A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Maaazine





                   Newly organized Grace PRC - Standale, Michigan
                        See "Our 27th Congregation" - p. 56


Vol. 72, No. 3
November 1,1995


CONTENTS:                                                                     November 1, 1995

Meditation - Rev. Barrett L. Gritters
      Tender Mercies ................................................................................. 52
Editorials - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                    ISSN 0362-4692
      Retired, Not Dead ............................................................................. 53                semi-monthly,exceptmontwyduringJune.July,andAugu~
      The Protestant Reformed Seminary: The Lion Still Roars (1). .... 54                                               Publiokl by the Refcmmd Free Poblbhkrg Aoaocmh,  h.,
Special &ticle - Mr. Don Lotterman                                                                                      4846  lwnre8t  Ave..  GrwdvUb, MI  49416.  Becond  clars
                                                                                                                        PoetegS  Pdd et GrandviWe, Mbhigen.
      Our 27th Congregation .................................................................... 56
In His Fear - Rev. Arie denHattog                                                                                       Pootmm  Sendeddre~chenpestotheStenderdBeerer,
                                                                                                                        P.O.  Box 003, Greluh#e, MI 494860603.
      God's Truth concerning Marriage:                                                                                  EDtT0AlAL COMWTEE
            A Blessed, Reformed Heritage .................................................. 57                          Editor: Prol. David J. Engebme
Contribution  - Rev. Jaikishin Mahtani                                                                                  Becrm  Pmt. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                        Maneg~  Editor: Mr. Don Dcezeme
      Giving Thanks to God for our
            Protestant Reformed Young People ........................................ 60                                DEPARTMENT BOtTORS
                                                                                                                        Rev.WHburSrAeme,Rev.RcnetdCemmmgaPrd.Rcbert
Special Article - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                                                               Decker, Rev. Arb denHettcg, Rev, Cad He& Pmf. Herman
                                                                                                                        Henko, Rev. Ronald Hwko, Rev. Jeecn Kotterkrg, Rev. Dale
      The Standard Bearer- In Defense of the Faith (1) ...................... 61                                        Kulper, Mr.  James  lnnlhg.  Mm.  MaryBeth  ldbero, Rev.
Annual Report - Mr. Henry Kamps                                                                                         Thomae  Mieroma,  Rev.  Qbo  VenBeren, Rev. Ronald
                                                                                                                        VanOwrkop,Mr.BaJsmin~,Rev.BomerdW~.
      Annual Meeting of the RFPA - Secretary's Report .., ................... 63
Search the Scriptures - Rev. Carl J. Haak                                                                               EDlTORWOFFlCE                     CHURCH NEWS EDtTOR
                                                                                                                        TheStendordBeorer                 Mr. Ben Wagger
      Jesus' Absolute Equality with God ................................................ 65                             4646lvanreot                      8687  4OthAw.
                                                                                                                        Qrenddlo, MI 46416                lhdeomh,  MI 4B426
Apples of Gold ..........................................................................................        66
Day of Shadows - Homer C. Hoeksema                                                                                      BUSINESS OFFlCE                   NEwMlANDoFFlcE
                                                                                                                        TheStenderdBeemr                 TheStqderdBeerer
      The Last Four Days of Creation-Week (conclusion) ..................... 67                                         DonDoemme                         c/o 8. VenHerk
                                                                                                                        P.O. Box 6a3                      SSFMITSt.
All Around Us - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren .................................................                          69     QmndvlUe,  MI                    Wdnuiomeb, New Zedmd
Report of Classis West - Rev. Steven R. Key ........................................                             70     PH~~$.%l4W                        UNtTSfl  KINQDOM OFFICE
Report of Classis East - Jon J. Huisken .................................................                        71             (616) 538-1778            c/o Mr. Jonethan McAuby
                                                                                                                        FAX:   (616)  531.3033            164 Chomh Rd.. m
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger ................................. 71                                                                         Bollyrnem Co. Antrlm BT42 3EL
                                                                                                                                                          f4orummlrdand
                                                                                                                        EDITORIAL fWUCY
                                                                                                                        EveryeditorbecblyreefuulblefortheccntenteofhbO~
                                                                                                                        ulkba. Contributlowdgenerollnbre8tfmmwrrwdbmmd
                                                                                                                        quedicnebrTheReederAekadeparbnent Y.  wekomo.
                                                                                                                        ContrlbolioM  will be limited to eppmxknetdy 300 words end
      We very much regretted having to leave Rev. Arie denHartog's  article                                             nluotbenMlfywTllbncfrtypnnfttn,mdnnJotbedgned.CoW
                                                                                                                        deodlh-tu   we the fimt  utd  fiftwdh d the math. All
on marriage out of our recent, special, Reformation issue of the Sfxzan&rd                                              commun!catbnsreletfwtothecont&eehculdbeeenttothe
Bearer. Rev. denHartog,  although a busy pastor, is always a willing, prompt                                            edllorlal oflke.
writer. His articles are well received. Frequently, they are reprinted by                                               REPRINT POLtCY
other magazines. A recent issue of Christiun Renewal referred to his arti-                                              Pemaebnbherebygrentedfcrtherepfint&jcfertkbelncur
                                                                                                                        mogazheby~Pu-uWation*pmvided:d~~~
cles on the young woman in the church (Sept. 1 and 15, 1995) with praise.                                               erticbrererqmduwdhfuU;b)thetprcparsclcnowledgment
                                                                                                                        b~:c)thatawWotthsperlodicdlnwhlchsuchrepht
Besides, we asked him to contribute to the special issue.                                                               eppeerebemttocuredibrbloffkx.
      The main reason for our regret at leaving it out, however, is that his                                            SUBSCRIPTtON POLICY
article shows that  the doctrinal reformation of 1924 has had significant prac-                                         Bubecriptron  prkx $l7.c4l  per yur in the U.S.. uS$zo.w
tical effect in the lives of those blessed by that reformation. Although the                                            ebewhue.  Unteu l defk~ite rqueet for dbcatinuence  b
                                                                                                                        recelwd. It b  eeummd   the1 the  eubecriber  wbhea the
practice of marriage and family-life taught, nurtured, and protected in the                                             otJubouiptkHllocontkum,Mdhewmbobmedformnewol.lfyoiJ
Protestant Reformed Churches flows directly from their  distintive cove-                                                hWOOChOllgeOfOddWOO,~llOtlfy~BUdllMWOHlCOM
                                                                                                                        eedyupcnibbInordeftoevoidthekxonvenienceof
nant-doctrine, ultimately it manifests the grand truth of unconditional salva-                                          lnbmpbd&Uvory.   kidudeycurZiporPoetelCode.
tion. Marriage and family exist and, even today, in the midst of the devas-                                             AOVSRTtSINQ POLICY
tation of marriage by a lawless world, flourish under the gospel of uncondi-                                            The SbndordBmrerdoeo  not accept commercbl  uivertldng
                                                                                                                        d eny kind. Annwnwmenb of church end ~hccl went%
tional grace and unswerving faithfulness.                                                                               mivarsorln, obltuarbo,  8nd eympethy reeobHonr  wl bs
     The reformation of 1924 was profound and thorough.                                                                 pbcedforeS10.oofee. TimeeekauldheeenttctlH3SuekleM
                                                                                                                        DflkeMdehouldbeaccMlp.snbdbythe510.00fee.  Deedline
      Still, space forced us to leave denHartog's  article out.                                                         fcrennouncwnsntabetlseetcnemanthpdcrtdpubl!a~
     We have apologized privately; we now apologize publicly.                                                           dob.
     For the sake of a complete special issue, we ask our readers to cut the                                            BOUND VOLUMES
article, "God's truth concerning Marriage," from this issue and to staple it to                                         TheBueineeeDffkwwuIeccep(etendingorderefcfbwnd
                                                                                                                        oopieroftheanmtvdums.  .SuchorderrareMos8oanwnas
the past, special issue.                                                                                                p o o a lb lr  a fb r  c o mpletio n  d l vo lume yew.
     Of course, after they have read it.                                                                                1Bmmmlw~m,35mmmlaoRlmMd105mmml~.~
                                                                                                             - D J E    ertkle copba ere avaibhb through Unhwmity Microfilms
                                                                                                                        IllteflleUOMl.

SO/Standard  Bearer/November 1,1995


                                    Tender Mercies

        "In all their afjliction  he was af-    ter when they taunt Israel to sing          10:16). Doubtful? "Like a father
flicted, and the angel of his presence          them one of Zion's songs.                   pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
saved them: in his love and in his pity             In Isaiah 63:9, God answers that        them that fear him" (Ps. 103:13). In-
he redeemed them; and he bare them,             temptation, and assures them of His         credulous? When God speaks to
and carried them all the days of old. "         concern for them (see also w. 7,8).         Moses about the suffering of Israel
                                Isaiah 63:9     The Lord explains the mercy in His          in Egypt, He says, "I have surely
                                                heart towards His people in this dis-       seen the affliction of my people . . .
        Does God see me in my afflic-           tress.                                      heard their cries . . . know their sor-
tion? Has He any regard for my                      We have troubles, neither insig-        rows" (Ex.  3:7), where "know"
trouble? Does He have any time for              nificant nor minor. We bring them           means far more than "observe." He
or interest in me in my distress?               to the Lord. Jehovah responds, "I           knows our sorrows.
Does God see those who persecute                am a God who understands your                   This answers our question, our
me, who bring me to shame? Does                 troubles, has compassion towards            fear, our temptation, "Does God
He hear their mocking insults? Does             you, wills to bless you and relieve         sympathize with me in my suffer-
He understand the hurt it brings my             you from your distress. I am a God          ings? Does God really have com-
soul? Does the Lord know the strug-             of tender mercy."                           passion on me? Is there any feeling
gles that I face, that no one else                                                          in His heart for what I experience?"
seems to understand?                            Mercy felt                                  The answer of the Word of God is,
        These are the concerns God's Is-           Mercy! God's desire that we be           "In all your afflictions, he is afflict-
rael had in Babylon. In captivity,              happy in Him, taste His blessedness.        ed; in all your distresses, he is dis-
the people are in deep distress. They           Mercy! God's leading of us through          tressed."
are uprooted, separated from friends            death to the highest life of His                He "loves" and "pities" His peo-
and family, forcibly taken from the             friendship. Mercy! He sees us in            ple (v. 9b), where love is "to breathe
land of promise, made captives in a             our needs, feels our sorrows, and           after," and pity reminds us that God
strange land. Imagine: they are the             powerfully comes to deliver us out          is "gentle, sparing." A benevolent
people of promise. To them is given             of them all. "Many are the afflic-          father looks down with troubled
great blessing  - the promise of sal-           tions of the righteous; but the Lord        eyes at his wounded child, with all
vation. Theirs is the powerful God              (in His mercy) delivereth him out of        the compassion possible, really feel-
who has assured them of His love                them all."                                  ing the pain that his child feels.
and favor. But now they are here,                   Merciful in and to Himself, God             God - really feel our distress
in a strange land with a strange peo-           wills that His beloved children know        so that He is distressed, really feel
ple.                                            His mercy.                                  our afflictions so that He is afflict-
        Their temptation was to imag-               The description of this in Isaiah       ed? His own personal happiness de-
ine that God does not see them in               63 is beautiful. The mercy of our           stroyed, even wounded? God is not
their affliction, or regard their trou-         God is brought very close to home:          completely blessed?
ble. Their temptation was to suppose            "In all their afflictions, he was af-           No, the gospel here does not
that God does not see their enemies,            flicted." In the afflictions of the peo-    conflict with the perfect blessedness
is not angry with their captors, and            ple of God, God Himself is afflicted.       and unchangeableness of God.
does not hear their mocking laugh-              The sufferings that they feel, He           Nothing can.
                                                feels. The distress they are in, He                . . .
                                                                                                Mmmuze  not the least, though,
                                                experiences.                                nor take away, God's sympathy!
Rev. Grit&s is pastor of the Protestant             Surprised? When the enemy op-           God would have His children know
Reformed Church of  Hudsonville,                pressed Israel, God's "soul was             His tender care, His true pity, His
Michigan.                                       grieved for the misery of Israel" (Jud.     concern for them in their affliction.

