hell in the blood of the cross of
end cannot come. As soon as this                servient to the preaching of the gos-       Jesus Christ. The message of this
has happened, then will the end                 pel. Men try to characterize certain        gospel is the entire content of the
come. God who alone knows the                   periods of history by their outstand-       Bible, including the doctrine of the
day and the hour of the end, and                ing feature. We speak of a scientific       Bible on the last things, but center-
                                                age, an atomic age, and the like. A         ing always on Jesus Christ, who by
                                                notable historian has written a se-         His death and resurrection is Savior
                                                ries on the history of civilization, the    and Lord.
                                                volumes of which are entitled The
Prof. Engelpna  is professor of Dogmat-                                                        iYet, Jesus here and elsewhere
                                                Agi 
ics and Old Testament in the Protes-                    of Faith, The Age of Reason, The    calls the gospel the gospel of the king-
                                                Age of Revolution, and the like. But
tant Refordd Semina y.                                                                      dom. It is the good news about the

114lStandard  Bearer /December 1,1994


kingdom. The kingdom is the king-                That which the preaching ac-           coming Messianic age when nations
dom of God, not of man. It is the            complishes is the coming and exten-        beat swords into ploughshares and
kingdom of heaven, not of this               sion of the kingdom of God. Preach-        the knowledge of God covers the
world. It is spiritual, not earthly.         ing is called the preaching of the         earth. It points us to Revelation 69,
The foundation of this kingdom is            kingdom, not only because it is            the vision of the white horse and its
the righteousness of the cross. The          about the kingdom, but also because        rider who has a bow and a crown
kingdom is the rule of Jesus Christ          the kingdom comes and grows                and who goes forth conquering and
by His Holy Spirit and His Word of           through the preaching. The preach-         to conquer, a vision correctly inter-
grace. We enter this kingdom, no,            ing of the gospel realizes God's king-     preted as referring to Christ and the
we are. trun.sZuted  into it, by faith in    dom in the world. Throughout the           victorious progress of the gospel in
Christ. Throughout this age, the             new dispensation, the risen and ex-        the new dispensation.
kingdom is established in the heart          alted Jesus, having laid the founda-           But this dream has no substance.
of the regenerated elect; there is the       tion of the kingdom in the blood of        All the Scriptures plainly and loudly
throne and scepter of Christ the             the cross, builds His kingdom and          testify against it. Jesus' teaching
King. The peace of a citizen of this         extends His kingdom by means of            about the end in Matthew 24 is con-
heavenly kingdom is the forgiveness          the preaching of the gospel. This is       clusive. The time before the second
of. sins and fellowship with God.            why it is almost laughable that men        coming is a time of raging sin, of
The prosperity of this kingdom is            and women who profess to love the          false prophets and false Christs, of
the riches of salvation. This is the         kingdom of God, whose apparent             great apostasy, of terrible tribulation
kingdom that must, and will, be              zeal for the kingdom is nearly a           for God's people, of the necessity of
preached worldwide before the end            frenzy, and who dedicate themselves        the shortening of the days for the
comes. But what do we hear in the            to creating the kingdom, first of all      sake of the elect.
