A Reformed
Semi-Man  thly
Magazine             '





                          See `Sodomy, Scripture, Schools, and a Sign" - p. 221



Vol. 72, No.
February  15,1996


CONTENTS:                                                                                                                                          February 75,1996



Meditation  - Rev. .Mfche//  C. Dick                                                                                                                                                                                           /SSN 03624692
           Stirring Up the Soul to Bless the Lord . . . . . . . i .,....,............................  219                                                                                                                     Semi-mc?thly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                                            Published by the Refoned Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
           Sodomy, Scripture, Schools, and a Sign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.......... 221                                                                                                        4949  lvanrest  Ave., Grandville, Ml 49418. Second Class
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Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Contribution - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper                                                                                                                                                                                             Postmaster: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               P.O.  Boz603, Grandville, Ml  49488-0603.
           The Reformed View of Angels (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225                                                                         EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Steven R. Key                                                                                                                                                                               Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
           God's Providence and Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227                                                         Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Managin$  Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                                                                                                                   DEPART,MENT  EDITORS
           Gijsbert Voetius: Defender of Orthodoxy ..,...................................  229                                                                                                                                 Rev. Wilbur  Bruinsma, Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
All Around Us - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232                                                                                  Decker, Rev. Arie  denHartog, Rev. Carl  Haak, Prof.  Heman
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. Jason  Kortering, Rev. Dale
Day of Shadows - Homer C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                                                             Kuiper, Mr. James Lanting, Mrs.  MaryBeth  Lubbers, Rev.
           Paradise the First (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .._..............................  234                                                                                Thomas Miersma. Rev. Gise  VanBaren. Rev. Ronald
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               VanOverloop, Mr. BenjaminWigger, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg.
Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Report of Classis East - Mr. Jon J. Huisken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238                                                                                          EDlTORlAL  OFFICE             CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               The Standard Bearer           Mr. Ben Wiaoer
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238                                                                                                            4949  lvanrest                6597 40th  i&z.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Grandville, Ml 49418          Hudsonville, Ml 49426

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218IStandard  Bearer/February  15,1996


     "Bless the LORD, 0 my soul: and,       child of God, the psalmist stirs up         in the fullness of time. The name
all that is within me, bless his holy       his soul to be revitalized in the praise    above every other name is given to
name. Bless the LORD, 0 my soul, and        of God.                                     us: the name of our Savior God in
forget not all his benefits...."                Here in this inspired Word is the       the flesh - Jesus the Christ! The
                           Psalm 103:1,2    way for us, too, to be stirred up....       God who is for us is with us in Jesus
                                                                                        who died,:and  is risen, and ascend-
     This psalm is about one who,                      444  444  444                    ed on high for us.
blessed of God, blesses God.                                                                We bless Him! Because in and
     The psalmist lists numerous ben-           We want ourselves in our souls          through that very name Jesus we are
efits of God towards himself, and           to bless the Lord! We want to be as         blessed!
then towards the church. He stirs           the psalmist! We want our love for              Such wonderful blessings - the
up his soul to praise this God. He          the Lord to be rekindled, and then          blessings of salvation! We are saved
calls the church and all creation to        ever burning hot! But how?                  from sin, and unto fellowship with
join in the praise. His firm beliefi            First, notice that the object of at-    God. We are forgiven, declared to
God is worthy of such praise.               tention and of praise is the Lord           be innocent. We are sanctified,
     And indeed the church believes         Himself. Even in recounting the ben-        healed and being healed of the dis-
the same thing. The church, blessed         efits of the Lord, the child of God         ease of sin: We have life, eternal life.
of God, blesses God. She is a peo-          rejoices not first of all in what he        We have hope in the life to come in
ple called out of darkness into the         gets, but in the God who gives. The         t@Y-
marvelous light of God to show forth        Lord is on his heart. This is the rea-          But more: Jehovah works to
His praise. This is her psalm. Prais-       son praise is on his heart.                 benefit us ,jn all our life. Everyone
ing God is her life. Praise is her              Who is this Lord? He is God.            in our life is for our good. Every
purpose. Praise is her privilege.           He is the Creator God. He is above          circumstance is to enrich us. Every
     The psalmist and all the people        all things, they being merely the           trial, wonderfully, is sent for our
of God recognize, however, how for-         works of His hands. He is holy. He          profit.
getful we can be. We forget God.            is perfect in all His being, virtues,           And a,ll this because of mercy
We forget His benefits. `How amaz-          will, and works. He is, in a word,          - unmerited mercy. Mercy is the
ingly incongruous this is. How ut-          beautiful beyond compare.                   fount of all the other benefits!
terly ungrateful we can be. We for-             Praise begins and is fired by               Why are we saved? Not because
get our Savior. We delight not in           such a humble and reverent consid-          we are worthy. But because of mer-
our salvation. -We live, and yet we         eration of such a God!                      cy: grace to help the helpless in their
do not live our true life of praise.            But then we praise our God also         need. As the psalmist says, because
     Concerned as he is to live the         because He is for us, and because           the Lord is merciful and gracious,
true life of praise, as is becoming a       He gives us great benefits. And we          slow to anger, and plenteous in mer-
                                            know that this God is for us for He         cy . . . He hath not dealt with us after
                                            has a name, the psalmist declares, a        our sins; nor rewarded us accord-
                                            name which means He is our Savior           ing to our iniquities.
                                            God.                                            Why tie we saved from such a
                                                What is this name? His name is          great depth of guilt and depravity?
Rev. Dick is pastor of the First Protes-    LORD,  that is,  Jehovah! And this Je-      Because, as the heaven is high above
tant Reformed Church  of  Lacombe, AB,      hovah God reveals His name Uo us            the earth, so great is His mercy to-
Canada.                                     in the Person of His Son who comes          ward them that fear him.