                                                                                                  November 1,1995/Standard  Bearerl51


How deeply He feels for His peo-              lieve of misery, to make blessed.              describes God ,as a God of mercy,
ple! Our sorrow is His sorrow; our                God's mercy is a moving mercy.             who takes pity on His people, and
suffering is His suffering. That is           "Because thy mercy is good, deliver            delivers them.
what we must think ofwhen we think            thou me . . . . fl UHelp me, 0 LORD my               God's people are saved through
of God's mercy towards us.                    God; 0 save me according to thy                judgment. Through the judgment
        Why, then, does He permit His         mercyU (Ps. 109). Immediately Isaiah           of God upon His enemies, God's
own to suffer, if it grieves Him to           calls the attention of the Israelites to       people are redeemed. Redeemed
see us suffer? Except in the way of           the activity of God when He feels              through judgment. Thus Psalm 143
being delivered from suffering,               their needs.                                   can say, "Of thy mercy, cut off mine
God's people cannot know the God                  By the angel of His presence He            enemies, and destroy them that af-
of tender mercy. They cannot know             saves them.                                    fiict my soul." God's mercy redeems
His grace and power except they are               "The angel of God's face," the             through judgment. In the very end,
delivered from their sin. The God of          angel that reveals the face of God to          when the greatest oppression is in-
tender mercy knows that the trou-             His people. The angel appeared time            flicted upon God's people in Anti-
bles in our life are necessary, because       and again in the old covenant to min-          christ's reign, it will be God's mercy
He sees the overall picture of our            ister mercy to the people of God.              upon you and your children that
life and the world that we cannot             Seeing the angel of God's face, anx-           consumes the enemy in a fiery mo-
see.                                          ious believers saw a benevolent face,          ment of wrath.
        We are able to understand God's       a face of mercy and kindness, a face                 He bears and carries us all our
mercy better when we remember                 of love and gentleness.                        days.
that God has made Himself one with                Besides, the very appearance of                  As an eagle bears her young on
us. Our cause is His. By the eternal          that angel of Jehovah was the sav-             her wings, so God bears His people
decree of election God made Him-              ing of them from their trouble.                         on His heart, and in His arms.
self one with us, brought Himself             The angel of God's face ap-                               As the Captain of their sal-
and us into unity of purpose and              peared  in Egypt, and saved          As an eagle            vation,  He carries them
cause, so that He really looks at our         them; appeared to Joshua           bears her young          safely to heaven, and nev-
cause as His cause, and sympathiz-            outside of Jericho, and              on her wings,          er forsakes or leaves
es with His own. We are His chil-             saved Israel; appeared in               so God              them. As a mother bears
dren. Verse 8 says, "Surely, they             Canaan, repeatedly, and                     bears           and carries her children,
are my people. . . . `I                       saved them.                           His people            directing the course of
        In Romans 9, the great chapter            God's face towards               on His heart,          their life in mercy to-
on God's decree of election, the              you, people of God, is a be-             and in             wards them, so the Lord.
apostle concludes, "So then, he will          nevolent face, a merciful face,       His arms.            As afather, who lifts up his
have mercy on whom he will (that              a kind, compassionate, tender                             injured child, and carries
is, decreed to) have mercy, and will          face; God is your Savior, and He                        him until he forgets his hurt,
have compassion on whom he will               saved you by showing you that face.            so our Father bears and carries us
(that is, decreed to) have compas-            That is the face that He shows you             all our days.
sion."                                        in the gospel.                                       This gospel is no old covenant
   In the eternal decree of election,             How the angel saved them is by             gospel, but a gospel that is new, new
God "set his heart upon us," placed           redemption.                                    in our Lord Jesus Christ. The believ-
His love upon us. By doing this, He               In God's love and pity towards             er's greatest need, his deepest dis-
made our cause His cause, the de-             His people, He redeemed them. He               tress, his most painful wounds, are
sire for His good the desire for ours.        purchased them out of Egypt  -                 the wounds that he has because of
        In all our afflictions, God is af-    bondage house - and rescued them               sins. Sin brought into this world all
flicted. In every one of them.                with a mighty hand and stretched               the trouble - sickness and pain and
                                              out arm.                                       loneliness.... Sinfulness wounds our
Mercy shown                                       Even the j&me& of God upon                 conscience, so that we are miserable
        No bare feeling in the heart of       our enemies is mercy to us. Verses             before God, and miserable before
God, God's mercy is not like the pre-         l-6 speak of the terrible judgment of          our closest neighbors. Guilt oppress-
tended mercy of a man who says,               God on Israel's enemies. God comes             es. The devil tries to convince (in
"Be warm and filled" but sends the            treading;down  His enemies, so that            his greatest temptation) that we are
needy empty away. God's mercy is              His garments are bloodstained, as              not God's own, because of sin.
not only His desire to bless, His will        though He had just finished tread-                   In that distress God has mercy.
to relieve them of distress, His suf-         ing the grapes in the winepress.                     He feels our pains, and suffers
fering with them. Mercy is also His           Spattered with blood, God comes to             with us. He comes to us in our Lord
action  of delivering out of distress,        save His people. In the context of             Jesus Christ to deliver us from that
the exercise of His mighty arm to re-         that description of God, the prophet           greatest of all misery.

52JStandard Bearer /November 1,1995


    The angel of God's "face" is             into desolation as in a moment.            you mercy in your trouble."
Jesus.                                           In Jesus' arms God bears us and            "When you were in Egypt, I was
    In Jesus Christ we see a benevo-         safely leads His own.                      afflicted with your afflictions; there-
lent face, a kind face, a face of mer-           In Jesus Christ.                       fore I redeemed you from that bond-
cy and tender compassion. When                   Do we see, now, why the mercy          age, saved you by the angel of my
we see that face of Jesus Christ, we         of God is "great"? "As high as the         presence, bore you and carried you
see the face of God towards us, and          heaven is above the earth, so great        through the waste howling wilder-
are saved. Behold Him, and be                is his mercy toward them that fear         ness -because of my tender mercy
saved!!                                      him..." (P.s. 103). It is "great unto      towards you. When you came into
    In Him we have a merciful and            the heavens" (Ps. 57).                     the land of Canaan, were oppressed
faithful High Priest who can be                                                         by Edom and all the other nations
touched with the feelings of our in-         Mercy assured                              who hated me, then I came with gar-
firmities. In Jesus, God feels what              Will God really show me mer-           ments stained with the blood of your
we feel, hurts with our hurt. So that        cy? Does God sympathize with  me?          enemies; I went before you and over-
if there ever were a question wheth-         In the end, will He come to me? Can        came your foes, delivering you from
er the infinite, ever-blessed God, can       I be assured that mercy is for me?         affliction, giving you rest and peace
sympathize with us, without dam-                 The answer is the answer of his-       in the land of promise - because I
aging His blessedness, the answer is         tory. God did show mercy. This             had compassion towards you. When
in the person and work of the Lord           answer is not in the present tense,        you were enslaved by the devil, in
Jesus Christ.                                but in the past. The prophet Isaiah        the most oppressive of slaveries, and
    By Jesus Christ He redeemed us.          refers not to what God will do for         it cost me the highest price - the
    By His blood He purchased us,            them in the future, but to what God        death of my own Son - I delivered
gave His life a ransom. Jesus Christ         has done for them in the past. The         you, redeemed you, and bore you
treads the winepress. His garments           appeal of the prophet to their cry is,     in my arms....
are stained with blood. He wounds            "God has shown mercv to his ueo-               "I did. I also will. I am a God
their hairy scalp, and brings them           ple of old; therefore, God will show       of tender mercy." 0





                            Retired, Not Dead

                                             not think of retiring from the work        deed, they may be better off finan-
    The old men and women in the             of the church.                             cially than ever before) but because
churches may not retire from the                 This is a danger.                      they are retiring from the work of
work of these churches. The Lord                 They can begin to think, "We           the church.
Jesus Christ does not permit it.             have worked hard in the church for             In the broader sphere of the cov-
    Whether and when a man retires           many years. In the few years of            enant, the man resigns from the as-
from the work of his job are his busi-       healthy life that we have left, we will    sociations of the Christian schools,
ness. There comes the time in the            enjoy ourselves. Let others do the         or simply fails to participate. The
life of the wife and mother that the         work now."                                 husband and wife agree that they
children are grown up, so that her               The man refuses to be put on           will cut back, even severely, on their
work of guiding the house, if it has         nomination for elder or deacon             giving to the Christian schools. "For
not ended is greatly lessened. The           (there is no reason why an old man         years/  say they, "we carried a heavy
Lord does not begrudge them their            cannot be deacon). Neither man nor         load of tuition and special drives.
relaxation from the toils of earthly         woman attends the meetings for Bi-         Now it is the turn of the next gener-
life, their relative ease, their travels,    ble study any longer. They never           ation."
their hobbies.                               appear at the programs and lectures.           It can even happen that they
    But they may not retire from             They contribute money only spar-           choose to be absent from the wor-
their labor in the church. They may          ingly, not because of necessity (in-       ship services of their church for long

                                                                                              November 1,1995lStandard  Bearerb53


periods of time. There is a semi-          them to abound in this work.                 children, who probably are well-off
retirement from the most fundamen-             The church needs the work of             without them? How do the old ex-
tal work of all: joining in the pure       the old members. She needs the ex-           pect to answer for this poor stew-
worship of God at church.                  perience, wisdom, time, and solidi-          ardship of the Lord's goods to their
    The Lord forbids early retire-         ty of the old men in the offices. She        Lord in judgment?
ment from the work of His church.          needs the use of the gifts of the old                 Work in the church is a privi-
When He saved us, He set us in the         members in her communion. She                lege. Nothing compares with it, not
body (I Cor.  12:18). He graced us         needs their money. She needs their           all the trips to every country in the
with various spiritual and physical        presence at her services of worship.         world, not all the earthly experienc-
gifts (Eph. 47). He gave us a call-            God's covenant in our Protes-            es, not all the pleasures of physical
ing to work in our place and with          tant Reformed Christian schools              life.
our gifts for the welfare of the other     needs the work of the old. (It needs                  The work of the church is the
members and for the good of the            the work of the young as well, but           work of the risen Christ Jesus. He
congregation (Eph. 4:16; Heid. Cat.,       that is another story.) The schools          Himself performs it through the
Q. 55). Faithfully doing his calling,      need the presence of the old at their        members of His body by the power
each works in and with the church          meetings, particularly the presence          of the Holy Spirit. It is all done for
to fulfill the church's grand task in      of the old men at the association            Him, the head of the body. It will
history.                                   meetings. How encouraging to see             have its glorious reward.
    This calling is lifelong. Like         the gray-headed there. Their very                     To work in the church, to work
Christ Himself, His people must            presence bespeaks covenantal faith-          in the church to the very end, is God's
work while it is day. When the night       fulness from generation to genera-           gift to us.
of death comes and no man can              tion, covenantal endurance, covenan-                  The old must be allowed to
work, we are released from the work        tal stability, covenantal power.             work They may not be shelved and
of the church by Christ Himself.               The schools need the work of             ignored simply because they are old.
Then we have rest from our labors          the old that consists of giving mon-                  Listen to the old men's dreams!
(John 9:4; Rev. 14:13).                    ey. Our Christian schools always                      Young women, go to the old
    The able-bodied and  sound-            struggle financially. Tuition is al-         women for wisdom regarding mar-
minded 65 year-old members of the          ways rising. For many old saints,            riage, family, and keeping at home!
church may be retired, but they are        retirement is not the time to cut back                How we need their work
not dead.                                  on giving, but the time to give more.                 They may be retired.
    Christ calls them to work in the       Why leave large inheritances only to                  They are not dead. n
labor of the church. Christ calls                                                                                         -W



                                  The Protestant
                      Reformed Seminary:
               The Lion Still Roars (I)*

    Two purposes bring us together         Reformed Theological Seminary:               a lower level that will be used for
tonight. We observe with a solemn          convocation. This is customary.              the archives of the denomination and
ceremony the beginning of another              The other purpose is extraordi-          for the publishing ventures connect-
year of instruction in the Protestant      nary: the dedication of a large, new         ed with the denomination.
                                           addition to the seminary building.                    The addition has freed up the
                                           The Protestant Reformed Churches             present classrooms for use only as
' The address given at the assembly of     have recently completed the con-             classrooms for a growing student
convocation for the 199511996 school-      struction  of a large theological library    body. It has also enabled us to ex-
year and of dedication of the new addi-    with study-space for the students            pand the office and the storage-area
tion to the seminary building.             and offices for the faculty. There is        of the existing building.
54lStandard  Bearer/November 1,1995


