        A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
        Magazine





                          See "The Reformation and Family Worship" -:j&je  177



        Januayl5,.1995                                                      3.
                                                                    c  -
_I.,


 CONTENTS:                                                                                          January 15, 1995


 Meditation - Rev. Richard G. Moore
        Cleansed As The Lp                                  .,,.....~.~.~.........,,..........~,.......,,.................~.      171    ISSN Q362-4692
 Editorial - Prof. David J.                                elsma
         "Jewish Dreams"
                                              . . .  '
                                                  ..~.~.~....~.,,~~......,,,,.~....,.,~............~...~,...............~. 173           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                                                         Published bythe Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
 Letters .,..........o,......,.,,.......... . . . . . . . . . . ..s............m..... *..*.*..*.,.......,,.............m. 175            4949  Ivanrest  Ave.,  Grandville,  MI  49416.  Second  Cla88
 All Around Us - Prof. Robert D. Decker .,,.,.,.,.....' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  *.175           Po8tage Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
 Contribution A Rev. Kenneth Koole                                                                                                       Poebnreter: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                                         P.O. Box 663, Grandville, MI 494666663.
        The Reformation and Family Worship (II) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..m. 177
 A Cloud of Witnesses  - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                           EDt'lORtAL  COMMtlTEE
                                                                                                                                         Editor: Prof. David J. Engelama
         Franciscus Gomarus: Stubborn Ck mpisn of God's Glory ....D. 179                                                                 Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
 Day of Shadows - Homer CT Hoeksema                                                                                                      Managing Editor Mr. Don Doezema
        The Last Four Days of Creation Week (cont.).,.........................m. 181                                                     DEPARTMENT EDtTDRS
                                                                                                                                         Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma,  Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
 Search the Scriptures - Rev. Carl J. Haak                                                                                               Decker, RevAriedenHartog, Rev. RussetI  Dykstra, Rev. Barry
        The Cleansing of the Temple (John 2:12-25) *,.....,.*.......,....*........ 184                                                   Critters. Rev. Cad Haak, Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Cornelius
                                                                                                                                         Hanko,  Prof.  Herman  Hanko,  Rev.  John  Heya,  Rev.  Dale
 Contribution  - Rev. Arie denHartog                                                                                                     Kuiper,  Mr.  James  Laming,  Mrs.  MaryBeth  Lubbers,   Rev.
         Further on Evangelicals and Catholics Together . . . . . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185                                Jaiklshin  Mahtanl,  Rev.  Thomas  Mierama,  Rev.  Charles
                                                                                                                                         Terpstra, Rev. GiseVenBaren,  Rev. RoneldVanCverlwp, Mr.
 Decency and Order  - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                                                                            Benjamin Wigger.  Rev. Bernard Woudanberg.
         Instructions to the Major Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . ..a............................ 188                                  EDtTORtAL OFFtCE                    CHURCH NEWS  EDtTOR
 Apples of Gold . . . . ..a**.....o......o...... . . . . . ..**.....*.......*.........*...........................                190    The Standard Bearer                 Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                                                                         4949 Ivanrest                       6597 40th Ave.
 News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wgger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191                           Qrandvllle,  MI  49416              Hudsonville,  Ml  49426
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        The various gatherings for study of the Bible in the churches are re-                                                            articles.  Contributions of general lntem8tfrom  our readers and
                                                                                                                                         questions  for  The  Reader  Asks  department  ere  welcome.
 minded of Rev. Carl Haak's  guide to a study of the gospel according to                                                                 Contributicna will  be limited to approximately 366 words and
 John. Rev. Haak is writing and we are publishing these guides for the                                                                   muatbeneatlywrittenortypewrkten,andmuatbeaigned.  Copy
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 introduces John 232-25.
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 ful piece on family worship might want to use the guides in conducting a                                                                subsortpticntomntinue,andhewlllbebilledformnew8t. lfyou
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                                                                                                                                         earty  a8  possible  In  order  to  avoid  the  inconvenience  of
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               Cleansed As The Leper

                                           king of Israel, Jehoram cried out,              in the. Mosaic law was considered
When he was come down from the             "Am I a god to kill and make alive?"            as the idead. According to the law,
mountain, great multitudes. followed       (II Kings  59).  In the mind of the             an Israelite who touched a dead
him. And, behold, there came a leper       king a cure could be wrought only               body was unclean. For that reason
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if       by God.                                         the leper was required to call out
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.           The disease of leprosy is rightly           and warn those about him to stay
And Jesus  put  forth his  hand,  and      called the "living death." Not only             away lest they become defiled. Ac-
touched him, saying, I will; be thou       did the one having leprosy have the             cording to Leviticus 13:45, lepers had
clean. And immediately his leprosy was     appearance  of death, but the skin and          to wear the clothing of those that
cleansed.                                  tissues affected actually were lifeless         mourn, the signs of mourning their
                       Matthew El-3        and filled with decay - so much so              own death.
                                           that parts of the body would drop                      For this reason leprosy was a fit-
    There is much comfort for God's        off as the disease advanced.           The      ting and the God-ordained picture
church in the passage quoted above,        sores caused by the disease stank,              of sin and its consequences. This
for we recognize that we have so           and, as the disease was incurable, it           dread disease of death, because of
much more need to be cleansed than         led to certain death.                           its character, because of the law stat-
did this leper. And in the cleansing           It is in harmony with the nature            ing its impurity, and because of the
of this leper we are given the assur-      of the disease that the Scripture also          results for those so struck by the dis-
ance that God shall so cleanse us.         presents the leper as if he were al-            ease, was determined by God to be
Let us therefore consider the truth        ready as good as dead. It is for this           a powerful picture of the deep, in-
which the Spirit teaches in this pas-      reason that in the old. dispensation            .ward, all pervasive,, and corrupting
sage, as He would lead us into this        lepers were required to cry out to              and destroying power of sin in the
comfort.                                   any that they approached or that ap-            life of man. The leper was a pitiful
    Leprosy was a disease dreaded,         proached them, "Unclean, unclean."              picture of the sinner. Now let us
above all others in Israel. It was an      This was not due to the contagious-             understand that the leper is a pit--
incurable disease besides. There           ness of the disease, for it was not as          ture of you and me, as we stand in
were some in times of old who did          contagious as many diseases today.              and of ourselves, that is, in our natu-
recover from it; but there was no          Only by direct contact, and then only           ml strength. The leper is a picture
medical cure of which man had              .if one had, himself some open                  of the utter depravity of natural
knowledge. The only cure was that          wounds, would there be a likelihood             man.
for which there was no earthly ex-         of catching the disease. This was                      Now, according to the law, the
planation. There was no medicine           the reason that Naaman could still              leper was cut off from the congre-
that could produce a cure, and no          be active as a captain in the army of           gation  .of Israel. He was separated
surgery that could combat this dis-        Syria.                                          from the fellowship of the congre-
ease. Any time there was a cure, it            Rather it was because of the na-            gation. He could find communion
was attributed to the direct work of       ture of the disease, that it cor-                          only with those that were
God only, without the means of man.        rupted finally all the vital                                  lepers as himself. He
    Therefore,. when Naaman the            organs and members of                    the leper is           had to cry out, in order
leper was sent by his master to the        the body, and because it              *" .
                                                                                a pxture of you            that others might be
                                           was in effect the poison-                and me;. .             warned to stay clear of
                                           ing of the springs of life,                                    any contact or fellowship
                                           .and a ,dissolution bit by .bit                             with him. Thus it is a pow-
                                           of the whole body, that it became
Rev. Moore is:yastor. 06 theJ9rotestant                                                    erful testimony of the power of, sin
                                           : &own as the living death. The leper
Reformed Chz.&~bfHu'll,  "I&+;"     L                                                      in our lives, for that sin cuts us off
                                                                                                              .I
                                                                                                    January 15; 1995/Sfand& &&&&~l


 from all fellowship with God and _ He says, "if thou wilt, thou can&                                         his misery. And Jesus was moved
 with His people. Our sin has                    make me clean."                                              with compassion, according to the
 brought us into the depths of spiri-                  The leper could do this only be-                       account of Mark. He touched the
 tual death. And there is no natural             cause of a faith that was worked in                          leper. When we have compassion
 deliverance of man from this state              his heart by Christ's Spirit. Only in                        upon one who is suffering misery,
 that leads us to eternal desolation.            faith can we possibly see Jesus as                           we may wish that we could bear
 A fitting picture indeed of, natural            the Christ, the Son of God who can                           some of his burden. However, we
 man.                                           save. Beloved, we who are of the                              are often unable. But this is exactly
                                                 elect are symbolized by this leper.                          what our `Lord does!
                                                 Of ourselves we are leprous spiritu-                                God Himself, without any wor-
 The leper of our text                           ally, we are corrupt sinners. Our                            thiness on our part, but in elective
     Miserable but blessed was this              sins are just as deadly to our spiri-                        love in the Person of His Son, takes
 man whom the Scripture calls                    tual lives as was the leprosy                                            upon Himself the burden of
 merely a leper. The word of Christ              to this leper's physical life.                                                   our afflictions and misery.
- had reached his ear, and by his ac-            And there is for us only                   ._        __ .                               With respect to the leper,
 tions  and words we may be assured              one possible place to go-                  Jesus did not . . .                           Jesus put forth His
 that the word of the Lord had                   in our spiritual leprosy,.                .draw back from                                -hand and touched him.
 touched his heart. Not only can we              and that is, by the grace                        the terrible                             Jesus did not draw back
 believe that the leper heard the fame           of God, to Christ.                          sin-cursed life                              from the leper, nor does
 of Jesus that had gone throughout                     We: must .do so ac-                   `of His people.                             He draw back from the
 the land, but.we  can assume too that           knowledging that we are                                                                terrible sin-cursed life of
 he must have ventured near enough               just as full of @ritual  lep-                                                His people. But He willingly
 to the multitude gathered here be-              rosy as the leper was full of the                            touched this miserable leper. He
 fore Jesus, so that he might $erson-            physical disease. We are dead in                             willingly enters our leprosy. He
 ally hear Him. While during the ser-            sin and trespasses, and there is no                          would become unclean that He ,
 mon of Jesus he stayed' back far               .escape' that. man or we can `effect,                         might deliver us from the spiritual
 enough so as not to cause alarm in              there is no natural escape from the                          leprosy of our sm. Jesus says, "I
 the multitude, `yet he stood close              corruption and death that is our por-                        will, be thou clean."
 enough to hear His Lord. And the                tion because of our sin. It is there-                               In those simple words we hear
 teaching of Christ was applied to his           fore needful that we come to Christ                          His gracious reply. He wills that
 heart, as we are led to believe from            as did the leper; and we must .do so                         His chosen be clean. In obedience
 his actions and speech. For he ap-              only with the confession that we are                         to Father and in love for those given
 proached Jesus, coming through the              unclean. We must confess with the                            Him from eternity, Jesus enters our
 multitude to Him. This can only be              apostle that we are the sinner, the                          flesh. He who knew no sin becomes
 the result of the irresistible drawing          chief of sinners. We must confess                            sin for us. He stands before God as
 power of the Word of Christ upon                the fullness of our sinful estate, and                       our Head, and carries our sins all
 his soul. For he would not other-               seek the Lord's mercy alone.                                 the way to the cross. He bears our
 wise have dared approach to Christ                    Yet we nevertheless come to                            reproach, that .He might make us
 - though he may still have cried                Christ, believing that He is the God                         clean. Beloved, so Jesus touches us.
 outi "`Unclean, unclean," as he ap-             of our salvation, who if He wills can                        He becomes a spiritual leper for us.
 proached.                                 .     deliver us from certain destruction.                         He wills to become sin .for us, to
     The crowd would have  given                 Thus we come trusting only in the                            bear our guilt, and take away, our
 way to make room for his passage                love of the eternally merciful God                           death.                    And He covers our
 as he came closer to Christ. For                to save. We seek forgiveness of sin                          unrighteousness with the blessed
 Luke says he was full of leprosy.               and the cleansing work of Christ to                          cloak of His righteousness. This is
 This man was a miserable sight. Yet             make us whole, to make us to be                              the depth of Father's love and the
 he left all apprehension behind, hav-           worthy children; who may, fellow-                            riches of His grace in Christ. May
 hg the word working in his .heart,              ship with God.                                               we never cease to praise the.God of
 and he dared to approach unto                                ..:                                             our salvation. -.Wonderful  grace! It
 Christ. He comes, too, in humility              The One cleansing                                            cle~ses!~  0  .t,:-r.  l.J  -_:  -
 and adoration. We read in the text                  Jesus did not stop the leper from
 from,Matthew,  "And,. behold, there             approaching him, nor does He pre-                                                                       ,
                                                                                                                              _  -.  .,  `. i            ;-i
 came. a leper and worshipped  him."             vent ,hisqworsk;ip  of Him1 The leper                                            ,.::;; . ,, ;<z. ; .
 The-~~pef:,~~~~"`~~~.~"~sfthe  ,S$y$            saw in ,Cl$i&`what  many others did                               ;  f;  ._  :; ,*il:...,.L:   I : :`: <                        ;
                                                                                                                                             2
`G,oi$ He acknowledges that Christ                                                                                                ,.                   -~.s  :
                                                "&o,to.,   c  He   iaG.h   J&~s,~od   `
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                                                                                                                                                       .riF&.a:;`i,!  pj:: iiL

Cut~~~~~~1995


                           " J e w i s h   .Dreaims"

