                     See "Esteeming the Elders Very Highly for Their Work's Sake"
                                                                       - p. 204


Vol. /ii,  No.  Y
February  I,1996


                                                                                                                                                              T
CONTENTS:                                                                            February 7, 7996                                                       ST&D!!
Meditation - Rev. John A. Heys
       Fearfully and Wonderfully Mad,e ...................................................... 195
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                             ISSN 0362-4692
       BRF Family Conference in England.. .............................................. 197
Good News from a Far Country - Rev. David Higgs                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                                                Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
       About the Brisbane EPC ................................................................... 199                           4949  ivanrest  Ave.,  Grandvilla,  Ml 49416. Second Class
Letters .........................................................................................................      200      Postage Paid at Grandville. Michigan.
All Around Us - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren .................................................. 202                                    Postmcqter:   Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                                P.O. Box 603, Grandville. Ml 49468-0603.
Ministering to the Saints - Prof. Robert D. Decker
       Esteeming the Elders Very Highly ffor Their Work's Sake.. ....... ..20 4                                                 EDITORIAL  COMMITTEE
                                                                                                                                Editor:  ,Prof. David J. Engelsma
In His Fear - Rev. Arie denHarfog                                                                                               Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
       Hating the Haters of God (2) ............................................................ 206                            Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
Day of Shadows - Homer C. Hoeksema                                                                                              DEPAdTMENT  EDITORS
                                                                                                                                Rev.   Wilbur  Bruinsma, Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
       Paradise the First (cont.) .................................................................. 207                        Decker, Rev. Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Carl  Haak, Prof. Herman
&arch the Scriptures - Rev. Carl J: Haak                                                                                        Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Dale
                                                                                                                                Kuiper, Mr. James Lanting, Mrs.  MaryBeth  Lubbers, Rev.
       "Will Ye Also Go Away?" .................................................................. 210                           Thorna; Miersma, Rev. Gise  VanBaren, Rev. Ronald
Contending for the F$ith - Rev. Bernard J. Woudenberg                                                                           VanOverloop, Mr. BenjaminWigger, Rev. BemardWoudenberg.
       Further Debate on Children in the Covenant.. .............................. .211                                         EDITORIAL  OFFICE            CHURCH   NEWS  EDITOR
Book Reviews ............................................................................................. 213                  The  Standard Bearer         Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                                                                4949  Ivanrest               6597 40th Ave.
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger ................................ ,215                                              Grandville, Ml 49418         Hudsonville,  Ml 49426
                                                                                                                                BUSINESS  OFFICE             NEW ZEALAND  OFFICE
                                                                                                                                The Standard Bearer          The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                                Dori Doezema                 c/o B. VanHerk
                                                                                                                                P.O. Box 603                 66 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                                Grandville. Ml               Wainuiomata. New Zealand
                                                                                                                                -  4946%0603
                                                                                                                                PH: (616) 531-1490           UNITED  KINGDOM  OFFICE
                                                                                                                                         (616)  536-1778     do Mr. Jonathan  McAuley
                                                                                                                                FAX:  (816) 531-3033         164 Church Rd., Glenwherry
  . "Good News from a Far Country" is a new rubric just for this                                                                                             Ballymena, Co.  Antrim BT42 3EL
                                                                                                                                                             Northern Ireland
occasion, although we have hopes of using it at least once more.                                                                EDITORIAL  POLICY
                                                                                                                                Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
Many of our northern North American readers will agree that the                                                                 articles.  Contributionsofgdneral   interestfromourreadersand
article in this rubric, "About the Brisbane EPC," is from a "far coun-                                                          questions for The Reader Asks department are welcome.
                                                                                                                                Contribtitions  will  be,limited,  @approximately 300 words and
try" indeed. As we lie buried in snow and shiver with the cold, it is                                                           mustbeneatlywittenortypewritten,andmustbesigned. Copy
                                                                                                                                deadlines  are the first and fifteenth of the month. All
100 degrees Fahrenheit in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.                                                                      communications relative to the contents should be sent to the
       The article is by our friend and brother, the Rev. David Higgs.                                                          editorial  office.
With his colleague, the Rev. Chris Connors, he attended the Protes-                                                             REPRINT  POLtCY
                                                                                                                                Permissionis herebygrantedforthereprintingofarticles  inour
tant Reformed Seminary for three years, graduating in 1994. He  is-                                                             magazine  byotherpublications,  provided: a) thatsuchreprinted
                                                                                                                                articles'are  reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgment
now pastor of the Evangelical Presbyterian congregation in Brisbane.                                                            is made; c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
       Rev. Higgs informs us concerning his own, and his family's, life                                                         appear$ is sent to our editorial office.
since he left the States in the summer of 1994. He also tells us about                                                          SUi3SdRlPTlON   POLICY
                                                                                                                                Subscription price: $17.00 per year in the U.S.,  US$20.00
the congregation of which he is pastor. A map helps us to appreciate                                                            elsewhere. Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
the "problem" faced by the congregation.                                                                                        received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the
                                                                                                                                subscriptionto continue, and hewill  be billedforrenewal.  lfyou
       The article serves to remind the members of the Protestant Re-                                                           have a change ofaddress. please notify the Business Office as
                                                                                                                                early as  posSible  in order to avoid the inconvenience of
formed Churches of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia                                                             interrupted delivery. Include your Zip or Postal Code.
with whom the PRC are one in the truth of salvation by God's sover-                                                             ADVERTISING   POLICY
eign, particular grace and with whom the PRC have some  .contact                                                                The  StandardBearerdoes not accept commercial advartising
                                                                                                                                of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
through  the denominational  Cornmitiee  for Contact with Other Church-                                                         anniversaries, obituaries, and sympathy resolutions will be
                                                                                                                                placed for a 510.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business
es.                                                                                                                             Oficeandshouldbeaccompaniedbythe$10.00fee. Deadline
       We may be reminded to pray for that small but faithful church.                                                           for announcements is at least one month prior to publication
                                                                                                                                date.
       We may be reminded to pray also that God will bless our work of                                                          BOUND  VOLUMES
contact so that there comes to be a closer, richer fellowship.                                                                  The Business Office will accept standing orders for bound
       To the Rev. Higgs, it is a joy to hear from you. Come again, in the                                                      copies of the current volume. Such orders arefilled as socm as
                                                                                                                                possible after completion of a volume year.
Standard Bearer.                                                                                                                16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm microfiche, and
                                                                                                                     - D J E    article copies are available through University Microfilms
                                                                                                                                International.

194IStandard  Bearer /February 1, 1996


                                      Fearfully and
                           Wonderfu ly Made

    "1 will praise thee; for I am feaq%l-    Thy wisdom, Lord, hath fashioned          their children to be born again.
ly and  wonderfilly  made:  marvellous       me." Then also we add: "I give my         Those children receive a spiritual life
are thy works; and that my soul knoweth      Maker thankful praise, Whose won-         which comes only by God's grace.
right well."                                 drous works my soul amaze."               Believing, parents may desire to have
                          Psalm 13914            The fact is that this work of God     spiritually righteous and holy chil-
                                             is presented very clearly in the life     dren; but whether their children do
    Even though men and women                of the first two children who were        receive this blessing is eternally de-
can and do bring forth children, they        born to Adam and Eve. Cain, that          cided already by God.
cannot and do not by their acts give         first child of them, hated God, and           Lookiback  again at the text quot-
these children spiritual lives. They         therefore hated his brother Abel,         ed at the beginning of this article.
cannot cause their children to love          who revealed by his sacrifices his        We are "fearfully and wonderfully
God. In fact, in the text quoted             love of God, shedding the blood of        made" as God's elect children. And
above, we say that we are wonder-            his flock, manifesting that awesome       our calling is to praise God from
fully and fearfully made because of          truth that we deserve death, and that     whom all blessings flow. Even that
God's marvelous works.                       salvation comes only by the death         desire of believing parents to have
    Being honest and thankful to             of Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God.         born-again children of God is be-
God, we rightly confess that the spir-       Just read Genesis 4:1-7.                  cause of  ,what God does in  them.
itual life that appears in our chil-             We praise God because we are          They can and will teach their chil-
dren is God's gift, for which we owe         fearfully and wonderfully made by         dren. But whether these children
Him everlasting thanks. That we              God, in His grace. Our salvation is       believe in God is determined by
read so clearly in Ephesians 2:8, 9.         legally possible because God had His      what God does for them and in
There Paul, as used by God, de-              Son Jesus Christ, our Savior, sacri-      them.
clares: "For by grace are ye saved           ficed upon the cross. That, indeed,           Those who are born again have
through faith; and that not of your-         is a fearfully and wonderfully per-       a spiritual life, which God eternally
selves: it is the gift of God; not of        formed work of God's grace, for our       decided to give them by His Spirit.
works, lest any  man  should boast."         salvation.                                Go back, `once again, to that basic
    Faith is God's gift to every one             Every elect child of God is the       truth quoted a moment ago. "All
of His elect. We cannot and do not           special work of God's grace. God          that I am I owe to Thee." The spiri-
receive from our parents strength            causes all those whom He has eter-        tual life that enables us to love God
that makes us want any part of sal-          nally chosen in Christ to be His spir-    and want to walk according to His
vation. In I Peter 1:23 we read that         itually reborn children. Most often       law comes from and by God's grace.
we are "born again, not of corrupt-          this happens to the children of par-      We do not change God's eternal
ible seed, but by the word of God,           ents who do in love believe in God,       mind. He does not depend upon
which liveth and abideth for ever."          as their Savior; but He does alss give    us, or upon our parents, in order to *
That is why we sing Psalter num-             spiritual life to children born of un-    get His way. We do not make Him
ber 383, as based on what our God            believers. However, all those whom        become our Savior. As David wrote:
wrote through David in Psalm                 it pleases God to save and bring to       "Marvellous are thy works; and that
139:14: "All that I am I owe to Thee,        heavenly glory were eternally de-         my soul knoweth right well."
                                             signed to be such. Strikingly, we             God does not offer salvation.
                                             read in John 3:2-8 that Christ Jesus,     We cannot ask God to give us phys-
                                             our Savior, said: "Except a man be        ical life, because we do not yet have
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the      born again, he cannot see the king-       it. And by all means we cannot ask
Protestant Reformed Churches.                dom of God." Parents do not cause         Him for spiritual life before He has

                                                                                         February I, 1996lStandard  Bearer/l  95


already given it to us. We ask for        God has already given us the desire             Indeed, God will deliver His
spiritual life because God has al-        for it. We do not change God. His           elect ftom their punishment and hell-
ready implanted it in us. We do not       name means I AM. It presents the            ish agbny. But the basic element of
change God's mind and will. We            truth that He, and He only, is God.         our salvation is deliverance from the
do not move Him to do us good.            It also presents the truth that He,         love of sin, and a spiritual change.
    Indeed, we do pray to God. We         and He only, is the One who saves           Men will commit suicide, thinking
do come to Him with spiritual re-         us, even giving us the desire for sal-      that they are going to get away from
quests. But we do that only because       vation from the spiritual death into        what they are expecting to  come
He has moved us to ask Him for it,        which Satan got us through Adam             physically upon them. But they do
as those to whom He eternally             and Eve.                                    not escape. They enter into God's
planned to give salvation. Every bit           Satan is working very, very hard       wrath, which brings  them  hellish ag-
of our salvation depends upon what        today. As we read in Genesis 3:l he         ony, a misery far above what they
God eternalIy  planned, and at the        is very, very subtle. He came to            experitince  in this life. And what
right moment realizes in us. In I         Eve with a lie. Yes, his lie was that       the cl+ld of God, being born again,
Corinthians  12:12 we read: "For as       God had lied to Adam and Eve.               will receive, even before he dies
the body is one, and hath many            And in the church world today Sa-           physically, is that wonderful and
members, and all the members of           tan  comes  with many clever lies           marveious  work of God's grace, that
that body, being many, are one body:      which are false doctrines. The awe-         he receives a new spiritual life of
so also is Christ." He has a perfect      some  fact is today that, just as in the    love of God. The basic element in
body, namely His church, planned          days of Adam and Eve, Satan is              the salvation which God gives His
by God eternally. And in time all         striving to get church members to           elect is his deliverance  from  Satan,
its members are not merely born           become "gods, knowing good and              and the sin he wants us to perform.
physically by God's hand. They are        evil." Just look up Genesis 3:5. And        If thatlis not taken from us, punish-
by God caused to know that they           in some churches today salvation is         ment cannot be removed from us.
are members of Christ's body, as          presented as merely a physical bless-       The blessed part of our salvation is
mentioned in the text just quoted.        ing, which God offers us, and asks          that we are fearfully and wonder-
    Let us also bear in mind that in      us to want and seek. Salvation is           fully made as those who love God,
the church world Satan is working         presented merely as a removal of the        and in that love want to serve Him
hard today. He is interested in, and      pain and misery which we deserve.           with heart, mind, and soul, in every
is striving cleverly to destroy the       '    Indeed, that blessing will come        act which we perform.
faith of church members. What is          upon all of God's elect children the            Only when we find in our souls
more, we should bear in mind that         moment that they die, and will be           the desire to walk in love of God do
the church world is divided into          very wonderful in the day when all          we have evidence that we are "won-
many factions that fight against each     the elect will with body and soul           derfully made." And we must hold
other. Satan is very, very subtle;        enter the New Jerusalem. But the            on tightly to that truth in the text
and we must take careful heed of          basic and the awesome fact is that          above, that we are fearfully and won-
what Scripture presents to us con-        today, just as in the days gone by,         derfully made. Being born spiritu-
cerning Satan. In Scripture we are        Satan gets church members to go             ally dead we have no power or de-
warned: "By grace are ye saved            against God by their false doctrines        sire to cause ourselves to become
through faith; and that not of your-      which he gets into churches. They           spiritually alive. Salvation is one
selves: it is the gift of God. Not of     teach and believe that God waits to         hundred percent God's gift to us.
works, lest any man should boast.         see what men will do. He, God,              All that which we have and can do
For we are His workmanship, creat-        offers salvation, and will give it to       physically is because of what God
ed in Christ Jesus unto good works,       those who accept His offer. In some         enables us to do. Every heartbeat is
which God hath before ordained that       churches it is taught that God offers       caused by God. Similarly, every de-
we should walk in them." The awe-         salvation, and that He will give it to      sire and ability to praise and serve
some truth is that God, in His grace,     men if they ask Him for it. Deliver-        God is His gift to us. We give Him
causes us to be born again spiritual-     ance from sti is brushed aside, and         thanks; but we do so only because
ly. Even as we were not born phys-        deliverance from the punishment of          He has worked thankfulness in us.
ically because we wanted it, so we        sin merely means deliverance from              What a beautiful truth we have
are not born again spiritually because    the punishment that God warned              here presented to us by God. By
we wanted it. Rightfully we sing:         would come upon sinners. He will            God's grace we marvel at His work
"Praise God  from Whom all  bless-        change His attitude towards sinful          of salvation. Having that marvel-
ings flow." Among those blessings         men if they fulfill a condition, which      ous gift we praise Him, and thank
is the desire to receive salvation as     He presents, and by which He in-            Him from whom all blessings flow.
the gift of His grace.                    vites men to get relief and bodily                                               cl
    We do not desire salvation until      e-Y*
196lStandard  Bearer /February I, 1996