    We have a spacious, splendid              Men are trained today to preach        cerning His chosen people to His
seminary building.                        this faith as the Holy Spirit has made     prophets. The Lord GOD roared to
    Our gathering tonight rejoices        it known in its purity and sound-          His prophets, making Himself
over this denominational achieve-         ness in the  l'rotestant Reformed          known to them. This is proved from
ment - no small accomplishment            Churches. This is the gospel of sal-       the line that follows that about the
for a small denomination! - thanks        vation by the sovereign, particular        roaring lion: `I... the Lord GOD hath
God for the gift of it, and publicly      grace of God in Jesus Christ, ground-      spoken, who can but prophesy?"
consecrates the new addition to the       ed in God's eternal decree of pre-             A common, important Hebrew
Father of Jesus Christ, the living        destination, worked out in an un-          literary device occurs in Amos  3:8,
triune God, for the training of able,     conditional covenant of friendship         the device known as parallelism.
godly pastors and teachers for            with believers and their children,         There are two corresponding lines,
Christ's church.                          and creating lives of holiness in an-      the second of which states the same
    Obviously, our assembly is a joy-     tithetical separation from and enmi-       truth as the first, but in different
ful one.                                  ty with the world, to the' glory of        words. Thus the second line ex-
    The thought came to me that,          God.                                       plains the first line.
were the founding fathers of the              It is, therefore, indisputably evi-        The roaring of the lion is, in re-
Protestant Reformed Churches,             dent - none can gainsay it - that          ality, the speaking of the Lord GOD;
those men who taught in the semi-         in the Protestant Reformed Seminary        the fear that results from the lion's
nary from 1925 to the late 1950s and      the lion still roars. The lion roared      roar is, in reality, the prophet's fear,
early 196Os, able to see the present      70 years ago at the establishment of       which moves him to prophesy.
building, they would rub their eyes       the seminary. His roar can be heard            The effect, and purpose, of the
in amazement. Herman Hoeksema             in the work of the seminary today.         lion's roaring is not the destruction
and George Ophoff taught many                                                        of the wicked, but the prophesying
years in one small, spartan room in                                                  by the prophet.
the basement of First Church in                                                          The existence and work of the
Grand Rapids. The room was bare-              The figure of the lion roaring is      Protestant Reformed Seminary are
ly the size of one of our classrooms.     the Holy Spirit's own in the third         due to and in the service of the li-
The only decoration was open              chapter of the prophecy of Amos:           on's roar. In the Protestant Re-
plumbing running along the ceiling.       "The lion hath roared, who will not        formed Seminary, the lion still roars.
One little window high up in the          fear?" (v. 8). That figure was taken       Let it be clear, I do not intend the
basement wall let in a little sunshine    from the everyday, earthly experi-         exclusion of other seminaries. Oth-
and, in the spring and fall, a little     ence of Amos, the shepherd of              er seminaries must also be able con-
fresh air. A few books in cabinets        Tekoa. More than once, as he went          fidently to make this claim. A semi-
along one wall comprised our li-          about his work, he heard these             nary that cannot claim for itself that
brary.                                    roarings of lions. When the lion was       its teaching is the roaring of the lion
    All of the older ministers in the     about to spring upon his prey, in-         has no right to exist.
Protestant Reformed Churches, in-         deed in mid-leap, he roared. That              The Protestant Reformed Semi-
cluding the present faculty of the        awesome, unmistakable roar ex-             nary makes this claim.
seminary, got their theological edu-      pressed the lion's certainty of seiz-          This makes the work of the sem-
cation in these cramped and unat-         ing and having his way with the deer       inary in the coming school-year wor-
tractive quarters.                        or sheep. From the point of view of        thy of a solemn convocation.
    What a change!                        the poor deer or sheep, that roar              This underlies our public conse-
    In one respect - the only ulti-       meant its certain capture. In fact,        cration of the building addition to
mately important respect - there          the roar paralyzed the deer or sheep,      God. We dedicate the building to
has been no change: the truth that        so that the roar actually accom-           God because He has already co-opt-
is defended, taught, and developed        plished the lion's success and the         ed it, seized it, made it His own, to
in the seminary. With this, there         sheep's capture.                           have His way with it. As the sheep
has been no change - absolutely no            Something of this dread of the         that heard the roar of the springing
change! - in the goal of the semi-        roar comes out in the question, "...       lion might have dedicated itself to
nary: Reformed pastors and teach-         who will not fear?"                        the lion, as there was nothing else
ers, especially for the Protestant Re-        The meaning of the figure in           for an Amos to do when the Lord
formed Churches. Men are being            Amos 3 is surprising. It is not this,      GOD spoke to him, but to devote
trained today, 70 years after the         as we might expect, that the wrath-        himself to God as a prophet, so we
founding of the seminary, to preach       ful Word of God terrifies and then         dedicate the seminary building to
the gospel of God revealed in Holy        destroys hardened sinners in Israel.       God.  0
Scripture as that gospel is set forth     Rather, God's mighty Word reveals                               (to be concluded)
in the Reformed confessions.              God Himself and God's will con-                                             - DJE

                                                                                           November 1,1995/Standard  Bearer/55


    For the third time in the past 22      nations for three elders and three        since our organization. It should be
years the Hope Protestant Reformed         deacons as requested by the group.        noted that many of these ministers
Church of Walker, Michigan has                 Our goal was accomplished on          preached three times a Sunday dur-
conceived and brought forth a              July 6, 1995, when we were orga-          ing this time: They preached at their
daughter congregation. Due to the          nized as the Grace Protestant Re-         morning service, at our 1:00 P.M. ser-
growth of the Hope congregation,           formed Church. Rev. Peter Breen           vice, and again at their evening ser-
and the resultant scheduling of a          preached on I Thessalonians 2:13,         vice. There were others who came
number of members to the monitor-          "Preaching as a Means of Grace."          to us after their 5:OO P.M. evening ser-
room in the basement for each wor-         The business part of the organiza-        vice to help us at 7~00. We want to
ship service, a small group consist-       tion was conducted by Hope's pas-         express our appreciation especially
ing of nine families and one indi-         tor, Rev. James Slopsema. The             to Rev. Breen, who has been faith-
vidual met in January, 1994 to dis-        officebearers were duly elected and       fully supplying us at our evening ser-
cuss the possibility and the feasibili-    installed in their respective offices.    vices three times a month, preach-
ty of forming a new congregation.          Elders elected and installed were         ing from the Heidelberg Catechism;
After receiving the results of a sur-      John Kuiper (Vice-president), Don         to our mother church, Hope Protes-
vey taken by the Council, this group       Lotterman (Clerk), and Gerrit             tant  Reformed Church, not only for
sent a request to the Consistory that      VanDenTop.        The deacons are         her help and encouragement in our
we begin holding services in the           Gerald Dykstra, Dave Hanko (Trea-         organization, but also for the finan-
greater Standale/Tallmadge Town-           surer), and Gilbert Schimmel.             cial assistance; and to our God. May
ship area with a view to establish-            We have potential for growth          He be praised for this token of His
ing a daughter congregation.               both from the area and also from          faithfulness.  0
    With the approval of the               within. We are a congregation of 23
Consistory we began separate ser-          families and nine individuals, con-
vices, which were held in the Grand        sisting of 55 confessing and 52 bap-
Valley Orthodox Christian Reformed         tized members. Our ages range
Church at the corner of Lake Michi-        from infants to sev-
gan Drive and Eighth Avenue,               eral elderly mem-
where we continue to meet at the           bers. We have 34
unusual time of 1:00 P.M. for our first    catechumens, in-
service. The group began slowly to         cluding 17 in the
grow, until in March of 1995 we            two older classes,
could request of Classis East permis-      ages from 15 and
sion to organize. On May 10, 1995          older.
this request was granted, and Hope             We want pub-
PRC was appointed to carry out the         licly to express our
organization. In harmony with the          appreciation to the
decision of Synod, 1994, Hope's            ministers in the
Council proceeded to make nomi-            West Michigan area
                                           for their willingness
                                           to supply our pul-                Newly elected officers of Grace PRC,
                                           pit during the time       1 to r: Gilbert Schimmel, John Kidper,  Dave Hanks,
                                           of our holding sep-                Don Lotterman, Gerald Dykstra,
Mr. Lotterman is the clerk  of  the        arate services and                        Gerrit VanDenTop
Consistory of Grace PRC.

56lStandard  Bearer/November I,1995


                                         God's Truth
                  concerning Marriage:
A Blessed, Reformed Heritage.

    One of the rich aspects of the         but few have the courage to stand        for divorce in the case of the adul-
heritage of the Reformation which          up for the truth of God's Word con-      tery of one of the parties of a mar-
has been graciously preserved in the       cerning marriage and to preach this      riage. We do not believe, however,
Protestant Reformed Churches is the        truth boldly for the glory of God and    that this divorce dissolves the mar-
truth of marriage. We count this as        the sanctification of God's people.      riage bond. It allows for a legal sep-
no small blessing today in an age of           In this situation God has pre-       aration of "bed and board" in a very
absolute lawlessness regarding mar-        served in our midst God's truth of       grievous and often, humanly speak-
riage and the breakdown of half or         marriage. We believe that God has        ing, impossible situation. But this
more of the marriages contracted in        preserved this truth through great       "permissible divorce" does not end
our land. This is the situation not        men of God who were convinced of         a marriage. We do not believe that
only in the world in which we live         the unchangeable and absolute Word       I Corinthians 7:15, when it speaks of
but also in the churches of our na-        of God and held it fast without com-     "a brother or sister not being under
tion. There are today almost as            promise. God's truth concerning          bondage," means that desertion by
many divorces and remarriages in           marriage is plainly written in the       an unbelieving partner dissolves a
what calls itself the church as there      Scriptures (Matt. 5, 19; Mark 10;        marriage.
are in the world at large. There is in     Luke 16; Rom. 7; I Cor. 7). Many             In harmony with the fact that
the church a wholesale disregard for       writings from godly leaders in our       Scripture teaches that marriage is a
the sanctity of marriage and for what      churches have been produced and          lifelong, unbreakable bond Scripture
God's Word has to say about mar-           are today available. The relevant        also clearly forbids all remarriage.
riage.                                     passages of Scripture have been          Not only does God forbid the re-
    From this debauchery of mar-           carefully exegeted through a great       marriage of a man who committed
riage follows the awful sorrow and         amount of detailed study. Below I        adultery, but He forbids also the re-
misery of broken homes and fami-           have listed some of the books that       marriage of the innocent party. This
lies. Irreparable psychological and        are available.                           is clearly taught in the last part of
spiritual hurt is being inflicted on           God's truth of marriage is that      verse 9 of Matthew 19:  "whoso
the children of these marriages. God       it is an absolutely unbreakable bond     marrieth her which is put away doth
is visiting the sins of the `fathers on    between one man and one woman            commit adultery." If  .there is any
the children, so that there is a cycle     established by God Himself. It is a      doubt about the interpretation of the
of broken marriages that only grows        lifelong bond that God Himself dis-      "exception clause" of Matthew 19
worse and worse from generation to         solves only at the death of one or       and its application to remarriage this
generation.                                both of the partners. Contrary to        is settled by the testimony of sever-
    Church leaders are wringing            popular opinion, no action of man        al other relevant passages of Scrip-
their hands over what to do about          can dissolve marriage. It is wrong       ture. Whoever takes another part-
the wretched consequences of bro-          to imagine that the adultery of one      ner than the one whom God gave to
ken marriages and the devastating          or of both of the partners of mar-       him or her in marriage in the first
consequences this has for the church,      riage can dissolve the bond of mar-      place lives in adultery with that part-
                                           riage that God has established. It is    ner. In the words of our Lord to the
                                           wrong to imagine that the desertion      Samaritan woman at the well: "the
Rev. &nHartog is pastor of Hope Prot-      of one of the partners of marriage       man whom thou now hast is not thy
estant Reformed Church in Redlands,        dissolves the marriage bond.             husband." We believe that remar-
California.                                    It is true that the Lord allows      riage before one's partner has died