    The hope  of. the Reformed               come only after a thousand years in                                     confessions that bind Reformed and
church andbeliever at the beginning          which the church has had earthly                                        Presbyterian churches and Christians
of a new year is the second coming           victory and the kingdom of Christ                                       today.
of Christ and the resurrection of the        has been the .political  world-power.                                           I leave to those whose creeds
body. _ A hope, as was pointed out                   The hope of postmillennialism,                                  they are to demonstrate that the
in the previous editorial, is the res;       particularly in its "Christian Recon-                                   Westminster Standards rule out the
urrection of the soul at the believer's      struction" form, is a N Jewish dream,"                                  illusory dream of postmillennialism.
death; The hope is Christ's return           This was the express judgment of                                        But it may be noted that Anglican
and the resurrection of the body.            the early ,Reformed  creed, the Sec-                                    theologian Peter Toon has written
    The Word of God makes this the           ond Helvetic Confession (A. D.                                          that the post-millennialists at the
hope of the church. The "glorious            1566):                           _.  `.                                 Westminster Assembly failed to "af-
appearing of the great God and our                                                                                   fect the final wording of the
Savior Jesus Christ" is our "blessed                   We further condemn Jewish                                     (Westminster) Confession of Faith,
hope" (Titus  2:13). "We groan                   dreams that there will be a. golden                                 which gives the impression of fol-
within ourselves,. waiting for the               age on earth before the Day of Judg-                                lowing- the Augustinian teaching"
adoption, to wit, the redemption of              ment, and that the .pious, having                                   ("Puritan Eschatology: 1600  - 1648,"
our body" (Rom. 8:23). The prayer                subdued all their godless enemies,                                  in The Manifold Grace of God, Puritan
of the saints is, "Come, Lord Jesus"             will possess alI the kingdoms of the                                and Reformed Studies Conference,
(Rev. 22:20);                                    earth. For evangelical truth in                                     1968, p. 50). It is surely significant
    It is no part of the church's hope           Matt., chs. 24 and 25, and Luke, ch.
                                                 18, and apostolic teaching- in II                                   that, immediately after the adoption
that a majority of humanity will soon            Thess., ch. 2, and II Tim., cl& 3                                   of the Westminster Confession, the
be converted; that the church will               and 4, present something quite dif-                                 independents `drew up their own
then physically dominate the'world;              ferent (Chap; 11, in Reformed Con-                                  creed, the Savoy Declaration of 1658,
that all nations will be "Christian-            fessions of  the 16th Century,  ed.                                  in which they explicitly affirmed
ized"; and that a "golden age" of                Arthur C. Cochrane, Westminster                                     their post-millennial hope:
earthly peace and prosperity will                P r e s s ,   1 9 6 6 ) .
precede the coming of the Lord                                                                                               . . . we expect that in the latter
Jesus.  ;                                            The carnal kingdom of post-                                        days, Antichrist being destroyed,
    This is the hope of some in Re-          millennialism, particularly~as painted                                     the Jews called, and the adversar-
formed and Presbyterian circles.             by "Christian Reconstruction," is ex-                                      ies of the kingdom of his dear, Son
Certain teachers aggressively pro-           actly the kind of Messianic kingdom                                        broken, the churches of Christ be-
mote this hope, particularly those           dreamed and desired by the Jews in                                         ing enlarged and edifiedthrough a
associated with a movement known             the days of Christ's earthly minis-                                      free and plentiful communication
                                                                                                                        of light and grace, shall enjoy in
as "Christian Reconstruction," or            try. This was what the Jews of John                                        this-world a more quiet, peaceable,
"theonomy." The  church~ willenjoy           6 wanted: Christ as the king of an                                         and glorious condition than they
earthly dominion. -This future do-           earthly kingdom and a temporal fu-                                         have enjoyed (see the Savoy Decla-
minion - the ,iChristianizing" of the        ture bright with the prospect of po-                                       ration, 26.5, in P. Schaff, Creeds of
world - will be the Messianic king-          litical power and earthly glory. .                                         Chr&stendom,   vol. 3, Baker repr.,
dom.                                                The, damning judgment upon                                       19'966,  p.  723). ,
    Because this doctrine of the last        post-millenmalism by .the `. Second
things thinks to base itself on Rev-         Helvetic Confession ~.reflected  the                                            The %hree~F&ns  of Unity" con-
elation 20's teaching of the "thou-        .:  Jb~ology  $$e  ,tjis&&+!y$~~                                        ; demn the `hope of _ post~milleri-
                                                                                                                   .5.&r& YT& .?&~/e~ P&... e;aFtiine
sand years" (Latin: millennium), it        i p$&?r :-ap$ &f+y$~,,,  f-y .-y$.,p                                    y--Lv
                                                                                                                    dp  f: 
                                                                                                                            ' ;:!.
                                                                                                                             be ` ri;
                                                                                                                                      .d    p,:.
                                                                                                                                         pe~g3&g~-;  -;.&fa
is commonly referred to as post-           ;:Bullinger, author. of the creed. .\ More
                                           :-y  :c.. IL,:...  ?.`-::.  :.?  .*:;..'  u  ,Gu  .,,L  -  Li *.aisy    -OF: cr. y "-.?.A- i;g I,,r$~ ?.>,p
                                                                                                                   :~*ti~tip~...list  church, ($;i* o&" jj*
millennialism.    Jesus Christ will -,#q~yq~3J && $l$! ?&$ f&&e                                                    .i:L;;slfjr4-i  31:  j.~cJ~J~py$ 9_;X;  ";"a  .f>j-i,`.j  nZ:.i-L

                                                                                                                             ~~JBinaervr~l.s;a9~73


52; Bel. Conf., Art. 37). The Messi-              groan for the redemption of the body          ists," e. g., are cooperating with char-
anic  ,kingdom in history is the                  (Rom.  8:23);  the committed post-            ismatics to get dominion. Thus, of
church, not a "Christianized" world               millennialist groans, if he groans at         course, these Reformed men and
(Heid. Cat., Q. 123; Bel. Conf., Art.             all, for the millennial kingdom.              churches are exposed to the theol-
27).                                                      Postmillennialist and "Christian      Q!sY and practices             o f   neo-
        For this reason, it is unfaithful-        Reconstructionist" David Chilton              Pentecostalism. It is as if Luther had
ness on the part of officebearers                 cheerfully informs us that history has        begged the help of the "heavenly
bound by the "Three Forms of                      "tens of thousands, perhaps hun-              prophets" in order to advance the
Unity" to permit the advocacy of the              dreds of thousands of `years, of in-          Reformation.
post-millennial dream in the                      creasing godliness ahead of it, be-               The "Christian Reconstruction"
churches for which they are respon-               fore the Second Coming of Christ"             brand of post-millennialism intro-
sible. There is this openness to post-            (Paradise Restored, Reconstruction            duces the fundamental heresy of
millennialism, evidently, in the                  Press, 1985 pp. 221,222). That Christ         judaizing into the circles where it is
churches that have recently split                 will not come for hundreds of thou-           accepted. This is the. imposition
from the Christian Reformed Church                sands of years saddens this post-             upon New Testament Christians of
and that are loosely associated in the            millennialist not at all. Indeed, this        a vast array of Old Testament laws
Alliance of Reformed Churches                     gladdens his heart. For Christ's              that, according to Article 25 of the
(ARC). There is openness to these                 coming is not his hope; the carnal            Belgic Confession, have been accom-
"Jewish dreams" in the extraordinar-              kingdom is.                                   plished in Christ, so'that the "use of
ily, virulent form of "Christian Re-                      In some quarters, post-millen-        them must be abolished among'
construction." To a chief theorist                nialism leads to passivity where              Christians." In the coming millennial
and proponent of "Christian Recon-                there should be arduous activity.             kingdom, the earthly Christian state
struction" was given the privilege                Certain post-millennialists in the            will decree all the civil, or judicial,
of drawing up the hermeneutical ba-               British Isles are content to allow the        laws by which Jehovah governed
sis of the set of new creeds once en-             secular state to educate their cov-           Old Testament Israel. Presumably,
visioned by leaders in the Alliance               enant children, rather than to fulfill        obedience to these laws will again
and sanctioned by the Alliance it-                the demand of the covenant by es-             be a matter of conscience for the Re-
self. At least one of the most promi-             tablishing good Christian schools.            formed believer. The interested
nent, and vocal, ministers in the Al-             Their reason is that in the millennial        reader is invited to read through the
liance has publicly associated him-               kingdom that is coming the state will         Old Testament to discover the num-
self closely with "Christian Recon-               be Christian, indeed Presbyterian. It         ber of laws, precepts, statutes, and
struction."                                       will then give Christian instruction          regulations with which the con-
        Already virtually committed to            in the schools.                               science of the Reformed believer will
the dead-end of independency, the                         Other post-millennialists, par-       be burdened in the glorious Messi-
churches of the ARC are opened                     ticularly the "Christian  Recon-             anic kingdom of "Christian Recon-
up as well to millennial fan-                                structionists," u r g e   a n      struction."
tasies. Reformed saints in                                     unbiblical activity. They            The enormous, and obvious,
this movement do well                    If is no part           call the church to "Chris-     blunder of II Christian Reconstruc-
to brace themselves for          of the church's hope             tianize" the world, a task    tion" that results in such bondage,
a wild ecclesiastical               that a majority               that Holy Scripture no-       as well as in innumerable hefty
adventure.                               of  humanity             where assigns either to       tomes of instruction in and contro-
        The consequences                 will soon be             the church or to the be-      versy over this Reformed "utopia"
will be injurious, if not                converted...            liever. Christ calls His       -this  Nno-place/ this  "never-never-
disastrous.                                                     church to guard against         land" - is the failure to understand
        The "Jewish dreams" of                               becoming worldly; He does          that the fulfillment of Old Testament
post-millennialism produce practi-                not call her to make the world Chris-         Israel is not a future, earthly Chris-
cal  n i g h t m a r e s .                        tian.            -                            tian world-power, but the church.
        They take the hope of the church                  This self-willed service of Christ    The fulfillment of Old Testament Is-
off the coming of Christ and theres-             - a law of man imposed upon                    rael as a nation is the church - the
urrection of the body. For they di-               Christ's church (which we might call          present, spiritual church. The
rect hope toward the golden age and               "anthroponomy," `human law') -                apostle of Christ teache,s this in I Pe-
the carnal kingdom. Just as the                   leads, inevitably, to another gross           ter 2~9: "But ye are a chosen gen-
"blessed hope" of pre-millennial                  evil. Reformed men and churches               eration, a royal priesthood, an holy
dispensationalism is the earthly rap-             make strange, forbidden, wicked  al-          nation, a peculiar people."
ture, so the "blessed hope" of post-              liances in order, by hook or by crook,            The- New Testament., reality of
rnillennialism is the kingdom of                  to build the earthly kingdom  ,of             the nation of. Israel, the realking-
Christ as earthly world-power. We,,               Christ. "Christian  Reco.nstructio~n:~
                                                                        .J                      dom of God in the world, does not
l?~lSt?n,~ard,Be,?rerlJanuary 15,1?95


legislate and execute the civil laws        millennialism denies a future Anti-               millennialism as fl Jewish dreams."
of-the Old Testament. It has no use         christ and a future great tribulation                 We do urgently warn our own
for the civil laws of the shadow-na-        for the true church. All of this lies             people and all who will hear us that
tion. For the church is a spiritual         in the past. The future is rosy.                  the kingdom of the beast will come.
realm. She does not, e. g., put adul-,           But, as the Second Helvetic Con-             Indeed, it is comin
terers and homosexuals to death.            fession observed, "evangelical truth              tures are distinct in a lawless soci-
Where there is public, impenitent           in Matt., chs. 24 and 25, and Luke,               ety? an apostate church, and a unit-
practice of these sins, the church ex-      ch. 18, and apostolic teaching in II              ing world of nations.
ercises discipline, which is a spiri-       Thess., ch. 2, and II Tim., chs. 3 and                Rather than be deluded by fl Jew-
tual key of the kingdom of heaven.          4, present something quite differ-                ish dreams" Reformed Christians
Her purpose is the repentance of the        ent."                                             and their children must heed sober
sinner, so that she may again receive            As a confessional, biblical Re-              Christian reality.
him into her fellowship.                    formed denomination, the Protestant                   Be prepared for the Antichrist!
    Not the least of the practical evils    Reformed Churches are not open to                     Hope for the second coming of
of postmillennialism is that it ill;        post-millennialism. It is their sol-              Christ!
prepares the people of God for the          emn duty from the soon-coming                         Hope only for the second com-
struggle that lies ahead, shortly be-       Christ to expose the hopes of post-               ing of Christ! a
fore the return of the Lord. Post-                                                                                                 - D J E