                                                                                             February 15,1996/StandardBeareri219


    Why are we kept in that salva-               partially aroused. The fire must                    So we often think on earthly
tion of God, though we sin over and              burn hot.                                       things. We easily forget the spiritu-
over again? Because the mercy of                          Soul-praise! To be true, it is-        al. We have a natural spiritual dull-
the Lord is from everlasting to ever-            sues in the soul inviting others to             ness and drowsiness which we must
lasting upon them that fear him...!              praise: all the hosts of the Lord, all          fight constantly. We cherish so lit-
    Blessings untold! Blessings from             .His works in all places of. his do-            tle the `priceless treasures of salva-
on high from our great God and Fa-               minion. True praise takes .us to the            tion. : We ruminate so easily and so
ther. Blessings in Christ Jesus!                 neighbor, and even to the ends of               corruptly about evil things. We find
Blessings given in mercy!                        the earth to tell all of this great Sav-        ourselves more easily praising our-
                                                 ior we have, and of His great bene-             selves or others than the living God
        +++  +++  +++                            fits.                                           of our salvation.
                                                                                                     And how little we really want
    So then: Bless the Lord!                                 +++  +++  +++                       to talk even to our own selves about
    Praise Him! .That is how we are                                                              our problem. We do not want to
to "bless" the Lord. Bend the knee                        Praise! And forget not your God        face the inevitable conclusion to.
towards Him, your Maker, Redeem-                 and His salvation!                              which honesty and humility would
er, and covenant Friend! Show you                         Remember the blessings of God          lead us: "I have been apathetic, un-
are chosen of God for this praise!                          . . . to you, 0 undeserving soul!    caring for and unmoved in my soul
Declare that mercy has visited                               Remember His benefits to            by the covenant mercies." "I have
you, and you will now open                  Even in            you in your sickness and          forgotten  my  God and His benefits
the shutters of your inner life           recounting            in your health, in your          to me...."
and herald the honor of the               the benefits           poverty and in your                 Sb the need for the summons to
Savior God!                               of the Lord,           wealth, in your single          self: Awake, 0 my soul!  Turn to
    Bless the Lord, 0 my            the child of God             life, or in family life. Re-    God, 0 my soul! Repent, 0 my soul!
soul! By self-conversation,               rejoices not           member! God is good             Bow down, 0 my soul! Praise the
exhorting myself, by faith,               first of all           . . . to you!  CoLLnt  your     Lord, 0 my soul!
I will stir up my sleepy            in what he gets,             many blessings, one by              Si, the need, then, for grace. For
soul to praise.                          but in the God.         o n e !                         what sinner can wake up himself?
    Soul-praise! This means               who gives.                  This is the psalm-             0 OLU God: awaken us by Thy
that praise is personal. A                                     ist's exhortation to himself,     grace! Tune the harp strings of our
child of God is stirred in his                               and ours to our own selves.         &ner man that our whole-life  may
own sod to praise, or he is no child                       And how needed.                       be in harmony with thee! May Thy
of God. He delights to praise God.                        We still have a powerful, de-          Spirit speak, and stir the soul!
He would not let others do it for                praved nature. And the world, in                    0 my soul, bless the Lord! And
him. True, he will call others to                its worldliness, would hinder our               all that is within me, bless His holy
praise God with him, but never to                praise by tempting us to forget God             name! Cl
praise God for him. He will have                 and leave off praise.
the pleasure. He will bend the knee.
Bless the Lord, 0 my soul!
    Soul-praise! This means that
praise begins in the inner man. It
involves the whole person, but from
the inside out. Praise is outward, to                        Thou hast lit up with ardor rare
be sure. It issues forth in words and                        Some hidden souls, Thy special care;
in deeds of praise. But it is inward
first. True, God-pleasing, God prais-                             Make me to them akin!
ing religion begins in the heart, the                               Give me what Thou to them hast given.
mind, the soul, and thus involves                                 Their high devotion let me win,
the thoughts, desires, emotions . . . all                         Their calm dominion over sin,
that is within us. So we say: Gath-                                 Making of earth a heaven -
`er together, 0 thoughts, be disci-
plined, 0 will, be moved for one                             Tbwondrous  and mysterious grace
thing, emotions: bless the Lord!                             Of ever looking on Thy face.
    Soul-praise! Two times in our                                                           Standard Bearer,  March  15,1928
text the psalmist exhorts himself to
this. This is because true praise is
fervent. The soul must not be only