                                                                                          November 1,1995/Standard  Beared


involves one in a life of continual              nocent party" to remarry. He con-          dition of the great Reformers and
adultery before God.                             fesses this in a published pamphlet        the tradition that the Reformed
     There is forgiveness for even the           called the  YUnbreakable  Bond of          churches have maintained through
vilest of sins. There would be no                Marriage." / Later, however, after a       history. It can be shown that the
hope for any of us if this were not              more careful study of relevant pas-        great Reformers such as John Calvin
the blessed truth of the gospel. But             sages of Scripture, Rev. Hoelcsema         and Martin Luther allowed for the
the way of forgiveness is always the             came to the isolid conviction of what      remarriage of innocent parties in the
way of repentance and forsaking of               God's Word teaches regarding  mar-         case of a marriage where adultery
sin. Jesus said to the woman caught              riage. He outlines this conviction in      had taken place, and also when a
in adultery, "Go thy way and sin no              the above cited pamphlet.                  partner had been wrongly deserted
more." One cannot expect that the                    Rev. Hoeksema taught the truth         by an unbeliever. It can also be
Lord will forgive when a man con-                of God's Word that marriage is a           shown that many leaders in Re-
tinues in sin and does not even have             reflection of the covenant life be-        formed and Presbyterian churches
the intention to forsake sin. No                     tween God and His people and           through history have allowed for re-
church may ever assure some-                          between Christ and His church.        marriage of the "innocent party" and
                                       Contra y
one that he has forgiveness                            Rev. Hoeksema gave a charac-         of deserted parties.               The
                                       to popular
for a sin when he does not                              teristically carefully formulat-    Westminster Confession officially
forsake that sin. Yet this is           opinion,        ed, biblically based definition     states that the "innocent" party is
exactly what is being done             no action        of marriage. He defined mar-        allowed to re-marry.2
in many instances to mem-               of man          riage /as: "the union between            Several things, however, must be
bers of the church who are                can                                               said about this. We believe that the
                                        dissolve       one man and one woman for
living in the continual im-                            life, a union that is based on a     ultimate test of truth must be the
penitent sin of adultery.              mauviage.      communion of nature, a com-           Word of God. In very rare instanc-
     Serious compromise re-                          munion ,of life, and a commun-         es, aspects of Reformed tradition
garding the truth of God's Word                  ion of love, /which is a reflection of     have later been shown to be in error
in order to allow for remarriage has             the covenant relationship between          through further, more careful study
done much to corrupt the truth of                Christ and  j His church; a union,         of the Word of God. We believe
marriage in the church at large to-              moreover, that has its chief purpose       that the tradition regarding the un-
day. It has gone much, much far-                 in bringing forth the seed of the cov-     derstanding of God's Word on the
ther than allowing the so-called in-             enant."' This truth of marriage has        truth of marriage is one such rare
nocent party to remarry. Church                  rich significance for the nature and       instance. We by no means say that
leaders today allow and even sanc-               warm personal blessedness of mar-          lightly. The great principle of the
tion remarriage in almost any situa-             ried life. This truth also has much        Reformation is the principle of the
tion. If there is any mention of sin             to say about the calling of husband        absolute and final authority of Scrip
as far as divorce and remarriage is              and wife to be faithful to each other      ture. The position of the Protestant
concerned this is easily overlooked,             for life in m$rriage. The highest call-    Reformed Churches on marriage is
or glibly confessed, while members               ing of marriage is to reflect  the glo-    "Reformed" according to this great
of the church are allowed to contin-             ry of the covenant relationship of         principle.
ue in their sinful life-style without            God and His people and the faithful            Secondly, it can easily be shown
true repentance. So it is possible,              love of Christ for His church. As          that neither the great Reformers nor
sometimes even in the same church,               God never borsakes  His covenant           the Reformed and Presbyterian
for a brother to steal the wife of an-           people, though they often commit           churches in the days when these
other brother and, with the blessing             spiritual adultery with the world,         churches were still strong and faith-
of the church, to continue to live for           and as Christ never forsakes His           ful to the Word of God promoted
the rest of his life with this woman             church, though they often sin against      the lawless teaching on marriage that
who is another man's wife.                       Him, so the husband and wife ought         is today often promoted even by
    The Lord led the Protestant Re-              to love one another faithfully, bear       leaders in Reformed and Presbyteri-
formed Churches to the truth of His              with one another's sins and weak-          an churches.
Word on marriage under the lead-                 nesses, and never forsake one an-              Thirdly, the principle of the Ref-
ership of Rev. Herman Hoeksema.                  o t h e r .                                ormation is that of "always reform-
The story of how the Lord did this                   The Protestant Reformed
is particularly interesting. In his ear-         Churches recognize that it is true in
ly ministry Rev. Hoeksema went                   a sense that ithey have broken with        1 Herman Hoeksema, 
along with the commonly held posi-               Reformed tradition in the stand                                   The Triple Knowl-
                                                                                            edge, (Grand Rapids, Michigan 1972),
tion that fornication on the part of             which they have taken on marriage.         vol. 3 page 353.
one party of a marriage dissolves the            They have been criticized for this.
marriage bond and allows the  "in-               To be Reformed is to follow the tra-       z Westminster Confession, Article 24.

5SiStandard  Bearer/November 1,1995


ing." This principle implies that the       Lord. When they heard Jesus' teach-         that the only reason for this is the
Reformed Church must again and              ing on marriage they suggested in           amazing grace and mercy of God.
again test her tradition with the in-       amazement that perhaps it would be          We see in our church the blessing of
fallible rule of the Scriptures. It must    better not to marry. Jesus gives an-        God on this truth in the many faith-
seek to set forth ever more clearly         swer to them in Matthew 19. Few             ful marriages and strong Christian
the truth of God's Word. She ceas-          have ever paid much attention to            homes in our midst and the great
es to be Reformed when she forsakes         this part of Jesus' "hard teaching"         blessing of God that these afford for
that truth, but is truly Reformed           on marriage and carefully consid-           the church. 0
when she seeks to set forth the truth       ered the implications of this.
of God's Word through the guidance                  We do not ignore the obvious                Suggested Reading:
of the Spirit more clearly and abso-        fact that the corruption of marriage            David J. Engelsma, Marriage, the
lutely.                                     has caused immeasurable pain and            Mystery of Christ and the Church,
    In connection with this last            suffering to many, even of God's            (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Reformed
point, I want to express apprecia-          children, who have been grievously          Free Publishing Association, 1975)
tion for one particular aspect of the       wronged. The answer to this suffer-         paperback, 122 pages. This is a se-
story of the preservation of the truth      ing and pain is not to compromise           ries of sermons on marriage
of marriage in the Protestant Re-           the teaching of the Word of God, as         preached in Loveland Protestant Re-
formed Churches. Prof. David                so many marriage counselors and             formed Church.
Engelsma has devoted a consider-            other church leaders are doing.
able amount of time and effort to           Those who have done this have only              David J. Engelsma, Better to Mar-
developing and maintaining the bib-         contributed to the tragic situation         y (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Re-
lical stand on marriage in our                     prevalent in the church-world to-    formed Free Publishing Association,
churches and in the church-                           day. The answer to this pain      1993) paperback., 105 pages. This is
world at large. He has done                                                             an outstanding exposition of I
this through authoring two           "* the way        and suffering is not by some
                                    of peace and        human authority to give in-     Corinthians 7.
excellent books on marriage                             nocent and deserted Chris-
                                      blessing
which clearly outline this         before the Lord       tians the right to marry.          Andrew Comes, Divorce a& Re-
stand. The first is entitled                             Though God's Word is           marriage, Biblical Principles and Pas-
Marriage: the Mystery of             is always                                          toral Practice (Grand Rapids, Michi-
Christ and His Church,  the           the way            hard it is always good. As
                                                                                        gan: William B. Eerdmans Publish-
                                      of living          difficult as the way of the
second is  Better to Mary.                               Lord may be for some who       ing Company, 1993) paperback, 529
The latter is basically a          in repentance                                        pages. This is not a book written by
                                       and in            have suffered the sad con-
careful exegesis of the ab-                              sequences of the corruption    a Protestant Reformed author.
solutely pivotal passage of         faithfilness        of the teaching of God's        Cornes was the former director of
                                    to the Word
Scripture in this matter,             of God.          Word on marriage, the way        training at All Souls, Langham Place,
namely I Corinthians 7. I                             of peace and blessing before      and is vicar of All Saints,
have yet to see any worthy ref-                      the Lord is always theway  of      Crowborough, England. Though we
utation of the sound and courageous         living in repentance and in faithful-       do not agree with everything in this
exegesis found in this book. Fur-           ness to the Word of God.                    book, it is a thorough and excellent
ther, Prof. Engelsma has recently                   I have personally dealt with ex-    treatment of the teaching of the
published a series of articles on the       tremely difficult "marriage prob-           Word of God regarding  marriage.
subject of the teaching of God's            lems," as have most pastors in              Though it is somewhat daunting be-
Word regarding marriage. The last           churches today, all too often. These        cause of its length it is easy to read
several of these articles traces the        cases must be dealt with in great           and well worth the effort and time
history of the Reformed church's po-        compassion. But, as difficult as these      it takes to read.
sition on marriage. This series ends        individual cases may be, the solu-
with a cry against the deplorable           tion is not compromise but main-                William A. Heth and Gordon J.
teaching regarding marriage and di-         taining the truth of God. We must           Wenham, Jesus and Divorce: the Prob
vorce being promoted today by pro-          have in mind not only one specific          Zenz with the Evangelical Consensus
fessed Christian counselors and even        case but the welfare of the church          (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas
in Reformed and Presbyterian                and her members as a whole, and             Nelson, 1985). This is another excel-
churches, and the devastating con-          more important even than that, the          lent book on the biblical teaching on
sequences this has had for the mem-         glory of our God and His truth.             marriage, one which has not gotten
bership of the church.                              We are humbly thankful to God       the recognition it deserves.
    The truth of Gods Word on               for preserving His truth regarding
marriage is hard. This was already          marriage in our churches. We say
understood by the disciples of our          that not at all in boasting. We know

                                                                                              November 1,199SlStandard  Bearer159


                  Giving Thanks to God
     for our Protestant ReformedI
                                 Young People!

    When I received the invitation         thankful for that. May what I write      The fact that they honestly spoke
to speak at this year's Young Peo-         be an encouragement to the godly         about this lack was indication of gen-
ple's Convention, I joyfully accept-       parents and teachers, preachers and      uine effort, and the more blessed ev-
ed it on account of my background          congregations, who continue to raise     idence of life and spirituality.
and association with the young             and nurture sons and daughters in            It was not exactly fair, but the
saints in Singapore. Quite honestly,       the fear of the Lord!                    speakers that followed me were giv-
however, I was also apprehensive               The theme of the Convention this     en the luxury of a fan. Pastor
because of some "horror stories" I         year was "Courageous Christian           Terpstra gave a stirring message on
had heard about our YE's conven-           Youth."      Most appropriately,         "Daniel's Bold Witness." I was in
tions!                                     Grandville's Young People's Society      seminary the same time as Pastor
    This year's YPs Convention was         chose Daniel as the godly example        Terpstra some ten years ago, and it
sponsored by Grandville Protestant         for our young people today to fol-       was good to be in the same conven-
Reformed Church and was held at            low. Amidst the Babylon of this          tion with him now. Sitting in the
Hope College in Holland, Michigan.         world, the remnant seed of God is        audience with the young people was
As I sit back to reflect upon the          called to stand by faith! I found my-    also a good experience for me. Ex-
blessed moments I was given to en-         self first speaker on a hot Monday       cept for the fanning and wiping, it
joy with our precious covenant             evening. And was it hot in Michi-        seemed as if the other speakers were
youth, I am filled with thanksgiving       gan! I have spoken in crowded            able to get good attention from the
to God. I have come away from the          Singapore and now I am experienc-        young people. It was an excellent
convention with renewed inspiration        ing Houston's hot and humid sum-         idea to have a teacher give the last
to labor as a minister.                    mers! But, quite honestly, I have        speech. Mr. Cal Kalsbeek spoke on
    I trust that many, if not all of       never before spoken to a crowd fan-      "Daniel's Godly Choices." His
those who attended this year's con-        ning and wiping at the beginning of      speech was well applied to the needs
vention, will echo my impressions          a speech, clearly expressing: "Let       of our young people, especially the
expressed here. I do not say that          us get out of here!" As I stood be-      temptations they face. I came to the
our young people are perfect. They         fore the 350 youth, I knew my            convention hoping to learn more
are not. I cannot say there were not       speech had to be abbreviated.            about the needs of our youth, and
things I heard or saw which I did              The subject given to me was          the other speakers surely enlightened
not like. There were. I also am            "Daniel - A Faithful Prayer Life."       me! I wish I could have spoken last,
aware that others have had differ-         What a wonderful thing to know           not first!
ent and maybe contrary experiences         that our young people are interest-          There were other things I had to
in past conventions. But I believe         ed in the subject of prayer! The dis-    learn. I had to learn fast, for exam-
our faithful God and Father is gra-        cussion groups the next morning          ple, what "Twirp Day" is. And oth-
ciously blessing our covenant chil-        were on the related subject of devo-     er  bizarre  things like that. There
dren and youth, and that we can be         tions. The young saints struggle         were quite a few activities very un-
                                           with this matter. In my opinion, our     familiar to me. We have fewer fun
                                           young people need more encourage-        activities in our camps in Singapore,
                                           ment from our parents and teach-         but I would not say the custom here
Rev. Mahtani is pastor of Trinity Prot-    ers, both by instruction as well as      is bad as such. Just different. The
estant Reformed Church in Houston,         by godly example, on the impor-          YE had bowling, swimming, canoe-
Texas.                                     tance of daily personal devotions.       ing. It was delightful to see our