preaching, more and more today?              renounce the preaching of the gos-             Still, we must not react to the
About another kingdom, a kingdom             pel. It is as if a man who intends to      various presentations of the king-
that is earthly  - earthly power,            build a house throws away his ham-         dom as earthly by denying, or mini-
earthly peace, and earthly riches -          mer, or as if a man who desires to         mizing, that the preaching of the gos-
a kingdom of man and of this world.          give an eloquent speech begins by          pel runs a triumphant course
The preaching of the heavenly king-          cutting off his tongue. In the time        through the world. It is not so that
dom is sneered at as something fool-         between His advents, Jesus Christ,         the preaching suffers one defeat af-
ish, weak, and ineffective.                  the King of kings and Lord of lords,       ter another now, but will be victori-
    And so it is - in the judgment           establishes, maintains, and enlarges       ous when Jesus returns. Jesus Christ
of the natural man. The preaching            His kingdom by the preaching of the        is sitting on God's right hand - to-
of the cross is always foolishness to        gospel, the sharp sword that goes          &y! The white horse and its rider
those who perish. But God has cho-           out of His mouth.                          go forth conquering and to conquer
sen the foolish things to confound               This also is misunderstood.            - today! The little stone of Daniel 2
the wise, and the weak things to con-        There is a view of the last things         is growing and filling all the earth
found the mighty. In reality, God's          that supposes that the preaching will      - today! The preaching of the gos-
foolishness is wiser than men, and           have such an effect, before Jesus          pel is carrying out the victory of the
God's weakness is stronger than              comes again, that almost the whole         cross and the open tomb over the
men. Insignificant and ridiculous as         world will be converted by it and          kingdom of Satan - today! "For the
it may seem to men, the preaching            be saved. Because of this conver-          weapons of our warfare are not car-
of the gospel of the heavenly king-          sion of almost all of mankind, earthly     nal, but mighty through God to the
dom is God's work and God's Word             life will become Christian. There          pulling down of strongholds; Cast-
in the world. It is not an activity          will be a Christian politics, a Chris-     ing down imaginations and every
and a word of mere man. If it were           tian legal system, .Christian art, in-     high thing that exalteth itself against
nothing more than this, such great           deed a Christian society. The king-        the knowledge of God..." (II Cor.
things as .the coming of Antichrist          dom of God will have come. Thus            10:4,5).
and the end of the world could not           will be ushered in the millennium,             But the nature of the triumph of
depend on it. But God speaks His             "the golden age" of earthly peace          the gospel, the nature of the over-
mighty  Word, through the preach-            and prosperity.                            throw of the enemy-kingdom and
ing of the church. He speaks! And                This notion likes to appeal to the     the building of the kingdom of God,
that which is spoken is His Word!            vision of the little stone of Daniel 2,    is different from that suggested by
This makes the preaching of the gos-         which rolls down the mountain, de-         the view that makes it all earthly,
pel uniquely important, and this is          stroys the godless kingdoms of man,        visible, and tangible. Jesus showed
the reason why the preaching has             and grows until finally it fills the       the spiritual nature of the effect of
power to accomplish great and won-           whole earth. It is fond of quoting         the gospel when He added in Mat-
derful things.                               the Old Testament prophecy of the          thew 24: "for a witness unto all na-