              BRF Family Conference
                              in England

                                          which the true church is distin-         Bexhill). The Protestant Re-
    From the secretary of the British     guished from the false [Belgic           formed Churches (PRC) have
Reformed Fellowship (BRF), I have         Confession, Articles 28,291.             been represented at all the pre-
received the following announce-            6) The Church: Its Sacraments          vious conferences organized by
ment concerning the fourth BRF            - baptism and the Lord's Sup-            the British Reformed Fellowship,
Family Conference. The announce-          per, with particular emphasis on         and we anticipate good repre-
ment is at the same time an invita-       the value and necessity of bap-          sentation again next year. The
tion to members of the Protestant         tism for the children of believ-         presence of members of the PRC
Reformed Churches (PRC), indeed           ing parents.                             at the Conference gives great en-
to all readers of the Standard Bear-        Ashburnham Place is set in 220         couragement to their British
er, to attend the conference this sum-    acres of landscaped grounds in           brethren who are often strug-
mer.                                      the heart of beautiful Sussex            gling to maintain a witness to
                                          countryside, yet only 6 miles            the Reformed faith in their
    The British Reformed Fellow-          from the south coast of England.         homeland. The Conference will
  ship is holding its fourth FAMI-        For many years the house was             also be a great time of fellow-
  LY HOLIDAY CONFERENCE                   an ancestral home but has now            ship and .a trip to the UK is a
  from 27 July - 3 August 1996            been remodeled and extended to           wonderful experience. Why not
  at Ashburnham Place, Battle,            form a comfortable and welcom-           think about it?
  East Sussex, England (60 miles          ing Christian Conference Centre.           Brochures providing further
  SE of London).                          It is an ideal location in which         information and booking forms
    The theme of the Conference           to enjoy relaxation, rest, and           are available from Mr. Tony
  is to be "The Doctrine of the           spiritual fellowship. The Cen-           Horne, "Bromstone," Netherley
  Church" and the speakers will           tre affords a variety of accom-          Road, Stonehaven,  Kincard-
 be Professors D. Engelsma and            modation to suit families, cou-          ineshire AB3 2QB, Scotland or
 H. Hanko. ,The doctrine will be          ples, friends, individuals, and          from Mr. Bill Oomkes, 6299
  expounded under the headings:           groups, with washbasins in .each         Wing Avenue S.E., Grand Rap-
    l)The Church: Elected in Christ       room and bathroom facilities in          ids, MI 49512, USA (tel. 616-698-
  - by the decree of eternal elec-        close proximity to most bed-             6697).
 tion.                                    rooms.
    2)The Church: Gathered by the           Two full-day coach tours have            The BRF is not to be confused
  Gospel - the sovereign work of          been arranged, one around the          with the Covenant Reformed Fel-
 the Son of God contrasted with           beautiful Sussex countryside and       lowship (CRF), although some mem-
 modern methods of evangelism             the other to the city of London.       bers of the CR.F are also members of
  [Heidelberg Catechism, Q  & A           In addition, within easy reach of      the BRF. The CRF is the mission
 541.                                     the Centre are the seaside towns       group of the PRC in Northern Ire-
    3)The Church: Its Nature - a          of Hastings and Eastbourne as          land. The BRF is a broader organi-
 spiritual organism as distinct           well as several historic castles,      zation of men and women from
 from an external organization.           stately homes, and other places        Northern Ireland, Scotland, England,
    4) The Church: Its Institutional      of interest.                           and Wales.
 Form - autonomous locally but              London is served by both                 The B,RF was organized in 1990
 each congregation part of a              Heathrow and Gatwick airports,         by Presbyterians concerned for the
 broader federation.                      and frequent rail services con-        defense and propagation of the his-
    5) The Church: Its Marks - by         nect  the city to Battle (or nearby    toric Reformed Faith in the British

                                                                                   February 1, 1996lStandard  Bearer/l  97


Isles. The doctrinal basis of the Fel-       and good fellowship. Another pur-            are offended at the doctrines of sov-
lowship is:                                  pose is the exposure of others to the        ereign grace. Supposed friends of
                                             Reformed Faith as taught by the con-         Calvinism are embarrassed by its
  1) The inspired, infallible, and in-       ference speakers. The conferences            distinctive particularism. They re-
  errant Holy Scriptures.                    are means of' witness and, thus, of          print Arthur Pink's The Sovereignty
  2) The doctrines set forth in the          the spread of the Reformed Faith in          of  God with the chapter on reproba-
  Canons of Dordt, the Heidelberg            the British Isles. Attendance has            tion elided. They advertise the Re-
  Catechism, the Belgic Confession,                                                       formed gospel as the teaching of a
  and the Westminster Standards.             steadily increased. From 50 at the
                                             first conference (on biblical mar-           universal love of God in Christ for
         The objectives of the BRF are:      riage), the number at the conference         sinners and of a desire of God to
                                             in Scotland in 1994 (on the doctrines        save every human without excep-
  1) To promote a knowledge of the           of grace) grew to some 150. People           tion. Even worldly scholars recog-
  Reformed Faith in the British Isles,       attended the conference from other           nize this as false advertising. By this
  as defined in the doctrinal basis.         countries in Europe.                         time, the Calvinism of the Synod of
  2) To organize meetings, conferenc-            The PRC have helped the BRF              Dordt; and of the Westminster As-
  es, preaching services, and other ac-      with the conference by providing the         sembly has clearly and forcefully
  tivities in order to further the Re-       speakers. Also, members of the PRC           identified itself to all as particular.
  formed Faith and to give practical         have attended in increasing num-             This  is its offense, its scandal.
  expression to the unity enjoyed by         bers, contributing by their testimo-                 Thus is Calvinism wounded in
  Christians of Reformed persuasion.         ny and in other ways. The BR.F is            the house of its friends. For not only
  3) To encourage the formation of
  groups in different areas of the           mightily encouraged by this support.         is it corrupted by the fundamental
  country who will seek to promote               The invitation to members                         tenets of universal grace of its
  the Reformed Faith on a local lev-         of the PRC, therefore, is                              mortal foe, Arminianism,
  el.                                        heartfelt.                                                 but also the ancient charge
                                                                               The Calvinism
                                                 But readers of the SB                                   against it by its enemies
         The desire of many is the estab-                                       of the Synod
                                             everywhere in the world                                      is implicitly sustained:
lishment throughout the British Isles        are warmly invited to           of Dordt and of the           on the basis of its own
of sound, creedal Reformed church-                                              Westminster  ;
                                             attend the conference,                                        distinctive  particular-
es.                                          perhaps arranging  va-              A s s e m b l y           ism - predestination,
         One of the instruments of the       cation (holiday) plans to        has clearly and              limited atonement, and
BRF  is the British Reformed  Tour-          coincide with the July         forcefully  identifi'ed        irresistible, particular
                                                                                 itself to all
naZ,  a quarterly publication edited         27-August 3 dates.                                            grace in the preaching
by Mr. Hugh L. Williams. The June                The site is beautiful;         as particular.            of the gospel - Calvin-
1995 issue contains, among other sol-                                        This is its offmzse,
                                             the theme of the biblical                                   ism is unable to carry out
id, instructive articles, an article on                                          its scandal.
                                             speeches is solid and time-                                evangelism and missions!
"The Westminster Standards and the           ly; the accommodations are                                 In an age of unprecedent-
Gospel Offer," an article on "Bap-           commodious; the fellowship will                       ed universalism and  free-
tism: Its Mode," and an editorial            be good.                                    willisni - the gospel of man - these
on "The Fight for the Reformed                   Those who are interested should          same friends of Calvinism direct
Faith: The Forgotten Kennedy." To            write either Mr. Tony Horne in Scot-        their criticism mainly, and incessant-
subscribe, write Mr. Hugh L. Will-           land or Mr. Bill Oomkes in the States       ly, against the "hyper-Calvinists."
iams, "Fairhaven," 9 Chapel Lane,            for an informative brochure.                And what is the grievous sin against
Walton-by-Kimcote, Lutterworth,                  Mr. and Mrs. Bill Oomkes are            the gospel of these wretched folk,
Leicestershire LE17 5RL, England,            working on the possibility of arrang-       the "hyper-Calvinists"? Only that
UK.                                          ing a short tour in the British Isles       they consistently preach the love of
         Another important activity of       before the conference for those who          God in Christ for elect believers and
the BRF is a family conference every         attend the conference from North            their true children. Some sin!
two years. The conference sched-             America. The tour would have the                     In the midst of this apostasy, op-
uled for this summer will be the             group in Ballymena, Northern Ire-           position, and dubious friendship,
fourth. The first was held in Wales,         land with the Protestant Reformed           there are still those determined to
the second, in Northern Ireland, and         mission over the weekend  preced-           contend for the gospel of God.
the third, in Scotland. The site -           ing the conference. Any who may                      We may help. Cl
and a lovely site it is - of this year's     want to join in such a tour should                                                 - DJE
conference is the south of England.          let Mr. and Mrs. Oomkes know soon.
       These conferences enable the far-         Ours is a time of abandonment
flung members of the BRF to come             of the Reformed Faith on a huge
together for instruction in the Word         scale worldwide. Men and women

198lStandard  Bearer /February 1, 1996


               About the Bri lane EPC

       I have been asked by the editor        state of Tasmania. To travel to              the `map on the next page you can
of the Standard Bearer  to write an           Brisbane required a journey of over          see that this is near the centre of the
article of news concerning myself             2,200 kilometres (approx. 1,400 miles        city. We worship there to try to ac-
and the congregation of which I am            - similar, I think, to the distance          commodate all the members of the
now pastor. I gladly accede to this           between Grand Rapids and Hous-               congregation as best we can, as this
`request with the desire that it keep         ton). Part of this journey included          is about the most central position.
us in your memories and prayers.              an overnight ferry trip of 14 hours          Lord's Day evenings, however, we
More, that this will be one of many           duration, across Bass Strait, to main-       worship in a school hall in a suburb
means by which we grow in our                 land Australia. Between Launceston           called Oxley. We do this because
knowledge of, and love for, each oth-         and Brisbane we have only one oth-           the vast majority of the congrega-
er.                                           er church of our denomination. This          tion lives in Oxley and the surround-
       As I begin to write it is 4 p.m.       is situated just out of Sydney, which        ing areas.
on Tuesday, December 19th. The                is about the half-way mark.                      The scattered nature of our con-
temperature has just climbed over                 I have been in the ministry of           gregation promises no easy solution.
38 degrees Celsius (approx. 100 de-           the Word and Sacraments for just             We are, perhaps, too small to divide
grees Fahrenheit), and is still climb-        eight months now. A demanding                into two congregations. Yet, every
ing. This is a typical Brisbane sum-          office this is. But to preach the Word       Lord's Day we have members trav-
mer's day. Brisbane is the capital of         of God has been a source of contin-          eling well `over an hour to church
the state of Queensland. It is situat-        ual joy to me. There have been, of           from Budqina,  on the north coast.
ed between the 26th and 27th lines            course, the usual settling-m prob-           Also, we have a member living near
of latitude, south of the equator.            lems which most new ministers face.          Toowoomba, over one and a half
This is somewhat similar, I believe,          Whatever problems I have faced               hours' drive from Brisbane. We also
to the position of Houston, Texas,            have been more than compensated              have a Preaching Station (somewhat
north of the equator.                         for by a mature, godly, and hospita-         akin to your home mission centres)
       In January of 1995 I underwent,        ble congregation. But even more              at Chinchilla. This comes under the
and passed, my trials before                  than this, I have been blessed with a        Session of the Brisbane Church.
Presbytery. This is the name we               Session  (Consistory)  which is also         Members of the Church at Bell and
Presbyterians call what our breth-            mature and godly. The Session has            Chinchilla are part of this Preaching
ren with a Dutch heritage refer to as         assisted me greatly in the work to           Station. The member at Kingaroy
examination  of students  before the          which I am called.                           alternates between traveling to
Classis or Synod. By passing these                     God has blessed us, as a family,    Brisbane, and traveling to the ser-
trials I became eligible for a call to        in situating us in our Brisbane              vices at the Preaching Station.
any one of our congregations. Such            Church. I have mentioned several                 But even this is not the end of
a call was received from our                  of its qualities as a congregation;          the story. For the bulk of our peo-
Brisbane congregation. After accept-          much, however, could be added to             ple who live in the Oxley area, trav-
ing the call, I was ordained, and in-         this. But we face a large problem as         eling to church in the morning re-
stalled into office on April  22nd,           a congregation, too. Not only are            quires a trip of at least 20 minutes.
1995.                                         we scattered as a denomination, but          Indeed, I believe that only two fam-
       At the time of the call we were        Brisbane is scattered as a congrega-         ilies travel `less than that time, and
living in Launceston, in the island           tion.                                        all the rest' travel in excess of that
                                                  The Brisbane Church is one of            time.
                                              our largest congregations, consisting            The widespread nature of our
       Rev. David Higgs  is pastor  of the    of approximately 90 members and              congregation makes Session visita-
congregation  of  the Evangelical Presby-     adherents (including children). But          tions, pastoral work, and fellow&p
terian Church of Australia at B&bane.         this number is scattered greatly. We         extremely difficult. But, almost as
He graduated from the Protestant Re-          worship, Lord's Day mornings, at a           if to compensate for this, the Lord
formed  Semina y in 1994.                     hired hall called "Bread House." On          has blessed us with people who are