                                            "Living waters," full, exhaustless,               "Living waters,n  ever flowing
                                                 Welling forth a Saviour's love,                  Telling still the Father's love,
                                            Once in this dark world of sorrow                 When upon Christ's Holy Person
                                                 All the Father's heart to prove.                 Stayed the Spirit like a dove.
        "Living Waterff                     Hear, oh hear the wondrous story                  Gift unspeakable was given;
                                                 Of His anguish, groans, and tears,               Full atonement He has made;
"Living waters,#  gushing, flowing          Of those awful hours on Calvary,                  Weary sinner, heavy laden,
   Ever from the Fountain free;                  Where His head the thorn-crown                   Rest beneath th'Almighty's shade.
Came from Him, the Source, the Giver,                wears.
    Down in this poor world to be.                                                            "Living waters," what a Saviour -
Matchless gift from matchless Saviour,      "Living waters," Holy Spirit,                         Setting forth His love divine;
    When back to the Father's throne             Telling still the anguish borne,             From these bodies, living temples,
He had gone - His love so perfect           By that spotless, holy victim,                        Ever forth Thy beauties shine.
    To His own thus fuhy shown.                  When he felt man's bitter scorn.             Peerless beauty - glorious Saviour -
                                            Dark and dreadful, foul, unclean,                     Hearts and lives we bow to Thee,
                                                 Linked with devils in the deed,              Waiting, till caught up to glory,
                                            Man has fully proved his hatred,                      Thy reflection there to be.
                                                Crucified the woman's seed.                                            Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                        January 1,1932



q   SYNODICAL BAGGAGE                       Christian Reformed, four Presbyte-                "For Such A Time As This - The
    The Alliance of Reformed                rian, and one Canadian Reformed)                  Reformed Faith."
Churches held its annual meeting            were present. In addition eight con-                  ChTisfian Renewal  has this,
November 15-17,  l994 at the                gregations sent official observers to             among o%her things, to say about the
Lynwood Christian Reformed                  the meeting. Fraternal greetings                  meeting, "As has been noted in the
Church (Independent) in Lynwood,            were brought by representatives of                past and which also came to expres-
Illinois. pnyl  !+$yd   and  tmy-           the Reformed Church in the United                 sion at this year's meeting, different
seven official delegates representing       States (formerly known as Eureka                  agendas are competing for a hear-
sixty-two  coX&egations  (forty-six         Classis), the Canadian Reformed                   ing, and none have spoken. out too
indepen'dent  Reformed, eleven              Churches, the Bible Presbyterian                  clearly or articulately as of yet. The
               :.  .I'  ,:.                 Church, and the Free Reformed                     identified agendas are as follows:
                      . .                   Churches.  `,                `-  =-  1.  I        those independent `churches that
                                             b't Dr. P.Y. `DeJong,,-who  recently.            w$shto federaterfor:  the future secu-
                                            left  .tl&~CRC,  spoke:for  the  public'          rity  -of `their congregations; those
                                            .d$c';kati.`fi~l `-tieekg  o'ii: .&i sujjjec&:    ch&chesthat%ish to ,Ijarticipate- ti


  the development of a broadly based            matter will be up for ratification in       through such discussion will it be
  ecumenical body for the purpose of            the 1995 meeting. A study commit-           possible for  .us to labor towards
  greater unity among Reformed and              tee was appointed "to demonstrate           greater unity.... Brethren, we ear-
  Presbyterian churches. Yet despite            to the. churches the unity between          nestly seek such discussion. We
  the frustration of many, both of the          the Three Forms of Unity and the            would even be delighted if the ARC
  above agendas did make some                   Westminster Standards and to iden-          would appoint a committee to dis-
  progress toward their eventual real-          tify any differences which may exist        cuss these matters with our commit-
  ization. Baby steps, maybe, but steps         between them, and to report at the          tee in the interim between Alliance
  nevertheless."                                1995 meeting of the Alliance." The          meetings. We wish you God's bless-
       A proposed Church Order was              committee consists of Revs. R.              ing in the way of faithfulness to His
  presented to the assembly for infor-          Lanning G.I. Williamson, G. Dodds,          truth."
  mation. It was decided to recom-              D.  Royall,  Elders D. Kloosterman              During the course of the
  mend the proposed Church Order                and P. Yonker, and Dr. N.                   Alliance's, discussion of this letter,
  to the churches for study and re-             Kloosterman, and Dr. R. Venema.             The Banner reports that the Rev. Ed:
  sponse. It was also decided to man-               A new committee for contact             ward Heerema commented, "Com-
  date the Church Order Committee               with other churches was appointed           mon Grace is not a confessional is-
  to formulate a Preamble to the pro-           to deal with correspondence re-             sue, we shouldn't even discuss it.
  posed Church Order containing the             ceived, along with a letter from the        It's synod&l  baggage we left behind
  biblical principles undergirding the          Protestant Reformed Churches, and US."            Rev. Heerema, longtime pas-
  Church Order. The committee was               to "take such action as they `deem          tor in the CRC, son-in-law of R. B.
  also instructed to consider a name            necessary." This committee is com-         -Kuiper, now retired and a member
  for the churches represented by the           posed of Revs.  I'. Vellenga, R.            of an Independent Reformed Church
  Church Order. Dr. Nelson Klooster-            Stienstra, R. Pontier and Elders R.         in Cape Coral, Florida, certainly
  man, professor at Mid-America Re-             Poll, P. Hopkins, and E. Kreykes.           knows better! The CRC herself, in
  formed Seminary, was added to the                 Following the adjournment of            her formulation of the Three Points
  Church Order Committee.                       the Alliance meeting, the Indepen-          of Common Grace, made reference
       It remains our firm conviction           dent Churches met to discuss the            to specific articles and parts of ar-
  that these churches ought to feder-           possibility of federating. The              ticles in the Three Forms of Unity to
  ate under the Church Order of                 Lynwood Church will act as calling          attempt to prove her statements re
  Dordt. If then they would recog-              church for a meeting of the Inde-           Common Grace. Common, Grace is
  nize the great principle of the Dordt         pendent Churches to be held before          much more than  "synodical  bag-
  Church Order, the autonomy of the             summer. The churches -will soon re-         gage."
  local church, they would be a Re-             ceive information about the forth-              What is more, three ministers
  formed denomination.                          coming meeting along with an                and their consistories were sus-
       In a related matter, the Alliance        agenda.                                     pended and deposed by Classes
  appointed a committee. (Dr. P.Y.                  The letter from the PRC referred        Grand Rapids East and West of the
  DeJong, Revs. J. Julien and R.                to above was composed by the Con-           CRC because they refused to .sub-
  Lanning, and Elder C. Wieringa) to            tact Committee of the  PRC in re-           scribe to the Three Points. The CRC
  "recommend specific  ,Liturgical              sponse to the PRC June 1994 synod's         synod of 1926 upheld those suspen-
  Forms (Baptism, Lord's Supper, `Pro-          mandate to the committee: "That             sions and depositions. The result
  fession of Faith, discipline, ordina-         synod authorize the Contact Com-            was the formation of the  PRC.
  tion and installation, and marriage)          mittee to send observers to the Alli-       Heerema hasn't forgotten this, has
  and a specific form of Subscription           ance of Reformed Churches this              he? Now simply to call all this "syn-
 for use in the churches."                      coming year if we are invited pro-          odical  baggage" is untrue and
       The proposed change in the Pur-          vided that the Alliance of Reformed         grossly unfair.
 pose of the Alliance and the Basic             Churches gives our observers the                If Heerema's opinion prevails
  Confessional Statement to include             time to address the real issues be-         among the brothers of the Alliance
  "either the Reformed Creeds of the            tween the Alliance of Reformed              churches, there will be no discus-
 Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg              Churches and the Protestant `Re-            sions between the Alliance churches
  Catechism and the Canons of Dordt,            formed Churches." The. letter went          and the PRC:.?That,  in: our opinion,
  or the Westminster Standards," as             on to say, s'f... you will understand       would be: tragic  indeed. I From day
  decided last year, was not ratified.          that we seeclittle  benefit in continu-     one the ,PRC has been willing and
 Instead, by 7amendment  the, state-            ing to attendthe Alliancemeetings           has pleaded with the CRC on sev-
  ment was made to read, "either the            unless there.is  `some real possibility eral==ocicasionsto"sit  down with us
 Three Forms of Unity, or the ,-cidf *fr&$ and ripen.: &~c~ssi&x-$&- .i :,.9nl;t::di~~g~:h~~~~~~s;~?the.:hope
 Westrninster,:StaJ?~?rds,~,.~T~.s.was         ? &es, ;in' do&&e, .chur&fip&@~gd           .,&~re$$y&g&~~ ;gq+l I,.h.@ng  the
 passed by a vote of 83 - 23; ?$his LY:litu$gy ii;l$ic~+@&*d&  ';uFJJ:t.@@ly                breach. The CRC has  Egrsistently

=r,k` 1 761St&dards  Be~ieilJanuafycl5;4995


refused to do so. Now it appears            Lethbridge, Alberta. In one of my                                         Christian Renewal
that the Alliance will also refuse.         letters to Rev. Tuininga in which                    Minutes of the Alliance of Re-
     Undersigned is reminded of             these matters were being discussed                                 formed  Churches, 1994
some personal correspondence  be-           I wrote, II Jelle, we're so near and yet        Report of the Meeting of the Alli-
tween himself and his longtime              so far." 0                                       ante of Reformed`Churches,  1994
friend, Rev. Jelle Tuininga, pastor of           Acts of Synod Of the PRC, 1994
Trinity Reformed Church in                                              The Banner



                   The Reformation and
                           Family Worship (II)

     Nowhere has this matter of fam-        detailed form what the presbyterian         goes on to speak of "The ordinary
ily worship been so thoroughly ad-          "church-fathers" were convinced             duties comprehended under the ex-
 dressed as by the Westminster As-          made up proper, profitable family           ercise of piety which should be in
 sembly. They made specific refer-          worship. It represents the best of          families . . . . II      '
 ence to this calling in their Confes-      the Reformation on family-worship.                                  .  ~
 sion (Ch. 21, Art. 6).                         How serious the Assembly took                 First, Prayer, and praises per;
                                            this matter of regular family wor-             formed, with a special reference, as
   God is to be worshipped every            ship is apparent from the prologue             well to the coiiclition  of the I&k of
   where, in spirit and in truth; as in     to this "Directory." Having required           God, and this kingdom, ai to the
   private families daily, and in secret    that the minister and ruling elders            present state of the family, and ev-
   each one by himself.                                                                    ery member thereof.  Next, Read-
                                            make "diligent search" whether                 ing of the Scriptures, with catechiz-
     Already prior to this in Scotland,     there were families under their care           ing in a plain way, that the under-
                                            neglecting this matter of family wor-
by the Act of Assembly 1596, the                                                           standings of the simpler may be
                                            ship, the Assembly went on to say,             better enabled to profit under the
 elders, "within the quarter and                                                           public ordinances, and they made
 bounds assigned to each of them,"            . . . and if any such family be found,       more capable to understand the
 were instructed to inquire about the         the head of the family is to be first        Scriptures when they are read: to-
 matter of family worship. At church          admonished privately to amend his            gether with godly conferences tend-
 visitation the question was put to           fault; and, in case of his continuing        ing to the edification of all the
 the elders, "Are they careful to have        therein, he is to be gravely and             members in the most holy faith: as
 the worship of God set up in the             sadly reproved by the session; af-           also, admonition and rebuke, upon
 families of their bounds?" The min-          ter which reproof, if he be found            just reasons, from those who have
 ister in his pastoral rounds was to          still to neglect Family-worship, let         authority in the family.
 ask "Whether God be worshipped               him be, for his obstinacy in such
 in the family, by prayers, praises,          an offence, suspended and debarred               Article IV begins with the prac-
                                              from the Lord's supper . . . tilI he
 and reading of the Scriptures? . . . If                                                tical reminder, "The head of the fam-
                                              amend.
 there be catechizing in the family?"                                                   ily is to take care that none of the
     In the same year that the                                                          family withdraw himself from any
                                                This reminds  us'.that regular
 Westminster Confession was                                                             part of family-worship . . . . M
                                            family worship is not only a privi-
 adopted (1647), the General Assem-                                                      . Having given some good prac-
                                            lege, but a calling and duty. God
 bly of the Church of Scotland drew                                                     tical instruction on the calling of a
                                            Himself will call us to account.
 up a "Directory for Family-Wor-                                                        father to make sure that his family
                                                Since most are unfamiliar with
 ship." This "Directory" lays out in                                                    had profited from congregational
                                            this "Directory," it is worth our           worship on the Lord's Day, the As-
                                            while to quote a few select segments.       sembly addressed the matter of fam-
                                                Having stated that "Besides the         ily prayer (Art. IX):
                                            publick  worship in congregations . . .
Rev. Koole is pastor of Faith Protestant    private worship of families, be
Reformed Church in Jenison,  Michigan.                                                     So many as can conceive prayer,
                                            pressed and set up," the "Directory"
                                                                                                 January 15,`1995/Standard  Searerll77


 ought to make use of that gift of            youth. The child is forced to ,say              ents knew their old psalms in versi-
 God: albeit those who are rude and           within himself, "How can I offend               fication. Psalm aftei psalm, stanza
 weaker may begin at a set form of             against the father who daily                   after stanza, by memory. They had
 prayer, but so-as they be not slug-           wrestles with God in my behalf?                learned them by singing them as
 gish  in stirring up in themselves           How can I be careless about the                 children in their families in the "old
  (according to- their daiIy necessities)      soul, for which he is thus con-
the spirit of prayer, which is given          cerned?" . . . He'is little read in the         country." This had great benefit
  to aII the children of God in some           human heart who fails to recognize             later in life, even on their deathbeds.
 measure . . . . n                             here a great element of filial piety,          They could sing psalms of comfort
                                               or who refuses to believe that the             and of .victory. The Word of God
    To give some direction in the              tenderness of a &U's attachment'               was embedded in their souls in song!
matter of prayer, a list of elements          is increased by the stated worship                   Since that day things have
suitable for prayer was then set               of the household (Directory, pp. 63-           slipped in this area. Evidently it
down. For instance:                            641..                                          started soon after our grandparents
                                                                                              moved to this country. Singing as a
                                                  God-fearing parents ought to
  Let them confess to God how un-                                                              common element of family worship
  worthy they are to come in his pres-       read these words again, and then re-              died out even in our grandparents
  ence, and how unfit to worship his         flect on their-own prayers uttered at            homes.
  Majesty....                                the table with their children. How                    why?
  They are to confess their sins, and        heartfelt and personal are our fam-                   I suspect, in @art, that they, like
  the sins of the family....                 ily prayers? The fruit of attendance              ourselves, became too busy in this
  They are to give thanks to God for         to this kind of family worship was
  his many mercies to his people, and                                                          land of commercial opportunity.
                                             the marked godliness and happiness
  to themselves....                                                                            They did not have enough time any-
                                             in the land of Scotland for many long
  They ought to pray for the kirk of                                                           more to do all these things as they
                                             years.
  Christ in general, for all the re-                                                           sat down with their families. And
  formed kirks, and for this kirk in              Scotland was not alone in this               undoubtedly the language problem
  particular-... for all our superiors,      practice. Its parallel could be found             entered in as well. Dutch was their
  the king's majesty . . . for the magis-    in the Protestant home life of the                mother-tongue, but their children
  trates, ministers, and the whole           northern provinces of Holland as                  were more familiar with English.
  body of the congregation whereof           well. The documents produced by                   Who was interested in learning
  they are members....                       the Synod of Dordt show the same                 Dutch songs anymore? For what-
                                             concern for family life, namely, one
    The  far-redching influence of                                                             ever reason, the custom of singing
                                             that revolved around the Word of
diligent attendance to this matter of                                                          as part of family devotions all but
                                             God and prayer, and involved daily
family worship, which we call "fam-                                                            died out.
                                             worship.
ily devotions," simply cannot be em-                                                               This raises  then question, of
                                                  One element we tend to forget
phasized enough. It is at the, time                                                            course, how much singing do we do
                                             (neglect?), but which was promoted
of family worship and devotions that                                                           together as families anymore, or
                                             by the Reformers, was family sing-
our children are given to see a spiri-                                                         even as believers getting together?
                                             ing, families singing psalms and
tual side of us they might not other-                                                          True, we can be thankful for Chris-
                                             good hymns at mealtime..
wise know about. They get to see                                                                         tian schools which are still
                                             Luther composed songs
our heart of hearts, and perceive our                                                                        teaching our children
                                             for his own children.
deepest spiritual concerns (whether                                                     it is exactly          "psalms and- spiritual
                                             "Away in a Manger" is                "*
spiritual concerns are even there).                                          where family worship               songs." These are the
                                             one familiar instance.
This can have a powerful impact on                                                has flourished                melodies they will
                                             There were others of
them.'                                                                            that you find                 later sing in their
                                             more substance. His
    J.W. Alexander put it well:                                              aflburishing  church...            hearts.      But what
                                             own family often took                                             about our own families
                                             out their musical in&u-                                         and singing?
  The children look more deeply into         ments and made melody on
  the parents' heart by the,mecIium                                                                         Permit me to give a couple
                                             their strings and in their hearts,
  of family-prayer. A single burst of                                                          of suggestions.
  genuine fatherly anxiety in the            praising God by song. It is simEly a                  First, most of us have "sound
midst of ardent intercession may             fact that Reformation homes were                  systems" in our  I'family   rooms,M
  speak-to the child a volume of long-       psalm-singing homes.                              some rather elaborate ones at that.
 hidden and travailing grief and                  Family singing, as part of fam-              What an excellent opportunity to fill
  love. Such words, uttered `on the          ily worship, was once common prac-                the atmosphere of our homes with
  knees, though from the' plain              tice in Reformed homes. `The- evi-                good, solid, spiritual, God-glorifying,
  untutored man, are sometimes as            dence  of this is seen in'how many of
  arrows m the heart of unconverted                                                            grace-magnifying,.--biblically-sound,
                                             our Dutch (an,d German) grandpar-                 music and praise.