GO/Standard Bearer/November 1,1995


youth enjoy one another as covenant       lookers at the beach, bowling alley,       the Lord's blessings and mercies!
saints.                                   wherever we went, expressed sur-               I have been informed by others
    I had to disclose a secret to the     prise at the good behavior and man-        that this was one of the best con-
young people. Fifteen years ago I         ners of our young people. Appar-           ventions ever, and that there have
found my beloved wife, and it was         ently they were listening to our t*        been sad experiences in the past.
in one of our camps in Singapore.         and watching closely our walk!  And        Well, shall we forget the things
Is it so wrong to look for a mate at a    your young people surely sent a            which are behind and press for-
Young People's Convention? Bernie         clear message! Let us continue to          ward?
Kamps, master of ceremonies at the        encourage our sons and daughters,              I make bold to send in this tib-
banquet, raised the concerns of the       that they show a good testimony not        ute to our young people for publica-
chaperons, I think, when he detailed      only in our presence but much more         tion. I do this with the prayer that
every aspect of his first date.           in our absence. Keep it up, young          we may all join to give thanks to
    It would be a mistake to end this     people! We thank God for you!              God, and continue to pray earnestly
article without a tribute to our              Parents, pastors, elders, teachers,    for Jehovah's continued blessings!
youth! I think we ought to encour-        let us be thankful! We, and our                May the Lord in His mercy keep
age our young people with regard          young people like us, are not per-         His covenant with us, with our chil-
to their impressive behavior, espe-       fect. But we may humbly rejoice in         dren, and especially with our grow-
cially in public. More than once, on-                                                ing young people! 0





               The Sfandard iBearer-
           In Defense of the Faith (I)*

    For over 70 years the Standard        the present, have led the way in this.     Bearer  has often been criticized. Fre-
Bearer  has championed the cause of       But not only the editorials, the other     quently this criticism has come from
the Reformed faith.                       departments of the magazine as well        those outside the Protestant Re-
    Over those years the  Standard        have defended the faith once for all       formed Churches. It has come from
Bearer has undergone many chang-          delivered to the saints against a myr-     those who are opposed to our dis-
es. There have been changes in the        iad of enemies. The Standard Bear-         tinctively Reformed stand. Com-
appearance of the magazine. There         er has not drawn back from engag-          ments are made. Letters are sent to
have been changes in format. There        ing the enemy, whether in the world        the editor. Retorts are made in oth-
have been changes of rubrics and          or in the church, whether he made          er religious papers.
writers. There have been changes          his appearance in the Reformed                 This is expected! We are not
of editors.                               churches around us or in our own           surprised by it!
    One thing has not changed in          churches, as was the case in the               What is more distressing is that
that span of time, and that is the        1950s.                                     the Standard Bearer comes under
Standard Bearer's  vigorous defense           The  Standard Bearer  has always       criticism for this very same reason
of the faith. Our editors, down to        considered it to be its calling to en-     among our own people from time
                                          gage in polemics. Polemics is the          to time.
                                          refuting of error. Polemics involves           That is disturbing!
                                          controversy. Polemics involves ex-             "Why do we always have to be
                                          posing deviation in doctrine and in        negative?" it is asked. "Do we al-
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of Southwest      practice. Polemics involves the con-       ways have to be pointing out error,
Protestant Reformed Church in             demnation of heresy in the light of        especially error in the other church-
Grandville, Michigan.                     Scripture and the Reformed confes-         es? Why can't we be more positive?
    * The speech given by Rev.            sions. The Standard Bearer is today        It seems we're always finding fault."
Cammenga at the annual meeting of the     and has always been polemical.                 I am convinced, and I hope you
EPA, held on September 28,199s.               Because of this the  Standard          are too, that the Standard Bearer
                                                                                           November 1,1995/Standatri  Bearer/61


 must continue to be polemical. I am          Hoeksema were editors along with              Free Publishing Association." Arti-
 convinced that  this is her calling          a number of other ministers.                  cle II, titled "Purpose," states:
from God and that this is also the                  In a pamphlet entitled,  "Om
need of the hour. We must earnest-            Rechten en Waurheid II ("Concerning             The purpose of this Association
ly contend for the faith, as Jude calls       Right. and Truth"), Revs. Dar&of  and           shall be:
us to do in Jude 3: "Beloved, when            Hoeksema served notice of their in-              1. To witness to the truth contained
I gave all diligence to write unto you        tention to begin publishing their own              in the Word of God and ex-
of the common salvation, it was                       monthly paper. The first issue             pressed in the Three Forms of
needful for me to write unto                            of the Standard Bearer was               Unity.
you, and to exhort you that          The trumpet                                              2. To reveal false and deceptive
                                                          printed in October of 1924,            views repugnant thereto.
ye should earnestly  con-              must be            with an editorial staff of
tend for the faith which                  blown!           four: Rev. G.M. Ophoff           Article III, titled fl Ways and Means,"
was once delivered unto              God's people          (his name spelled incor-         goes on to say:
the saints." Verse 4 gives             must be             redly on the front. of that
the reason: "For there are             rallied!            first issue) and Mr. G.            To effectuate the purpose contained
certain men crept in  un-             The enemy            VanBeek,  along with               in Article II, this Association shall
awares, who were before of             must be            Danhof and Hoeksema.                publish  and distribute a magazine,
old ordained to this condem-         confronted!         That is what the Standard            to be known as the Standard Bear-
nation, ungodly men, turning                           Bearer  was at first  - a              er....
the @ace  of our God into lascivi-                  monthly paper. About a year
ousness, and denying the only Lord           and a half later, beginning in May                  It cannot be denied that over the
God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."             of 1926, the Standard Bearer became            years  the  Standard Bearer  has exert-
    As the darkness around us                a semi-monthly paper, a change that            ed itself to be faithful to its found-
deepens, the darkness of the great           occasioned the first subscription rate         ing purpose. Even those who are in
apostasy, the faithful church of Jesus       increase from $1.50 a year to $2.50 a          disagreement with us, those who
Christ, faithful members and                 year.                                          have taken issue with what has been
officebearers, and faithful writers in              In an editorial in that firs: issue,    written  in the Standard Bearer, must
books and magazines must not al-             Rev. Danhof explained the p&-pose              acknowledge that our magazine has
low their voices of warning to be            of the Standard Bearer.                        made a conscious effort to be po-
stilled. The trumpet must be blown!                                                         lemical. The Standard Bearer has
God's people must be rallied! The              They (that is, the members of the            engaged in controversy.
enemy must be confronted!                      RFPA) felt that they must fight for              In the defense of the faith, error
                                               the cause of the Lord, not only              has been pointed out.
In defense of the faith                        against the enemies who stand out-               Old errors, errors that have
    The  Standard Bearer  has always           side of their own church commun-             threatened the church for centuries,
understood it to be its calling to de-         ion, but under the present circum-           have been refuted: Pelagianism,
                                               stances, no less against the enemy
fend the faith.                                                                             Semi-Pelagianism, Arminianism,
                                               within the gates. Therefore, they
    It was for this very reason that           desire men who will raise the stan-          Amyrauldianism,  Premillennialism,
the  Standard Bearer  came into exist-         dard, and instruct and lead the peo-         Dispensationalism,  Post-millenni-
ence in the autumn of 1924. Con-               ple of God in the battle which is            alism, and a host of others.
troversy was brewing in the Chris-             inevitable and which must be                     New errors, especially those that
tian Reformed Church,  the common              fought. A need is felt for leader-           have arisen in the Reformed and
grace controversy. The  Standard               ship in ecclesiastical questions,            Presbyterian churches, have been as-
Bearer  was founded by two key fig-            points of doctrine, prevalent spec-          sailed: common grace, the teaching
ures in that controversy, Rev. Hen-            ulations, and the practical applica-         of a conditional covenant, the well-
                                               tion in life of the principles out of
ry Danhof and Rev. Herman Hoek-                                                             meant gospel offer, presupposed re-
                                               which men ought to live. And al-
sema. They had been outspoken in               though they do not plan to confine           generation, Pentecostalism,  unbib-
their opposition to the teaching of            themselves in this struggle to the           lical divorce and remarriage, and
common grace, and in opposition to             publication of this periodical, nev-         various forms of the denial of Scrip-
those who were in various ways pro-            ertheless, they want the Standard            ture's infallibility and authority.
moting this false doctrine in the              Bearer to lead the way in this diffi-            The most recent errors to trou-
churches. The pages of the Banner              cult struggle (SB, vol. 1, p. 3).            ble the Reformed churches have been
and  De Wachter,  both official publi-                                                      exposed: Theistic evolution (with its
cations of the CRC, had been closed                 That the Standard Bearer has            denial not only of creation but also
to them. There was disagreement              seen it to be its calling to defend the        of the flood), Feminism and the
on the editorial staff of the Witness,       faith of Scripture is evident too from         women in office advocates, the New
a paper of which both Danhof and             the "Constitution of the Reformed              Age, the Reconstructionists, those

WStandard  Bearer/November 1,1995


advancing the allegorical interpreta-     pernicious views judged in the light         when error has been condemned, it
tion of Scripture, the Independents       of Scripture and the Reformed con-           has been condemned because of its
(whom Jude refers to in v. 19, "These     fessions: Barth, Dekker, Daane,              attack on the truth, in the interests
be they who separate themselves...").     Runia, Boer, Wiersinga, Kuitert,             of the maintenance of the truth, for
    In  the defense of the faith,         Woudstra,  Schuller, Holtrop, Camp-          the sake of the knowledge of the
groups and churches either counte-        ing, VanTil, Menninga, Young.                truth among the people of God.
nancing or approving of error have                In its defense of the faith, the         Think once of the many articles
been addressed: The World Coun-           Standard Bearer has been involved            that have appeared in the pages of
cil of Churches, the Reformed Ecu-        over the years in exchanges with oth-        the Standard Bearer selling forth the
menical Council, Reformed church-         er magazines:  De Wachter,  the  Ban-        doctrines of grace, the truth concem-
es in our own country and in the          ner,       the  Reformed Journal,            ing Scripture, the covenant of grace,
Netherlands, various Presbyterian         Concordiq  Clarion, Torch and Trum-          marriage and the home and family,
bodies. Issues dividing the PRC from      pet (now the Outlook), and more re-          Christian  eduction,  the church and
the Liberated (especially the Cana-       cently  Christian Renewal.                   her worship. There has been exten-
dian Reformed Churches), the Neth-                This is not to say that the Stan-    sive exposition of Scripture and the
erlands Reformed congregations,           dard Bearer has confined itself to po-       confessions. Books like  TripZe
and the Christian Reformed Church         lemics, to defending the faith. Not          fiowledge  and Behold, He Cometh,
(our mother church) have been fre-        at all!                                      as well as Freeborn Sons of Sarah
quently addressed. Along with this,               There has been a great deal of       and The Glory  of the True Taberna-
error in the instruction of the Chris-    positive setting forth and develop-          cle appeared first as installments in
tian colleges and seminaries has          ment of the truth over the years in          the  Standard Bearer.
been scrutinized in the  Standard         the  Standard Bearer.  The great doc-            It is not fair, it is simply not ac-
Bearer.                                   trines that make up the faith of the         curate, to accuse the  Standard Bear-
    In the defense of the faith, fol-     church have been explained. The              er of being always negative, exclu-
lowing the example of Christ and          holy life to which God calls His peo-        sively polemical.  0
the apostles, the false teachers them-    ple has been set forth. And even                                 . ..to be continued.
selves have been identified and their





     Annual Meeting of the RFPA
                  - Secretary's Report

Dear RFPA Members and Friends,            were denied the right to express and         the authors explained the purpose
                                          defend their views regarding the             of this paper as follows:
    It is appropriate that, as we con-    sovereign, particular grace of God.
clude the 71st year of publishing, we     This issue was being hotly debated             We shall let scripture speak....
as an association take the time to        among Reformed Christians. Our                 Scripture must teach us. In it God
pause and look back to the begin-         fathers therefore, being determined           must speak to us. According to it,
nings of our publishing endeavor.         by the grace of God to give a wit-             must be our world and life view.
The publishing of the Standard Bear-      ness to this sovereign grace also             It must teach us concerning sin and
er began 71 years ago because our         through the printed page, began the            grace, curse and blessing, reproba-
fathers, in the church of their day,      publishing of our Standard Bearer.            tion and election, doom and
                                          In the beginning, the original pur-           bliss....The authors also pledged
                                                                                        themselves not only to write defen-
                                          pose and intent to publish the Stan-           sively, but to be positive and con-
                                          dard Bearer was set forth in a pam-            structive.
Mr.  Kamps is  secreta y of the  RFPA     phlet entitled, "For the Sake of Jus-
board.                                    tice and Truth." In this pamphlet                It is good for those of us who