                                                                                             February 1, 19961Sfanciard  Bearer/l99

                                                                                                                                 .
                                                                                                         I


willing to make sacrifices, to go out                praise our God for His goodness.           day to meet again in the flesh. We
of their way to have fellowship, and                         My family and I remember with      hope, also, that this article will give
to help those who travel great dis-                  fondness our three years spent with        you  some  idea of our work and
tames on the Lord's Day. And in                      you as I studied in the seminary. We       needs, so that you may pray for us
all of this we are the stronger, and                 covet your prayers. We hope one            with more understanding.  0


     CHINCHILLA
    4  hours   to  Brisbane





                                         Brisbane





                                                                                                                      The  majority  of
                                                                                                                      communicant
                                                                                                                      members      and
                   some                                                                                               adherents  live
        communicant  members
                  live at:                                                                                            within the shad-
       Cbincbilla,   Kingaroy,  Bell,                                                                                 ed  area,  approx.
         Toowoomba,  Buddina                                                                                          20-45  minutes
                                                                                                                      from       Bread
                                                                                                                      House.





n An Untapped Resource                               necessary work of personal witness-        of accuracy I think these should be
    Your brief editorial, "Retired,                  ing.                                       corrected.
Not Dead" (33, Nov. 1, 1995), led                            Also, Mr. Editor, the churches         First, the interesting point raised
me to conclude that the greatest r.m-                would benefit from some lengthy            about rebellion is surely more prob-
tapped resource in our churches, in                  editorials on the whole subject of         lematical. In Henry VIII's time the
the area of church extension work,                   "retirement." Surely these mature,         king  ,was the authority, no question.
is retired men and women in the                      experienced saints need more to fill       By William and Mary's time we were
congregations.  : (The second great-                 their days than golf, vacation trips,      on the way to a constitutional mon-
est untapped resource is our young                   and coffee hours. How are they to          archy. But here we were in transi-
people, but that's another matter.)                  fill. the last ten or fifteen years of     tion. The king had authority - but
Local evangelism societies or com-                   their lives? We would be delighted         so did the Parliament, to raise taxes
mittees receive dozens of letters per                to hear more on the subject.               for instance. Rutherford was writ-
month requesting pamphlets and in-                                        (Rev.) D.H. Kuiper    ing Rex Lex. I suspect that for con-
formation regarding the Reformed                                          Grand Rapids, MI      scientious souls it was by no means
faith. Ought these letters lie in a                                                             clear who constituted "the powers
box for a month until someone finds                  H Kings Shall Be Your                      that be." Baxter was a chaplain to
time to respond to  them?  Ought                     Foster Fathers                             the Parliamentary army. In that hu-
not these requests be answered im-                           Your denomination kindly sends     morous book, 1066 and AZ2 That,  the
mediately, and then not only with                    me a complimentary copy of the             Civil War is summarized as "con-
the requested literature but with a                  Sfandard Bearer, so  it may seem           sisting in the utterly memorable
warm, personal letter expressing                     somewhat invidious that I should           struggle between the Cavaliers
what the Reformed faith means to                     comment, but I believe the articles,       (Wrong but  Wromantic)  and the
us? Surely every congregation has                    "Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector"          Roundheads (Right but Repulsive)."
a number of retirees who can do-                     (Nov. 15, Dec. 1,1995),  are incorrect     I believe Parliament was right. The
nate a day or two per month for this                 in some  points, and in the interests      Stuarts, like the kings of Israel - all

2OOlSfandard  Bearer /February 1, 1996


bad! - were introducing the idea of        not conceive of the office of magis-        Antichrist) that the church is de-
"The Divine Right of Kings." In            tracy in this sense, that it be in duty     stroyed by the enemy, the saints live
France that culminated in a bloody         bound to aIs0 exercise political au-        in the absolute conviction that they
revolution  - in England there was         thority in the sphere of religion, by       have the victory; for faith (not earth-
a transition to democracy.                 establishing and maintaining a State        ly weapons) is the victory that over-
    Second, I am by no means con-          Church..."). In other words, the idea       comes the world. And the persecu-
vinced by the arguments against an         that the magistrates must enforce           tion which they shall have to endure
established church. Over the whole         both tables of the law does not im-         is ordained by God for their salva-
area of the second table of the law        ply an Established Church. The key          tion (I Pet.  1:6, 7). When we are
the interests of church and state run      words in the footnote are "within           persecuted, let us not rise up in re-
parallel. Scripture describes the          its own secular sphere." And this           bellion against constituted authority
magistrate as "a minister of God."         expression is set over against the ex-      (whether it be the authority of kings
Of what era of the church is it proph-     pression "in the sphere of religion."       or the authority of those in power
esied that "kings shall be your fos-       Within the secular sphere, but not          by the vote of the `majority in a de-
ter fathers, and their queens your         within the sphere of the church, the        mocracy), but let us "Rejoice and be
nursing mothers"? In this country          magistrates must enforce both tables        exceeding glad: for great is your
the state schools are required to have     of the law.                                 reward in heaven: for so persecut-
assemblies which are broadly Chris-            Rebellion against constituted au-       ed they the prophets which were be-
tian. So last week the pastor of the       thority is always wrong.. The one           fore you" (Mat%.  5:12).
church we attend took assembly in          and only power of the church is the                      - Prof. Herman Hanko
two state schools. This involved the       power of the preaching of the gos-
quoting of Scripture, some exposi-         pel by which "the Son of God from           m More on Psalms-Singing
tion and application, and prayer.          the beginning to the end of the                 I would like to comment once
Your Supreme Court would rule              world, gathers, defends, and pre-           more on your editorials in the Stan-
such a meeting as being outlawed           serves to himself . . . a church . ..."     dard Bearer  of May 1 and June 1,
by the doctrine of no establishment        Never may the church, in defense of         1995 on "Music in the Church," for
of religion, though one may doubt          her rights, resort to the swor'd,  no       from your response to my previous
that that was what was in the minds        matter what the provocation. Her            letter I see that I did not make my-
of the founding fathers. Is not a          existence in the world is guaranteed        self clear. I apologize for that.
wholly secular state in reality a de-      by the Son of God, who wiIl pre-                In your articles you stated that
monic one?                                 serve her, for all the ungodly are in       in the Greek Old Testament that Paul
                      Michael Kimmit       His hands and they can never harm           and the Ephesians and Colossians
              Editor,  Peace and Truth     the church. The Lord Christ does            used, the Psalms were exactly la-
                   Trelawnyd, Wales        not need the help of a church fight-        beled "Psalms and Hymns, and Spir-
                                           ing a carnal warfare.                       itual Songs." If my so~~.~ks  are cor-
RESPONSE:                                      Peter, in his first epistle, reminds    rect, however, the individual Psalms
    Our Belgic Confession (Article         the church again and again that the         in the Septuagint were titled as fol-
36) clearly teaches that the magis-        saints are pilgrims and strangers in        lows: 67 were called "Psalms"; six,
trates are obligated before God to         the earth because, by the wonder of         "Hymns"; 35 "Songs"; 12,  "Psalms
enforce both tables of God's law. To       regeneration, their home is in heav-        and Songs"; two "Psalms and
this Article, a footnote was append-       en from which proceeds their life.          Hymns"; and only Psalm 76, "Psalm,
ed by the Synod of the Christian Re-       While they walk here below as pil-          Hymn, and Song." My point there-
formed Church in 1910. This foot-          grims and strangers, they have a calI-      fore was that in Ephesians 5:19 and
note clearly makes a distinction be-       ing  towards  the magistrate:  "Sub-        Colossians  3:16 ihe word "spiritual"
tween the magistrates' calling to en-      mit yourselves to every ordinance           could not' have been a reference to
force both tables of the law and an        of man for the Lord's sake: wheth-          part of the headings of the Psalms
Established Church. The footnote           er it be to the king, as supreme; or        but was rather the instruction of
does not reject the idea that magis-       unto governors, as unto them that           Paul. And Paul could hardly have
trates  are called to enforce both ta-     are sent by him for the punishment          meant to qualify only the "Songs"
bles of the law ("... it does positive-    of evildoers, and for the praise of         with the word "spiritual." Rather,
ly hold that, within its own secular       them that do well. For so is the will       he exhorts the people of God to sing
sphere, the magistracy has a divine        of God, that with well doing ye may         Psalms, Hymns, and Songs (all
duty towards the first table of the        put to silence the ignorance of fool-       Psalms!) which are "spiritual," that
Law as well as towards the sec-            ish men" (I Pet.  2:13-15). To this         is, products of the Spirit.
ond,.."), but it does reject the idea      calling there is no exception.                  May I say also that, in my refer-
of an Established Church  ("... feels          Though it may appear at times           ence to "our 1912 version of the Pres-
constrained to declare that it does        (and especially during the reign of         byterian Psalter," I did not mean at

                                                                                         February 1, 1996lSfandard  Bearer/201


         all to belittle our Psalter. (I believe,    original Hebrew. They tried, too, of            Is there a compelling reason for
         in fact, that we have the best En-          course, to select tunes to fit the          doing some work now to publish our
         glish translation of the Psalter that       words. And, significantly, they             own edition of the Psalter? Perhaps
         there is.) I intended rather simply         strove to produce a song book which         not. In fact, I share your fear that
         to reflect on the origin of our Psalter.    had a bias to no one particular de-         an attempt to improve our very good
         Around the turn of the century a            nomination. Those were ambitious            Psalter could revive a push, the likes
         committee,  the membership of which         goals. And by the grace of God the          of which vexed our churches in the
         came from six different denomina-           committee did a very good job.              6Os, for introducing a select number
         tici& of strongly Calvinistic Presby-       Nevertheless, their  Arminian slant         of "good" hymns. My judgment
         terians; was appointed to prepare a         showed itself in a few numbers.             however is that, given the current
         better English Psalter. The admira-         There are also some numbers which           leadership in our churches, this
         ble goal of this committee was to           could be improved by bringing the           might be a good time for a project
         create a Psalter which, while retain-       thought in closer harmony with the          like this - and that it might be a
         ing the rhyming which was used in           Hebrew text. And some numbers               mistake to wait.
         other Psalters for ease of memoriza-        could be improved if the tunes used                                John VanBaren
         tion, was closer in thought to the          were more easily singable.                                         Grandville, MI



                                                     to be faithful to Jesus Christ.' fl They    to homosexual persons within
                                                     wrote further that, "media report-          Classis' jurisdiction should be guid-
         n Calvin Seminary Profs.: Classis           ing and a lack of clarity in Classis        ed by those principles."
         Went Too Far                                own handling of the report" had                 According to reporter Maurina,
1..          Classis Grand Rapids East of the        caused "widespread misunderstand-           Bolt noted that Classis GR East had
`*.
 .       Christian Reformed Church in its            ing in the churches." The Seminary          made "two ironic outcomes" more
-..      meeting held on October 19, 1995            faculty also noted that "this combi-        likely. One was that "if the church
         adopted a statement which dealt             nation of the report's silence with         mu&choose between a ministry that
I..tr    with "Ministry with Persons who are         respect to the 1973 framework and           condones homosexual practice or no
         Homosexual." The statement has              classical action on the minority re-        ministry at all, there is little doubt
         created additional unrest in the CRC.       port left a strong impression that          that it will take the latter route and
1%.      The concern of Calvin Seminary pro-         Classis was unwilling to affirm the         thus marginalize homosexual per-
         fessors is indicated in a communica-        theological and ethical principles of       sons all the more.N
         tion sent to Classis G.R. East and          the 1973 report." They conclude,                Second, according to Bolt,
         signed by the 14 professors who are         "Though the perception may be               "classis cannot be indifferent to the
         also members in churches belong-            wrong and far from Classis' inten-          ironic possibility that its unclear de-
         ing to that  classis.  Darrell Todd         tion, this impression has been the          cision will jeopardize the carefully
         Maurina of the  United  Reformed            occasion of much unrest in the              balanced and very fragile decision
         News  Service  presents this quote          church.... For the sake of truth and        of Synod 1995 on the ordination of
         from their letter to the classis: "Fur-     the well-being of the church we re-         women. Once again, more than ad-
         thermore, when in its deliberations         quest that classis at its January 1996      equate fuel has been supplied for
         on  October 19, 1995  Classis had an        meeting  clearly  affirm that  alI min-     those, who stoke the fires of seces-
         opportunity to affirm the 1 973 stance      istries to  homosexual persons should       sion on the ordination issue with the
         by adopting the minority report, it         follow the theological, ethical, and        argument that women's ordination
         failed to do so. Instead of the clear       pastoral guidelines of the 1973 Syn-        today means practicing gays in the
         statement in the minority report that       odical Report on Homosexuality."            pulpit tomorrow."
         homosexuality is a distortion of                One of the professors, Dr. John             Rev. Wilbert VanDyk, retired ac-
         God's plan for sexuality and that           Bolt, also submitted a separate doc-        ademic dean of Calvin Seminary,
         sexual activity outside of marriage         ument of his own which consists of          also submitted a document to the
         is disobedience, Classis chose to sub-      two parts, an "appeal" of the Octo-         classis which was not a "protest or
         stitute in its place the ambiguous          ber decision and a "request that            appeal" of the action of October 19,
         wording `to discern what it  means          classis find an appropriate way to          but rather a request for "editorial
                                                     reassure the Christian Reformed             clarification."
           it  E_,  L ".< ,                          Church and its member churches                  Maurina writes that VanDyk cit-
         Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protes-      that it affirms the moral stance on         ed three examples of contrasts be-
         tant Reformed Church of Loveland,           homosexuality expressed by the 1973         tween the 1973 synodical report and
         Colorado.                                   synodical report and that ministry          the October 19 classical action: that