                                                                                             December 1,1994/Standard  BearerJl15


tions." The gospel of the kingdom          measure of the cup of iniquity and          God and of Christ in the present age:
shall be preached for a witness.           are prepared for the final judgment.        God's people are brought to faith
God's purpose with the preaching           That this is one result of the world-       and, having been brought to faith,
is not that all of mankind be saved.       wide preaching is evident from verse        are enabled to live as citizens of the
Who they are whom God wills to             9,: where Jesus forewarns the               heavenly kingdom in all their earthly
save by the preaching is shown in          apostles, and in them the church:           life. In the realm of government,
Matthew 24 by Jesus' repeated ref-         "Ye shall be hated of all nations for       they obey the king. In the realm of
erence to "the elect." Nor is it God's     my name's sake." There is a wit-            labor, they submit to the employer,
purpose that the preaching turn            ness unto condemnation.                     if an employee, or they treat the em-
earthly society into the kingdom of          : The second and main effect of           ployees justly and kindly, if an em-
God. But the preaching must give a         the preaching is that it saves the elect    ployer. In the realm of marriage,
witness to all nations.                    in every nation, bringing them to re-       they are faithful to their mate by lov-
    All of the nations of the world        pentance and faith. By the witness          ing their wife and by submitting to
have been deceived by Satan, the           of the gospel, God's elect are deliv-       their husband. This is the kingdom
god of this world, so that they deny       ered from the power of darkness             and its life now. Another vision of
God and hold the truth of Him              and are translated into the kingdom         it than this is the ancient, carnal, Jew-
which is revealed in the creation un-      of iGod's  dear Son, as Colossians 1:13     ish delusion.
der in unrighteousness. They all           says. They become citizens of the               When the end comes at Jesus'
seek their own kingdoms, which are         heavenly kingdom already in this            return on the clouds, He will renew
essentially the kingdom of man, the        life. Christ rules them by His Word         the creation and perfect the kingdom
kingdom which man builds, the              and Spirit. They confess Him to be          of God in it.
kingdom in which man's will reigns,        Lord. They enjoy the peace of that              We must learn from this how
and the kingdom in which man is            Kingdom, the forgiveness of sins.           important and mighty  the preach-
glorified. In the preaching of the         They possess its treasures, not meat        ing of the gospel is. The church must
gospel of the kingdom, God wit-            and drink, not earthly powers and           preach it in season and out of sea-
nesses to them of Himself and of           success, for, as Romans  1416 says,         son. We believers and our children
His kingdom. This is an effective          "the kingdom of God is not meat             must listen to it. Only let church and
witness also. The result is that the       and drink, but righteousness, and           believer alike take heed that it is the
nations know that God is .God, that        peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."          gospel of the kingdom that is
they are guilty sinners, and that the          This is the primary purpose of          preached and heard, "this gospel of
kingdom which He has purposed in           God with the worldwide preaching            the kingdom," and no other.
Christ and established in the cross        of/the gospel. This is the main rea-            From the fact that by this time
and resurrection of Christ is the true     son why the end of the world can-           the gospel has been preached in al-
and everlasting kingdom. The Word          not come until the gospel has been          most all the world, we know that
never returns to God void.                 preached in all the world: the end          the end is near. After Pentecost, the
    However, this witness is twofold       cannot come until all those chosen          gospel went out to the ends of the
in its effect, according to the two-       inChrist out of all nations, Jews and       earth. It began in Jerusalem and
fold purpose of God. First, the            Gentiles, whites and blacks, as God's       Judea,  progressed to Samaria,  and
preaching is a witness that renders        kingdom people, the Israel of God,          then spread to all the world. By
many people in every nation inex-          have been gathered by the Son of            now, almost all nations have re-
cusable. They hear the good news,          God through the preaching of the            ceived the witness.
but they reject it. Therefore, God         gospel. In these elect out of all na-           Today, that witness comes to US.
will be just when He judges them.          tions, all nations are saved.               You are hearing it! You - what is
In fact, the effect of the preaching is      : This, therefore, is the coming          your response to the witness of the
to harden them, so that they fill the      and extension of the kingdom of             gospel?  0