                                                                                             November 1,19!25/Standard  Beam&3


are involved in the support and pub-              the globe. The board takes note that             (The Reformation and Scripture) for
lishing  of the Standard Bearer to re-            these church collections and gifts               lessons on the Holy Bible. Your
call this history as we begin our 72nd            have doubled since 1988. We take                 magazine is one of the best I have
volume year. We see today that we                 this opportunity, therefore, to thank            ever seen. (Most of today's maga-
                                                                                                   zines are like bodies without hones.)
have been the benefactors of this                 our many subscribers and friends,                I am reading re-reading, and us-
publishing effort. This is because                from various places, who have again              ing for preaching and teaching, the
we have received a rich heritage of               this past year so generously support-            past issues.... Keep up the good
truth as this has been developed and              ed this publication.                             work You are the salt and the
preserved for us through the                                 The board is active in promot-        light.
Standard Bearer  itself. We                                   ing the 
                                         . . . we are                     Standard Bearer  to
rejoice that God has pre-                                      gain new subscribers. The             Another letter we received from
served this means of the          determined to                 number of subscribers to         a physician in Fayetteville, North
Standard Bearer for the                  witness                our  Standard Bearer  stands     Carolina reminds us how God uses
                                           to the
spiritual benefit and in-                                       at 2,610, as of August 1,        a sharp presentation of the truth
                                 sovereign grace
struction of ourselves and                                                                       through the Standard  Bearer. He
of our children. By recall-               of God                1995. This subscription          says,
                                          via the               base includes 23 foreign
ing this history, we also                                      countries, and all but seven        I wiII be forever grateful for this
understand that ours is the            printed page.          states of the U.S. We note           introduction to the faithful presen-
great privilege to be able to                                that our subscription base con-       tation of the truth in God's word
witness to the pure Reformed                         tinues a steady increase year by              as presented by the teachers in the
faith in our times - times of tur-                year, and has grown by over 35%                  PRC. This manifestation of God's
                                                                                                   grace in my life came about 6
moil and crisis in the Reformed com-              the last several years. This is en-              months ago as I was searching for
munity. Because we remember, and                  couraging to all of us who are in-               truth. I spent over 20 years walk-
because we are appreciative of this               volved in the work of writing and                ing in spiritual error . . . until God
heritage, we are also determined to               publishing the Standard Bearer. This             in His mercy opened my eyes to
witness to the sovereign grace of                 indicates to us that there is desire             the Reformed faith. Even after be-
God via the printed page. Our                     and appreciation for solid Reformed              ing saved, I took a side path in er-
prayer is that God will give us grace             teaching and writing. Over this past             ror as I followed the teaching of
to preserve in this work, using us in year we received 202 new gift sub-                           1994?  . . . God in His mercy (and the
behalf of His name and truth.                     scriptions to our  Standard Bearer.              SB articles)  brought full recovery
                                                                                                   from this.
    The board takes this opportuni-               For new gift subscriptions, the first
ty to thank Don and Judi Doezema                  year is mailed at half the normal sub-             As we begin the new 72nd vol-
as our Managing Editor, Business                  scription rate. This is done in the            ume year, our hope and prayer is
Manager, and Assistant Business                   hope that those who receive the gift           that the Standard Bearer may con-
Manager for the excellent work they               subscription will recognize the spir-          tinue to be of great service and ben-
do  in behalf of the  Standard Bearer.            itual value, enjoy the quality of our          efit both within and outside our cir-
We appreciate and value the many                  magazine, and become lifelong sub-             cles in bearing the standard of truth.
hours they regularly spend in con-                scribers.                                      As board, publishing society, and
nection with bringing the Standard                         The following are quotes from         editors may we pledge ourselves to
Bearer to print, and seeing to it that            letters we have received from ap-              renewed consecration, courage, and
the  Standard Bearer  makes a timely              preciative readers of our  Standard            vigor to make the  Standard Bearer a
journey to our mailboxes.                         Bearer.                                        continuing effective witness to the
    We also thank Professor                                From a minister in Myanmar:           truth in our time. Our confidence is
Engelsma for his faithful labors as                                                              that this work is not in vain, but that
our editor-in-chief. We especially                       I have discovered the  Standard         God will use us, and the Standard
thank him for his solid, clear, and                      Bearer magazine in the library of       Bearer, as in the past, for the build-
unflinching editorials. Also, many                       this college. I was so happy to         ing up of His kingdom and the glo-
thanks to our other faithful editors                     know there is a magazine and            ry of His name. Cl
and contributors who write for our                       brethren that have the same faith,
                                                         and the spirit to defend Reformed
magazine in behalf of the glorious                       theology.
gospel.
    The Standard Bearer continues                          From a minister in Serbia:
to receive solid financial support. As
board we are amazed by the thou-                         I am preparing the lessons for our
sands of dollars we continue to re-                      catechumens class on Christian doc-
ceive each year in church collections                    trine, and I am using the October
and gifts from individuals around                        15, 1993 issue of your magazine

64lStandard  Bearer/November 1,1995


             Jesus' Absolute Equality
                                          with God
                                               John 5:19-47

    The wonderful miracle of the          declaring that the Father and the Son      for their unbelief and refusal to come
healing of the impotent man by the        never act or will independently of         to Him. He tells them that they have
pool of Bethesda serves the Lord's        each other. Both in counsel and in-        not the love of God in them, nor His
purpose of being the occasion for this    action they are the same. Both Fa-         Word abiding in them. Even though
deep and profound passage on the          ther and Son work in the very same         they said they reverenced the Scrip-
deity of Jesus. The miracle had been      manner, by the exercise of the same        tures and Moses, they did not be-
performed on the Sabbath day, and         power, and for the furtherance of          lieve the Scriptures or Moses but fol-
in Jerusalem, exactly so that Jesus       the same ends.                             lowed their own thoughts and fan-
could assert before the Jews His own          Further, the works that they per-      cies. They were all busy seeking the
divine nature and unity of essence        form are greater than that simply of       honor that comes from men and not
with the Father. Aware that the Jews      the healing of the lame man. The Son       from God. For this reason they
are seeking His life, our Lord will       also performs the divine works `of         would not receive Him who came
leave Judea,  but not without testify-    quickening the dead (something             in the name of the Father's wiIl. And
ing of His unique Sonship to the Fa-      which is the sole prerogative of the       thus their condemnation is that they
ther, and thus showing that this as-      Creator God, see Heb. l:l-3), judg-        have rejected the witness borne to
sertion was the heart of the reason       ing men in the sense of assigning to       Him and would not come to Him
for the Jews' opposition to Christ.       men their eternal destiny, and rais-       that they might have life.
    We saw in our last study that         ing the bodies of all men from the             As we study these words of the
the Jews correctly interpreted            grave. Who but the all-wise, al-           Lord, let us remember that He, the
Christ's words in verse 17 to mean        mighty, all-just God can do such           person of the Son of God, who even
that He claimed equality with God.        things? Yet all these works are per-       now sits at God's right hand, speaks
When Jesus said, "My Father . . . and     formed by the Father through the           these words to us. It is through
I," the Jews had immediately under-       Son. Not only does the Son per-            faith, the gift of God, that these
stood that He claimed deity in the        form divine works, but He also re-         Scriptures speak to us of His true
highest possible sense. They there-       ceives divine honors (worship) and         and only Sonship to the Father. Be-
fore considered Him to be worthy          possesses the divine virtue of inde-       lieving these words we have ever-
of death. Now if that was not what        pendency.                                  lasting life (I John 415).
Jesus meant, He could have denied             Jesus then goes on (v. 31) to give
that such was the implication of His      the fourfold witness to His Sonship.                         Outline
words and that they were mistaken.        This witness begins with the Father        I. The defense of Christ's essential
But He does not. Rather, He now           (the voice heard at His baptism), it       unity (equality) with the Father (w.
goes on to explain and expand upon        continues with John the Baptist, it is     19-30).
what had been implied in the state-       heard in the works which Jesus per-            A. The Son never acts in sepa-
ment He had made. The heart of            forms, and last of all is declared with    ration from the Father, but shares
this discourse is, therefore, the ex-     authority in all the Scriptures. A         the purpose and power of the Fa-
planation of the truth of our Lord's      plain and overwhelming witness is          ther (w. 19,20).
essential equality with God.              borne to Him, all of which the Jews            B. The Son performs divine
     Our Lord begins the sermon by        had wilfully rejected.                     acts.
                                              It is then that the accused be-                   1. Regeneration of the
Rev. Haak is pastor of Bethel Protes-     comes the accuser. He who had              dead (w. 21-25).
tant Reformed Church in Elk Grove Vil-    been accused as the Sabbath-break-                    2. Judgment of men (w.
lage, Illinois.                           er now rises to condemn these Jews         22,27,30).
                                                                                              November 1,199SK3at?dad  Bearerief


            3. Salvation of men by the      in the sense that He is a god equal           the fact that the Son has life in Him-
speaking of His voice (v. 24).              to God, but that the equality is a            self (v. 26).
            4. Resurrection of all that     unity of being or essence.                           10. How are we to understand
are in the graves (w. 28,29).                           b. Show that Christ gives         the resurrection of the evil ones?
        C. The Son receives divine hon-     to Himself in this passage divine at-         With what body do they come forth?
ors (v. 23).                                tributes, works, and honors. Make                    11. Explain verse 31. Does Jesus
        D. The Son has divine attributes    a list of them.                               mean that He may not witness to
- Self-sufficiency, independency (v.                    c. Discuss this proposition:      Himself concerning who He is?
26).                                        The healing of the man at the pool                   12. List the four witnesses to
                                            of Bethesda was wholly a second-              Christ's divinity given in verses 32-
II. The witness that is borne to the        ary matter. It was arranged and in-           39.
Son (w. 31-39).                             tended by Christ to bring about this                 13. Do you sense in this passage
        A. His own witness (v. 31).         public testimony of His true and              a transition from the Lord's defense
        B. The Father in Heaven (w.         only Sonship to the Father.                   of His divinity to the Lord's offen-
32,37,38).                                      3. How do verses 19 and 20                sive against the Jews for their hard-
        C. John the Baptist (w. 33-35).     show that the Father and the Son              ness and unbelief? Where does the
        D. The works that Jesus per-        never work separately from one an-            transition begin?
forms (v. 36).                              other but rather by the. same power                  14. Verse 40 has been used as
    E . The Scriptures (v. 39).             and out of the same purpose?                  support for the well-meant offer of
                                                4. What is the meaning of                 salvation, namely, that God intends
III. Jesus accuses the Jews of their        verse 20: "greater works than                 that all who hear the gospel might
wilful rejection of Him  (w. 40-47).        these"? Greater than what works?             believe and have life in His Son. Re-
        A. They will not come to Him        What are these greater works which            spond to this. What is meant by the
because they have not the love of           will be shown?                                words: "that ye might have life"?
God in them (w. 40-42).                         5. Does the quickening of the                    15. What was the great obstacle
        B. They do not receive him as       dead refer only to the final resurrec-        in the way of their receiving one
He comes in the Father's name be-           tion of the body, or can it refer also       who came to them in the name of
cause they seek honor of one anoth-         to the spiritual quickening of regen-         the Father (v. 44)?
er and not of God (w. 43,44).               eration?                                             16. How will Moses accuse
        C. They do not believe the tes-         6. May we substitute the word             them to the Father (v. 45)? In what
timony of Moses concerning Him              "worship" for "honor" in verse 23?            sense could it be said that they trust-
and thus will not receive Jesus'            See John 20:28.                               ed in Moses? Where and how did
words either (w. 45-47).                        7. Why does the Father com-               Moses write of Christ?
                                            mit all judgment to the Son (w. 22,                  17. Show from verse 47 that our
                Questions                   27)? Why is it fitting and proper            faith in Christ as the divine Son of
        1: Background Study Aids:           that the "Son of man" be the one              God must be and can only be based
Belgic Confession, Art. 10; Xeformed        who executes the judgment of God?             on the truth of the inspiration of the
Dogmatics,  pages 342-348.                      8. In what way does verse 24              Scriptures. Or: Can faith in the dei-
        2. Questions over the whole         show the equality of Jesus with              ty of Christ be maintained if one de-
passage:                                    God?                                         nies the inspiration and infallibility
           a. Show from this passage            9. Explain the significance of            of the Bible? 0
that Jesus' equality with God is not



                                                Strength for the Day
                                                    Deuteronomy 33:25b
  Communion with my Lord -                  My weary, sinful heart,                     Be Thou forever near me
          Can aught more precious be?           So burdened and distressed -               To lead and guide my way;
  Is there a joy that can compare           I bring it to the Savior                    Such blessed sweet Communion
          To fellowship with Thee?              And there find peace and rest.             Will keep me day by day."