         ZO%Standard  Bearer /February 1, 1996


"the action of classis seems to allow         letter sent to classis. Are the num-         anyone "to aid, abet, incite, com-
for the possibility of the legitimacy         bers of the signatories and their po-        pel, or coerce" discrimination
of monogamous homosexual rela-                sition within the churches supposed          against homosexuals (see N.J. State.
tionships," that it "fails to identify        to influence a classis to change its         Q 10:5-12, Title 10, "Civil Rights";
homosexual orientation as `a condi-           position? Would it not be more ap-           Chapter 5, "Law Against Discrimi-
tion of disordered sexuality which            propriate and proper for each indi-          nation"). Further, the statute ins
                                                                                           eludes  no exception for religious
reflects the brokenness of our sinful         vidual to present his own protest -          speech (see New.Jerscy  Law Jour-
world,' " and that "in contrast to            not relying on numbers of signato-           nal, Dec.,5,1994).
the 1973 synodical  material which            ries to convince, but rather coming            2. Rutherford Institute attorney
concludes that homosexual practice            with Scripture, the Church Order,            Tom Neuberger filed suit on behalf
is `incompatible with obedience to            and former Synodical  decisions to           of the Orthodox Presbyterian
the will of God as revealed in Holy           show that the action taken was im-           Church, as represented by the Rev.
Scripture' (Acts of Synod 1973, p.            proper?                                      David Cummings. The suit charg-
52), the action of classis, in accent-                                                     es that the statute violates the Free
ing the need for ministry to people                                                        Speech Clause of the First Amend-
                                              n SIGNS OF THE TIMES:                        ment.
with homosexual orientation, leaves           Condemning the sin of -. For-                  3. The attorney general's office
unclear by what biblical standards            bidden in New Jersey                         of the state of New Jersey agreed
such ministry wilI be shaped."                    The Standard Bearer is also dis-         not to enforce the statute against
    By the time this article appears          tributed in the state of New Jersey.         churches; claiming that such a reli-
in print, Classis Grand Rapids East           It is there now against the law to           gious exemption, though not writ-
wilI have met - and presumably                condemn  - as sin. In that state,            ten, is implied. The promise did
taken action. Many will anxiously             as in all of the states, it is perfectly     not include, however, protecting a
await the decision which must be              legal, and a matter of "free speech,"        minister if he stepped off church
taken.                                        to use God's Name in vain. It is             property to disapprove of homo-
                                                                                           sexuality (see  The  Legal  Intelli-
    The above action does appear              legal, a matter of "free speech," to         gencer, Nov.  17,1994).
strange. One can understand the               tell the filthiest of stories, to portray      4. Partially on the basis of the
concern expressed about the deci-             the worst of pornography, but it is          state attorney generaPs  promise, the
sion of  Classis GR East. It is not           illegal to condemn - as sin.                 trial court dismissed the Rutherford
difficult to see that the decision            Though perhaps a minister might be           Instituters case, but Institute attor-
would cause additional unrest in the          allowed to condemn  - as sin                 ney Tom Neuberger appealed. The
CRC. Against that decision, one pro-          from the pulpit, as soon as he steps         appellate court, the 3rd Circuit
fessor submits an "appeal" and a              outside of the boundaries of the             Court of Appeals, ordered the orig
                                                                                           inal trial court to reconsider the
"request to find appropriate reassur-         church, he may not legally say any-          statute's "effect on our fundamen-
ance" for the churches. Another sub-          thing against this.                          tal constitutional right to freedom
mits a document which purports to                 A report of this sad develop-            of speech."
be neither "protest or appeal" but            ment is presented in the Christian             5. Tragically, in late September
rather a request for "editorial clari-        Observer, November 3,1995.  I copy           the trial court ruled that the state
fication." And 14 professors sign a           it in its entirety:                          of New #Jersey  has a "compelling
letter of concern which.they  send to                                                      state interest" to prohibit discrimi-
classis. One cannot help but won-                 In a tragic setback for free speech,     nation, and this "compelling state
der under what kind of church poli-             Biblical morality, and the general         interest" overrides free speech lib-
                                                                                           erties (see David B. Cruz, "Piety
ty these men operate? Since when                free exercise of religion, a New Jer-      and Prejudice: Free Exercise Exv
is an "appeal" directed to the body             sey federal district court has ruled       emption,from Law Prohibiting Sex-
which makes a decision against                  in  Presbyte  y of Orthodox Presbyteri-    ual Orientation Discrimination,"
which one is aggrieved? And when                an Church v.  Florio  that the New
                                                Jersey homosexuals' rights amend-          New York University Law Review,
a matter is as serious as these men             ment overrides one's constitutional        vol. 69, pp. 1176,117s  [Dec., 19941).
indicate, why are simply letters sent           right of free expression. The histo-         The ramifications of the latest rul-
to the classis? why is there no pro-            ry of the Florio case falls into the       ing are significant. . If enforced to
test? Would that not be the way to              following five phases:                     its fullest extent, the statute would
force clarification of the issue? With            1. The legislature of the state of       forbid any public disapproval of
                                                                                           homosexuality, effectively making
these letters, mere letters of concern,         New Jersey passed its "Law                 various passages of the Bible tech-
it seems to                                     Against Discrimination" (LAD)
                me that classis could con-                                                 nically illegal if communicated in
ceivably say, "Thank you for your               which prohibits anyone in New Jer-
                                                sey, including transients, from com-       public (for example, Rom. 1:27; I
interest and concern" - and then                municating anything, either verbal         Cor. 5:ll; I Tim. 1%10). [Author:
proceed with its other business.                or written, which might promote            Mr. Tom Patterson]
    There is something strange also             discrimination against homosexu-
that 14 professors all sign a single            als. Specifically, the statute forbids       If this position against speech

                                                                                           February 1, 1996lSfandard  Bearer1203


 which condemns homosexuality as              might well be the next sin the church     garded as  "discrhnination." Slow-
sin is maintained, if this is regarded        is forbidden to condemn publicly -        ly, but surely, so it appears, the
legally as a matter of "discrimina-           it would represent "discrimination"       church will be "muzzled" so that it
tion," one wonders what the ultimate          against a woman's "right of abor-         cannot condemn any sin anymore
result must be. Surely we have an             tion." To condemn all other reli-         (except perhaps the "politically cor-
indication of the sign of the end of          g-ions  as false could likewise be re-    rect" sins of child abuse, etc.). Cl
times. The sin (murder) of abortion




             Esteeming: the Eldet% Very
       Highly for Their Worki's Sake

       In the previous article in this se-     choice; yet by no means coming to         back, unwilling to encounter the
ries we called attention to the fact           you in virtue of mere human au-            odium or the pain of appearing as
that, because Jesus Christ is pleased          thority; but in the name and by the       accusers, or even as witnesses.
to minister His Word, rule His flock,          appointment of the great Head of          Such persons ought to be the last
and care for the needy through the             the Church, and, of course, the           to criminate Church officers for
lawfully called officebearers, the peo-        "ministers of God to you for good."       supposed negligence of discipline.
                                                                                         Can your Rulers take notice of that
ple of God must receive these men                In all your views and treatment
                                               of them, then, recognize this char-       which never comes to their knowl-
as the representatives of Christ Him-          acter. Obey them -"in the Lord,"          edge? Or can you expect them, as
self. Before proceeding to discuss             that is, for his sake, and as far as      prudent men, rashly to set on foot
the qualifications for the office of el-       they bear rule agreeably to his           a judicial and public investigation
der we call the readers attention to           word. "Esteem them very highly            of things, concerning which many
an address given by Dr. Samuel MiU-            in love for their works sake." And        are ready to whisper in private, but
er to the members of the Presbyteri-           follow them daily with your               none willing to speak with frank-
an Church in the United States. Dr.            prayers, that God would bless them,       ness before a court of Christ? Be-
Miller was appointed in 1813 by the            and make them a blessing. Rever-          sides, let it be recollected, that the
                                                                                         session (consistory in our church-
General Assembly of the Presbyteri-            ence them as your leaders. Bear in
                                               mind the importance of their of-          es, RDD) of almost every Church
an Church as the second professor              fice, the arduousness of their du-        is sometimes achrally engaged in m-
for Princeton Theological Seminary.            ties, and the difficulties with which     vestigating charges, in removing of-
Dr. Miller held this position for the          they have to contend. Counte-             fenses, and in composing differenc-
next thirty-five years. Said Dr. Mill-         nance, and sustain them in every          es, which many suppose they are
er:                                            act of fidelity; make allowance for       utterIy  neglecting, merely because
                                               their infirmities; and be not unrea-      they do not judge it to be for edifi-
  Christian Brethren,                          sonable in your expectations from         cation, in all cases, to proclaim what
       Every consideration which has           them.                                     they have done, or are doing, to
  been urged to show the importance              Many are ready to criminate the         the congregation at large.
  and duties belonging to the office           Elders of the Church, for not tak-          Your Elders will sometimes be
  of Ruling Elders ought to remind             ing notice of particular offenses, as     called - God grant that it may sel-
  yslou of the important duties which          speedily, or in such manner, as they      dom occur! - But they will some-
  you owe to them. Remember at all             expect. And this disposition to           times be called to the painful exer-
  times, that they are your ecclesias-         find fault is sometimes indulged by       cise of discipline. Be not offended
  tical Rulers; Rulers of your own             persons who have never been so            with them for the performance of
                                               faithful themselves as to give that       this duty. Rather make the lan-
                                               information which they possessed,         guage of the Psalmist your own:
                                               respecting the alleged offenses; or       "Let.the  righteous smite me, it shall
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical         who, when called upon publicly to         be a kindness; and let him reprove
Theology in the Protestant Reformed            substantiate that which they have         me, it shall be an excellent oil which
Seminary.                                      privately disclosed, have drawn           shall not break my head." Add not

204lStandard  Bearer /February 1, 1996


to the bitterness of their official                     prayers. Converse with the Elders             as soon as Christians beg-an to erect
task, by discovering a resentful                        freely, as with fathers, who "have           houses for public  wor&ip. This
temper, or by indulging in re-                          no greater joy than to see you walk-          official and conspicuous accommo-
proachful language, in return for                       ing in the truth." And ever give              dation for the Elders is constantly
their fidelity. Surely the nature of                    them cause to retire under the               provided in the Dutch Reformed
the duty is sufficiently self-deny-                     pleasing persuasion, that their of-          Church, in this country, and it is
ing and distressing, without render-                    fice is honored, that their benevo-          believed by most of the Reformed
ing it more so by unfriendly treat-                     lent designs are duly appreciated,           Churches on the continent of Eu-
ment. Receive their private wam-                        and that their labors "are not in            rope. It is adapted to keep the con-
ings and admonitions with candor                        vain in the Lord." Inshort, as ev-           gregation habitually reminded who
and affectionate submission. Treat                      ery good citizen will make con-              their Elders are, and of their offi-
their public acts, however contrary                     science of vindicating the fidelity,         cial authority; and also to remind
to your wishes, with respect and                        and holding up the hand of the               the Elders themselves, of their func-
reverence. If they be honest and                        faithful Magistrate, who firmly and          tions and duties. And it furnishes
pious men, can they do less than                        impartially executes the law of the          a convenient opportunity for the
exercise the discipline of Christ's                     land so every good Christian ought           Pastor to consult them on any ques-
house, against such of you as walk                      to feel himself bound in conscience          tion which may occur, either be-
disorderly? Nay, if you be honest                       and honor, as well as in duty to his         fore he ascends the Pulpit, or at the
and pious yourselves,- can you do                       Lord, to strengthen the hands, and           close of the service."
less than approve of their faithful-                    encourage the heart of the spiritual
ness in exercising that discipline?                     Ruler, who evidently seeks, in the             Unfortunately this practice has
If you were aware of all the diffi-                     fear of God, to promote the purity         been abandoned in most Reformed
culties which attend this part of the                   and edification of the Church.1            Churches and even in 
duty of your Eldership, you would                                                                                                some of our
feel for them more tenderly, and                                                                   own Protestant Reformed Church-
                                                          Though  this address was given
judge concerning them more can-                                                                    es. For the reasons Dr. Miller cited
                                                   in 1832, it applies with undiminished
didly and indulgently than you are                                                                 the Elders ought to sit together.
                                                   biblical force to the people of God
often disposed to do. Here you                                                                         Another practice which ought to
have it in your power, in a very                   today. If heeded by God's people,               be reinstated in the churches is that
important degree, to lessen their                  what a difference it would make for             of the vice-president of the
burdens, and to strengthen their                   the elders in their work and, thus,             Consistory shaking the minister's
hands.                                             what a difference it would make for             hand before the latter goes to the
  When your Elders visit your fam-                 the lives of the people of God.                 pulpit.3 This is a reminder to the
ilies, for the purpose of becoming                        Immediately following the above
acquainted with them, and of aid-                                                                  minister, the elders, and the congre-
                                                   address Dr. Miller makes the follow-
ing the Pastor in ascertaining the                                                                 gation that the consistory is respon-
                                                          ing interesting and significant
spiritual state of the flock, re-                                                                  sible for the preaching of the Word.
                                                             remark
member that it is not officious                                                                    For the same reason it is to be re-
intrusion. It is nothing more              . . . s o                                               gretted that in some of our congre-
than their duty. Receive              every good                The nature of the office be-       gations the Elders go to the back of
them, not as if you suspect-           Christian               fore `us (that of elder, RDD)       the sanc,tuary  to shake the minister's
ed them of having come as                ought to              also leads to another re-           hand after the service. The shaking
spies or busy intrudeus,  but        feel himself               mark, with which the               of the minister's hand after the ser-
with respect and cordiali-                bound                 present chapter will be
ty. Convince them, by your           in conscience              closed. It is, that there          vice is an indication of the fact that
treatment, that you are glad          and honor,                seems to be a peculiar pro-        the Elders approve of what was just
to see them; that you wish            as well as                priety in the Ruling Elders        preached. The congregation ought
to encourage them in pro-                in duty                (and the same principle            to be able to see this. Cl
moting the best interests of         to his Lord,               will apply to the Deacons
the Church; and that you             to strengthen              . ..) having a seat assigned
honor them for their fideli-          the hands,                them,  for sifting together, in
ty. Give them an opportu-                  and                  a conspicuous part of the
nity of seeing your children,         encourage                 Church, near the Pulpit,
and of ascertaining whether            the heart               during the public service,              *Samuel Miller,  The Ruling Elder
your households are making                of the               where they can overlook the         (Dallas, Texas: Presbyterian Heritage
progress in the Christian life.        spiritual              whole worshipping assem-             Publications, 1987) pp. 211-214.
Nay, encourage your children             Ruler....           bly, and be seen by all. The              21bid.,  pp. 214215.
to put themselves in the way                                 considerations which recom-               3There  .are, to the best of my knowl-
of the Elders, that they may be                            mend this, are numerous. It             edge, only two Protestant Reformed
personally known to them, and                           was invariably so in the Jewish            congregations where this practice has'
may become the objects of their af-                     Synagogue. The same practice, as           been retained, First PRC in Edmonton
fectionate notice, their occasional                     we have seen in a former chapter,          and Immanuel PRC in Lacombe, both
exhortation, and their pious                            was adopted in the early Church,           in Alberta, Canada.