178lStandarcJ  Bearer/January 15,199s


    And let us not forget the Psalms!       .I  no longer marvel that Christian-      fessed. Grace sought. Needs laid
Please! They tie us in with the              ity has become a dying, empty,           out. Love expressed. And homage
church of all ages; and this will help       thing in the houses of those profes-     and gratitude rendered.
singing in church. The songs our             sors (alas,. that there should be            This is the legacy-of the Refor-
children hear regularly in the home          such!) where there is no joint wor-
                                             ship of God (p. 54).                     mation to our families.
are the songs they will most enjoy                                                        Now follow the questions.
singing years down the line. And           This is a timely reminder to us.               Are we taking the time for fam-
who knows in what "dungeons dark               We are reminded that the Re-           ily worship?
and deep" they will need these             formers called husbands and fathers            Are we giving it thought?
songs!                                     to take the lead in this. It was not           Are we doing our best to have
    Secondly, what about the holi-         enough simply that they read and           devotions with all the family mem-
days, when our extended families,          prayed each day briefly with their         bers present?
young and old, get together? What          families. Rather, time was to be               Or, have we let these things slip?
a splendid opportunity to sing to-         taken to instruct and discuss.                 The sad truth is, the springtime
gether as families. Spiritual songs            Did the children understand            of the Reformation is long past.
for the season and anthems of praise.      what was read?                             Deep autumn is upon us as church
Take along the song books.- Make it            How did the Word apply to the          of Christ and families. Are we also
a family tradition.                        life and members of the home?              growing lax and becoming dormant
    Let us remember, it is exactly             The father was to bring it home!       - leaves yellow, fruit withering, de-
where family worship has flourished            And what were the particular           votional life sluggish in our homes?
that you find a flourishing church,        needs of each that needed to be ad-            Fathers, does it not start with
its worship services well attended         dressed in admonition or in explicit       ourselves as heads of homes?         -
by entire families,  ,morning  and         reference in prayer?                           When the Lord of Elijah returns,
evening. And it is from these fami-            In summation, time was to be           will He find faith and fruit yet in
lies that come faithful  .kingdom          taken (made, if you will)`just  as with    our generations?
workers - mothers, fathers, office-        church worship. Thought was to be              May I remind you that spiritual
bearers, teachers, godly witnesses,        given. And God's Word was to be            vitality and strength to resist the
and all the rest.                          thoughtfully applied..                     most severe spiritual frost and
    Where it has been neglected?               And then the family, led by the        stormy blast has to do with faithful-
    J.W. Alexander again is much to        father-priest, was to approach God         ness in "family worship"?
the point:                                 in prayer once again. Sins were con-           God give us grace to attend to
                                                                                      it!  0



                     Franciscus-eGomarus:
              . . Stubborn Champion
                                 of God's Glory

                                           Introduction                               nasius the stubborn and implacable
                                               It is a surprising truth of history    defender of the Nicene Creed. Cyril
                                           that oftentimes, in doctrinal contro-      vs. Nestorius: Cyril the haughty and
                                           versy, the heretic is a nice man, while    cruel defender of the unity of Christ's
                                           the defender of the faith is,, from        natures in the one divine person;
                                 .         ,many points of view, a miserable          Nestorius the popular, gifted heretic
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church His-    character..  Athanasius, vs.  Arms:        who insisted: that Christ had two
toy and New Testament  iiz the Protes-     Arms the suave, diplomatic, likeable       perso.&  Augustine the crabby `de-
tant R$ormed  Semina y.         .,'        denier of Christ's divinity;  Atha-        fender of the sovereignty of grace;
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Pelagius the urbane and witty de-          be decided in another arena than the      Oxford, then in Cambridge. In 1585
fender of freedom of the will.             arena of personalities: it must be de-    Louis died, and his brother, prince
Gottschalk the stem and unfriendly         cided by the Scriptures alone, re-        Casimir, became elector. He re-
follower of Augustine who rotted in        gardless of any personal likes and        stored to the university in 1584 the
prison for his recalcitrance; Hincmar      dislikes. Without excusing what is        professors from Heidelberg who
the learned and powerful archbishop        sometimes wicked conduct on the           were still living. Gomarus returned
of Rheims. And so the list could go        part of orthodox men, it is impor:        there for two years.
on: Luther vs. Erasmus the human-          tant that the church remember that
ist; Calvin vs. Bolsec the heretic;        the truth is determined by God's          Ministry and professorship
Knox vs. Mary Queen of the Scats.          Word alone. Gomarus, for all his               Gomarus had received a wide
And those who know their history           shortcomings, was a champion of           and excellent education and had be-
can find others, perhaps within their      the Reformed faith.                       come an expert in languages, includ-
own particular denominational his-                                                   ing Hebrew. But his education was
tory.                                      Early life and education                  first. of all to be put to use in the
     So it was also with Gomarus.              The family into which Gomarus         pastoral ministry to which he also
Even his friends found him obnox-          was born lived in Bruges, a city in       aspired. He became pastor of a
ious at times and barely tolerable.        the province of Flanders, which was       Dutch congregation in Germany in
His opponent,  Jacobus Arminius,           then a part of the Lowlands, but is       Frankfort-on-the-Main. The church
popular with students and ministers,       now a part of Belgium. Gomarus            had been established by Marten
gracious, kind, tolerant, filled with      was the oldest in the family, born        Micronius and John a Lasco in 1555.2
concern for friend and foe alike, pre-     on January 30, 1563. He had two           Work here did not last very long.
sents quite a contrast. But Arminius       younger brothers and possibly a           The church was dissolved because
was the heretic, and Gomarus stood         younger sister. Sometime before           of Lutheran persecution.           The
for the truth.                             1570, although probably after             Lutherans were always angry that
     Why does God work this way            Gomarus' birth, his family embraced       Calvinism had taken hold in Ger-
in the history of the church? Why is       the Reformed faith.                       many, which they considered their
the nice guy so often the enemy of             Gomarus began his studies in          own private preserve.
the faith, -while the old curmudgeon       Bruges and atan early age learned              While in Frankfort-on-the-Main,
is the champion of the truth of God?       Latin and Greek. But in 1577, be-         Gomarus married Emerentia, a
I do not think that we can find a          cause of the severity of the Spanish      daughter of Gilles and sister of
complete answer to this question.          persecution in the Lowlands, the          Abraham Muysenhol. They did not
But part of it is that the truth is not    family sought refuge in Germany in        have long together: she died in child-
popular, and defenders of the truth        the Palatinate. Because of the near-      birth with their first child in 1591
can sometimes become crabby be-            ness of the family to the city of         very shortly after they were married.
cause of the fierce and unrelenting        Strassburg, Gomarus was able to           Two years later Gomarus married
attacks of opponents. Sometimes the        study there under Johann Sturm, a         again: a woman named Maria, a
deceit and double-tongued language         second-generation Reformer, in the        daughter of local nobility. He lived
of heretics who hide their heresy          city where Calvin had lived in the        with her for many years.
with honey-coated words can only           years of his exile from Geneva.                Although the congregation in
be exposed by sharp and impolitic              When Frederick, the Calvinist         Frankfort-on-the-Main was dissolved
language. Sometimes the defense of         elector of the Palatinate died, his       and Gomarus left without a job,
the faith requires a stubborn man          brother Louis (Ludwig) came to the        within a few months he was asked
who will not budge no matter what          electorate. He was a Lutheran and
the consequences; and he is pre-           hated Calvinism passionately. He
sented by his enemies as being un-         drove out of the University of Hei-
reasonable and wickedly goat-like,         delberg all the Calvinist professors,
so that the truth for which he fights      including Ursinus and Olevianus,          *    Jerome Zanchtus, & Italian who
may be maligned along with him.            the authors of the Heidelberg Cat-        had been brought to the Calvinist faith,
                                                                                     is the author of a bodk on predestina-
But always God uses weakest means          echism. Some of these professors          tion which is still read with apprecia-
to fulfill his will.                       settled in Neustadt, and to Neustadt      tion by many who love this doctrine.
    There is an important truth here       Gomarus went to study under               2    Both were important second gen-
- a truth to which few pay atten-          Ursinus and Zanchius.' His studies        eration Reformers, the latter from Po-
tion. So many are persuaded of their included Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and              land.  B Lasco had served a refugee
position by the character of the men       philosophy.                               church in London, but had returned to
involved: the nice guy has got to be           From 1582 to  1584.`Gomarus           the continent.  He played a  sign&@
right; the nasty fellow cannot'possi-      broadened his education by a trip         role, hong' with Peter Datheen, in .the
bly be correct. `But the truth must to England where he studied first in             for&ation of the litur& of tGe Reformed
                                                                                     Churches in the Netherlands.
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to become professor of theology in               The early years in the Univer-          sity to work with Gomarus in that
the University of Leyden.3  His repu-        sity were probably some of the hap-         faculty of learning. This proved to
tation for wide learning and his de-         piest in Gomarus' life. He enjoyed          be the beginning of the trouble
votion to orthodoxy were already             his work, had opportunity to ad-            which finally resulted in a country-
w e l l k n o w n .                         vance his studies, and found a con-          wide split in the Dutch Churches
    While it is not known exactly            genial home where his colleagues            and was only resolved by the great
what was Gomarus' wage while in             were all one with him in the faith.          Synod of Dort.
Leyden, the town records indicate           His students respected him, also for                           . . . to be continued a
that he was probably rather well off.       his vast learning, and his work was
He owned a house adjacent to the            beneficial for the churches.
University. And the taxes in the city            All this changed in 1603. In that       3    Our readers will recall that the Uni-
were leveled on the basis of the num-        year, over the strong protests of           versity of Leyden was a gift of William
ber of chimneys on the house.                Gomarus, Jacobus  Harmsen,  known           the Silent to that city in appreciation
Gomarus was charged for 11 chim-             as Jacob Arminius, was appointed            for their courageous resistance during
neys.                                       professor of theology in the Univer-         the Spanish siege.




          The Last Four Days of
                       Creation  Week.(cont.)