22OlSfandard  Bearer/February I!&1996


                           Sodomy, Sc.ripture,
                    Scho&,  and's Sign

        .Much  in the news in Western         On account of the abomination of           tion that is not costly obedience to
Michigan recently has been a con-             its homosexuality, as well as its oth-     the demand. of the covenant sealed
troversy over a sodomite teacher in           er iniquities, Sodom was destroyed         in baptism to the children of believ-
a state high school. The teacher              by the righteous God (Gen. 18:16-          ing parents, must  come  to this.
made public his homosexual rela-              19:29; II Pet. 2:6-9; Jude 7).             Teachers instruct the children that
tionship with another male. Con-                  I Timothy 1:lO lists  "them that       the evil of homosexual rebellion
servative and Christian parents us-           defile themselves with mankind,"           against the will of the sovereign God
ing the high school raised objection,         that is, men who have sexual rela-         is good.
clamoring for the dismissal of the            tions with males, with the "lawless            Make no mistake, even though
teacher. Supporters of homosexual-            and disobedient . . . the ungodly and      the teacher never says a word to his
ity in general and of the teacher in          . . . sinners." Their sodomy is "con-      classes, he is teaching the students
particular responded with a fero-             trary to (the) sound doctrine" of the      powerfully by his example. Of
cious defense of the teacher and his          gospel.                                    course, a school that has a homo-
position in the school. They railed               With other gross sinners, impen-       sexual teacher on its staff is going to
against opponents of the teacher as           itent homosexuals ("effeminate" and        justify his presence and defend his
narrow-minded, unenlightened  big-            "abusers of themselves with man-           practice in its teaching.
OtS.                                          kind") will not inherit the kingdom            Apart from the homosexuality as
        The result was a decision by the      of God (I Cor. 6:9). Some who for-         such, the teacher is promoting sheer
school board that the practicing ho-          merly practiced this wickedness are        lawlessness. He claims to be "mar-
mosexual will remain as a teacher.            members in good standing in the            ried" to his male consort. But the
        Homosexuality is transgression        true church. But they have been            State of Michigan does not recog-
of the seventh commandment of the             sanctified and justified, so that they     nize homosexual "marriage." And
law of God, "Thou shalt not commit            are homosexuals no longer  (l Cor.         marriage is a civil matter in which
adultery." The lust is depravity of           6:ll). They do not practice it. They       the state has a compelling interest.
nature. The deed is wilful rebellion.         hate and crucify the lust. They cer-       This alone puts the teacher in open
Explaining the seventh command-               tainly do not speak out in defense         defiance of the authority of the, state.
ment as'the  requirement that we live         of the unrighteousness from. which             From `such a teacher, the chil-
"chastely and temperately, whether            the Lord Jesus delivered them by His       dren learn. And they do learn. One
in holy wedlock or in single life,"           cross, gospel, and Holy Spirit.            of the grimmest features of the con-
the Heidelberg Catechism consigns                 An avowed sodomite teaches             troversy as it plays itself out in the
homosexual relations to the catego-           high school children in Western            newspaper is that, although parents
ry of the uncleanness that is Nat-            Michigan with the official sanction        object to a homosexual teacher, the
cursed of God" (Lord's Day 41). The           of the school authorities.                 high school students themselves are
Westminster Larger Catechism ex-                  Now the members of Reformed            ardent su$porters  of the teacher.
pressly names "sodomy and  .all un-           and .other churches who for many               Fulfilled is the prophecy of Mar-
natural lusts" as among the sins for-         years have sent their children to state    tin Luther: long ago in his warning
bidden in the seventh command-                schools, all the while despising and.      to parents who rejected the Chris-
ment (Question 139).                          fighting the Christian school move-        tian schools that the Reformation es-
        In the confessions, the Scriptures    ment, are confronted with the con-         tablished:
speak. God's will for the use and             sequences of their position and ac-
enjoyment of sex is the marriage of           tions. Education that leaves God             Because they (parents - DJE) are
male and female (Gen. 1, 2; I Cor.            out, education that is not founded           not now willing to support and
21-5). Homosexual relations are dis-          on the holy Scriptures, education            keep the honest, upright, virtuous
obedience to the will of the Creator.         that is not Christ centered, educa-          schoolmasters and teachers offered