                                                                                                     February 1, 1996ISfandard  Bearer1205


      Hating the Haters of God (2)

     We are living in the new dis-              stir up rebellion against the state and    judgments. They hate the name of
pensation. There is a difference be-            promote physical violence in the           God, for they blaspheme His name.
tween the old and the new dispen-               name of Christ they must be severe-        They hate the truth of God. They
sation. By this we do not mean that             ly condemned. This is true even for        contradict it. They seek to displace
God has changed in His holy atti-               those who stand for a cause as seri-       the truth of God with the proud
tude toward the wicked. Neither do              ous as anti-abortion. In other words,      opinions of men. They promote doc-
we mean that our attitude must be               our hatred for the enemies of God          trines that are contrary to the testi-
essentially different from David's at-          does not justify our destroying the        mony of the infallible Scriptures.
titude in the old dispensation. There           houses of the wicked, ruining their        Adulterers, whoremongers, murder-
is, however, a difference.? By the              property and business, or, even            ers, liars, and thieves, as long as they
command of God in the old dispen-               worse, taking their life in the name       continue in these sins, are enemies
sation the cause of the Lord's king-            of God. All those who do this are          of God. False prophets, heretics in
dom was advanced by the sword.                  condemned by God's Word.                   the church, are enemies of God.
God commanded David to fight the                    In the New Testament age we            Those who today in the church are
many wars and battles he was en-                show that we hate the haters of God        working to overthrow the funda-
gaged in. He was commanded to                   by condemning their evil walk and          mental doctrines of God's Word and
exterminate with the sword those                evil confession and their blasphemy        to replace them with false doctrines
who were under the curse of God.                against God. We call them to re-           of men, these are the enemies of
This was the nature of the old dis-             pentance and it, after being often ad-     God.
pensation, for reasons we cannot de-            monished, they continue in their sin           There is a difference between
tail in this short article.                     and rebellion, we separate ourselves       one man and another, however.
    The kingdom of Christ is spiri-             from them, and, as David did, we           God's people are sometimes led
tual. The cause of the kingdom of               count them our enemies. We count           astray for a time by false teachers in
Christ in the New Testament age is              them our enemies because they have         the church. They are deceived. They
not advanced by carnal means but                shown themselves to be enemies of          certainly have some responsibility
by spiritual means, the means  of the           God. With the grace of God in our          for this. They are often led astray
preaching of the Word. The cause                heart, with love for God in our            because of their own ignorance.
of the church of Jesus Christ is not            hearts, we count impenitent wicked         They have not armed themselves
advanced by the sword power in the              men as our enemies.                        with the Word of God. They have
new dispensation. Those in the his-                 We must identify the enemies of        stayed in apostate churches that they
tory of the church who tried to do              God by their wicked deeds, by their        should have left long ago. They have
this were wrong. The crusades of                opposition against the Word of God,        become ignorant of the ~truth, and in
the Middle Ages were terribly wrong             by their blasphemy against the name        their ignorance they are as children
for that reason. The rebellion of the           of God. This is the  same way in           tossed to and fro by every wind of
Anabaptists at the time of the Ref-             which David identified them, as is         doctrine and by the sleight and cun-
ormation was rightly severely con-              clear  from the passage quoted  from       ning craftiness of men who lie in
demned by the leaders of the Refor-             Psalm 139. This is not being wrong-        wait to deceive. Not all of these are
mation. Such misguided efforts                  ly judgmental. The Bible says, by          enemies of God. Some of these must
wreaked havoc in the church and                 their fruits ye shall know them. The       be pitied. They must be instructed
did great harm to the cause of Christ.          enemies of God are those who open-         in the truth. We must exercise great
Today, when there are those who                 ly show that they hate God. They           patience and love toward them to
                                                hate the good and holy command-            restore them to the truth of God. We
                                                ments of God. They laugh at the            must pray for them that God will
                                                                                           bring them back to the truth of His
Rev. denHartog  is pastor                       law of God and make sin their en-
                               of Hope Prot-
estant                                          tertainment. They deny that there          Word.
           Rifmned   Church in Redlands,
California.                                     is a God in heaven and mock His                Different from these, however,

206lSfandard  Bearer /February 1, 1996


are avowed heretics and those who         mote. We count them our enemies           true gospel of Jesus Christ accursed,
continue to live in brazen and proud      because they are God's enemies.           even if he were an angel from heav-
wickedness before God even after              The church today is overrun by        en. Let him be anathema. Who
their errors have been clearly shown      heretics. Men are tolerated in the        dares to say that in the name of
to them from the Word of God and          church at large who are working to        Christ anymore today?
they have been warned and admon-          overthrow the truths of the infalli-          The church today needs the true
ished many times.                         bility of the Word of God, teaching       love for, God that David had, a love
    You want a few examples of            evolutionism and feminism and all         that made him hate the haters of
this? We certainly count the wicked       sorts of other evil doctrines. The        God and count them his enemies.
movie stars of Hollywood and              glorious truths of God's sovereign        The corollary of such love is genu-
Broadway who promote their evil           grace are being contradicted and re-      ine concern for the welfare of God's
philosophy of life of fornication and     placed with humanistic doctrines          people, zeal for the truth of God's
adultery, and blasphemy against           that deny the glory of God. The           Word, and love for' the honor and
God through the media in our day,         foundations of many churches are          glory of the name of God. May God
to be enemies of God. We do not           being destroyed by these false            give us such men of God, men after
say that these promote good art and       preachers. God's people are left lan-     God's own heart like David and,
American culture which we need to         guishing, groping in darkness be-         most importantly, like Him that is
learn to appreciate, just cringing a      cause the Word of God is not being        greater than David, our Lord Jesus
little when they speak blasphemy          preached and hirelings are in  con-       Christ.
and when the adultery they portray        trol of the church of God in many             We join David in another Psalm.
goes beyond our sense of decency.         places. It is falsely imagined to be a    "Let God arise, let his enemies be
We do not entertain ourselves by          mark of love to tolerate such evil        scattered: let them also that hate
watching their evil productions. We       men in the church year after year.        him flee before him. As smoke is
hate them. Because of our love for        Meanwhile they are allowed to             driven away, so drive them away:
God we want nothing to do with            spread their evil teachings and lead      as wax melteth before the fire, so let
the flood of evil that they bring into    many astray and wreck the church.         the wicked perish at the presence of
our society. We do everything in          Churches refuse to discipline such        God. But let the righteous be glad;
our power to guard our children and       evil men because it is claimed that       let them rejoice before God: yea, let
youth from the drug and violent cul-      this is not the loving thing to do.       them exceedingly rejoice" (Ps. 6&l-
ture of murder and hatred they pro-       The holy apostle of the Lord dared        3).  cl
                                          to call anyone who did not bring the





                                                   Chapter 5
                Paradise the First (cont.)

and Evil (1)                              den, and the tree of knowledge of         that, or it was nothing. It was per-
    Concerning the tree of knowl-         good and evil." Further, in Genesis       ceptible to the senses, or it had no
edge of good and evil we read, first      2:16,17  we read of the so-called pro-    reality whatsoever; and, in the latter
of all, in Genesis 2:9: "And out of       bationary command: "And the Lord          case, then all that stands connected
the ground made the Lord God to           God commanded the man, saying,            with that tree - the command of
grow every tree that- is pleasant to      Of every tree of the garden thou          the Lord God, the threatened penal-
the sight, and good for food; the tree    mayest freely eat: But of the tree of     ty of death, the temptation, the eat-
                                          the knowledge of good and evil,           ing of that tree, and sin - all these
                                          thou shalt not eat of iti for in the      have, then, no reality. Besides, the
The late Homer Hoeksema was profes-       day that thou eatest thereof thou         tree of life, which is mentioned in
sor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in     shalt surely die."                        the same breath with this tree, and
the Protestant  Reformed Semina y.            First of all, we must emphasize       all the other trees concerning which
                                                                                      February  1, 1996lStandard Bearer1207


we read specifically that the Lord         therefore, is in a way the very oppo-         it. Just as in all the trees, so in this
God made them to grow out of the           site, the antithesis, of the tree of life.    tree the fruit of the ground, on which
ground and that they were pleasant                  We may ask: wherein did the          Adam's earthly existence was phys-
to the sight and good for food -           peculiar character of this unique tree        ically dependent, was offered to him.
these also, then, would have no re-        consist?                                      But unlike any other tree, this tree
ality. You see, every presentation                  On the one hand, it was a good       represented a divine prohibition.
that would deny in one way or an-          tree in itself. This we must bear in              Herein lies undoubtedly the key
other the reality of these trees is a      mind. That tree was not as such a             to the correct interpretation of the
Bible-contradicting and faith-de-          bad tree, but a good tree. It was a           tree of knowledge of good and evil.
stroying presentation. The tree of         creature of God's hand: the Lord              In distinction from the tree of life, it
knowledge of good and evil, unique         God caused it to grow from the                is prohibitive. For Adam the bless-
though it was, was a real tree.            ground even as He made all the                ing of that tree of life lay in his free-
     As to the place of the tree of the    trees of the garden to grow out of            ly partaking of it; but the blessing of
knowledge of good and evil, we may         the ground. Even as in all the trees          the trek of the knowledge of good
note that the Bible is not definite.       of the garden God proffered the fruit         and evil lay in his freely abstaining
Some have said that also this tree         of the earth to man, so also in the           from it.
was in the midst of the garden. Oth-       tree of the knowledge of good and                 The question is: why?
ers have insisted that it could not        evil.                                             The answer is that the tree of
have been in the midst of the gar-                  Whatever the nature of the fruit     knowledge of good and evil repre-
den because this would be excluded         of that tree may have been, the tree          sents antithetically a great, a funda-
by the very idea of this tree in rela-     of knowledge of good and evil was             mental principle of man's existence,
tion to the significance of that part      a fruit tree; like the other trees, that      a determinative principle, a life-and-
of the garden as the place of God's        tree was, in itself, pleasant to the          death principle. It is a principle
fellowship with man. We may note           sight and good for food. It was not,          which held true in Paradise, in the
that Genesis 2:9 places the tree of        as a tree, an ugly tree. Nor was it,          original state of `righteousness. It is
life in the midst of the garden, but       as a tree, a poison tree. This we             a principle which remains irue even
does not specifically locate the tree      must keep in mind, lest we fall into          when man has fallen and the abid-
of the knowledge of good and evil          the error, in connection with the his-        ing truth of which he is made to taste
there. And while Eve, in Genesis           tory and meaning of the Fall, that            by bitter experience. It is a princi-
3:3; speaks of this tree as being in       sin consists in things - mere natu-           ple which underlies the gospel of
the midst of the garden, this can          ral, physical, material things as such.       grace as well, and the truth of which
hardly be regarded as conclusive.          Nor is death a mere natural process.          becomes the glad experience and
Suffice it to say that this unique tree    That tree as such was not a poison            willing confession of God's people
was in the garden, that is, right in       tree, a death-dealing tree, as though         as they are saved in Christ Jesus our
man's very home. The point is that         the eating and digesting and assimi-          Lord.
this tree, and the Word of God at-         lation of its fruit would have disas-             What is that all-important prin-
tached to it, constituted an essential     trous and fatal effects of one kind or        ciple of man's existence?
element in man's life in Paradise the      another upon man's physical exist-                It was announced to the children
First.                                     ence. It was not like a bottle of med-        of Israel in the plains of Moab as
    Moreover, it is also evident that      icine which you may have in your              they were about to enter the land of
the hee of the knowledge of good           home, on which you may find the               promise, when the Lord through
and evil was very closely related to       insignia of a skull and crossbones            Moses reminded them of all His
the tree of life - but related in sig-     and the words, "poison if taken in-           wonder-provisions for them while
nificance and purpose by way of            ternally." Not at all! That tree was          they were in the wilderness on the
contrast. Not only is the close rela-      in itself a perfectly good fruit tree,        way to the land of Canaan. For thus
tionship between the two evident           pleasant to the sight and good for            we read in Deuteronomy  8:2, 3:
from the fact that they are mentioned      food, and proffering to Adam the              "And thou shalt remember all the
together in Genesis 2:9 as the two         fruit of the ground out of which the          way which the Lord thy God led
special trees in the garden, in dis-       Lord God made it grow.                        thee these forty years in the wilder-
tinction from all the other trees              Yet, on the other hand, the Lord          ness, to humble thee, and to prove
which the Lord God caused to grow          forbids Adam to eat of this tree. For         thee, to know what was in thine
there; but this is plain especially        thus we read in Genesis  2:16, 17.            heart, whether thou wouldest keep
from the fact that only in the way of      Hence, in that tree in itself was pre-        his commandments, or no. And he
obedience, that is, in the way of not      sented to Adam the fruit of the               humbled thee, and suffered thee to
eating of the tree of knowledge of         ground; and, at the same time, the            hunger, and fed thee with manna,
good and evil, was the way to the          Lord attached His commandment to              which thou knewest not, neither did
tree of life open for man. This tree,      that tree, forbidding Adam to eat of          thy fathers know; that he might