God's creation of the                       any literal sense. The account of            first and common beginning of ev-
living creatures (Gen. 1:20-25)              Scripture is time-bound and cultur-         erything. The ground of this theory,
    It is becoming increasingly com-        ally-conditioned, so it is claimed.          remember, is not a matter of science,
mon in the church of today to con-          Therefore, adjustments must be               that is, of the observation of such a
found the revealed truth of creation        made in our understanding of these           process. On the contrary, it is a mere
and the philosophy of evolution. The        parts of Scripture, so that anything         theory. But especially in connection
result is actually, that the former is      but a literal account is found in them       with the living creatures, the evolu-
denied and lost sight of, and the lat-      and so that room is allowed for the          tionist attempts to point to two fac-
ter, the theory of evolution, actually      introduction of an evolutionary pro-         tors. The first is the similarity of
prevails in the thinking of the             cess which really does not coincide          various kinds of creatures; and the
church, so that the confession of the       with the biblical record whatsoever.         second is the gradation of the crea-
church concerning the origin of             It is highly necessary, therefore, that lures,  the gradually ascending scale
things becomes more and more secu-          the simple and fundamental truth of          from lower to higher creatures.
larized and indistinguishable- from         Scripture be emphasized and re-em-                Now Scripture teaches the facts,
the position of unbelief. Today it          phasized over against the errors of          but it denies the conclusion. It is
can be openly taught even in Re-            evolutionism that have crept into the        very plain on this score, so that no
formed churches that there has been         thinking.of the church and that are          one need be in doubt.
no Adam, .and no Eve, and no Para-          more and more becoming en-                        Notice, on the one hand,. the
dise without sin and death, and that        trenched there.                              gradually ascending scale in the nar-
the biblical account must not be                 Evolutionism, denying creation          rative of Scripture concerning the liv-
taken to teach what is recorded in          by the living God and denying the            ing beings. First, there is the world
the opening chapters of Genesis in          creation of every creature separately,       of plants - living beings indeed, but
                                            offers instead the.philosophy that all       not living souls, and bound to the
                                            the separate beings, living and oth-         earth in which they grow. Then,
                                           erwise, developed from one another            there is the animal-realm, with .the
The late Homer Hoeksema  wds profes-        and developed ultimately from a              fish and fowl created on the fifth
sor of Dogmatfcs  akd:Old  Testament fn     single common source. It leaves the 4 day, and. the land-animals created
the Protestant Reformed Seminary.          ; question open as to the,.origin  of that    on the sixth day. Finally, there is'

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     man, created in the image of God,                life also. But the plant is not free: it     man. Man is made .a living soul by
     the crown of the earthly creation.               does not move about, but is rooted           his being formed from the dust .of
         But, on the other hand, notice at            in the earth. Nor does the plant have        the ground and by God's breathing
     the same time that the Bible in no               any kind of consciousness: it can-           into his nostrils the breath of life.
     untiertain   languqge attributes all not know itself at all, and it cannot                    `Man is distinct in that he is created
     these creatures in their ascending               determine itself in relation to its en-      in the image and after the likeness
     scale to separate creation by the                vironment, nor can it know the               of God. This is not true of the ani-
     Lord otir God, and tells us that the             wdrld in which it grows. `But the            mal. In a certain sense, perhaps, it
     Almighty did not create things                            animal has a certain soul-life.     may be said that the animals were
     to mix and to evolve into                                    According to Scripture, the      created after man's image. But, at
     one another, but created.                                     soul of the animal is in        any rate, the animal is no rational,
     every creature after his            The evoluticinist          its blood. The animal          moral being, and there is no spiri-
     kind, so that while there .              is deceived -          has such life that it not     tual aspect to the animal according
     is perfect order and                     not, however,          only is moved, but it         to which it cati live in personal com-
     system in God's works,              by God's work,              moves. It determines          munication with God. The animal
     there is clear separation          nor by a mistaken            its own movements, has        cannot know God, cannot speak to
     throughout. The  evo-            understanding,                 and uses the power of         God, cannot love God or hate God,
     lutionist is deceived  -            but by his own-            self-locomotion. In a          -cannot   keeij or break God's com-
     not, however, by God's                     unbeliefi           certain sense, the animal      mandments. But the animal has a
     work, nor by a- mistaken                                     has understanding. The           certain communion, or affinity, with
     understanding, but by his own                             Bible reminds us of this in         man. We can hardly imagine how
     unbelief.                                        more than one way. Thus, for ex-             that relation must have been prior
         We may note, first of a& the kind            ample, it speaks of the serpent iri          to the entrance of sin and death and
     of creature which God formed on                  Genesis 3 as being wiser than' any           the curse into the world. But even
     the fifth day and partly on the sixth            beast of, the .earth which the Lord          now we can discern something of it,
     day. This represents a further ad;               made. It refers us to the' wisdom            that the nearer the animal stands to
     Vance in the work of creation. The               and foresight of the ant. It presup-         man in the scale of the creatures the
     text speaks in Genesis 1 of the mov-             poSes  a  certgin area of feeling, or        more affinity there is between man
     ing creature that hath life, of fowl             emotion, in a beast when it reminds          and the animal.
     that may fly in the open firmament               us, "A righteous man regardeth the               After this  general  characteriza-
     of heaven (v. 20); again, of every liv-          life of his beast: but the tender mer-       tion of the nature and place of the
     ing creature after his kind, ref&ring            cies of the wicked are cruel." Thus,         animal in the whole of creation, we
     to the land-animals (v. 24); and yet             there are in the -animals as living          may turn to some of the details of
     again, in verse 28, of every living              souls those realities corresponding          Scripture's description.
     creature that moveth upon the earth;             to what in man are understanding,                1. We may note that when the
     and, once more (v. 30), of the crea-             will, desire; memory, imagination,           Word of God describes the animals,
     ture wherein there is life. We may               love, truth and faithfuhiess, cunning,       it does not view them through the
     notice, too, that-God  speaks a word             foresight, etc.  We,are, perhaps, ac-        eyes of the zodlogist and describe
     to these creatures. According to                 customed to thinking of these reali-         them iri scientific fashion according
     verse 22, God blessed tliem, saying,             ties under that catch-all term  instinct,    to their structure. Then, of course,
     "Be fruitful, and multiply," etc. This           but, surelj, a term like this does ndt       we would expect a distinction into
     implies that they multiplied by an               take into account the scriptural de-         vertebrates and invertebrates and
     act.of their own will.                           scription of the animal and his soul-        :into ail the various like classifica-
         When we take the various scrip-              life. Moreover, the animal: has the          tions. Scripture also here does not
     tural data into consideration, there-            senses of seeing, hearing, `smelling,        purport to be a. science textbook.
     fore, we learn that the `animal is a             tasting, feeling. Also here, of course,      Rather the Bible describtis the ani-
     living creature - literally, in this             there is differentiation and `variety.       mals in their creation according to
     passage of Genesis, a "living soul"              Generally speaking, the .higher the          the place that they occupy and ac-
     - that moves. It is a creature that              living soul is in.the scale of the crea-.    cording to the sphere in which they
     is free from the earth, determining              tures, the greater are its senses.           move. From this point of view there
     its own movements from within,                   Some anihals' seem, to us at least,          are the fish in the water, and the
     whether in the water, in the air; or             to have no senses perceptibly.  In           fowl of the air, and the beasts of the
     on the land - swimming, flying,                  `others, there may be only one that is       earth.
     hopping,  running, creeping.                     markedly present. Others possess               `- 2.  .We may note that  thereA%
         On the one hand, therefore, the              all these senses in some degree.             gradation.  There are, first of all,
     animal-kingdom is distinct from the                     On the other hand, however, the       those liting cre'titures  that were cre-
     world of plant-life. The plant has               animals are living souls distinct from       ated on the fifth .day. `But tiere are
I    182lStandard  Bearer /January 15,1995


also the living creatures of the earth     the text .mentions the creatures of       the sin of the world. Or we may
- the beasts of the earth, the cattle,     the waters, speaking both of the          think of the many symbolical refer-
and the creeping things - created          great sea monsters and of all the         ences to the animals in Scripture.
on the sixth day, the same day on          myria.d of living creatures that          The serpent, the lion, the lamb, the
which man was created. There is            swarm the seas. Among the winged          eagle, the he-goat, the unicorn, the
obvious here the general order in          fowl it makes no special mention of       horse - all these, and others, have
these two days of those creatures          various kinds, although here again        a place symbolically in the speech
that are lowest, that is, furthest from    we know that there is a vast variety.     of God's revelation concerning the
our life, and those creatures that are     Among the land-animals there is           heavenly and spiritual things of the
highest in the scale, that is, nearest     mention made of the cattle, that live     kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
to man's life. Furthest removed            nearer to man, of the creeping things,    They were created with a view to
from our life are the creatures of the'    and of the beasts of the earth, ap-       that purpose.
`water. Nearer come the winged             parently the wild beasts that have            But there is more.
creatures, the fowl. Nearest, and          their habitat away from man today.            We must remember in  connec-
thus created also on the sixth day,            Thus we may-behold again the          tion with all God's work of creation
are the land-animals.                      unity, the organic unity and har-         that there is wisdom and purpose in
    In- this connection, the attempt       mony of Gods work of creation.            each of Gods works with a view to
is sometimes made to explain the           Creation -rises in an ever-ascending      the whole. Everything must be
fact that the fish and the fowl were       scale of `creatures toward man, the       good, that is, able to serve the pur-
created both on the fifth day from a       crowning work of God in the earth.        pose for which it is made. All the
certain structural likeness. A com-        In this unity there is an almost end-     various and manifold creatures to-
parison is made as to the general          less variety of living beings formed      gether must serve the one purpose
shape of their bodies, as to the fact      by our God - so. many individual          of functioning as a house for man to
that they both have heads that break       works of God, all designed by Him,        dwell in as God's covenant friend.
the way through the element in             created by Him, and telling His           He, man, is the crowning work of
which they move (water and air), to        praises. Indeed, there is a speech of     God in `the earthly creation - cre-
the likeness of scales and feathers;       God here which by faith in our Lord       ated to be king, that is, to have do-
of fins and wings, and so forth. Yet,      Jesus Christ we may still discern,        minion over all the works of Gods
it would appear that, though a study       even though we do not know and            hands, but as the friend-servant of
of these things certainly serves to re-    see that creation in its former, per-     the Most High, created after His im-
mind us of the wisdom of the Cre-          fect estate.                              age, in order to serve and glorify
ator in adapting each creature to its          In the first place, we must listen    Him in the midst of all the works of
particular environment, nevertheless       to its speech concerning the wisdom       God's hands over which he has do-
the text does not place any stress         and the knowledge of our God, as          minion.' It ,is to'this end that God
upon the structure of these creatures      well as the speech concerning His         creates all things. For that reason,
and on their similarities and dissimi-     wonderful provision for the crea-         and with that purpose in view, God
larities as being connected with the       tures of His `hand. All the myriad        creates the structure of that house
fact that they are created on the same     creatures with all their marvelous        in which man is to dwell in covenant
day.                                       adaptation to their exact place and       communion with his Maker. But the
    3. We may note that there  is:         purpose in the whole of God's works       Lord our God also furnishes that
still greater gradation among these        and with all their variety of beauty      house, so to speak, and beautifies it.
living creatures within the three          tell the praises of the Lord our Cre-     He does not purpose that His cov-
great classes distinguished in the         ator.                                     enant-friend shall live in a bare shell,
text. In each class there are the lower        But, more than this, in the sec-      but in a beautiful and well-furnished
and higher, so that the classes al-        ond place, also with respect to the       home, surrounded by all the tokens
most gradually shade. into one an-         animal-world we must bear in mind         of Gods lovingkindness and in the
other. At the lowest point it is diffi-    that the earthly was made with a          midst of all the works of Gods
cult even to distinguish some of the       view to the heavenly, the'natural         hands which testify of His goodness,
living creatures from plants, or even      with a view to the spiritual. In this     His power, His wisdom and knowl-
from the non-living creature, `while       connection, we may briefly remind         edge, in order that he, man, may be-
at the highest point there are the liv-    ourselves, for one thing, of the place    hold all Gods wonderful works,
ing creatures - even today in the          that some of the animals were des-        may read the testimony of Gods
creation as it is under the curse -        tined to occupy in the Old Testa-         goodness and greatness all around
which,we take under our roof and           ment scheme of the types and shad-        him in the house in which he dwells,
in.. which is apparent a highdegree        ows.. We think; for'example, of the       and may employ all God's wonder-
of intelligence. As far as the differ-     lamb that must serve as the type of       ful gifts in-His service. In a word,
ent kinds of animals are concerned,        the Lamb of God that taketh.away          all in that creation must serve man,

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 in order that man may serve his Cre-       realm of the animals on the fifth and        ity, and resounding with the praises
 ator in love, and may, in and with         sixth days of creation-week. God             of the divine Builder and Artificer.
 all that God gives him, testify, in ef-    was furnishing a home, a beautiful           To this end the  almighty Creator
 fect, "0, my God! How wonderful            and serviceable dwelling place for           forms a manifold realm of living
 Thou art! Thy fellowship is my de-         man, His king-priest, His friend-ser-        souls, peopling the waters of the sea,
 light! And it is sheer joy to be sur-      vant. The Lord our God is not stint-         flying under the firmament of the
 rounded by the works of Thy hands          ing in His work. He furnishes a              heavens, and dwelling on the earth
 and to serve Thee and obey Thy             luxurious dwelling place, and lav-           below, with man, and representing
 w i l l . "                                ishes His bounty upon it. It is to be        an almost endlessly rich variety.
      It is in this light that we must      a home teeming with life and activ-                           . . . to be continued 0
 also view the creation of the whole





      The Cleansing of the Temple
                                                    John 2:12-25

      The cleansing of the temple           He had the perfect authority to make         with offerings of righteousness.
 marks the beginning of Jesus' public       the shadow as nearly a representa-                2. The death and resurrection
 ministry. The miracle at Cana and          tion of the reality as possible, and to      of Christ stand at the heart of the
 the trip to Capernaum (v. 12) were         change it from a den of robbers into         entire gospel. Jesus is conscious of
 of a more private nature, whereas          His Father's house indeed.                   it when He starts His work. He
 the cleansing of the temple is per-            The richness of this event is seen       makes very plain to the disciples that
 formed before many and was some-           in that it is the fuhillment  of at least    He must suffer, be buried for three
 thing the Jews were not to forget          two Old Testament prophecies.                days, and rise again according to the
 (see Mark 1457-59; 1529). By this          Malachi  3:1-4:   ,... and the Lord          Scriptures (see Luke 24:45-47).
 act Christ enters fully into the work      whom ye seek, shall suddenly come                 3. Christ had perfect knowl-
 that the Father has given Him to do.       into his temple . . . and he shall pu-       edge of man. As the Son of God He
     More importantly, the work of          rify the sons of Levi, that they may         had no need that anyone inform Him
 cleansing the temple reveals the heart     offer unto the Lord an offering in           of the true intentions and directions
 of the work of Christ. The temple in       righteous.,, Psalm  699:  "For the           of men's hearts. He is not fooled by
 Jerusalem was a shadow of the true         zeal of thine house hath eaten me            an emotional and temporary appear-
 temple of God which Christ was to          up."                                         ance of. belief, but is able to discern
 build through His death and resur-             In addition to this central les-         .between  counterfeit and genuine
 rection. That true temple is the           son, this passage also teaches us that:      faith.
 church, which comprises all those              1. God requires of us pure
 elected of the Father and sanctified       worship. Can we at times behave              Outline.
 by the Son. By means of His body           as badly as the Jews? Yes, when we                1. The notice that Jesus spends
 being crucified and raised again He        secretly bring into the house of God         a brief period of time in Capemaum
 would establish the eternal temple         in our thoughts our business, mon-           (v. 12). See also Matthew 413-15.
 (house) of God, in which God would         ies, houses, and a whole stream of               2. His co-g to Jerusalem to
 take up His dwelling (see Eph. 3:19-       worldly affairs. It is not enough to         keep the Passover and cleansing of
 22; I Cor.  3:17). Because He had          bring our bodies to church, and then         the temple from the defilements of
 come to build the true temple of God       to allow our hearts to wander to the         the greedy Jews (w. 13-17).
                                            ends of the earth and our minds to               3. The announcement of His
                                            plan out the details of the week that        suffering, burial, and resurrection by
                                            is ahead. Such is offensive to Christ.       which He builds the temple of God
Rev. Haak is pastor of Bethel Protes-       Zeal for God's house means we will           (w. 18-22).
 tant Reformed Church in Elk Grove, IL-     leave our worldly matters and wor-               4. Jesus knew what was in man
linois.                                     ries outside, and fill Gods worship          (w. 23-25).