                                                                                              February 15,1996/Sfandard  Beareri


     them by God to raise their children         homosexuality be approved in a             of the most basic laws of God the
       in the fear of God, and in virtue,        teacher in the schools.                    Creator in nature itself; to say noi%-
       knowledge, learning, and honor by             The state sanctions it by the de-      ing of Scripture - the law of male
       dint of  .hard work, diligence, and       cision of i& school board.                 and female (Dan. 725; Rom. 1:18ff  .).
       industry, and at small cost and ex-           Evidently the majority of the          These are signs of the end of the
       pense, they will get in their place
       incompetent substitutes, ignorant         people tolerate it, if they do not fa-     world.
       louts such as they .have had before,      vor it.                                        But this too is a sign, that the
       who at great cost and expense will            The false church plays her prom-       wrath of the holy God - the God
       teach the children nothing but how        inent role. Professing Christians          who .really is - falls very heavily
       to be utter asses, and beyond that        plead for the teacher and his homo-        now upon apostates who hold the
       will dishonor men's wives and             sexual behavior, with obvious sin-         truth ,in unrighteousness and change
       daughters and maidservants, tak-          cerity, on the ground that God is          the truth of God into a lie. It is God
       ing over their homes and property,        love and accepts us all, no matter         who is giving the Western world up
       as has happened before. This will         how we live. They have learned well        "unto vile affections" in that "the
       be the reward of the great and
       shameful ingratitude into which the       the heretical lessons of countless ser-    men, ,leaving the natural use of the
       devil is so craftily leading them ("A     mons, that the God of Christianity         woman, burn in their lust one to-
       Sermon on Keeping Children in             is a God of one perfection only -          ward another; men with men work-
       School,"  in Luther's Works,  Fortress    love - being devoid of holiness; that      ing that which is unseemly, and re-
       Press, 1967, vol. 46, p. 218).            God loves all men, ungodly and god-        ceiving in themselves that recom-
                                                 ly alike; and that the love of God         pence of their error which (is) meet."
         These educational developments          saves men in their sins and with their     No other explanation can account for
     in Western Michigan (and similar            sins, rather than from their sins.         our society's embrace of a culture of
     developments throughout the Unit-           (This god a Reformed Christian de-         vanity, sterility, despair, and death.
     ed States) are confirmation to Re-          tests with all his heart. It is an ugly    "Knowing the judgment of God, that
     formed believers of the wisdom and          idol. Such a god is not good. To           they which commit such things are
     necessity of maintaining  good, Chris-      have to live with it in its "heaven"       worthy of death," they "not only do
     tian schools.                               would be hell.) A Presbyterian min-        the sime, but have pleasure in them
         Thank God that we have, and             ister officiated at the unholy parody      that do them" (Rom. 1:18-32).
     still can have, our Protestant Re-          of holy marriage, and a Presbyteri-         _ The sign speaks loudly to believ-
     formed Christian Schools!                   an congregation knowingly has the          ers: come out of Babylon (Rev. 18:4,
         But these developments are also         impenitent, practicing homosexual          5); wait for God's Son from heaven,
     a sign of the end. The community            as a member in good standing.              who delivered you from the coming
     in which these things have happened             So far has the abounding of law-       wrath  (I Thess.  1:lO); lift up your
     is not San Francisco. It is a conser-       lessness gone in this most Christian       heads for your redemption draws
     vative, heavily Dutch Reformed vil-         part of the "Christian West" (Matt.        near (Luke 21:28).
     lage. In this suburb of Grand Rap-          24:12).  The spirit of Antichrist in           And prepare for persecution. 0
     ids,' it is now possible that public        Western Michigan now changes one                                            -W




     n Correction and Comment                    should be made, however, in the ar-        the letter of John VanBaren  in the
         I would like to thank you for           ticle. At some point in the develop-       same issue of the Standard Bearer,
     your comments concerning the                ment of this course, the idea of the       in which he makes observations and
     "Seminar on the Principles and Prac-        Federation funding the course was          asks some questions regarding the
     tice of Reformed Education," which          replaced by the decision that the          articles on "Music in the Church."
     appeared in the January 1,1996 is-          school boards of the teachers taking       Brother VanBaren, after giving his
     sue of the Standard Bearer. I, too,         it should pay for the tuition. This        opinion of the  meaning  of Colossians
     see that this course is an opportuni-       decision leaves our aspiring teach-        3:16, asks, "And if so, does that not
     ty for all of our teachers, whether         ers who are burdened by college ex-        provide additional evidence that
     experienced or not, to grow togeth-         penses in a real bind, because they        God's command is that we sing the
     er in the knowledge of Reformed,            will have to bear the expense. I am        Psalms,  since they alone are inspired?"
     Christian principles of education, as       disappointed that our Federation did       (italics mine, GK). He later states in
     they have developed through the             not at least offer the course at no        his letter the following: "Can there
     centuries under the guidance of our         charge to future teachers.                 be any doubt that such power of the
     covenant God. One correction                    I would also like to comment on        Psalms lies in the fact that they are