SOS/Standard Bearer /February 1, 1996


make thee know (and here is the                 harmony with the context in                  Word of God's favor - that is life
principle I referred to - HCH) that             Deuteronomy, which certainly em-             for ma& Man cannot live by bread
man doth not live by bread only,                phasizes that the Lord our God can           alone. His life must be sustained by
but by every word that proceedeth               make  man live, if He pleases to do          God's blessing, by the Word of His
out of the mouth of the Lord doth               so, without the ordinary means of            grace.
man live." So fundamental, so abid-             subsistence. Moreover, it is rather              This was the principle that was
ing is this principle, that when 4,000          in conflict, too, with the use which         expressed in the tree of the knowl-
years later the last Adam appears               our Savior makes of these words.             edge of good and evil. That tree
and, at the very beginning of His                    Nor is the meaning of this prin-        offers bread to Adam, good bread,
public ministry, is confronted by the           ciple merely this, that man's natural        prepared from the earth. And yet:
devil and his temptations, He cites             existence is always sustained, not by        it offers bread not to eat! Instead
it in answer to the temptation to               things, but by the providential Word         comes the Word of God, cornmand-
command the stones to be made                   of God. In that case, the meaning            ing  hirq that, while he  may freely
-bread: "It is written, Man shall not           would be that wheat and rain and             eat of every tree, from this one tree
live by bread alone, but by every               sunshine are but one Word of God,            he must abstain, and thus directing
word that proceedeth out of the                 and the manna which Israel received          his life, in the way of obedience to
mouth of God" (Malt.  4:4). The dev-            in the wilderness is another Word            God. By abstaining from the tree of
il said in the wilderness: "Eat!" The           of God, the purpose of which was             knowledge of good and evil, Adam
last Adam, the Son of God in the                to teach that we must learn to see           would exercise that other, that high-
flesh, replied: "Eating is not all of           the Word of God in all things and            er, spiritual side of his life: he would
life! Man shall live by every word              to trust in God instead of in things         obey in loving friendship and ser-
that proceeds from the mouth of                 as such. Now this is, of course, true        vice of the Lord his God, and thus
God."                                           in itself and as far as it goes. But         truly live.
    This was the principle of man's             this is not the final truth of this prin-        All ,of this, we must remember,
existence  from the very beginning,             ciple, as is again evident from our          is significant with respect to the fall
and it was embodied and represent-              Lord and Savior's application of this        and with respect to salvation. For it
ed in the tree of the knowledge of              passage in answer to the devil's             is this principle that man denied in
good and evil, the tree whose fruit             temptation.                                  Paradise when he fell. He chose the
Adam was prohibited to eat.                          This deep, abiding principle            fruit of the ground, mere earthly
    What does that principle mean?              means, rather, that man's life is such       bread, apart from God and His
    It does not mean, as it is so of-           that it cannot be sustained by bread,        Word; and he died. It is this princi-
ten interpreted and as seems to be              by mere earthly bread. Indeed, man           ple that the natural man has forgot-
the assumption when it is fre-                     is earthy. He is taken from the           ten and denied ever since. _ He is by
quently used in prayers pre-                          earth. `There  is an earthy as-        nature always prone to seek the
ceding mealtime, that bread          To know            pect to his existence. If that       things that are below, mere earthy
in itself does not feed man,             God              earthy side were all of            things, as if he could live by them.
nourish his physical exist-        and His will,          man's existence, then mere         It is in :this light, too, that we can
ence, but that God's               to love God             bread, the mere fruit of the      understand the true significance of
Word must bless it in or-            and have              ground, would be suffi-           Christ's application of the words
der to make that bread             fellowship              cient to sustain him. Thus        from Deuteronomy at the occasion
nourishing. This idea is           with Him -              it is for a horse or a cow:       of His temptation by the devil. The
rather superficial, shal-           that is life,          all they need is the fruit of     choice for Him was: bread or God's
low; and it possibly even            true life,           the ground. But thus it is         fellowship in the way of obedience.
contains an element of su-           for man.            not with man, who was               That choice He confronted as the last
perstition. For the fact of the                        made after God's image and            Adam, the Mediator of His elect peo-
matter is that when a profane                        who therefore stands related to         ple. He chose the way of God's fel-
man, an unbeliever, eats his bread           God. Because the one man, the one               lowship, the way of obedience, all
(and his pie and his cake, besides),        living soul, has not only that earthy            the way to the bitter. and shameful
he wipes his mouth and gets up from         aspect to his existence, but also that           death of the cross, in order that all
his meal without ever thinking of           other, spiritual side, he needs more             His redeemed people in Him might,
God and His Word. But that man is           than bread. For man, life, true life,            for the sake of His perfect obedi-
nourished physically by the bread           consists in fellowship with God. To              ence, have the right to and the `en-
that he eats just as well as is the         know God and His will, to love God               joyment of God's fellowship forev-
child of God who bows his head with         and have fellowship with Him -                   er, through faith in-His Name and
the prayer, "Give us this day our           that is life, true life, for man. To be          in the way of covenant obedience.
daily bread," before he takes a bite        directed by the Word of God and to                                                    cl
of food. Nor is this explanation in         obey in love, and thus to hear the

                                                                                               February 1, 1996lStandard  Bearer!209


                                                         John 6:60-71
                     "Will Ye Also Go Away?"
                                             ereign grace who saves those who           He was rejected? How is this also
    Judging on the basis of contem-          are dead sinners given to him only         true today?
porary evangelism, Jesus was an ut-          by the grace of God?                       2. Verse 62. In what sense is the
ter failure in His sermon on the                     Peter's confession is spoken in    ascension of Christ an even harder
Bread of Life. When He began He              the behalf of all those who are born       thing for unbelievers to accept than
had the crowds with Him, but by              not of the flesh, nor of blood, nor of     what Jesus had been saying to them
His preaching, Jesus "turned them            the will of man, but who are born of       about eating and drinking His bro-
off." Because of the words He spoke          the will of God. Jesus' words to us        ken body and blood?
about the necessity of eating His            are eternal life. They are the end of      3. Explain the importance of verse
flesh and drinking His blood, and            all our sorrow, fear, and trouble.         63. How does it shed light over all
especially because of His insistence         And we believe, and always will be-        He had been saying: What does it
on the truth of sovereign grace in           lieve, that He is God's anointed Son       teach us about the Holy Spirit?
election and reprobation, many of            and our Savior.                            4. How does Jesus explain the rea-
those who had before followed Him                    We learn then that the saving      son for their unbelief? (w. 64, 65).
went awa,y.                                  grace of God takes place through the       Is unbelief the cause of reprobation,
    This rejection has continued ever        words of Christ. The words of              or is reprobation the cause of unbe-
since. Preach a Jesus who will bring         Christ spoken that day only hard-          lief? See Articles 6 and 15, First
about human brotherhood, who                 ened the ungodly and unbelieving           Head, Canons of Dordt.
works miracles and will create a             and they walked no more with Him.          5. In what sense were those that
kingdom of peace and prosperity,             To the saved those words were the          now left Him "disciples." What does
who says that man has some ability           power and wisdom of God tmto sal-          it mean that they walked no more
to save himself, and you will pack           vation. Christ is a sharp two-edged        with Him? What is it to walk with
football stadiums. But preach Christ         sword, and so are His words. It is         Him?
crucified and raised, who draws His          by the wonderful love and grace of         6. Why does Jesus ask at this point
own to Himself, who is the sover-            God that they are to us our peace,         the question of verse 67? Is this a
eign Redeemer of totally depraved            hope, and solid comfort.                   question He asks of us today? How
sinners given to Him of His Father's                          Outline                   does He do so?
election, and many will walk no              1. The notice that many are offend-        7. Discuss Peter's confession.
more with Him. It is still at this           ed at Christ's words (w. 60-65).           Compare it with the one given in
same point, namely sovereign pre-                    a. They find it a "hard saying"    Matthew 16:16-18.
destination and particular redemp-           (v. 60).                                       a. What does it mean that
tion, that Jesus is rejected today.                  b. Christ rebukes them (w. 61-     Jesus has the words of eternal life?
    But, the Lord makes this person-         63).                                           b. Why is it vital that we know
al. Do we, by the grace of the Holy                  c. Christ explains why they do     that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
Spirit, follow Him because of who            not believe His words (w. 64,65).          the living God?
and what He is, or do we follow              2. Many disciples walk no more                 c. How do we explain the dif-
Him for the same reason many of              with Him (v. 66).                          ference between Peter and the many
the "disciples" had for following            3. Christ's question to the twelve         who walked no more with Him?
Him in that day? The question of             (w. 67-71).                                8. Is this our confession? Can we
Jesus is: "Will ye also go away?"                    a. The question (v. 67).           know that we will never go away
Do you want Me, the Christ of God,                   b. Peter's answer (w. 68,69).      from Jesus? Can we have the abso-
the Bread of everlasting life, the                   c. Christ answers their confes-    lute assurance of salvation?
Christ of the cross, the Christ of sov- f    sion by telling them that even one         9. Why does Jesus announce  at this
                                             of the twelve is a devil (w. 70,71).       time and moment that one of them
                                                             Questions:                 was a devil? How is it related to
Rev. Husk is pastor of Bethel Protes-        1. Verse 60. Exactly what was the          Peter's confession?
tant Reformed Church in Itasca, Illi-        "hard" saying which they could not         10. Why was Judas chosen to be one
nois.                                        hear? What was the point at which          of the twelve? B
2101Standard Bearer /February 1, 1996


                                 Further Debaite on
                    C.hildren in the Covenant
                                             unless my memory completely es-           ism are, two horns of a dilemma
    A recent issue of  Christian Re-         capes me, I was certain I had read        and neither one is right. Baptism
newal  contained a second response           that the Form for Baptism of In-          will either be a blessing or a curse.
of Rev. Jelle Tuininga to my recent          fants was used by the PRs with            Just as the same water of the flood
articles concerning children in the          some significant changes from the         drowned the world and saved
covenant, which I believe brings out         one used in the CRC. If I am mis-         Noah, so baptism either "drowns"
the differences between us and the           taken about that, I will gladly ad-       us or saves us (I Pet. 3: 20,21). But
Liberated Churches better than I             mit it. (I still hope to check this       it is valid for every single child of
                                             out in due time.)                         believing parents that comes to the
alone can describe it. Accordingly,            3. It is sad that PR brothers con-      baptismal font. It will come to
I here present both his letter and my        strue every mention of "condition"        count against you or it will give
answer.                                      as Arminian. Schilder writes: "For        you great blessing. It is never neu-
                ____--                       I know what the Arminian posi-            tral. "And this is just saying that
    The Rev. Woudenberg has fa-              tion is, and I also know that one         the comfort and confidence of God's
  vored me with a gracious response,         can set the entire Declaration aside      covenant mercy may never be sev-
  and I would like one more oppor-           without falling into Arminianism.         ered from covenant keeping"
  tunity to reply to him.                    On the contrary, in order to hang         (Murray,  Christian Baptism).  Bap-
    1. History: Just what happened           on to sound, fundamental Re-              tism is never an NannouncementN
  between Schilder and Hoeksema,             formed ideas, we affirm the prom-         that God will save all his elect, but
  and what caused what has been in-          ise of God is not prediction and is       in baptism God compels us to be-
  terpreted differently. Without             not realized without involving our        lieve  (Holwerda). The  PRs don't
  doubt, at first, Schilder was more         responsibility. And faith is never a      really want to speak of covenant
  optimistic about cooperation with          condition in the Arminian sense,          breaking, but passages such as Luke
  the Protestant Reformed than later         any more than the condition of            12:47-48, Rom. 6:9ff, I Cor. lO:l-5,
  when the facts became more plain           which the preface to              the     Heb.  64-6,  10:26-30,  12:16-17 can-
  to him. In this connection Schilder        Statenvertaling speaks is an              not be understood apart from cov-
  writes about his "considerable             Arminian notion." The language            enant breaking. Says Murray:
  amazement" that Hoeksema would             of the Statenvertaling, says Schilder,    "Without question the blessing of
  draw up a "Declaration" which              "have not one drop of Arminian            the covenant and the relation which
  would be binding  on all the church-       blood in their veins." A.C. DeJong        the covenant entails cannot be en-
  es. Once Schilder saw the state of         talks about the "unreal dilemma"          joyed or Imaintained apart from the
  affairs, he wrote "The Stocking is         of either conditional or uncondi-         fulfillment of certain conditions on
  Finished."                                 tional. He says we need both terms,       the part of the beneficiaries."
    2. About "apocryphal anec-               and I believe he is right. God alone        The continued enjoyment of this
  dotes," I was relying on my mem-           establishes the covenant, but in the      grace and of the relation established
  ory of things I read years ago, as a       outworking of the covenant man's          are meaningless. Grace bestowed
  student. I read the Standard Bear-         whole-soul belief-ful commitment          implies a subject and reception on
  er fairly regularly, and also read a       is necessary. In that sense it is con-    the part of that subject.
  book by Hoeksema on the history            ditional "In all covenants there are        Woudenberg wants to uphold
  of the PRs. Somewhere along the            contained two parts." Feenstra, in        the principle of non-contradiction,
  line I read that statement attribut-       talking about children who later          and says that I violate logical con-
  ed to Hoeksema. Perhaps some-              manifest themselves as unbelievers,       sistency. Well, first of all, our logic
  one else wrote that Hoeksema had           says, "In any case, we may not say        is not the criterion for what the Bi-
  said it. In any case I didn't just         that the baptism which they re-           ble says. Our logic must be sub-
  suck it out of my thumb. Whether           ceived appears to have been worth-        servient to God's Word. But how
  or not he actually said it, it would       less. From God's side, this bap-          does Woudenberg escape the same
  be completely consistent with the          tism, ,administered  according to' His    logical inconsistency with these
  PR view on infant baptism. And             Word, was earnestly meant as a            statements: "to assure us by this di-
                                             sealing of His grace. And it ren-         vine pledge that we are spiritually
Rev. Woudenberg is p&for                     ders even more grave the guilt of         cleansed from our sins as really as
                             of the Prot-    those who reject such great grace         we are outwardly washed with wa-
estant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo,         in indifference."                         ter" (LD 27, A. 73); "We thank and
Michigan.                                      Arminianism and hyper-calvin-           praise Thee that Thou hast forgiv-
                                                                                       February 1, 1996lStandard  Bearer121 1