184/Sthdard  Bearer/January 15,1595


   Questions on John 2~12-25                                           zeal. Why did He not drive out the               in verse  18? (See Matthew  21.~23.)
        1. From Christ's appearance at                                 doves?                                           What is revealed about the Jews in
   the Passover (John  2:13;  5:l;  6:4;                                   4. In what ways can we make                  their asking for a sign? (See  .I
   11:55), what can be determined about                                God's house a place of merchandise?              Corinthians 1:22.)
   the length and pattern of our Savior's                                  5.  What is the significance of                   9. Did the Lord's own disciples
   ministry? Remember that the Pass-                                   the cleansing of the temple? What                believe in His resurrection? If not,
   over was held once a year (Ex.                                      did the temple represent? (See                   why not?
   13:lO).                                                             Ephesians 219-22;  I Corinthians 3:17;             10. What kind of "believing" is
        2. Describe the situation Christ                               Revelation 21:3.)                                referred to in verse 23? Distinguish
  found in the temple. What was tak-                                       6. `What Old Testament proph-                this from true faith. If true faith is
  ing place? Why? Who was restion-                                     ecy does John see fulfilled in this              not based upon signs and miracles,
  sible? What was the general atti-                                    action of Christ? Others?                        what is the foundation upon which
  tude toward what was taking place?                                       7; How does the death and res-               faith must stand?
        3. Describe the actions of                                     urrection of Christ serve as the build-               11. What does it mean that
   Christ. What virtues lie behind His                                 ing and preservation of the house of             Christ did not commit Himself to
   actions? (Is.  11:2-4). Show that it                                God?                                             them?
  was not uncontrolled rage but holy                                       8. What are the Jews really ob-                   12.  What does verse 25 prove
                                                                       jecting to when they ask for a sign              concerning Christ?  0




               Further on Evangelicals
                          and Catholics Together

        Recently (SB, January 1, 1995) I                               history. According to ECT coopera-              front without condemning each
  wrote a critique of a statement                                      tion is possible even while acknowl-             other, duplicating each other's. ef-
  drafted by some prominent Evan-                                      edging continuing serious doctrinal             forts, or needless striving against one
  gelicals and conservative Roman                                      differences between Evangelicals                 another. J.I. Packer speaks of coop-
  Catholic leaders affhming the need                                   and Roman Catholics. ECT seeks. to               eration on a "grass roots level."2 It
  of promoting cooperation between                                     distance itself from past ecumenical            is hoped at least to change long-
  Evangelicals and Roman Catholics.                                    efforts which sought ecclesiastical             standing attitudes of animosity and
  The name of  .this document is                               and organizational unity by ignor2                      fear between two camps, both of
  Evangelicals and Catholics Together                                  ing and compromising truth. Ac-                 which are true Christians. Only by
  (ECT). The stated purpose of pro-                                    cording to Alister McGrath  in a re-            such united action would Roman
  moting such cooperation is to                                        cent article in Christianity Today:             Catholics and Evangelicals be act-
  present a unified front to the world                                 "Ecumenism is yesterday's idea and              ing in harmony with the great prayer
  by these two campsin Christendom                                     is widely seen as a spent  force."l             of the Lord;that  the church be one
  to face the great challenges of world                                ECT professes to strive for unity, but          as He is one with the Father.
  evangelism and the challenge of op-                           not unity at the expense of truth.                          Since the publication of ECT
  posing the great moral, social, and                                     ECT proposes collaboration be-               there has been a flurry of discussion
  political evils of the modem world.                                  tween Roman Catholics and  Evan-
  The document envisions that we face                            `gelicals at the "street level." `ECT                 l Christianity Today,  published by
  a particularly greatichallenge,  as we                               does not look so much for formal                Christiaqity  Tod.zty, Inc., 465 Gundersen
  begin the thirdmillennium..of  world                                 ecclesiastical cooperation between              Drive, Car@ Stream, IL 6018y.  Decem-
                     I        ->`;:  .`  ,,  +  :  ,?
                7  P  L  .,  ..d.                                      denominations on .,an -official level           ber .12, 1984. "I$ We Still ~j$@e
         .~       a__'  ( .  .:.  I  I;$-l,.i.   .,,,._  ?I    ,rbut more /for cooperation, in. an, un- ~, Ref?~~ti.o~~~jbj;:.A~st5jFMFGrath;  p&e
                                                                                                                      i'g % .._          ^ ,.,_< , ".- ::f, .J c . " .A,
  Rev.:`d~n~H~~t~g'~s,~~stor~~~~~~e:Pit-                       I official 
                                                                ,,:            -way by doing ev,a.ng&sm  to- ~A  ;I "I'> ,,y~~~,:~;' <Q  .z";1  y'2  5  +:?.::  1.
est& : ~&~~g.j r~&.c~l-&&jla~as,                               2 get&r~~+an.d  : o.ppo.sing,.:, u-ngodly 2 cpt,. ibib-.~~~~~~s~~~~,~t~~,~~~~..I~~~~~r,
`y  Cal@.ga~   2cqt-j  xl>  ?$fi"; .:i'.~,-:~-&..i             p ~~ri~y~-~~~soghy~~~~~h  ,aunited +$ige .$&. - ;2-3  -to  L+yJ  s  \Fr'  +z&~  3  -;
                                                                                                                                                            ."b  - -        -r
                                                                                                                           a~~~n~~~ss;d~~/~a~~a~6~~~~~


about possible cooperation between          Roman Catholics, together with              united'social and political action of
Evangelicals and Roman Catholics.           Evangelicals, profess Jesus as Lord         conservative Christians.
Some are hailing ECT as a landmark          and ascribe to the twelve articles of                Packer goes on in his article to
for biblically imperative cooperation.      the Apostles' Creed. Roman Catho-           point to the mission ventures that
Time will tell what impact this docu-       lics join true Protestants in believing     are already engaged in combined ac-
ment will make on efforts to forge          in justification by grace through           tions of Roman Catholics and Prot-
cooperation between the two major           faith, and in a life of personal con-       estants, naming as examples `Billy
camps of Christendom divided by             version to Jesus and obedience to           Graham crusades and the efforts of
the Reformation. In the midst of the        the divinely-inspired Scriptures.           the Charismatics. Especially in the
discussion there is little said about       This, Packer states emphatically, is        Charismatic get-togethers distinction
what is meant by the term                   an obvious and fundamental fact             between Protestants and Catholics
"Evangelicals." Another article in          that makes cooperation with Roman           vanish in a "Christ-centered unity
Christianity Today defines an Evan-         Catholics an imperative for all Evan-       of experience." These ought to be
gelical as "anyone who describes            gelicals. Packer makes his position         models for continued effort of part-
themselves as such." 3                      even more serious when he speaks            nership between Evangelicals and
    We want to consider in this ar-         of collaboration between "good              Catholics.
ticle three of the more significant and     Evangelicals" and "good Roman                        Packer does little to convince us
interesting recent responses to ECT.        Catholics." The designation "good"          of the worthiness of his endorsement
Dr. J.I. Packer defends his endorse-        he defines as meaning those who fol-        of ECT. In spite of his insistence to
ment of ECT in an article in Christi-       low their respective church's stated        the contrary he minimizes the seri-
anity Today entitled: "Why I Signed         ideal of spiritual life. He recognizes      ousness of doctrinal differences be-
It." Packer has received a lot of criti-    Roman Catholics together with good          tween true Evangelicals and Roman
cism for signing ECT. J.I. Packer is        Protestants as "Bible believing,            Catholics. These differences strike
recognized as one of the more "con-         Christ honoring, and Spirit empow-          at the very heart of the gospel. The
servative" and "-Reformed" leaders          ered Christisns" who ought to work          Reformers rightly judged the Roman
of Evangelicalism. His books are            together in .resisting liberalism and       Church and its doctrines as false and
read by many Christians professing          the moral evils of our day.                 apostate. This was the reason why
the Reformed faith and he is often              Packer points out that in               they labored so hard-and were ready
asked to speak at conferences which         present-day Western Christendom             to give their very lives for the resto-
promote Reformed teaching. Some             there is a greater divide between lib-      ration of the true gospel to the
of the organizers of these confer-          eral and conservative Protestants           church and for the reformation of
ences have purposely dropped                than there is between conservative          the church. Rome has not over five
Packer from their speaker's rostrum         Evangelicals and Roman                                 hundred years changed its
because he added his name to ECT.           Catholics. In a certain                                   corruption of the gospel.
    Packer begins his article by con-       sense this may be true.                                      Neither ECT nor Packer
demning the isolationism, misrepre-         According to Packer              True Protestants             makes any mention of
sentation, misunderstanding, suspi-         this makes  collabora-              differ with               this. The Roman Catho-
cion, and fear that he has long been        tion of the sort  pro-           Roman Catholics              lit Church preaches an-
convinced are responsible for the           posed by ECT even                      in the                 other gospel which is
evil attitude between Roman Catho-          `more urgent. Theologi-           very essentials             not the gospel of the
lics and Protestants.                       cal conservatives from            of  the gospel.            Scriptures. It is not a
    Packer insists that he has not          both       camps           of                              gospel that honors and
gone soft on his serious disagree-          Christendom must unite to                               glorifies God and His Son
ments with Roman Catholic doc-              combat the moral evils and increas-         Jesus Christ. -True Protestants differ
trines and practices. He lists some         ing ungodliness of Western society.         with Roman Catholics in the very
of the major differences he contin-         North .American  culture is casting         essentials of the. gospel. For true
ues to have with Roman Catholicism          away all Christian values it once           Protes'tants  to cooperate with Roman
to `prove this. Nevertheless Packer         held and is becoming increasingly           Catholics in missions would mean
strongly maintains that Evangelicals        secular and hedonistic. Conserva-           that they would cooperate in the
should consider Roman Catholics to          tive Evangelicals and Roman Catho-          propagation of a gospel which is no
be brothers and sisters in Christ.          lics must join together to rebuild the      gospel and which the `a$stle Paul
The basis for this insistence is that       ruins of Western society and  re-           in  Galtitians'-pronounces  a curse
                                                                                                                   -..,
                                            Christianize the North American mi-         upon. The.powei`of  God unto sal-
                                            lieu. They will succeedinrdoing  this' vation.`is:the'tr& :goS+l -of sover-
                                                                                        e@ ga& -`~~y:lSth~~:~~~~~~,-~~~h
3. Chr@ianity . Today, May 16, 1994:.       by ,Rropagating the basic faithwith:                      -`$`7P  `d'v:i:`i-;"-,   p
"J$&igeli&l, Catho+ Ptirsue,New  Co-        not too'much emphasis on;,rightd&-          is. ~~-~~~8h~~~-~,oe.s-  not tral~ advance
                                                                                                            :~;;;j~;-~F.-~cl~~~   p
opera&?' by R&idy'Frahe,page  53?           tine "iid. tpotigh  &i `stie;&leeb&         tfi&m;a&e"cif  ~ldslon'sT .Lp&&  `r&es