                                               This book by Prof. Engelsma ba-         offer of the gospel answer in the af-
Hyper-Calvinism  and the Call of the       sically deals with the vital question,      firmative. Prof. Engelsma clearly
Gospel,  by David J. Engelsma.             "Does the fact that the gospel of           says "No" to the question, with good
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Reformed           Christ Jesus is to be preached to all       reasons given from Scripture and the
Free Publishing Association, revised       mankind mean that God desires and           confessed, historic Reformed faith.
edition 1994. 216 pp. $10.95 (pa-          intends the salvation of all who hear       He -also makes it clear that those who
per). [Reviewed by Rev. Chris              that preaching, even the reprobate?"        deny. this notion are not  hyper-
Coleborn.]                                 Those who'hold to the well-meant            Calvinists. Rather, they are true Cal-

11 Wtandard Bearer December 1,1994


vinists  - consistent biblical Chris-      only for the Reformed preacher but          nest preacher of the gospel to sin-
tians.                                     also for the Reformed believer. Here        ners, if he does not believe that
    We are well aware that, to             is such a book!                             Christ has a desire that all who hear
many, the relevance and importance             The author clearly denies that the      the preaching be saved. The answer
of this question is really only aca-       preaching of the good news of Jesus         is given in this book: we must dis-
demic, with no real application to         Christ to all mankind is an evidence        tinguish between the serious call of
vital Christianity, the welfare of the     of a desire in God for all who hear         the gospel and the well-meant offer
church, and to the great work of           to be saved  - the reprobate in-            of the gospel. Condemnation of the
evangelism. We are also aware that         cluded. He also shows that this does        well-meant offer is not rejection of
others'believe that to deny the no-        not of necessity also mean the de-          the serious call of the gospel to all
tion that God intends and desires          nial of "the indiscriminate, lively, ur-    who hear it. Having heard the
the salvation of reprobates when the       gent preaching of the gospel. It en-        preaching within the Protestant Re-
gospel of Jesus Christ is preached to      tails no hesitation to call everyone        formed Churches, and, indeed,
all is to deny the gospel itself, and      in the preacher's audience to repen-        within my own, I can testify that
the very reason for preaching it, and      tance and faith. It originates in no        there can be a heartfelt, sincere, and
not to have a love for the salvation       determination to weaken the respon-         serious call to sinners to repent  and
of souls. This, of course, is the most     sibility of man before the face of the      believe and so be saved, without
serious accusation to be made              sovereign God" (p. 7).                      holding to the well-meant offer no-
against a Christian and a preacher             It is correctly pointed out that        tion.
of Christ's church.                        the well-meant offer is in fact a cause         The real issue is this, writes Prof.
    Here, in this revised edition of       of great peril to the faith that Cal-       Engelsma:  `I... does God love and
Prof. Engelsma's book, we may find         vinists profess to love. It is an es-       have a gracious attitude towards ev-
plain reasons why the denial of the        sential compromise of the doctrines         eryone who hears the preaching, and
above question is not only very im-        of Calvinism.                               does He in the preaching desire to
portant and practical for the honour           The author draws out a most             save everyone?" This is why we
of Christ Jesus' person and work,          important lesson, I believe, from the       must ask the question of those who
but also for the welfare of the church     controversy in England in the 1600s         profess a love of the Reformed faith,
and the true preaching of the gospel       and 17OOs,  when the Arminianism            but who at the same time hold to
to all mankind. The author shows           of John and Charles Wesley was so           the "well-meant offer, "What grace
that any professing Reformed be-           strong and caused some Calvinists,          does the reprobate receive in the
liever worthy of the name, and zeal-       in reaction to it, particularly to the      preaching?"
ous for "the faith," will have a criti-    well-meant construction of the                  It is striking that much of the
cal problem with the notion that the       preaching of the gospel to all, to fall     calumny by those who hold to the
earnest, urgent preaching of the gos-      into hyper-Calvinism. The real is-          well-meant offer against those that
pel and call to all men and women          sue in the debate on the matter of          oppose it is that of the Arminians.
without distinction to come to the         the call of the gospel is that which        It very much involves the doctrine
Saviour by repentance and faith of         Reformed theology speaks of as the          of reprobation. This awful truth is
necessity implies that God intends         external call of the gospel. The mat-       that God has eternally decreed "out
and desires the salvation, not only        ter of the external and internal call       of His sovereign, most just,
of the elect, but also of the repro-       is helpfully illustrated by reference       h-reprehensible and unchangeable
bate!                                      to Matthew 22 (p. 109).                     good pleasure that certain, definite
    This important question has                This book plainly refutes the ac-       members of the human race will not
been debated for some time in pro-         cusation made against those who             be saved by Him but that they shall
fessing Reformed circles. In fact, it      deny that there is a universal love         perish in their unbelief and other
seems to me that the debate is be-         in God for all mankind, and a de-           sins." Reprobation is God's eternal
coming more earnest in our day.            sire for their salvation, particularly      decree that the destiny of certain
This is good, for in my opinion the        in the preaching of the gospel, of          men shall be everlasting death,
question has been left without             being hyper-Calvinists.  Hyper-Cal-         whether one views it as God's pass-
proper consideration for too long by       vinists deny that God calls every-          ing those men by with the grace of
those who profess to love the doc-         one who hears the preaching of the          election or as the determination to
trines of grace and who truly be-          gospel to repent of their sins and          damn (Canons of Dordt, I/5).
lieve that the Reformed faith most         believe on Christ Jesus.                        We accept, of course, that those
accurately expresses the teachings of          Another accusation brought              who profess to love the Reformed
the Word of God.                           against those who deny that the             faith and at the same time hold to
  It has not been easy to find a           preaching of the gospel is grace to         the well-meant offer can see that
book that  .faithfully and yet in a        all, even the reprobate, is that a man      there is a contradiction in their posi-
popular way sets out the matter,,not       cannot be a true, sincere, and ear-         tion. The way they seek to resolve