 en us and our children all our sins"          cases in which that grace never is            maintain  that children enter cove-
 (prayer with baptism). How is this            conveyed."                                    nant with God simply because they
 logically consistent with the fact                                           J. Tuininga    are elect. We do not deny the im-
 that not all baptized children are                              Lethbridge, Alberta         portance of election - no Reformed
 saved? What I'm saying is that                                - - - - - -                   believer should - but no one gains
 Woudenberg can no more escape                       I appreciate Rev. Tuininga's will-      covenant fellowship with God sim-
 what he  calls  "contradiction" on the       ingness to acknowledge that his un-            ply by being elect. That comes, as
 part of God than I can.                      derstanding of Protestant Reformed
   Another question for Wouden-                                                              Paul points out, only through faith,
                                              history has been based more on ru-
 berg: if baptism is only valid for                                                          Galatians 3:`Z "Know ye therefore
                                              mor and vague memory than estab-
 the elect children, and since we                                                            that they which are of faith, the same
 don't know who is elect, does that           lished fact, and even more his ex-             are the children of Abraham." Such
 not invalidate every baptism?                pressed intent to investigate these            faith, ,of course, is given only to the
 Where is the certainty of God's              matters further; for I am sure, if he          elect (Eph. 2:8), and not to the rep-
 promises? All we can say is: I hope          does, he will find that he has mis-            robate (John  10:26);  but it is also
 it is for you, I trust it is, but I don't    construed our teachings even more.             quite possible for an elect child of
 know for sure. What kind of com-                    To begin with, our Declaration          believers to be baptized and raised
 fort is that? Anthony Hoekema                of Principles was not, as he inti-
 says: "If one thinks of the covenant                                                        in the faith, and yet not come to con-
                                              mates, a confession-like statement
 of grace as established only with                                                           version and faith, so as to know the
                                              "binding on all the churches," but
 the elect, the character of the cove-                                                       reality of covenant fellowship with
 nant of grace is totally changed, for        rather an honest effort to give an             God, until later in life (Luke 15:17).
 then there can be no possibility of          answer to those who were asking                Covenant life comes only through
 covenant breaking. Further, the              whether Prof. Holwerda was correct             faith in Christ (Acts 4:12).
 covenant of grace is then deprived           in his claim that we did not have a                Because Tuininga does not see
 of its objectivity, since one cannot         distinct covenant view of our own              this, he ends up with his endless di-
 know whether one's children are              and would be wilhng to receive the             lemmas, as with the Baptism Form
 covenant members or not."                    Liberated view into our churches. It
   Finally, a helpful quote from                                                             when it says God "has forgiven us
                                              was not that all who would join our
 Kline from,  His Oath Consigned:                                                            and our children all our sins." There
                                              churches were required to consider
 "When covenant is no longer iden-                                                           really is no reason to assume that
 tified with election and guaranteed          this "binding on" their consciences,           Olevianus, Datheen, and vander
 blessing, and especially when the            but we did want it known or "de-               Heyden, who worked in turn at com-
 baptismal sign of incorporation into         clared" for their sakes that we did            piling this form as finally adopted
 the covenant is understood as point-         indeed have our own covenant                   by Ddrt, had in mind with "our &.I-
 ing without prejudice to a judgment          view, and could not accept the Lib-            dren"' anything other than what Paul
 ordeal with the potential of both            erated view as it implicitly counte-           did when he identified covenant
 curse and blessing, certain questions        nanced a common grace view such
 that have long ensnarled the po-                                                            children as those who follow in the
                                              as we had rejected at the origin of
 lemics of infant baptism are elimi-                                                         faith of Abraham. This is borne out
                                              our denomination (which Rev.
 nated from consideration as no                                                              by the fact that this statement is fol-
 longer relevant. Within the frame-           Tuininga confirms to be so when he             lowed by a petition to God to apply
 work of the approach to covenant             argues that baptism is a "sealing of           this baptism personally to the chil-
 and baptism being developed here,            grace" to some who in the end prove            dren being baptized. The inner ap-
 the practice of infant baptism               not to be children of God - in con-            plication of baptism is not something
 would clearly have no presumption            tradiction, of course, to the Canons'          that can be presumed or taken for
 that the children of believers are           teaching that grace is irresistible).          granted; God must bring it to pass
 Christians by birth. No theory of                   And so is it when Tuininga
 presumptive regeneration as the                                                             when and in whom He  wills.  The
                                              writes, "PR brothers construe every
 basis for the administration of bap-                                                        external sign does not bring anyone
                                              mention of `condition' as Arminian."
  tism of infants could be reared on                                                         automatically into the covenant, as
  the foundation of law covenant.             This too is not true, for both the He-         Tuininga wants to think. It only
  Neither, on our approach, would             brew and Greek grammar of Scrip-               points the child to the truth that sal-
  the baptism of infants of believers         ture contain many conditional con-             vation is only through faith in Jesus
  signify a divine promise that they          structions, with which any respon-             Christ (Rom.  4:11), and only those
 were destined to secure the bless-           sible student of Scripture must deal.          who believe, as some do very early
  ings of the covenant sooner or lat-         Our problem is with the way this is            in life, come through this faith to
  er. Hence, there would be no need           done, as comes out as Tuininga goes
  to theorize how the baptism of such                                                        know in personal experience what
                                              on.
  might serve as a means of convey-                                                          covenant life is really about.
                                                     To begin with, there is his sim-
  ing to them the grace supposedly                                                                So also regarding those "cove-
  sealed to them by the rite, much            ple identification of our covenant             nantibreaker" texts in which
  less to apologize for the numerous          view with election, as though we               Tuininga finds so much contradic-

2121Standard  Bearer /February 1, 1996


tion, as a close look at the leading       logic in Numbers 23:19, "God is not        which brought about that terrible
text on this (Gen. 17:14)  makes clear.    a man, that he should he . . . hath he     spiritual demise now taking place in
Breaking the covenant is not to be         said, and shall he not do it? or hath      their midst, along which path the
in it and then out of it - contradict-     he spoken, and shall he not make it        CRC is quickly following. They no
ing the Canons' view of persever-          good?" God's Word has no place             doubt continue to sprinkle their ba-
ance - but to fail to apply the cove-      for contradiction. And John, when          bies, presuming them, I suppose, to
nant sign, and the truth sealed by it,     putting forth the first principle of       be regenerated and recipients of cov-
to one's children, so that the conti-      New Testament .theology,  wrote,           enant promises, but at the same time
nuity of the covenant between the          John l:l, "In the beginning was the        the covenant is being broken through
generations is broken and not car-         logos"  - the Greek word from              their failure to pass on to these chil-
ried on.                                   which the word "logic" derives,            dren the true meaning of this sign,
    Still, most basic in all this is       whose equivalent is not the English        namely, the truth of salvation alone
Tuininga's attraction to irrationality     "word,." or the Dutch woord, but the       by grace and through faith in Christ.
   via Kierkegaard, Barth, and             Latin ratio, or what we might call             We can only urge Rev. Tuininga,
Grkouwer,  etc., it would seem -           reason (and not far removed from           and those who follow him, to come
and its rejection of logic. He is right    the  wisdom  of Proverbs  8:12,22-31).     back to the time-honored way of the
when he says human "logic is not           Logic was there in the beginning, at       fathers who, comparing Scripture
the criterion for what the Bible says"     the creation of the world (John 1:3);      with Scripture, sought out those
- after all, he is the one who identi-     and are we now to disallow it?             non-contradictory truths from which
fies Aristotle's logic with common             The result of doing so comes out       our confessions were formed; by
grace, not we. That, however, does         in Tuininga's repeated struggles           which alone those confessions can
not eliminate the fact that there was      with contradictions in the Reformed        be maintained; and through which
logic in the Bible long before             faith, so that he concludes that to be     we, as believers of a common faith,
Aristotle ever turned a syllogism. It      consistently Calvin&tic is "hyper-,"       work together to restore what has
was there in God's creation of lan-        while to be consistently Arminian is       been so severely compromised. And
guage. Properly used, every word,          unacceptable as well, so that we           for that purpose, may I suggest that
phrase, sentence, and punctuation          must hold to them both in spite of         some serious consideration be given
mark is a logical statement devised        their essential contradiction. But it      to the work of Herman Hoeksema,
to express one thought, not several,       will not work; and I wish Rev.             who loved the Scriptures and spent
and certainly not one that can be          Tuininga would see this. It was, af-       his life seeking their harmony and
contradicted by another (while, was        ter all, this kind of thinking that in-    preaching it to his congregation and
it not Satan who first suggested that      deed allowed the  Gereformeerde            who was not - as I can assure you,
a contradiction can be valid when          Kerken to maintain common grace            as one who knew him personally -
he proposed to Eve, in Genesis 3:5,        and presupposed regeneration, but          the ogre so many seem driven to try
"ye shall be as gods"?). So Moses          which also led them on to the denial       to make him out to have been. 0
laid down the first principle of all       of the inerrancy of Scripture and



Secession, Doleantie, and Union:           in the united synod in Amsterdam           synod, and by J. vanAnde1,  deputy
1834-1892, by Hendrik Bouma. Tr.           on June 17,X92  is informative, in-        of the  Afscheiding  churches, van
Theodore Plantinga. Appendixes by          structive, and moving.                     Andel extended the right hand of
Theodore Plantinga and Peter Y. De             Yes, moving. For Christian Re-         fellowship to Kuyper. A spontane-
Jong. Neerlandia, Alberta, Canada/         formed, Protestant Reformed, Cana-         ous "Amen" sounded from the
Pella, Iowa, U.S.A.: Inheritance Pub-      dian Reformed, Free Reformed, and          packed West Church. The "Amen"
lications, 1995. 302~~. $13.90 (pa-        other readers in North America, this       "sealed the bond between the two
per). [Reviewed by the editor.]            is family history. And the family          groups of churches which had been
                                           was Christ's church, acted upon and        established by God" (p. 177).
    The availability in English of a       acting by the catholic impulse of the          Present at the united synod in
reliable account of the union efforts      Word and Spirit of her Head.               1892 was the aged Simon vanvelzen,
of the Afscheiding ("secession") and           At the third provisional synod         last living "father of the Secession
Dolealztie  ("grieving") churches from     of the  Doleuntie churches in The          of 1834." Too old to speak to the
X386-1892 is noteworthy. This his-         Hague, after agreement had been            huge assembly (he had to be carried
tory of the contact and negotiations       reached on vital issues of union and       into the church building), vanvelzen
between the two Reformed bodies            after powerful speeches by Abraham         had his son tell the first general syn-
in the Netherlands that culminated         Kuyper, president of the  Doleantie        od of the Reformed Churches in the