     222lStandard  Bearer/February 16,1996
I


        God-breathed?" Then Brother                 that we continue to seek to improve        by the way, is a condition of the cov-
        VanBaren makes an amazing state-            both the texts and the music of these      enant we find mentioned many
        ment, when he writes, "PsuZms  (ital-       Psalms as we use them in our wor-          times in Scripture. If only the elect
        ics mine, GK) as products of the Spir-      ship services. Although I question         are in the covenant, such a covenant
        it, are profitable for doctrine, for re-    the historical' validity of Brother        would not exist. The attempt to un-
        proof, for correction, that the man         VanBaren's reference to students of        derstand or solve Scripture's mys-
        of God may be furnished unto all            the Reformation who found that the         teries through logic gets one into
        good works." Immediately follow-            Reformation prospered more when            endless problems." Tuininga makes
        ing that statement, he asks, "Is this       Psalms instead of hymns were sung,         "remaining in the faith" or perse-
        not the reason that we are command-         it is obvious to all of us that many       verance of the saints a condition of
        ed to sing from the only songbook           Christian and Reformed churches,           the covenant. We cannot  just leave
        given to the church?" He then con-          after introducing hymns into the           the matter there. We must allow
        tinues, "And do we not run the risk         worship, have largely departed from        Scripture to interpret Scripture.
        of losing the `little Bible' when in        singing the Psalms, and have added         Those who argue for conditions of
        our schools and homes, we find our-         hymns, often in subsequent addi-           the covenant see passages of Scrip-
        selves using more and more                  tions, that are unscriptural. For that     ture that appear at first glance to
        hymns?"                                     reason, we would also be wise to           argue for a conditional view of the
            It is my conviction, that not only      continue with the Psalms in our ser-       covenant,~ and they just leave it there.
        the Psalms, but all of Scripture is         vices.                                     It is the failure to allow Scripture to
        God-breathed and inspired. In ad-               But, thanks be to God, we have         interpret Scripture that gets one into
        dition, it is true that not only the        many other hymns and anthems               endless problems.
        "power of the Psalms," as stated in         from other parts of the God-breathed           Tuininga makes this error in his
        Brother VanBaren's letter, but the          Scriptures that we may sing in our         interpretation of Romans  11:22. To
        power of the Holy Scriptures, both          homes, in our schools, at our wed-         interpret this passage one must look
        in the Old and New Testaments, lies in      dings, at our funerals, in times of        to the rest of Romans 11. Particu-
        the fact that the Word of God is            distress and joy, as well as during        larly Romans 11:27 where God teach-
        God-breathed. In II Timothy 3:16            special seasons of the church-year.        es, "For this is my covenant unto
        and 17, we read, "All Scripture (not        I am grateful to my teachers in our        them, when I shall take away their
        only Psalms!) is given by inspiration       own Protestant Reformed Schools            sins." Likewise Jeremiah 31:33  teach-
        of God, and is profitable for doc-          who taught me not only the Psalms,         es, "But this shall be the covenant
        trine, for reproof, for correction, for     but also many glorious hymns of            that I will make with the house of
        instruction in righteousness, that the      faith, that have served as reproof,        Israel; After those days, saith the
        man of God may .be perfect, thor-           comfort, and instruction in doctrine       Lord, I will put my law in their in-
        oughly furnished unto all good              for me. It is my prayer that our           most parts, and write it in their
        works."                                     homes and schools may continue to,         hearts; and will be their God, and
            Mr. VanBaren realizes that the          as one of our ministers recently put       they shall be my people." And in
     I PsaZter  does not always contain close       it, "add to the glorious tapestry of       Hebrews 11:16,17, "This is the cov-
        or even accurate versifications of the      praise" God has given us in His            enant that I will make with them af-
        psalms, and yet he calls it the "little     Word, by singing the hymns and an-         ter those days, saiih the Lord, I will
        Bible." Perhaps the Brother should          thems God has given, based not only        put my laws into their hearts, and
        consider the meaning of II Timothy          on: the Psalms, but on all the inspired    in their minds will I write them; And
        3:16, 17, and also the fact that there      Scripture.                                 their sins and iniquities will I remem-
        is a difference between the inspired,                                Gerald Kuiper     ber no more." These passages, clear-
        God-breathed Word, and a set of                                  Hudsonville, MI       ly, equate God's establishment of His
        versifications written by poets and                                                    covenant with His salvation of His
        set to tunes. Compare the versifica-        n A Conditional Covenant:                  people. Does Rev. Tuininga mean
        tions of many of the songs in our           Why We Can't Just Leave it There           to say that 5emaining in the faith"
        PsaIter with the inspired text of               I would like to try to add to the      is a condition required for salvation
        Handel's "Messiah," and it is obvi-         answer of Rev. Woudenberg to a let-        from sin? I would hope that Rev.
        ous which of the two is inspired and        ter written by one Rev. C.W.               Tuininga would not dare to say that
        God-breathed.                               Tuininga found in the January 1,           atonement for sin is subject to con-
            The Psnlfev  is just that - versi-      1996 issue of the Standad Bearer.          ditions. This is rank Arminianism,
        fications of the Psalms, which are a        Rev. Tuininga writes, "The wild            but Rev. Tuininga's exegesis of Ro-
        part of the original, God-inspired          branches, those who believed in            nians 11:22 leaves him no alterna-
        Word. The Psalter is a useful and           Christ Jesus, were grafted in. They        tive  - as the Bible clearly teaches,
I       adequate vehicle for praise in our          belong; but that depends on their re-      God's covenant is the same as His
        worship service. Prudence demands           maining in faith (Rom. 11:22).  That,      atonement for sin. I certainly hope