                                                                                                December 1,1994lStandard  Bearerlll7


their dilemma is to resort to what            most valid scriptural point is made.      troduction to the book by the well-
they call "the mystery" or the "para-         It is that the reason Awhy God has        known and respected Presbyterian
dox of God's two wills." These no-            the gospel preached both through-         theologian,. Dr. John H. Gerstner,
tions are refuted.                            out the world in missions and in the      strongly supporting Prof. David
     Prof. Engelsma correctly points          established churches is that the elect    Engelsma on the issue of the well-
out that the Reformed doctrine of             may be saved to the praise of His         meant offer.
reprobation and the theology of the           grace. The Scriptures teach that di-               The larger print of this edition
well-meant offer are diametrical op-          vine election - not a universal love      is an improvement over the first edi-
posites.                                      of God or a desire that all be saved      tion, but, more importantly, this re-
     Prof. Engelsma  also, correctly          - is the basis and motivation of mis-     printing adds considerably more in-
points out, we believe, the link be-          sions, indeed, of all preaching.          formation to the first edition.
tween the theology and practice of                There are some most helpful                    A general index would be help-
the well-meant offer and an aban-             summaries and descriptions.               ful.
donment or compromise of the Re-                As a Reformed preacher from a                    Apart from the "Introduction"
formed faith.                                 British Reformed background, I am         being helpfully reworked, most of
     It is a most helpful book for Re-        pleased to see that the author is ac-     the chapters have been expanded.
formed preachers who desire to                quainted with the Westminster Con-        The most significant difference from
preach the "whole ,counsel  of God"           fessional Standards as well as with       the first edition is the addition of a
- the full gospel. The book is not            the Continental Reformed Symbols.         new chapter, "Is Denial of the Well-
simply negative, condemning the er-           There are some comments, however,         Meant Offer Hyper-Calvinism?"
rors of both hyper-Calvinism and              such as that on the covenant of           This makes the purchase of this re-
compromised Calvinism as seen in              works, that would trouble those of        print vital for all who would love
the doctrine of, the well-meant offer,        a Westminster background.                 and seek to preserve the God-glori-
but there is also the positive setting            The matter of "common grace,"         fying faith of our Reformed fathers.
forth of how a truly consistent Re-           a universal love of God, non-saving       We trust to hear more from Prof.
formed preacher would proclaim the            benefits and love won by Christ for       David Engelsma on this and' related
gospel to `alI (chapter 3, "The Re-           the reprobate, and historical mate-       subjects.  H
formed Doctrine of the Call of the            rial relative to the subject are also     [The reviewer is a minister of the Evan-
Gospel").                                     dealt with in the book.                   gelical Presbyterian Church of Austra-
     On the matter of preaching, a                There is a most challenging in-       lia.]



                                              noon, Rev. R. Cammenga, pastor of         was invited to speak at a Reforma-
                                              Southwest, and Rev. K. Koole, pas-        tion Day celebration at the Hope
Congregational Activities                     tor of Faith PRC, spoke four times        PRC in Redlands, CA. He spoke on
     If there seems to be a common            on the theme, "The Reformation and        October 28 on the theme, "The Truth
theme in our churches this time of            Worship." This theme was consid-          of Justification,. the Pillar of the
year, it would have to be the Refor-          ered from four different points of        Church." While in Redlands  he was
                                                                                                                      -..
mation and our observance of it. We           view. The first was "The Refor-           also, able to preach the following
count no fewer than seven confer-             mation's Emphasis on the Central-         Sunday on the theme, "Fully Justi-
ences or lectures sponsored by vari-          ity' of Preaching in Worship." This       fied," expounding on Romans 8:33,
ous of our churches this year.                was followed by addresses on the          34.
     Perhaps one of the more ambi-            Reformation's emphasis on congre-                  The chapel of Dordt College in
tious events was a two-day Refor-             gational worship, spiritual worship,      Sioux Center, IA was the location of
mation Conference sponsored by the            and family worship.                       a lecture sponsored by the Reformed
Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI.                  The church extension committee        Witness Committee of our churches
Over the course of a Friday evening           of the Loveland, CO PRC scheduled         in Iowa and Minnesota. On Novem-
and a Saturday morning and after-             a lecture in their church for the 27th    ber 4 Prof. D. Engelsma, of our semi-
                                              of October. Loveland's pastor, Rev.       nary, spoke on "Martin Luther:
                                              G. VanBaren,  spoke on the subject        Theologian of the Glory of ,God."
                                              "Yea, Hath God said...?" - an ex-                  Rev. J. Mahtani, pastor of `the
                                              amination of the work of the Holy         Trinity PRC in Houston, TX, spoke
Mr. Wigger  is an elder in the Protes-        Spirit in guiding the church into all     on,.Dctober   31, at Trinity on the
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,          the truth.                                U-t&e,  "Reaching the Nations with
Michigan.                                         Prof. H. Hanko, of our seminary,      the Reformed Faith."