not at all deal with the biblical man-          that the church's calling to face           affirming the urgency of united ac-
date that the church and her mem-               moral and social evils in our mod-          tion by Evangelicals and Roman
bers have to separate themselves                em world is more important than             Catholics, suggesting that such
form those who do not receive the               maintaining the true doctrines of the       united action is the only hope for
truth. This mandate is repeatedly               Word of God, confessing these doc-          the survival of Christianity in the
given in the Scriptures.                        trines, and living by them. The             next millennium. He quotes from a
    Collaboration with Roman                    church's great calling is to preach         certain Ivon Clausewitz what he calls
Catholics in facing social issues and           the gospel faithfully according to the          the classic principle: Yconcentrate
moral evils in our society is wrong             great commission of the                                      your forces." Union must
as well. The major doctrinal differ-            Lord, not to press for so-                                        be on the basis of what
ences between true Protestants and              cial and political action.       True Protestants                   C.S. Lewis called
Roman Catholics will inevitably                 The true gospel is the         must continue tocall                   "mere Christianity."
mean that they have very different              power of the kingdom           any  of  God`s people                   Any division among
answers to the moral problems of                of Christ. It is not the          still left in the                    d e n o m i n a t i o n s
our day, even when they might at                calling of the church to      Roman Catholic Church                   should never be dis-
first glance seem to be si.milar. Fur-          rebuild or  "re-chris-          to come out of her.                cussed in public. By
thermore, it is only the power of the           tianize" American soci-                                           the strength of united
true gospel of salvation that will              ety. According to biblical                                   action the cause of missions
bring about genuine change in the               prophecy, society wiIl never be re-             and confronting the non-Chris-
heart of man, and only then will man            Christianized. It is the calling of the     tian world must be advanced. This,
change his behavior. Social action              church to preach the gospel of the          he states, is the driving motivation
alone, whether by few or by the sup-            kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ            of ECT. One wonders if Colson has
posed strength of numbers through               that will finally be realized after the     forgotten the mighty biblical prin-
unified action of Evangelicals and              destruction of the kingdoms of this         ciple: "Not by might, nor by power,
Roman Catholics, will not rebuild               world.                                      but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of
our society according to the prin-                  True Protestants must continue          hosts" (Zech. 4:6). In fact, much of
ciples of the kingdom of God or "re-            to call any of Gods people still left       the ideology of ECT reflects the for-
Christianize the North American mi-             in the Roman Catholic Church to             getting of this principle and its basic
lieu."                                          come out of her. This they must do          truth of the sovereignty of God.
    We maintain that the greatest               not merely for denominational or in-             Of particular interest to our
genuine impact on the life of men               stitutional aggrandizement but for          Protestant Reformed readers is the
will be by the church that preaches             the salvation of their own souls and        extensive use of "common grace" by
the full-orbed truth of the gospel and          the glory, of the name of God and           Colson as the ground for coopera-
by Christians who live genuinely ac-            His truth. True Protestants must call       tion between Roman Catholics and
cording to the teachings of Gods                out of the apostate Roman Church            Evangelicals. Colson quotes from
Word in holiness and good works.                not only those who are lifeless and         Abraham Kuyper and his attempted
Genuine Christian living flows forth            nominal adherents but all those who         justification for alliances between
from belief and confession of the               are truly children of God and are           Catholics and Protestants to bring
sound doctrine of the Word of God.              being deceived by Roman Catholic            about political and social change in
The epistles of the inspired apostle            heresy. We may not in the name of           the Netherlands during his days of
Paul, which almost invariably begin             religious freedom allow each convert        prime minister.
with a lengthy statement of sound               on the mission field to choose the               Colson does the same thing as
doctrine and follow that with prac-             communion he desires to associate           Packer does. He implies that Catho-
tical exhortations to Christian living,         with, because the Roman Catholic            lics can be called "orthodox believ-
clearly demonstrate the relationship            Church is not the true manifestation        ers," who are equally filled with the
between sound doctrine and genu-                of the church of Jesus Christ, and          Spirit of God, and with whom we
ine change in man's life and society.           anyone who joins her communion              can unite in the work of evangelism
The simplistic and undefined "gos-              .will at the very least do great harm       and in opposing secular modernism
pel," promoted by ECT and Packer's              to his-own spiritual well-being and         and theological liberalism.
defense of it, `will never be the power         future.                                          The third interesting statement
for genuine change to morality and                  The second interesting statement        in connection with ECT's publication
godliness that he envisions, not even           recently made about ECT was one             is.an alternative statement drawn up
when this is promoted by the sup-               made by Charles Colson. Charles             by Michael Horton, president of
posed strength. of 3u&$l action of              Colson was actually one of the chief        CURE (Christians United for Refor-
Evangelicals  and.Rpman  Catholics.             architects' of  SECT; The title of.         mation), an organization based in
    ECT `andPacker's.  endorsement              Col,sonl$ article is :lj%y Cathol$s'~       Southern California.-: J.I. Packer is a                 <
of it ,.willlead inevitably$o;the  idea,
                   dl.`bL-,-    -  _  `.  ".    Are .t+q I+$&" $yl?on. +&y by               eo-si@ei:&Iso  %f, t,his~`document,  ap-
                                                       : :           `_                        .`-`~  _/'  "i I-
                                                                                                   January 15,. 19~5/+ta~dard Bearer/l a7
                                                                                                       ?...:I      .-..:


 parently in order to temper some of                                  Evangelicals in fulfilling the great             is genuine doctrinal change in the
 the criticism he received about ECT.                                 commission of the church, even                   Roman Church, every `true child of
 This document bears the title:                                       though there may be some common                  God ought to come out from among
 "Resolutions For Roman Catholic                                      cause on moral and social issues. It             her and not be partaker with her of
 and Evangelical  Dialogue."4  It is                                  also warns against making social is-             her evil doctrines and practices.
 composed of seven articles. It at                                    sues the main agenda of the church                      Article 7 is confusing at best. It
 least goes in the right direction by                                 at the expense of fulfilling the great           states that every Christian must be
 suggesting that there must be dia-                                   commission of preaching the gospel.              joined with a church  ,where  the
 logue, doctrinal agreement between                                   This statement is also rather mild.              Word is rightly preached and taught
 Evangelicals and Roman Catholics,                                    Further, a comparison between                    and where the sacraments are rightly
 before there can be much new coop-                                   Packer's statement in the above-men-             administered. Then it ends with the
 eration. It affirms (though I believe                                tioned article and his supposed en-              confusing statement that "Roman
 not nearly strongly enough) that ma-                                 dorsement of this statement would,               Catholic no less than Protestant,
 jor differences exist between,Roman                                  at best, reveal some contradictions.             needs regular exposure' to accurate,
 Catholics and Evangelicals on the es-                                     Article 5 of the document repu-             Christ-centered preaching and expo-
 sential doctrines of the gospel. It                                  diates a number. of the erroneous                sition of the Bible." But in what Ro-
 lists as an example of an area of radi-                              doctrines of the Roman Church and                man Catholic church is ,this to be
 cal disagreement the doctrine of jus-                                denies that there can be any visible             f o u n d ?
 tification, which is the article upon                                unity of the church where any es-                  The CURE organization respon:
 which the church stands or falls. It                                 sential elements of the gospel are               sible for the above-mentioned state-
 recalls the fact that the Council of                                 lacking.                                         ment also has plans for a public Prot-
 Trent anathematizes the Protestant                                        Article 6 states that individual            estant and Roman Catholic debate
 doctrine of justification. This anath-                               Roman Catholics who in spite of re-              on the theme: What Still Divides
 ema has never been withdrawn by                                      maining in the Roman Catholic                    Us?" This debate is  to'be  held in
 the Roman Catholic Church.                                           Church do not assent to the church's             the large Congregational Church in
        The third statement of this docu-                             teachings, and have an ~evangelical              Pasadena. It is evident therefore that
 ment openly teaches the unbiblical                                   understanding of justification, of the           the polemic raised by ECT will con-
 and un-Reformed idea of the offer                                    sole mediatorial work of Christ, and             t i n u e .                                0
 of the gospel, while at the same time                                of faith and the new birth are broth-
 condemning Rome's doctrine of                                        ers and sisters in Christ. It may be
 good works.                                                          true that there are still children of            4 Publisheci  by fZhristi*an  Renewal, The
                                                                                                                       Abraham Kuyper Christian Citizen
        The fourth statement cautions                                 God in the Roman Church. It ought                Foundation, Jordan Station, Ontario,
 against any idea of ecclesiastical co-                               to be emphasized that unless there               Canada. November 7,1994 issue, page
 operation between Catholics and                                                                                       12.





                                              Instructions to the
                                                 Major Assemblies

                                                                           Instructions concerning matters to          Background                 :      2.`.      ?I--         ;
                                                                      be considered in major assemblies shall           .A@+  $+,&  &,&$  h  a  day
                                                                      not be written until ,the decisions of pre-      when there;  `.wi$e:-no `-typewriters,
                                                                      vious synods touching these matters have         computers, `fax machines, copy ma-
                              .`/'  "- ,`I                     .-,    been read, :in.&&% that.what:was .onee           ch$es,Vlor, reliable m8 %&&es. In
                                                                                                                                      u' 2 i I( f IS .ciy, `.`? ,7'., .,-F :
l$ev.  camme~~~~~~~p~s~~r,  of Spuik&t                                xlecided~ be nbt againqxopbsed, uriZe+ra         tl?qp-hp ~~ipy@~  .q@+>#$ ttw
,Prot<stqt  :  Q$oyq&.   .,Churc& &
                                             -.Y.`g_ ,                -revision,.bedeem&d  ~&&siq~~::1~.~~  YC! c~a    nl~ls~~sern~~es~w~~~~~~~?~t~~,pel-
                                                                                                                              .jl  4  2-l  dJ'  I.`J'J  b,
 Grandville, Michigan                                                               Church Order,  Article 46.         egates  in advance of the meetings.
ki.' :bp; j% b-,1 ;,i>y, .-,>- ..;. `it j ,~zg ,"{' `:;;;G,
 18Wtandard  Bearer/January 15,1995


     Instead, each consistory sent with its                                   practice, or procedure.                              bly before it decides on a given pro-
     delegates "Instructions" with regard                                     - 2. A matter may be brought to                      posal. But Article 46 requires that
     to what it wanted included on the                                        the major assembly by way of ap-                     previous decisions are to be con-
     agenda of the assembly.                                                  peal, according to Church Order, Ar-                 sulted before anyone even makes a
          Besides this, past. decisions of                                    ticle 31. This is a grievance against
                                                                              a past decision of the major assem-                  proposal to a major assembly: "In-
     the assemblies were not readily                                          bly.                                                 structions concerning matters to be
     available. The Acts of the major as-                                           3. A consistory m,ay bring a                   considered in major assemblies shall
     semblies  were.not  usually published                                    matter before a classis  as a result.                not be written until the decisions of
     and generally distributed. The re-                                       of its response to the questions of                  previous synods touching these mat-
     sult was that. unwittingly matters                                       Article 41 that are asked of each                    ters have been read . . . . n A major as-
     were often brought to the major as-                                      con&tory  at classis.                                sembly can refuse consideration of
     semblies that had already been de-                                             4. Matters may come up for                     a proposal simply on the grounds
     cided upon, so that `duplicate and                                       consideration through motions for-                   that there is no demonstration that
     even contradictory decisions were                                        mulated and presented on the floor
                                                                              of the assembly and suggested by                     previous decisions have been con-
     o f t e n   t a k e n .                                                the need of the hour and arising                       sulted.
          At one point it was decided that                                    out of discussions in the gathering.                     The chief responsibility for ob-
     the'decisions of previous synods had                                           5. But it is also the case that                serving the rule of Article 46 rests
     to be read at each classical gather-                                     matters may be brought before the                    with the individual or body origi-
     ing. But in short order this became                                      major assemblies by way of "in-                      nating the proposal. They must do
     impractical as the number and bulk                                       str&ons." Included on the "Cre-                      their homework They must con-
     of synodical decisions increased;                                        dentials" in use in our churches is                  sult previous decisions and take
          Article 46 addresses this situa-                                    a space for "Instructions."                          those decisions into account in their
     tion. .No matter is to be proposed                                                                                            proposal. Consulting past decisions
     to the assemblies until previous de-                                        When matters are, brought by                      is not the responsibility of the major
     cisions have been consulted.                                           way of the "Instructions," the rule                    assembly, which very likely does not
                                                                            of Article 46 applies: "Instructions                   have the time or. the immediately
     "Instructions" to major assemblies                                     concerning matters to be considered                    available resources for doing this.
          Article 46 speaks of instructions:                                in major assemblies shall not be writ-                     It is not so difficult today to
     "Instructions  concerning matters to                                   ten until the decisions of previous                    carry out this rule of Article 46. Each
     be considered in major assem-                                          synods touching these matters have                     consistory keeps on file the decisions
     blies...." Article 33 mentioned these                                  been read...." Strictly speaking, this                 of the meetings of the  classis to
     instructions: "Those who are del-                                      rule applies to "Instructions." By                     which it belongs. These minutes can
     egated to the assemblies shall bring                                   clear implication, however, it extends                 also be secured upon request from
     with them their credentials and in-                                    to all who in any way bring matters                    the stated clerks. .The more recent
     structions,  signed by those sending                                   to the major assemblies. Whenever                      Acts of Synod are readily available.
     them, and they shall have a vote in                                    a matter is brought for consideration                  A sufficient number of the older Acts
     all matters, except such as particu-                                   by the major assemblies, those bring-                  are in circulation that they can be
     larly concern their persons or                                         ing it before the assembly must see                    borrowed from those who have
     churches." These instructions are the                                  to it that past decisions are con-                     them.
     proposals brought by the delegates                                     sulted.                                                     Access to the decisions of past
     from the minor assembly (consistory                                            Very few matters of conse-                     synods of our Protestant Reformed
     or classis) for the consideration of                                   quence come before the assemblies                      Churches will be greatly improved
     the major assembly  (classis or                                        any longer by way of the "Instruc-                     in the near future with the publica-
     synod). Included in the instructions                                   tions." The stated clerks of our ma-                   tion of an index. The work on this
     may be information, suggestions,                                       jor assemblies compile, print, and                     project is nearly completed. This
     overtures, or requests from the mi-                                    distribute to all delegates an agenda                  should prove to be a very valuable
     nor assembly. Such matters were to                                     well ahead of time. For the most                       tool. Back in 1620 already this was
     be written out and included with the                                   part, only matters included in the                     considered a good idea. In that year
     credentials. By means of these in-                                     agenda are considered by the assem-                    the Synod of Alkmaar  decided that
     structions, therefore, matters were                                    bly.                                                   each classis should obtain all past
     brought t,.q.$~. pjrr,aTTembly.                                                                                               synodical decisions and appoint
          There are v&io,us  ways.in which                                  Consulting-previous decisions                          someone to make an index of these
     matters may be .brought before the                                             Article 46 requires that previous              decisions.
     major assemblie$~,  c.. ." :" ' '  ..                                  decisions be consulted before a  mat-
          .p  An  ~~~~~r~~~~~~e~r~~~ht~                                     ter is :proposed. Article:46 does not
     `- t; :g&g~jg; `&Y&i$3 p& ove+i                                                                                               Revision  9-f previous decisions
                                                                            irequire  that previous decisions' are
                          .                                                                                                         -,-.i .Thap.ljrevious",de;=isions  are to
       ,.&&j.~$&~:~~  change
                               y.%"~,.         ~of,
                                      ,7c.j,l.iu-pe   .I.,.polly;.
                                                        +,'            A
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made to the maior assemblies does
                           ,                            of a past decision. A revision must           sidering and changing their deci-
not rule out the possibility of revi-                   not be proposed because of merely             sions, the confidence of the mem-
sion. Article 46 provides for revi-                     personal preference, serious misgiv-          bers in the assemblies is quickly un-
s i o n :   II... unless a revision be                  ings, or possible repercussions.              dermined. Continual reconsidera-
deemed necessary."                                      These are not good grounds for re-            tion and change reveals indecisive-
      Our broader assemblies are not                    vision, and are purely a matter of            ness and uncertainty of the issues
infallible. It is very well possible, it                subjective. judgment. Personal dis-           and principles involved. Stability in
has haphened  in the past, that the                     agreement with a decision is not a            church life is threatened.
broader assemblies have taken                           ground for revision. Only in case                 Article 46 fosters historical con-
wrong decisions. These decisions                        new grounds are adduced is it per-            sciousness in the church. It presup-
must not be allowed to stand, but                       mitted that a matter once decided             poses that what the church decided
they must be changed or rescinded                       upon may again be considered.                 upon in the past, it usually decided
as soon as possible. But if revision                                                                  for good reason. We must not there-
is necessary, this must' be demon-                      Reasons for the rule of Article 46            fore ignore the work of the church
strated, and past decisions must not                           There are a number of good rea-        of the past. There ought to be a
be ignored.                                             sons for the rule of Article 46.              good understanding of the issues
      The revision that Article 46 has                         For one thing, past decisions of       faced by the church in history and
in  view is not revision of a decision                  the broader assemblies are settled            the decisions that were taken.
during the course of the meeting at                     and binding, according to Church                  Article 46 also heightens aware-
which the decision was taken. Synod                     Order, Article 31. This means not             ness of the decisions taken in the
has adopted rules for altering a de-                    only that decisions must be abided            broader assemblies. Every church
cision during the course of the same                    by and neither willfully set aside nor        member, particularly officebearers,
meeting of synod. This is spelled                       inadvertently ignored, but also that          ought to know what matters were
out in the "Rules of Order" of Synod,                   revision of them is not to be pro-            treated at the broader assemblies
VI, E. There are three ways in which                    posed without good grounds.                   and what decisions were taken. The
this can be done: 1) By a motion to                            Certainly the rule of Article 46       Acts of Synod ought to be read each
reconsider; 2) By a motion to re-                       is in place to guard the assemblies           year by every church member. And
scind; 3) By a motion to renew a                        from repetition, spending time and            every member ought to show an in-
motion once defeated. Consistories                      energy on issues that have already            terest in the work of the assemblies.
and classes usually follow this same                    been dealt with. Even more impor-             Then there is little danger that there
procedure.                                              tantly, the article safeguards the as-        will be ignorance of previous deci-
      But the revision referred to in                   semblies from making contradictory            sions. And then, too, the decisions
Article 46 is revision of a decision of                 decisions. ,                                  of the assemblies will not only be
a past synod.                                                  Article 46 also serves to promote      transcribed in the minute books, but
      A revision must .be deemed                        the confidence of the members of the          will become a part of the life of the
"necessary," that is, good grounds                      church in the broader assemblies. If          church.  IJ
must be presented for the revision                      the assemblies are constantly recon-