                                                                                                    February 15,1996/Standard  Bearer1223


that Rev, Tuininga can acknowledge          dition (i.e., a condition of the cove-         I would like to ask that those
that God only takes away the sins           nant, SS) does not exist." In the light    who, like Rev. Tuininga, seek to crit-
of the elect and that remaining in          of Scripture and the confessions,          icize the Protestant Reformed view
the faith is not a condition that God       which teach that God establishes His       of the covenant do so in light of the
requires before he takes away peo-          covenant by taking away people's           whole of the PRC teaching on the
ple's sins and writes His law on their      sin and that God only takes away           covenant. I believe that if they take
hearts.                                     the sins of the elect, Rev. Tuininga's     the time to understand all of the PR
    If this were not enough to cause        own logic (not only the PRC logic)         teaching on the covenant (its expres-
Rev. Tuininga to reject his position,       should lead him to conclude that a         sion as a bond of friendship that God
he need only look at the Canons.            conditional view of the covenant           establishes with the elect, its organ-
The Synod of Dort rejected the he-          cannot be maintained.                      ic nature, its distinction from the
retical error of those who teach,               But those who, like Rev.               Kuyperian view, its distinction from
"That the `perseverance of the true         Tuininga, believe in a conditional         the Netherlands Reformed view,
believers is not a fruit of election, or    covenant are bound to ask questions        etc.) `then they will see that this
a gift of God, gained by the death of       such as, do we baptize our children,       teaching is thoroughly orthodox and
Christ, but a condition of the new          "because they were God's elect chil-       has much value. But if after thor-
covenant, which (as they declare)           dren, i.e., belonging to the Seed, that    ough study they should find solid
man before his decisive election and        is, Christ, or because they belonged       grounds for objections, I am sure
justification must fulfill through his      to God's covenant children?" and "If       that we in the PRC would be will-
free will" (fifth head of Doctrine, Re-     only the elect belong to the cove-         ing to be enlightened. However, do
jection of Errors I). Perseverance of       nant, how can anyone break the cov-        not fault us for proclaiming the plain
the saints or "remaining in the faith"      enant? These are serious questions,        teaching of Scripture that God es-
is not a condition of the covenant,         but they fail to appreciate that the       tablishes His covenant by taking
and Romans 11 certainly does not            PRC's position that the covenant can       away the sins of His people, and that
teach this lie. Ironically, the fathers     be understood as a bond of friend-         He only takes away the sins of the
of Dort quote Romans 11 (Rom. 11:7)         ship between God and the elect is          elect. That is, that God establishes
to demonstrate that the perseverance        not their only teaching on the cove-       His covenant only with the elect.
of the.saints  is not a condition of the    nant, Answers to the above ques-               I do not know of one particular
covenant. I sincerely hope that Rev.        tions are seriously and fully ad-          work that sets forth all of the teach-
Tuininga does not endorse the posi-         dressed in the PRC's description of        ing of the PRC on the covenant -
tion of the Arminians. Perhaps he           the organic nature of the covenant.        this teaching is spread throughout
means something different by con-           That is, God calls `His people in the      H. Hoeksema's Reformed Dogmatics,
ditions of the covenant than they did,      line of continuing generations and         for example. Does such a volume
but nevertheless the similarity be-         therefore commands all their chil-         exist?' If not, are there plans for such
tween his views and the views of            dren to be baptized. This is our ba-       a book that would bring together alI
the Arminians is unmistakable.              sis for infant baptism. This is our        of our teachings on the covenant? I
    If Rev. Tuininga and others wish        basis of hope for our children. So         personally would highly value such
to maintain that there are conditions       strong is this hope that if one of our     a work, and believe it could aid in
of the covenant (a phrase never             children is to die in infancy we do        other? understanding of the PRC
found in Scripture and only found           not doubt that he is elect (cf. Can-       view of the covenant. 0
as a rejected error in the Creeds), it      ons, Chap. 1, Art. 17). We do not                              (Dr.) Stme Spencer
is incumbent upon them to explain           and cannot tell which of our chil-                                   Holland, MI
how their view can be harmonized            dren are elect. This is a matter we
with the plain teaching of Scripture        leave with God, and we are happy
that God establishes his covenant by        to "just leave it there." If God in
taking away His people's sin, and           His sovereign good pleasure repro-
how their view differs from the             bates some of our children, they will
Arminian view that perseverance of          trample underfoot the covenant of
the saints is a condition of the cove-      God, that is, they will spurn allthe
nant. They  may  not  Iljust leave it       good gifts of the covenant (a cove-
there." This is the explanation the         nant family, teachings of the mer-
Protestant Reformed have always             cies of God, a covenant education,
asked for. They have never received         etc.) that God has given them, and
an answer. I doubt that any answer          God will hold them responsible for
is possible, as apparently does Rev.        their actions. They are the covenant-
Tuininga when he says, "If only the         breakers of which the Bible speaks.,
elect are in the covenant such a con-       They are the vines that are cut off.