  Ah, this I truly know -                   "Dear Precious, Heavenly  Eather,
          No treasure is so sweet               My haven from the strife;
  As that to lay my burdens                 Please shelter from the battle                                        Anmtta ]ansen
          Down at the Savior's feet.            And help me on through life.                                     Dorr, Michigan

66lStandard  Bearer /November 1,1995


                                                           Chapter 4
                           The Last Four Da s
                                                                                                     z
                                  of Creation-Wee
                                                       (concluded)

                                                companion to fill his life. For the        God awakened in Adam's heart the
     The Creation of the Woman                  very term "help meet for him" re-          longing for a companion of his own.
     (Gen. 1:27; Gen. 2:18ff.)                  fers to a companion, a second be-              Concerning this naming of the
         The narrative of the creation of       ing, like unto himself, that in every      animals, we may note that the ani-
     the woman is introduced, first of all,     respect fills, supplements, his own        mals evidently were named before
     by a Word of God addressed to              existence: the woman is the other          the creation of the woman. It is also
     Himself. This time the Word of God         part, the "other half," the counter-       evident from Genesis 1 that the
     is: 1) That it is not good that man        part of man. Like the man, she is a        woman, like the man, was created
     should be alone; 2) That God, there-       human being, yet she is not a mere         on the sixth day. It follows, then,
     fore, would make him an help meet          duplicate of man. She is most close-       that the naming of the animals also
     for him. In the second place, the          ly related to him, yet she is not an-      occurred on the sixth day. From the
     narrative of the creation of the wom-      other man. She differs from him in         moment Adam was created, he func-
     an is introduced by the account of         such a way that she fills his exist-       tioned as God's friend-servant in cre-
     Adam's giving names to the ani-            ence, supplements him, is one whole        ation.
     mals.                                      with him. This is true not only in             We may notice, further, that
         As to the meaning of the state-        the physical sense, but also in the        Scripture informs us that God
     ment that it is not good for the man       psychological sense; and it ought to       brought the animals to man "to see
     to be alone, we may mention, in the        be the case spiritually. This also sig-    what he would call them." God's
     first place, that this has reference to    nifies that one woman fills the life       glory, revealed in creation, was to
     the fact that without a help, a com-       of one man. Polygamy is a viola-           be concentrated and reflected in the
     panion, the man cannot realize his         tion of the very ordinance of cre-         mind and heart of man. Creation is
     calling, cannot serve the purpose of       ation, as is also adultery.                a book, and all creatures are so many
     his existence to be fruitful and mul-          As to the naming of the animals        "words" of God. The whole cre-
     tiply and replenish the earth, and         by Adam, this was evidently de-            ation spelled the name of God.
     thus to have dominion over the             signed to awaken in Adam the con-          Adam was so created that he could
     earthly creation  (1:28). This latter      sciousness of his being incomplete         read the words, could know the
     Word of God to man was, evident-           without the woman. The animals             name of God. He was God's proph-
     ly, spoken after the creation of the       were created male and female at            et. This became manifest when he
     woman.                                     once. Man's union with his wife was        read the "word" of God in each ani-
         In the second place, the state-        to be a reflection of God's covenant,      mal, which is its name. In this, God
     ment points to the fact that without       ultimately an image of the relation        was glorified. He saw how Adam
     the woman, the man alone is quite          between Christ and His church. Even        named the animals.
     helpless. He is not complete. He           as the church is the body of Christ,           This also implies that Adam's
     cannot reflect in his life the cove-       His fullness, so the woman is the          knowledge was that of intuition: he-
     nant life of God. He is in need of a       fulfillment of the needs of the man.       could look into the nature and es-
                                                He must consciously need her, want         sence of things and could see their
                                                her, seek her, long for her, and dis-      true meaning. This form of knowing
                                                cover that she is "flesh of his flesh,     is lost through sin. We can attain to
     The late Homer Hoeksetna was profes-       bone of his bone." For he must love        some knowledge only through a pro-
     sor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in      her, even as Christ loves the church.      cess of reasoning. But Adam in the
I    the Protestant Reformed Seminay.           Hence, by the naming of the animals        state of rectitude was able to dis-
                                                                                                     November 1,1!395/Stmdard  Beared


tern the Word of God in all creation.           2:13); 2) That Adam is the head and           quently in the Old Testament. There
     Finally, it is evident from verse          root of the entire human race. For            are various shades of meaning: 1)
20 that the result for Adam of his              given with the creation of male and           An army as prepared and marching
naming of the animals was that he               female is also the potential of the           for war (II Sam. 8:16; 10:7); 2) The
realized the need of a companion of             whole race out of them. That race is          host of heaven: angels, sun, moon,
his own, a help meet for him. He                in Adam and from Adam. Legally                and stars (Ps. 148:2; Is. 40~26); 3) All
found, evidently, that in the animal            and organically he is the head of the         the individual creatures of the whole
world there was companionship,                  race, as well as the root.                    universe conceived as a well-ordered
"but for Adam there was not found                                                             army that is prepared for battle. In
an help meet for him."                          The completion of Creation and                the last sense it is used in Genesis
     Then follows the account con-              the Sabbath of the seventh Day.               2:l. When elsewhere the Lord is
cerning the deep sleep which God                       At the conclusion of the account       called "Jehovah of Hosts," there is
caused to fall upon Adam and the                of God's creative work we read,               no reason whatsoever to limit the
creation of the woman. The pur-                 Genesis 1:31 - 2:3: "And God saw              term "hosts" to angels, or to the
pose of this deep sleep cannot have             everything that he had made, and,             heavenly luminaries. Our God is the
been that it must serve as an anes-             behold, it was very good. And the             Lord of all creatures, and those crea-
thetic. For, in the first place, Adam           evening and the morning were the              tures constitute a well ordered host
did not undergo an operation, even              sixth day. Thus the heavens and the           to fight His battle and to accomplish
though God took one of his ribs and             earth were finished and all the host          His purpose. When creation is com-
closed up the place thereof with                of them. And on the seventh day               pleted, the whole universe stands
flesh. But this was a creative act of           God ended his work which he had               prepared to do God's bidding and
God. In the second place, the mar-              made; and he rested on the seventh            to accomplish His good pleasure in
vel of the creation of the woman out            day from all his work which he had            the course of history.
of Adam certainly would not cause               made. And God blessed the sev-                    Finally, we read in verses 2 and
physical pain. Rather must the rea-             enth day, and sanctified it: because          3 of Chapter 2 of the creation Sab-
son be found in the fact that God               that in it he had rested from all his         bath. It is not our purpose at this
here resumed His work of creating,              work which God created and made."             time to enter into a complete dis-
and that man could have no part in                     We should pay special attention        cussion of the idea of the Sabbath.
this. Man can only begin to work                to the final statement of Genesis 1.          We only wish to point out, in the
where the work of creation is fin-              Notice, in the first place, that we do        first place, that the "rest" of God on
ished. Besides, the creation of                         not find the words, "God saw          the seventh day is a revelation in
the woman must necessarily                                that it was good." But this         time of the eternal rest in God. God
fall outside of Adam's ex-                                                      .
                                       All creation        time we read: "God saw ev-         is eternally active; yet His activity is
perience. This was accom-                 sewed             erything that he had made,        perfect and eternal rest, because His
plished by that deep                   the purpose           and, behold, it was very         work is always and perfectly fin-
sleep.                                   of God,             good." This points us to         ished in Himself. In the second
    God then formed the                each creature         the fact that in the light of    place, we must remember that rest
woman from a rib which                  in its own           creation all things re-          is not idleness, but the entering into
He .took out of Adam's                 pmper place           turned to God. Secondly,         the enjoyment of a perfect work Of
side. As Scripture itself              contributing          it emphasizes that the           this eternal rest in God the seventh
makes plain, this signifies               to this           whole creation as a harmo-        day is a revelation.
that the woman is by cre-                putpose.          nious unity was good. All              We must also note that God
ation not designed to be the             - .              creation served the purpose         blessed and sanctified the seventh
head, neither the slave of man,            :            of God, each creature in its own      day. This means, in the first place,
but being flesh of his flesh and bone           proper place contributing to this pur-        that He set it apart from the rest of
of his bone is a proper companion               pose. This reminds us by implica-             the week as a day of consecration to
for him, standing in the closest of:            tion once more that creation is des-          a special purpose. In the second
all relationships to him, the object            tined to pass through a history, and          place, it implies that God filled that
of his love and care. "Therefore , that with a view to that history and                       day with a special blessing for
shall a man leave his father and to the achievement of the God-ap-                            Adam, the blessing of "rest." Even
mother, and cleave unto his wife,               pointed destiny, all creation was             as God works and enters into His
and they two shall be one flesh."               good.                                         rest eternally, and had revealed this
    As to the significance of the cre-                 In close connection with all this      in the six days of creation and the
ation of the woman out of Adam,                 stands the summary statement of               seventh day of rest, so Adam had to
Scripture teaches us: 1) That Adam              21, "Thus the heavens and the earth           labor (multiply, subdue the earth,
was first created, and is the head of           were finished, and all the host of            cultivate and keep the garden - all
the woman (I Cor.  11:8, 9; I Tim.              them." The word "host" occurs fre-            in the service of God) in order to
68lStandard BearerlNovember  1,1995


enter into the rest of creation: the         that Adam did not enter into the rest        Christ from the dead. Hence, by
perfect development and subjection           of creation. He failed.  According-          faith the church labors to enter into
of the whole earthly creation under          ly, the number of sinful man is not          that rest, and celebrates the "day of
his feet. From this labor he might           "seven," but "six" - the labor with-         the Lord" as its sabbath. This is the
cease, and of this rest he might have        out the rest. God, however,  pre-            rest that remaineth for the people of
a foretaste on the weekly sabbath            pared another rest for His people            God, the rest in Christ, to be per-
day.                                         through His work of redemption.              fected in eternal glory (Heb. 4:6-9).
    We must remember, however,               This work was finished principally                                                       0
                                             in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus





n Action and Reaction to the                 classes give women go-ahead to be              ed a letter be sent to each classis
uWomen in Office" Issue                      ministers." The article states in  part:       church detailing the action's impli-
                                                                                            cations....
    Both action and re-action were               For the first time in the Christian          Classis  Pacific Northwest last
responses by various Classes of the            Reformed Church's 13%year  histo-            week became the first CRC region
                                                                                            to make the choice for women min-
Christian Reformed Church to the               ry, CRC churches in Grand Rapids
                                               and Holland have officially allowed          isters. Other classes expected to fol-
decision of last June by their Synod           women to serve as ministers in their         low suit soon include Lake Erie and
to the women in office issue. That             congregations.                               Toronto....
Synod, as reported earlier, reversed              Action taken Thursday by two                "This issue was de facto resolved
the position of the Synod of 1994.             classes, or regional groups of               by this classis  (Grand Rapids East
In 1994 the Synod had declared un-             churches, will enable churches in            - GVB) years ago," said the Rev.
equivocally but hardly unanimous-              those groups to ordain women as              Scott Hoezee, who presided over
ly that women could not serve in po-           pastors and send women as dele-              the meeting.
sitions of leadership in the CRC.              gates to classis  meetings.                    He predicted more women dele-
                                                                                            gates would join the  15-church
Specifically, they could not be elders           In Classis  Grand Rapids East, the
                                               unanimous vote passed quickliy  and          classis  this year, adding, "It feels
or ministers in the denomination.              without a word of discussion -               good to finally start looking like the
Solid grounds were given from                  which pro-women advocates felt               church."
Scripture and the Church Order.                was  appropriate.
 Then in 1995, without any at-                   "There was something wonder-                 Strange indeed! After nearly
tempt to treat the earlier decision in         ful about the fact that it passed so       2000 years of church history, the
harmony with the requirements of               simply and easily," said Mary              CRC Classis Grand Rapids East fi-
their Church Order, the Synod de-              Antonides, who is already function-        nally "looks like the church!" Iron-
cided on a "compromise": those                 ing as an unordained pastor at East-       ic, too, is the fact that Eastern Ave.
classes or churches which felt com-            em Avenue CRC. "It's all been said
                                               at this point. It's good to say, `Let's    CRC has been in the forefront of the
pelled to install women as elders or           move on.`"                                 movement to force this action upon
ministers could declare the Church               Immediately after the vote, two          the churches. It was from this same
Order "inoperative" with respect to            women elders were recognized as            church that the late Rev. Herman
this issue. The Church Order was               delegates among the 30-member              Hoeksema was cast out by action of
not changed (that would have re-               classis....                                the Synod of 1924 and subsequent
quired another year's wait), but a               In  Classis  Holland, however,           action of Classis  Grand Rapids East.
footnote was added which was in                some argued  against  dropping the             Opposition also appears to be
flat contradiction to the article itself.      CRC Church Order requirement               growing against the action of a Syn-
    It did not take long for various           that only males may serve a5 pas-
                                               tors, elders and delegates to classis      od which no longer regards its own
Classes to act. The Grand Rapids               meetings. The measure passed               rules as binding.  Classis California
Press, September 22, 1995, had the             there by a slim 29-25.                     South, after a very contentious spe-
headline on the front page: "2 CRC               "Are we making room for my-              cial classis' meeting on August 26,
                                               self and others who don't agree?"          1995, decided narrowly to call all the
                                               asked the Rev. Ron De Young of             churches and classes of the CRC to
                                               Hamilton CRC.                              a meeting to discuss the course of
                                                 After the vote, delegates made
Rev. VanBaren  is pastor o f the Protes-                                                  action which must be taken in light
                                               appeals to be sensitive to those who
tant Reformed Church o f Loveland,                                                        of the recent  Synodical  decision.
                                               disagreed. They also recommend-
Colorado.                                                                                 Rev. John Berends, classis' president,