                                                                    COMMiJNION

Communing with God in the morning                                                     Communing with God in the evening
      When the day is beginning to dawn;                                                When the time has come to rest;
Seeking His help and His guidance                                                     Trusting in His loving kindness -
      Enabling me to go on.                                                              Knowing He sends what is best. :
Communing with God in the noontime                                                                                   i.
                                                                                      Communing with God at midnight :
      In the toil and heat of the day;                                                  When the world around me is still;
Claiming the words of His promise,                                                    Praying that He will protect-me --
      "LO, I am with YOU alway."                             -  .,  <.  `_  '  ,.  :  &oeg  He  always-tei  q).,-'  :  d
                                                      ,`:.I#.'  ,'  /`/  `:                                                1:`  `L$
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19OIStandard  B~arer~Jhwaty  15,1995


                                                    Congregational Activities                  with the issuing of building permits.
                                                        In our November 1 issue of the             Also at their annual congrega-
Minister Activities                                 "News" we mentioned that the               tional meeting, the congregation of
             Rev. Michael DeVries,  presently       Consistory of the Byron Center, MI         our Hudsonville, MI PRC gave their
serving our churches as pastor of the               PRC had appointed some church              approval to go ahead with plans to
Edgerton, MN PRC, has accepted the                  members to help set up a church li-        enlarge. and soundproof the study
call extended to him to serve as the                brary. Well, this committee is ask-        in their parsonage. This move was
next pastor of the First PRC of                     ing for your help. They desire to          necessary because,. when the parson-
Edmonton, AB, Canada. However,                      start a library to help with the spiri-    age was built, it was anticipated that
at this time (the week before Christ-               tual upbuilding of their members, as       the pastor would use the study in
mas) it is believed that the DeVries                well as of visitors. But, of course, in    the church, but over time this study
family will not be able to move until               order to accomplish this they need         has become the church office and is
at least February because of immi-                  books. And that's where you come           no longer available for study use.
gration procedures.                                 in. They are looking first for book
             Rev. C. Terpstra, pastor of the        donations, and second for help from
South Holland, IL PRC, has declined                 someone who knows how to cata-             School Activities
the call he had been'considering to                 log books. Books are accepted, sub-            Each year in December, Heritage
serve. as pastor of the Lynden, WA                  ject to library-committee approval.        Christian School in Hudsonville, MI
PRC.                                                If you are interested in helping,          takes collections for worthy causes.
             Our vacant congregation in             please contact Mr. Walt DeLange  at        This year's Christmas collection was
Byron Center, MI formed a trio from (616) 698-8035, or write him at 3062                       designated for Faith Christian School
our churches' .pastors, from which                  Paris Park Dr. S.E., Grand Rapids,         (our new ,school in Randolph, WI),
one was to be called on Sunday,                     MI 49508.                                  specifically for its library.
Christmas Day. On that trio were                        The congregation of the                    Faith Christian School's Moth-
the Revs. A. denHartog  R. Dykstra,                 Georgetown PRC, presently meeting          ers' Club sponsored a special Christ-
and C. Terpstra.                                    at Heritage Christian School in            mas Singspiration in mid-December
                                                    Hudsonville, MI, has organized an-         at the Randolph PRC.
                                                    other new Bible Study group, known             The South Holland, IL PR Chris-
Mission Activities                                  as the Junior Adult Bible Study. This      tian School gave their annual All-
             Rev. T. Miersma and his family,        group was set up primarily for any         School ,Christmas program on De-
our churches' home missionary, ar-                  young adult, married or un-married,        cember 20. The students developed
rived in Loveland, CO on Friday,                    who was not currently in another           the theme "I AM Alpha and
December 16. That evening there                     Bible Study at Georgetown.                 Omega," based on Revelation  1:lS.
was a special worship service dur-                      There are certain benefits to be-
ing which Rev. Miersma was in-                      ing a small congregation. We no-
stalled as a missionary. Following                  ticed one such benefit recently in a       Evangelism Activities
that service there was also a wel-                  bulletin from our Trinity PRC in               The congregation of the Hope
come program. Rev. Miersma was                      Houston, TX. Church visitors from          PRC in Redlands, CA has changed
scheduled to preach his inaugural                   Classis West (Rev. Lanting and Rev.        their regular broadcast of the Re-
sermon the following Sunday                         Bekkering) not only met with the           formed Witness Hour to radio sta-
evening at our Loveland PRC. Plans                  Consistory on December 7, but were         tion KPRO 1570 AM. There are two
also called for -the Miersma family                 included in an informal dinner with        broadcasts every week, Saturday at
to move into a rented home in the                   the entire congregation that evening.      7~30 P.M. and Sunday at 230 P.M.
San Luis Valley in southern Colo-                   Something like that would be im-
rado, and by the time you read this,                possible in a larger congregation.
the Lord willing, Rev. Miersma will                     At their annual congregational
be busy getting acquainted with the                 meeting in December, the member-                      y-oofffor c!lioyht
people and work: there.. 1 -                        ship of the Peace PRC in Lynwood,              God . . . does not call His people to
                             ; . .  _ I  `/         IL gave approval to begin ground-
                                                    work on their church building              triumph before He has exercised them
                                                 I L project when that becomes possible.       in the warfare of suffwing                     ;
Mr. Wigger is a rnetn~~~~;~f  t&e Tytes-L~>,;  :I ;Ijr&&itly  they are waiting for the                                  .      -J. Calvin  0
ta~~.$I$ej$~$  Church of Hcdsonvik                  city of Lansing to give the go-ahead
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                                                                                                                                                                         SECONDCLASS
                                                                                                                                                                         Posfage Paid at
                                                                                                                                                                         Gram&i//e,  Michigan
               P. 0. Box 603
              Grandville, MI 49468-0603





             RESOLUTION iJF SYMPATHY                                                                 NOTICE
                  The members of Faith Church's                                          Classis West of the Protestant
           Choral Society express their deep-                                        Reformed Churches will meet at the
           est sympathy to their director and                                        Loveland PR Church in Loveland,
           accompanist, Gerald and Bonnie                                            CO, on Wednesday, March 1,1995                            CHANGE 
                                                                                                                                               CHANGE OF
                                                                                                                                                                                      OF
           Kuiper, and to their fellow members                                       at  8:30  A.M., the Lord willing. All                           ADDRESS:
                                                                                                                                                     ADDRESS:
           Jim and Karen Daling, Judi                                                material for the Agenda is to. be in
           Doezema, and Pam Dykstra in the                                           the hands of the Stated Clerk thirty
           death of th.eir mother and grand-                                         days before  Classis convenes.                       Rev. Thomas Miersma
                                                                                                                                          Rev. Thomas Miersma
           mother,                                                                   Those delegates in need of lodging                     6551 Walker Road
                                                                                                                                            6551 Walker Road
      3                       HELEN BYLSMA.                                          or transportation from the airport                   Alamosa, CO 81101
                                                                                                                                          Alamosa, CO 81101
                  May they be comforted with the                                     should notify the Clerk of Loveland's
           fact that she is now a part of the                                        consistory, using the forms provided
           glorious chorus in heaven. "The                                           for this purpose..                                                 Phone:
                                                                                                                                                        Phone:
           Lord is my strength and my shield;                                                                   Rev. Steven Key,              (719) 589-8687
                                                                                                                                              (719) 589-8687   ''
           my heart trusted in him, and I am                                                                              Stated Clerk
           helped: therefore my heart greatly
           rejoiceth; and with my song will I
           praise him" (Psalm 28:7).                                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                   Peter VanDerSchaaf,  President                                        The Senior Mr. and Mrs. Soci-
                                      Karen Daling, Secretary                        ety of Southwest Protestant Re-
                                                                                     formed Church expresses their sin-
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                cere Christian sympathy to Mr. and
                  On December 21,1994, our par-                                      Mrs. .Don Doezema in the death of
           ents and grandparents,                                                    her mother,
                        MR. and MRS. HENRY                                                 MRS. HELEN BYLSMA.
                               BLANKESPOOR,                                              "Henceforth there is laid up for
           celebrated their 69th wedding anni-                                       me a crown of righteousness, which
           versary. We give thanks to our                                            the Lord, the righteous judge, shall
           heavenly Father for giving us God-                                        give me at that day; and not to me
           fearing parents. We pray that God                                         only, but unto all them also that love                 CHANGE OF TIME
                                                                                                                                            CHANGE OF TIME
           will care for them, and bless them                                        his appearing" (II Timothy 4:8).                        FOR SERVICES:
                                                                                                                                             FOR SERVICES:
           as they enjoy their remaining years                                                  Darrel Huisken, President
           together.                                                                           Marie DeYoung, Secretary                       Beginning with the
                                                                                                                                              Beginning with the
                  "I will sing of the mercies of the
           Lord forever: with my mouth will I                                                                                             January 1, 1995 ser-
                                                                                                                                          January 1, 1995 ser-
           make known thy faithfulness to all                                                TEACHERNEEDED                                vices, Faith Protestant
                                                                                                                                          vices, Faith Protestant
           generations" (Psalm 89:l).                                                    The Free Christian School of                     Reformed Church,
                                                                                                                                          Reformed Church,
           @ John Blankespoor                                                        Edgerton, MN is tn need of a teacher                 Jenison, 
                                                                                                                                          J e n i s ,Michigan,
                                                                                                                                                            o n ,                                  will
                                                                                                                                                                                      ,Michigan,   w i l l
  Z% Jim and Wilma Blankespoor                                                       for grades 5-9. Please contact Allen                 hold 
                                                                                                                                          h o its.evening@vice
                                                                                                                                                     l d   its.evening@vice .  
           $ Alvin and Sally Kooiker                                                                                                                                                                                                   .
                                                                                     Hendriks at (507) 442-5221 or Den-
           $+ Robert and Geraldine.                                                  nis Bleyenburg at (507) 442-7551                     at 6
                                                                                                                                          at 6  P.PM
                                                                                                                                                     . .
                                                                                                                                                     M.
                                                                 Blankespoor         or write to the school, ,Free Chris-                      `,           `,                            `.`.       ::                        d Ld L".".
             - 21 grandchildren                                                      tian School, P.O. Box 431,                                              .-.- I I                 : : -:-:        >;>;?.J                :,.:,.
                       24 great grandchildren                                        Edger-ton, MN 56128.                                                                                                                         -;-:-;-:
                                                                                                                                                                                                     ,?                       ;.;.
                                                                       Hull, Iowa                                                                                                                                             . :
                          _  ._ .  .._  _. --                                                   .. :,;;. j ,;,-,,m:,`<,~\,.~",    ..                                                                                          .             :
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      192Etanciard  Bearer /January 15,1995