11  S/Standard Bearer  /December  i;  1994


          On October 27 Rev. R. VanOver-           quest of the group meeting in                              northern Kentucky. South Holland's
loop, pastor of the Georgetown PRC                 Standale  for an extension of six                          members were strongly urged to
in Bauer, MI spoke at a lecture spon-              months for their holding of services                       show their support for this work by
sored by the Bethel PRC in Elk                     in that area. This request was                             coming down for some or all of these
Grove Village, IL. He spoke on the                 granted because the group has con-                         meetings if they could.
topic, "What Is the Basis For Truth?"              tinued to grow and now comprises
          The Evangelism Committee of              24 families. It appears that, the Lord                     Minister Activities
the South Holland, IL PRC also spon-               willing, they will proceed toward or-                               Rev. R. Dykstra, of the  Doon,
sored a lecture this past Reforma-                 ganization sometime in the near fu-                        IA PRC declined the call he had re-
tion Day. It was entitled, "The Ref-               ture.                                                      ceived from the Lynden, WA PRC.
ormation: A Return to the Primacy                                                                             Rev. T. Miersma has accepted the
of Preaching."                                     Evangelism Activities                                      call he received from the Loveland,
          The El Bethel Christian Center               The Council of the South Hol-                          CO PRC to serve as Home Mission-
in Elk Grove Village, IL was the                   land, IL PRC approved their Evan-                          ary for our churches. Our congre-
scene of the installation service of               gelism Committee's plan for a se-                          gation in Byron Center, MI called
Rev. C. Haak, as the second pastor                 ries of gospel messages by their pas-                      Rev. J. Slopsema to be their pastor.
of the Bethel PRC. This service was                tor, Rev. C. Terpstra, in Florence,                        With him on that tio were the Revs.
held on November 4 and was con-                    Kentucky on November 15, 16, 17,                           A. denHartog  and C. Terpstra.
ducted by Rev. W. Bruinsma, pas-                   in the Amazing Grace Lutheran                                       We also extend congratulations
tor of the First PRC in Holland, MI.               Church. The purpose of these meet-                         to Rev. and Mrs. M. Dick, of the
Bethel's council extended invitations              ings is to reach the area with the                         Immanuel PRC in Lacombe, AB,
to the congregations of both the                   Reformed faith and to try to deter-                        Canada, who were blessed with the
Peace and South Holland churches                   mine what interest there might be                          birth of a son, Daniel Mitchell, born
to join them for this happy and his-               in  a. Reformed work.                     South            October 24.
toric event.                                       Holland's main advertising means
          Plans called for a Haak family           was 40,000 flyers inserted in the No-                                               ~oodfor zli.ogtit
welcome to follow one week later.                  vember 5 issue of the Cincinnati Post                                "An idle life and a holy heart is
          The Consistory of the Hope PRC           Enquirer,   the major newspaper of                         a contradiction."
in Walker, MI has granted the re-                                                                                                                                   -T. Brooks 0



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RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
          The Adult Bible Society of the               The Ladies' Aid Society of Hope                                 On November 22,1994, our par-
Southwest Protestant Reformed                      PRC of Grand Rapids, expresses                             ents and grandparents,
Church in Grand Rapids expresses                   its heartfelt sympathy to its fellow                            HENRY and CORYNNA BOER,
its Christian sympathy to fellow                   members, Mrs. Helen Hop, in the                            celebrated their 45th wedding anni-
members Ron and Deb Kuiper in                      passing of her husband,                                    versary. We are thankful to our cov-
the loss of his father,                                          MR. DAVID HOP,                               enant God for the years He has
                   MR. HENRY KUIPER.               and Mrs. Cornelia Kuiper, in the                           given them and for the faithful Chris-
           May we rejoice together in the          passing of her brother-in-law,                             tian instruction they have given us.
words of II Corinthians 155557: "0                            MR. HENRY KUIPER.                                        "The Lord hath done great
death, where is thy sting? 0 grave,                    May they find comfort in  Ro-                          things for us whereof we are glad"
where is thy victory? The sting of                 mans  8:28, "We know that all things                       (Ps. 126:3).
death is sin; and the strength of sin              work together for good to them that                        Q Scott and Deb Boer
is the law. But thanks be to God,                  love  IGod, to them who are the                                          Ryan
which giveth us the victory through                called according to his purpose."                          9 Todd and Wendy Boer
our Lord Jesus Christ."                                        Mr. Tom DeVries, President                                   Nathan
              Rev. R. Cammenga, President                             Phyllis King, Secretary                 9 Shawne Boer
                   Mrs. Steve Kuiper, Secretary                                                                                                                       Jenlson,  Michigan