                                                                                                November 1,1995Etandard  Beared


had ruled the overture to hold such        treated and, in its essence, adopted.            3. Seek to ensure that the his-
a meeting to be out of order. He           The following invitation has been              toric Reformed commitments of our
based his ruling on advice he re-          sent to the churches:                          churches will be maintained in
ceived from the board of trustees of                                                      coming generations.
the CRC and from Dr. Henry De                 -1. Believing that the Scripture              All decisions of this conference
                                                                                          may be presented to the councils
Moor, professor of church polity at          prohibits the -ordination of women           and subsequently to the classes rep-
Calvin Seminary. He had asked                to the offices of elder, minister, and       resented at the conference for ap-
them to review the overture  and             evangelist;                                  proval for submission to Synod
send him "an official ruling or find-          2. Convinced that Synod 1995
                                             failed to follow the Scripture and           1995.
ing as to its admissibility or legali-       violated Church Order Articles 3,              Classis  California South, if it ap-
ty." Their advice was that the over-         31,47, and 86;                               proves this request, should appoint
ture violated the CRC Church Or-               3.      Committed to preserving the        a committee on arrangements to see
der,  Article  44! Strong opinions           biblical principles of our Church            that the invitations are mailed out
                                                                                          and that local arrangements and an
were spoken both for and against             Order;                                       agenda are prepared.
the ruling of the chair. One, Rev.             4. Devoted to  maintaining  the              The cost of such a meeting, trans-
Randy Lankheet, objected, accord-            historic Reformed charactelr of our          portation, housing, etc., shall not
ing to the report from Darrell Todd          churches, for example in rejecting           be borne by  Classis California
Maurina:                                     ecclesiastical fellowship with de-
                                             nominations that permit and en-              South, but by those in attendance.
                                             courage homosexual practice;
      "We are increasingly having                                                           (Above-quote is also from a re-
  chairmen of the day call Grand             Classis  California South invites all      port of Darrell Todd Mamma.)
  Rapids, get opinions from the board        classes (as well as all councils and           Classis   Illiana encouraged the
  of trustees, and not discuss or de-        officebearers) who share our con-          churches of this classis "to encour-
  liberate," said Lankheet, noting that      victions to attend a conference in         age our councils to send their own
  a representative was present at the        November to formulate appropri-
  meeting from the denominational                                                       participants" to the Conference. The
                                             ate actions and responses to Synod
  board of trustees.                                                                    conference is scheduled for Novem-
                                             1995.       Classes, councils, and
    "Next time you're going to be                                                       ber 6 and 7 at the First CRC in South
                                             officebearers are encouraged to sub-
  chair, and you see something on            mit agenda items and motions to            Holland, Illinois.
  the agenda that you don't like, so         this conference. The conference                Meanwhile: There is a growing
  will you call Grand Rapids and say,        will seek ways to:                         sentiment within WARC (World Al-
  `Can you give me six points to rule                                                   liance of Reformed Churches) to ex-
  this out of order so that I can get          1.      Address the decisions of Syn-    clude from its membership those de-
  out on time to go to my church             od 1995 relative to women in eccle-        nominations which refuse to ordain
  picnic?`" Lankheet asked the as-           siastical office and relative to its
  sembled delegates. "We need to                                                        women as ministers of the Word of
                                             failure to break relations with the
  prevent chairmen of the day from                                                      God in their churches. The claim is
                                             GKN despite their unbiblical ap-
  doing these things."                                                                  that such refusal is violation of the
                                             proval of homosexual practice;
                                               2. Protect congregations which           teachings of Scripture. The circle
    The chair was overruled by a 9           differ with their classis where wom-       seems almost to be completed. 0
to 7 margin and the overture was             en serve as officebearers;





                                           Russ Dykstra presided at this ses-           essary at this meeting a rather un-
    The September meeting of               sion of Classis.                             usual occurrence for Classis West.
Classis West was held in South Hol-            The agenda of Classis was brief.         There was also one discipline mat-
land, IL on Wednesday, September           There were regular reports from the          ter dealt with in closed session,
20.  Classis was scheduled two             Classical Committee, the Stated              where approval was given to one of
weeks later than is customary, in or-      Clerk, and the Reading Sermon                the con&tories to proceed with the
der that the delegates could attend        Committee. Mandates were given               erasure of a baptized member.
the  Conference on Reformed Church         to the Stated Clerk concerning the               The next scheduled meeting of
Government held in Grand Rapids            copying and preservation of the ar-          Classis is to be held in Pella, IA, on
on  September 21 and 22.                   chives of  Classis West, and there           March 6,1996,  the Lord willing.
    Rev. Mitchell Dick opened the          were a few rule changes made to
session of Classis with a devotional       the Rules of Order of Classis West.                          Respectfully submitted,
based on I Corinthians  3:7. Rev.          No classical appointments were nec-                     Rev.  Steven Key, Stated Clerk

7O/Standard  Bearer/November 1,199!5


                                             were present as observers. Rev. B.        schedule of these appointments was
    Classis East met in regular ses-         Gritters was the chairman for this        sent to all the churches.
sion on Wednesday, September 13,             session.                                      The expenses of classis amount-
1995 at the Hudsonville PRC. Each                There was only routine business       ed to  $1,006.80.   Classis will meet
of the churches was represented by           before this session.  Classis heard       next at Southeast PRC on Wednes-
two delegates; Grace PRC had dele-           the reports of the Stated Clerk and       day, January 10,1996.
gates at classis for the first time. Sem-    of the Classical Committee. Classi-
inarians DeJong  and Smit, both serv-        cal appointments were granted to                       Respectfully submitted,
ing internships in local churches,           Byron Center, Grace, and Hope. The                  Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk




Young People's Activities                    the annual young people's conven-         The latest information indicated that
    From all accounts, the "annual           tion. Recently their Program Com-         early October seemed to be a likely
bowling invitational" of the young           mittee for the 1996 convention pre-       date for completion. Peace was even
people from the First PRC in                 sented three themes and six speak-        busy looking for a good used piano
Edmonton and the Immanuel PRC                ers, from which the young people,         for use in their new church build-
of Lacombe, AB, Canada held in               at their first meeting this season,       ing. Stay tuned for further details,
mid-summer was a great success.              would select one theme and the ap-        quite possibly including news about
Reportedly there was a great  tum-           propriate number of speakers. Their       a dedication for Peace.
out from both churches and an                congregation was encouraged to look
evening of fun and fellowship was            for notices concerning committee ac-      Denominational Activities
the end result.                              tivities and fund-raisers in the near         The Eastern Men's and Ladies'
    In mid-September the Young               future. Good advice for all of us to      annual League Meeting was recent-
People's Society of the Hull, IA PRC,        consider with regard to our own           ly held at the Hudsonville, MI PRC.
with a little help from the young            young people, Whether hosting a           Rev. R. VanOverloop,  pastor of the
adults of Hull, took on their parents        convention or not, they need our          Georgetown PRC in Hudsonville, MI
in a game of softball. Confidently,          help and prayers.                         spoke on, "Is revitalization of our
the young people invited their en-                                                     society life necessary in light of the
tire congregation to witness the             Congregational Activities                 para-church movement?" The col-
event. Unfortunately, no mention                 The congregation of the South         lection was to aid Rev. Kortering in
was made in any later bulletin con-          Holland, IL PRC is involved with a        his Asian contacts.
cerning the outcome of that game.            Secret Pal program for all their col-         On October 8 Rev. C. Haak offi-
    This year's recently concluded           lege students this year. Any college      cially took up his work as the full-
Young People's Convention has now            student who was interested could          time radio pastor of the Reformed
taken its place in the history of our        simply fill out a questionnaire and       Witness Hour. His first message was
churches. This event remains a tre-          turn it in, and he or she would be        entitled, "Faith Comes By Hearing."
mendous undertaking for any young            assigned a secret pal for that school     Let's remember Rev. Haak and the
people's society, and its success each       year.                                     Reformed Witness Hour in our
year depends upon the help and sup               This fall's society and catechism     prayers as they make this new be-
port of the entire congregation.             season at the First PRC in Holland,       ginning in their work on behalf of
Signs of this happening are starting         MI was begun with their annual In-        our churches.
to be seen in bulletins from the South       spirational Meeting. This year Semi-
Holland, IL PRC, next year's host of         narian Richard Smit was the featured      School Activities
                                             speaker. His message served to set            The holiday season will soon be
                                             the tone for First's society and cate-    here, and perhaps you will be look-
                                             chism life.                               ing for the perfect gift, for that spe-
                                                 As of this writing being early        cial someone in your life. Well, the
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protes-        October, all signs point to the soon      Ladies' Aide of our Covenant Chris-
tant Reformed Church                         completion of the church building
                         of Hudsonville,                                               tian School in Lynden, WA may be
Michigan.                                    of the Peace PRC in Lynwood, IL.          able to help. They are making avail-

                                                                                             November 1,1995/Sbndad Bearerl;ll


                                                                                                                                         SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                                                         Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                                          Grandville, Michigan
   P.O.Box603
   Grandville,  MI 49468-0603


able "The Psalter" in  3-ring  binder    was in Randolph on October 2 as                                           ~oolffor 5!7ioyht
form for the cost of $19.95. If you      the featured speaker for a lecture                            "The Devil is not afraid of a Bi-
have any questions or would like to      sponsored by the Randolph congre-                    ble that has dust on it."
order a copy, simply contact the La-     gation. His topic was "Justification                                             - Author Unknown 0
dies' Aide of Covenant Christian         by Faith: The Pillar of the Reforma-
School,                                  tion." Prof. Hanko hoped to em-
            c/o 605 Brook Ct.            phasize Martin Luther's
           Lynden, WA 98264.             development of this truth,
                                         and its importance not only      FQII.1  auum
Evangelism Activities                    for the Reformation but for                                                                                        2I*7%c,-14.,~.  1,
                                                                                 "",,E*sTaTE*
    The Evangelism Committee of          today.                                                             Slalsmenl of OwnershIp.  Managcmcnl,  and clrcu~att~~
                                                                          k2L-*.                                                                         ,Rwrucr3~u*c. 3613,
                                                                          I M.*nll.                                                lMLaUI          I       r..+w,
the Randolph, WI PRC is making               The Evangelism Com-                me s,rn*rll  "cuC,                                 5  '  -  7  8  8  0  10,13,95
                                                                          InYIn-                                               `".&.m"""                 ,-mr-,,`
                                                                                                                                                                       ,
available a recent five-sermon series    mittee of the Peace PRC in       Se"lhnrmUdY honlhly: hr. my, *ugurt,                               II              s17.w
                                                                          LM.*-~..I.-O."-~"`
                                                                                                            ~-`
                                                                                                                 ~~~~~..,,~,-,
given by their pastor, Rev. S. Key,      Lynwood, IL recently             4919 hrnlca Are..  mndrllr. M1 49118-97w
entitled, "Our Trials: God's Handi-      planned a work-night and         IM,UUYW.I.,n-l.r~~.-"~,,-~,-,
                                                                          4949  IY."l.ll Arc.. Cnnd*dlr. Ml 49418.9109
work." This set is in an audio-tape      asked members of their
album and is available for $9, pay-      congregation for help. They
able to the Evangelism Committee         planned to stuff, address,
of Randolph, 225 Pierce, Randolph,       and seal 5,000 envelopes
WI 53956.                                for mailing to the Lansing       -`
                                                                            uw..*~~M,"
                                                                                                       u
                                                                          Don "Dlmm. 4919  *rrilrc,,  A%. 0,nnd""ls. M,  194,Mm?

    Prof. H. Hanko, of our Seminary,     IL community.





               NQTICE!!!
    Hope Protestant Reformed                                                                                              I
Christian School will be in need of a        RESOLUTION OF
principal for the 1996-1997 school                 SYMPATHY
year. Those interested should con-           The Council of the
tact the school at:                      Grandville Protestant Re-
     1545 Wilson Avenue S.W.             formed Church expresses
      Grand Rapids, MI 49544             its heartfelt sympathy to its
            (616)  453-9717;             fellow officebearer, elder
           or John VanBaren              Jon Huisken, in the death
            (616) 532-7367.              of his sister,
                                              BETH HUISKEN.
                                             "Truly my soul waiteth
                                         upon God:         from him
               N O T I C E ! !           cometh my salvation. He
    Special meeting of  Classis          only is my rock and my
West, in Edgerton, MN, for the pur-      salvation; he is my  de-
pose of examination of pastor-elect      fence; I shall not be great-
Allen Brummel, November 8 and 9.         ly moved" (Psalm 62:1,2).
Those in need of transportation and       Rev. A. Spriensma, Pres.
lodging, please contact the clerk of        Cornelius Jonker, Clerk
Edgerton PR consistory, Ron
Brands.

72lStandard  Bearer /November 1,1995