                                                                                        February 1, 1996lStandard  Bearer121 3


Netherlands (new name of the unit-                Regrettable is De Tong's  passing,           Many books have been written
ed churches) and the throng of saints         but deliberate, criticism of Simon           on the doctrines of grace, and one
that the union was "the `fulfilment           vanvelzen,  a leading minister of the        might therefore say that there is no
of the great wish of his heart' . . . that    Secession of 1834: "... whose zeal           need of yet another. The justifica-
all God's children might be able to           for the Reformed faith was not al-           tion for such a treatise however is
live together as brothers" (pp. 210,          ways exercised without blemish" (p.          first of all what we have stated
211).                                         248). vanvelzen was the soundest,            above. Also, over the years, even in
    The churches wrestled with sev-           firmest, and most fiery of the minis-        the Reformed and Presbyterian
eral important issues as they sought          ters of the Secession. It is this kind       Churches, there have arisen new in-
each other in the truth. One was              of advocacy of the Reformed faith,           terpretations of these doctrines that
the proper principle of church ref-           particularly the sovereignty of grace,       have, we believe, been serious com-
ormation. The Afscheiding churches            and this kind of Reformed minister           promises, not the least of these be-
insisted that the principle was sepa-         that make the agony of a Secession           ing the propagation of the false
ration from the apostate State church         or a Doleantie every 50 or 100 years         teachings of common grace and the
as a false church.                            unnecessary.                                 well-meant offer of the gospel.
    Another principle was the basis               The Reformed reader who en-                  The excellence of this new book
of union. The  Afscheiding churches           ters into the spirit of this history will    Saved By Grace is first of all that it
urged union "on the basis of unity            close the book with a sense of over-         is replete with scriptural quotations.
in the Reformed confessions and in            whelming grief at the present spiri-         The authors succeed in demonstrat-
Reformed church government." Un-              tual condition of the churches of the        ing beyond doubt that the doctrines
der Kuyper's influence, the Doleuntie         history - the Reformed Churches              of grace are indeed the teaching of
churches had put forward an "Act              in the Netherlands (GKN). In 100             the Scriptures. These doctrines are
of Union" that was speculative and            years this denomination of van               taught throughout the Scriptures and
philosophical. The Aficheiding  posi-         Velzen and Kuyper has become the             are central to them. In many in-
tion prevailed.                               churches of Harry Kuitert, who               stances brief expositions are given
    Yet another point of difference,          praises doubt of all doctrines, and          to explain specifically what the cit-
not settled at the union of 1892, con-        of the official approval of homosex-         ed passages have to say about the
cerned the place of theological train-        uality, not only the depraved nature         doctrines of grace. If I would have
ing in the church. The Doleantie  ar-         but also the vile practice.                  any criticism of these parts of the
gued for theological training in a uni-           Sad, inexpressibly sad.                  book, I would only say that some of
versity (the Free) separate from                  "Lord Jesus Christ, preserve and         the more difficult passages could
church control. The Afscheiding con-          gather - in the unity of the truth -         have received more detailed treat-
tended for the seminary as the school         Thy little flock!" II                        ment. I realize however that one is
of the churches.                                                                           always constrained to be as concise
    One of the special virtues, and           Saved By Grace: A Study of the Five          as possible in order not to discour-
benefits, of this history is its use of       Points  of  Calvinism,  by Ronald            age the average reader.
synodical decisions and official re-          Cammenga and Ronald Hanko.                       A second excellent feature of this
ports in relating developments.               Grand Rapids, Michigan: The Re-              book `is that it begins with a chapter
    It is annoying that periodically          formed Free Publishing Association,          on the sovereignty of God. The au-
the author, evidently a minister of           1995.  257~~.  $10.95 (paper). [Re-          thors show in this chapter how the
the "Liberated" Reformed Churches             viewed by Pastor Arie denHartog.]            truth ,of the absolute sovereignty of
(no information on the author is giv-                                                      God underlies all the doctrines of
en), grinds an axe for these church-              The Reformed believer never              grace. The doctrine of God's abso-
es (see pp. 58,104,105).                      tires of the study of the doctrines of       lute sovereignty divides between
    The appendixes by Theodore                grace. He feels constrained out of           true and false religion.
I%ntinga and Peter Y. De Jong are             love for God to testify of these great         The God Whom we must know is
appropriate and valuable. Planiinga           truths before the world. He believes           a sovereign, God. Knowledge of
briefly considers the churches that           that these glorious doctrines stand            Go: begins with the affirmation of
stayed out of the union of 1892, the          at the very heart of the gospel. They          faith that God is and that God is
Christian Reformed Churches in the            are not mere minor truths which if             sovereign. Since God is, He is Sov-
                                                                                             ereign. If He is God, He must also
Netherlands and the Free Reformed             one denies he can still be called a            be a sovereign God. If God is not
Churches in North America. Dr. De             credible Christian. They are foun-             sovereign, the inescapable implica-
Jong gives historical background of           dational truths to the whole of the            tion is that He is not God. This is
the union in the events of the Seces-         gospel. For this reason we rejoice at          the great issue that divides true re-
sion of 1834 and of the Doleantie of          the publication of another treatise on         ligion from false religion! This is
1886, including the apostasy in the           these great doctrines by two of my             the great issue that separates the
Netherlands before 1834.                      colleagues in the ministry.                    true church of Jesus Christ in the

2141Standard  Bearer /February 1, 1996


  world from the false apostate               standing of the truth comes through        of these .doctrines  for the faith and
  church! This is the issue that dis-         its-clear distinction from false doc-      life of the child of God. The doc-
  tinguishes faith from unbelief: the         trine. The condemnation of false doc-      trines of grace are the living truth of
  sovereignty of God!                         trine, as unpopular as this might be       God, in which we find our solid
                                              in today's church world, is absolute-      comfort and joy, and in which we
    The excellence of this book in            ly necessary in defense of the truth.      glory day by day. There is a lengthy
the third place is that it sets forth             There are three other features of      appendix to the main body of the
the doctrines of grace boldly and             the book that we greatly appreciate.       book which lists statements from the
unashamedly. It makes no compro-              The first is that each chapter gives a     great Reformed Confessions which
mise of these doctrines at the points         statement of how the particular doc-       relate .immediately  to the doctrines
where they are offensive to the nat-          trine of grace being *treated  relates     of grace.
ural man and even to modern-day               to the other five. This shows how              Finally this book is accompanied
Christendom. It boldly maintains              the doctrines of grace form a glori-       with a short study guide ($3.95) to
double predestination and refutes             ous unity. One cannot deny the one         help promote the study of the doc-
the commonly defended error of the            without also denying the others.           trines of grace in the church.
well-meant  offer of the gospel.              There have always been those who               We commend Pastors  Cam-
    Also very helpful is that this            claim to be "three point" or "four         menga and Hanko for writing this
book, in connection with each of the          point" Calvinists. This is, however,       book. It is our hope and prayer that
-five doctrines, answers the common-          an impossibility. All the doctrines        it may be greatly blessed of the Lord
ly-heard objections to the doctrine           of grace are aspects of the one cen-       in the church as an aid for Gods
of the Word of God and the major              tral truth of the sovereignty of God       people in a life-long meditation on
heresies that over the years have             in the salvation of men. Each chap-        the wonders of the amazing grace
arisen in the church in an attempt to         ter also includes a short section on       of God. Also we hope that this book
oppose the truth of God. There is a           the practical significance of the doc-     will be useful for Reformed believ-
great need always for Christians to           trine to the life of the Christian. The    ers in fulfilling their calling to de-
remember the heresies of the past in          right confession and defense of the        fend and to testify of the gospel of
order that we do not fall again into          doctrines of Gods Word requires            Jesus Christ to the glory of God and
the same errors. The right under-             that we see the practical implications     the salvation of His people. Cl



Evangelism Activities                         her; 1,500 brochures advertising           its works will be burned up. And
     The Evangelism Committee of              these Sunday broadcasts, along with        then on New Year's morning Rev.
the Trinity PRC in Houston, TX did            scheduled up-coming Christmas and          Gritters answered the related ques-
some fine-tuning with their two ra-           New Year's church services, Chris-         tion, "Seeing then that all these
dio broadcasts heard each Sunday              tian S.I.N.D.H.I. special Christmas        things shall be dissolved, what man-
 over KTEK 1110 AM. Every Sun-                and New Year's meetings, and a new         ner of persons ought we to be?" Be-
 day at 10  A.M.  and again at 1  P.M.,       doctrine class on the Belgic Confes-       fore the world ends, how shall we
Rev. Mahtani, Trinity's pastor, will          sion which was to begin meeting the        live? These two services were ad-
introduce the message to be given             first  week in January. This particu-      vertised with special ads in the
 on the Reformed Witness Hour that            lar class was designed to attract          Grand Rapids Press. The Hudson-
 same day at 4 P.M. Although these            those in the area who were interest-       viile congregation was also encour-
two one-minute messages entitled,             ed in learning more about the doc-         aged to consider inviting friends,
 "Reaching the Nations with the Gos-          trine of grace as it is found in the       family, and neighbors to church for
 pel of Grace" will continue to bring         Belgic Confession.                         those special services.
the simple message of the gospel to               The Evangelism Committee of
 the listeners in Houston, they will          the HudsonvilIe, MI PRC, with the          Mission Activities
 now also serve to promote the                support of `Hudsonville's Council,             Rev. W. Bruinsma, pastor of the
 R.W.H.                                       sponsored two special church ser-          First PRC in Holland, MI, and elder
     Also related to this fine-tuning,        vices at the end of last year. Rev. B.     Don VerMeer  of the Hull, IA PRC
 Trinity mailed out in early Decem-           Gritters, pastor at Hudsonville,           left on January 2 for a month-long
                                              preached two sermons based on II           visit to Ghana, West Africa. This
                                              Peter 3:10-14.  On Old Year's evening      trip was `planned by our churches'
Mr. Wigger is a member                                                                   Foreign Mission Committee and was
                            of the Protes-    he carefully explained what the sud-
 tant Reformed Church,                                                                   intended to make a final determina-
                           of Hudsonville,    den return of Jesus will mean for
 Michigan.                                    this world, namely that the earth and      tion of the advisability of asking our
                                                                                            February 1, 1996lStandard  Bearer121  5


                                                                                                                                 SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                                                 Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                                 Grandville, Michigan
       p.0. Box 603
       Grandville, MI 49468-0603


Synod to establish Ghana as a mis-                     The Young People of the                           tions  tb one of our sister churches,
sion field. And if it should prove to             Edgerton, MN PRC invited not only                      the  Fitrst Evangelical Reformed
be advisable, to attempt to deter-                their own congregation, but the con-                   Church of Singapore, who celebrat-
mine details of beginning the work                gregations of the Doon and Hull, IA                    ed their 14th anniversary as a church
there. The FMC was especially ea-                 PRCs as well, to a Christmas                           on January 27.
ger to send Rev. Bruinsma there be-               Singspiration on December 17.
cause of his experience in Jamaica,                                                                      Minister Activities
where he and his family spent some                Congregational Activities                                   The Grace PRC in Standale, MI
years as missionary for our church-                    On Sunday evening, December                       has extended a call to Rev. Dale
es.                                               31, the congregation of the Bethel                     Kuiper, presently pastor at the
        Rev. Bruinsma was to look at              PRC, presently meeting at the Holi-                    Southeast PRC in Grand Rapids, ML
the situation in Ghana from a prac-               day Inn in Itasca, IL, held their ser-                 With Rev. Kuiper on that trio were
tical point of view. If we were to                vice at and with the Peace PRC in                      Revs. Dick and Terpstra.
send a  man  and his family there                 Lynwood, IL.                                                Rev. C. Terpslra,  pastor of the
sometime in the future, where                          A congregational meeting was                      South Holland, IL PRC declined the
would they live, and what about                   called, back in December, at the                       call he had been extended from the
school, money, transportation, etc.?              Byron Center, MI PRC. They not                         Doon, IA PRC.
In short, Rev. Bruinsma was to look               only approved their annual budget
at the situation and try to answer                that night, but they also approved a                   Food-for lliougfit
the many problems and questions                   proposal to present to Rev. Doug                            "Every blessing that God con-
facing a missionary, with the expe-               Kuiper, their new pastor, a gift of                    fers upon us perishes through our
rience gained from Jamaica. These                 $3,500  for furniture and furnishings                  carelessness, if we are not prompt
two men were to spend the month                   for the parsonage.                                     and active in rendering thanks."
in four different areas, including the                We also send our congratula-                                                  o h n c a l v i n   0
capital, Accra, renewing old and
making new contacts. They were                                                                                              NOTICE!!
scheduled to return home on Febru-                                                                            Covenant Christian High School is ac-
                                                                                                         cepting applications for the Band and Choir
aryl-                                                                                                    positions for the 1996-1997 school year.
Young People's Activities                                                                                Those interested should call the school at
        The Young People of the Hope                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                             (616) 453&048  or write to Agatha Lubbers,
PRC in Redlands, CA sponsored a                       On January 25, 1996, our dear par-                 Covenant Christian High School, 1401
Christmas Singspiration after their               ents and grandparents,                                 Ferndale  SW., Grand Rapids, MI 49544.
evening service on December 24.                      MR. and MRS. HERMAN OPHOFF,
This program included several num-                celebrated their 45th wedding armiversary.                               NOTICE!!
bers                                                                                                          Classis West of the Protestant Re-
         from Hope's choir, as well as            We are thankful to our heavenly Father for
special numbers                                                                                          formed Churches will meet at the Pella
                       from the young peo-        their enjoyment of a Christian marriage,
ple.                                              and for His giving us God-fearing parents              Protestant Reformed Church in Pella, IA,
        Post high school young people             who taught us also the fear of the Lord. It            on Wednesday, March 6, 1996, at  8:30  A.M.,
were invited to a special                                                                                the Lord' willing. An officebearers' confer-
                                    meeting on    is our prayer that God may continue to
December 31 at the Faith PRC in                   bless them in the way that lies ahead, and             ence wilt also be held on Tuesday, March
Jenison, MI. Plans called for a Bible             that they may experience His peace which               5, the day preceding Classis.  All material
discussion followed by refreshments,              passes all understanding.                              for the classical agenda is to be in the
as the young people ushered in the                3E: Steven and Karen Ophoff                            hands of the Stated Clerk thirty days be-
new year.                                                Steven Charles                                  fore  Classis convenes. Delegates who
        The Y.P.`s Society of the Pella,          PE: Bruce and Rosanne VanSolkema                       need lodging or transportation from the air-
IA PRC recently donated $500 to-                         Tedd, Andrew, Nancy                             port shduld notify the Clerk of Pella's
wards the cost of padding the pews                $+ John and Patricia Ophoff                            consistory, using the forms provided for this
in their church auditorium.                             Jessica, Monica                                  purpose..
                                                                               Grand Rapids, Michigan                 Pastor Steven Key, Stated Clerk

216IStancfard Bearer  /February 1, 1996