224lStandard  Bearer/February l&1996


                        The Reformed View
                                       of Angels (I)
    There are several reasons why            lical doctrine of angels will enrich       about angels. He discussed the lan-
we should have an accurate and ex-           our lives and increase our thankful-       guage the angels spoke, and he was
tensive understanding of angels.             ness for salvation. May God open           not afraid to write at length about
First, the source of all angelic un-         our eyes to this aspect of His cre-        the fall of Satan in heaven. About
derstanding is the Word of God, and          ation and this aspect of our salva-        the same time, Bonaventura asked
it is surely our calling to understand       tion. Martin Luther wrote, "The ac-        such questions as, "Can an angel be
the Word of God fully. "All Scrip-           knowledgment of angels is needful          in several places at the same time?"
ture is given by inspiration of God,         in the church. Therefore godly             "Can several angels be at the same
and  is profitable." We may expect to        preachers should teach  them  logical-     time in the same place?" "How
receive great profit as we search`out        ly. First, they should show what           many angels can dance-on the head
the Scriptures on the subject of an-         angels are, namely, spiritual crea-        of a needle?" Duns Scotus, the last
gels. And we assure you that all we          tures without bodies. Secondly,            of the scholastics or schoolmen, was
set forth here will be from the Word         what manner of spirits they are,           so speculative in this theology that
of God. When we studied the avail-           namely, good spirits and not evil;         many in Europe called for saner
able literature on our subject, we           and here evil spirits must also be         methods of theological discussion,
found that as soon as an author went         spoken of, not created evil by God,        and Luther called him "the most ar-
beyond the Bible, without exception          but made so by their rebellion             rogant of sophists"
he became speculative and fanciful.          against God, and their consequent          reasoners).       T h e   Ref!!~~~~~
We are not interested in that. We            fall. Thirdly, they must speak touch-      brought an end to this wild, specu-
will restrict ourselves to the Word          ing their function, whichl as the epis-    lative method of biblical interpreta-
of God as the only source of truth           tle to the Hebrews shows, is to            tion; it was a return to the Bible and
regarding angels.                            present a mirror of humility to god-       the principles of Scripture alone and
    Secondly, we find in these last          ly Christians, in that such pure and       the sufficiency of Scripture.
days of apostasy an emphasis among           perfect creatures as the angels do             The Belgic Confession, written
many on spiritualism, demon wor-             minister unto us, poor and wretch-         about 1560, gives the Reformed view
ship, and special revelations. Along         ed people, in household and tempo-,        of angels, and shows the restraint
with that, angels and demons have            ral policy, and in religion" (Table        that the Reformation engendered in
an important part. Many are being            Talk,  pp. 278-279).                       its theologians. (We ask that you
deceived by these movements, and                 The great Reformation  came at         read Article 12 of the Confession.)
many others do not quite know what           the conclusion of the Dark Ages; it        It is very striking that in an article
to say about these things. If we have        may be argued that the Reformation         entitled "Of the Creation" more than
a Bible-based understanding of an-           was the reason the dark, middle ages       half the lines are used to set forth
gels and devils, we will know how            came  to a close! During the several       the truth concerning angels! There
to judge of these matters, and we            hundred years before 1517, under           are reasons for this: first, to set forth
will know how to answer the neigh-           the ignorance by which the Roman           in a calm, biblical way what we must
bor when he comes to us enthusias-           Catholic Church kept her members           believe over against the speculations
tic about some meeting, or with ear-         bound, there was a lot of supersti-        of the scholastics; and second, to dis-
nest questions that he has.                  tion regarding heaven and hell, an-        tance the Reformed churches from
    Thirdly, we hope to show that a          gels and devils, ghosts and goblins,       the  Sadducees  and the  Manichees..
thorough understanding of the bib-           etc. In the area of theology there         The former denied the existence of
                                             were all kinds of speculations and         angels altogether. The latter taught
                                             endless discussions on the subject of      that the `devils were not created but
Rev. Kuiper  is pastor of Southeast Prot-    angels. About 1200, a certain              were eternal, and did not fall but
estant Reformed Church in Grand Rap-         Albertus   Magnus asked and at-            were eternally corrupted.
ids, Michigan.                               tempted to answer 120 questions