                                                                                                                         December 1,1994/Standard  Bearer/l  19


=I=
~~~~~~~                                                                                                                                                                                                         SECOND CLASS
     /gzg@q@$                                                                                                                                                                                                   Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                                                                                                                Grandvile, Michigan
     P.O. Box603
    Grandville, MI b9468-b603                                 --
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   RES$I&U'TION OF.SYMPA?HY                                                     RESbLUTlON OF SYMPATHY                                                                                                  NOTICE!!
     _ ihe,`Senior Mr. and Mrs, Soci-                                               The Council of Southwest Prot-                                                                 Classis  East will meet in regu-
ety of Southwest Protestant. Re-                                            estant Reformed Church expresses                                                                lar session on Wednesday, January
formed Church expresses their sin-                                           its ,sy,mpathy to fellow officebearers                                                         11, 1995, at the Southwest Protes-
cere Christian sympathy to fellow                                            Ronald Kuiper and Clarence Kuiper,                                                             tant Reformed Church, Grandville,
members Jim and Barb Kuiper in                                               in the loss of their father and brother                                                        MI:
the loss of their father and father-                                         respectively,                                                                                                                              Jon J. Huisken
in-law                                                                                   MR. HENRY KUIPER.                                                                                                                Stated Clerk
             MR. HENRY KUIPER;                                                    May they and their families find                                                                           CONFERENCE `95 -
       May they be comforted by the                                         comfort in the promise of the Lord                                                                              Reformed Evangelism
Word of `God in Lamentations 3:22,                                          Jesus, "I go to prepare a place for                                                                                April 3, 4, 5, 1995
23: "It is of the LORD'S mercies that                                       you. And if I go and prepare a place                                                            Three days and evenings of ad-
we are not consumed, because His                                            for' you, I will come again, and re-                                                            dresses, discussion, fellowship, and
compassions fail not, they are new                                           ceive you unto myself; that where I                                                            family recreation at J Bar J Ranch,
every morning; great is thy faithful-                                       am, there ye may be also" (John                                                                 Scaly, Texas.
ness."                                                                       14:2, 3).                                                                                                                  Featuring
                   Darrell Huisken, President                                     ,Rev. Ron Cammenga, President                                                                   Professor David Engelsma,
                  Marie DeYoung, Secretary                                               Bill DeKraker, Vice-President                                                             Pastor Ron VanOverloop,
                                                                                                                                                                                              Pastor Jai Mahtani

                                                                                                                                                                            Trinity Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                                                                                                                                            214 Barker-Clodine Road
                                                                                                                                                                                             Houston, Texas 77094
                                                                                                                                                                                              Write for information
                                                                                                                                                                                                  and registration.
                                                                             rea!der  in close contact with the sov-
                                                                             ereign God, who does all things well.                                                                 For any or all of these books,
                                                                             Both a devotional and a story, this                                                            send order with payment to:
                                                                             book will be interesting and benefi-                                                                                          RFPA
                                                                            cial for readers of all ages.                                                                          c/o Daniel and Sharon Kleyn
                                                                                    Available for $11.50 in the US.                                                                                P.O. Box 2006
                                                                             and $12.50 outside the U.S. (prices                                                                            Grand Rapids, Ml 49501
                                                                             include shipping).

                                                                                   Studies in I Thebalonians
                                                                                  Studies in II Thessalonians
                                                                                    Because these two epistles were
                                                                            written to instruct the Thessalonians
             Good Morning, Alice                                             about Christ's second coming, a
       In this book, a series of cards                                       study of this portion of God's Word
written to Alice by an anonymous                                             is very helpful for present-day Chris-
friend is set into the framework of                                         tians, who see many signs pointing
the story of Alice's struggle with Lou                                      to the end of the world.
Gehrig's disease. Alice's story is                                                 ,Written  in workbook form these
written in an interesting and personal                                       excellent guides will greatly aid the
way,' by her brother, Rev. G.J.                                              Bible student in either personal or
VanBaren.                                                                    group Bible study.
       In the cards, Alice's friend                                                `Available for $3.95 each in the
shares her thoughts on certain pas-                                          U.S. and $4.50 each outside the
sages of Scripture, and brings the                                           U.S. (prices include shipping).

120/Standard  Bearer/December 1,1994