                                                                                             February 16,19961Standard  Bearer1225


           Angels as such                             24:36).  And Peter informs us that         of the stars of heaven down with
               What are angels? Scripture pre-        the angels desire to look into the         him. But how sin entered into God's
           sents us with four main teachings.         things which the prophets foretold,        holy heaven, how rebellion filled the
                1) Angels are creatures; they         the things of salvation. No, the an-       minds of Satan and his cohorts, is a
           were created by God, and are not to        gels do not know all things. Nor           mystery that  has no present answer.
           be worshiped. They are not eternal.        are they almighty, though they are         Will we know in heaven? Perhaps
           And they are dependent. They have          stronger than men. We read of an-          not even then.
           their being, not in themselves, but        gels being mighty in strength, of an-          Further, angels do not comprise
           in God. The creation of angels is          gels who have power, even the pow-         a race similar to the human race, but
           not recorded in the first chapters of      er of Christ, of their work in rolling     they are a host or a realm of indi-
           Genesis, All those who believe in          the stone from the door of the tomb        viduals. Angels are not organically
           the literal meaning of Genesis 1 agree     of Jesus and setting the apostles free     related. They do not marry and
           that angels were created on one of         from prison. But only God is om-           bring forth little angels. Their num-
           the six creation days. Some place          nipotent. So angels are created spir-      ber is constant from the moment of
           their creation on day one, when God        its, higher than men.                      their creation. Angels are not legal-
           created the heavens and the earth.             2) Next we ought to see that           ly related either. They do not form
           They point out that at this point the      God's eternal, double decree of pre-       a corporation or federation. When
           earth was without form and void,           destination pertains to the angel          Adam fell into sin, the entire human
     1.    but not the heavens. We lean to-           world. In I Timothy 5:2 the apostle        race became guilty and corrupt in
           wards this interpretation. Others are      writes, "I charge thee in the sight of     him. He represented us in Paradise
           content to say that they were creat-       God, and Jesus Christ, and the elect       (Rom. 592). But when Satan fell into
i.         ed prior to the fourth day, when           angels, that thou observe these            sin, all the angels did not become
           God made the sun, moon, and stars,         things." And of the reprobate an-          guilty of his sin. Those who willful-
           basing their view on Job  38:7.            gels we read in Jude 6, "And the           ly joined his rebellion became wick-
I          Herman Hoeksema prefers the sixth          angels which kept not their first es-      ed and depraved, while those who
           day, although he refuses to be dog-        tate, but left their own habitation,       remained steadfast by the grace of
           matic about it. Rev. G. Lubbers stat-      he hath reserved in everlasting            God remained upright and are still
~          ed in a recent conversation that he        chains under darkness unto the judg-       upright today.
1          leans toward the second day. It is         ment of the last day." God elected             The third point is that the death
           enough for us to know that as crea-        some angels, and reprobated all the        of Christ did not atone for the sins
           tures the angels were created dur-         rest. The Belgic Confession states         of a single angel. He is not the Sav-
           ing the creation week.                     that the elect angels have, by the         ior of angels. The holy angels do
               As creatures, angels have their        grace of God, remained steadfast           not need redemption and the fallen
           own peculiar natures. They are not         and continued in their primitive           angels `have fallen absolutely. Yet,
           glorified human beings. In Hebrews         state, while others have fallen from       the Scriptures make clear that the
           296 we read that Christ did not take       that excellency in which God had           work of Christ in His humiliation
           on Him the nature of angels, but He        created them.                              and in His exaltation does have sig-
           took on Him the seed of Abraham.               At this juncture several impor-        nificance for the angel world.
           Likewise, Hebrews  12:22 is careful        tant points must be made. First, ac-       Through His death, resurrection, and
           to distinguish between the- host of        cording to the decree of reprobation,      ascension to God's right hand, Christ
           angels and the spirits of just men         a large number of angels fell into         did unite all things in heaven and
           made perfect. They do not have             sin. If you have been looking for          on earth. He makes all of God's
           flesh and blood, although God can          something new here about that fall,        creation one, and He is Head over
           give them bodily form. They are            you will be disappointed. Very like-       all  exalted. There is that difficult
           spirits, not in the sense that God is      ly you know as much as we about            passage in Colossians  1:20 ("And
           Spirit, but created spirits. God made      that matter. The angels fell some-         having made peace through the
           His angels winds (I%. 104).                time after their creation and before       blood of the cross, by Him to recon-
               Angels are greater than men in         the appearance of the devil in a ser-      cile all things unto Himself; by Him,
           knowledge, but they do not know            pent to our first parents in Paradise.     I say, whether they be things in earth
           everything. A certain woman said           Their fall into sin was motivated by       or things in heaven.") which states
           to king, David, "My lord is wise ac-       pride. The prince of the devils was        emphatically that through the blood
           cording. to the w.isd0.m  of an angel;,    not satisfied in being:a  holy angel in    of the cross Christ has reconciled all
           to know all things that are in the         the presence of God,, but -he-wanted       things unto God whether theybe in
           e&j&" (II S&n. 14); b'iif tie also read    to be God himself! .Hesucceeded  in        heaven;pr  on~e,arth.  The difficulty is
           that of the day %idjhour~~wh&n  `the,      ge.tting  a large number of angels to-     that we usually think -of reconcilia-
           !$ofi.$  G&f~etu&j  no' oneknoweth,        join `in his rebellion; :Revelation  12    tion in terms of the removal of the
           not even the angels of heaven `(Malt.      states that his tail drew a third part     guilt of sin through the satisfaction

           226lStandard  Bearer/February 15,1996


of the justice of God. But the holy                          3) When God created the an-           this is not a created angel, but he is
angels have no guilt of sin. The an-                    gels He placed them in various or-         the Christ as He appeared in the
swer to the difficulty must be found                    ders or at different levels. Angels        form of (an angel before His incarna-
along these lines. The peace that                       differ as far as their glory and posi-     tion through the virgin birth. When
Christ established through the blood                    tions are concerned. We can call this      Christ appeared in the form of an
of the cross is, first of all, peace with               the classification of angels. (We will     angel, to Abraham, Jacob, Moses,
God. The opposite of peace is re-                       limit ourselves to the holy angels;        Balsam,!  Gideon, and others, there is
bellion and war. Man is at war with                     you can read C.S. Lewis' Screwtape         a foreshadowing of the great mys-
God, and man is at war with man.                        Leffers  for the classification of dev-    tery of godliness, when God was
There was also war among the an-                        ils.) Scripture speaks of the cheru-       manifest in the flesh.
gels or war in heaven (Rev. 12). Al-                    bim which are the guardians of                    4) The last point we wish to
though the elect angels did not sin,                    God's throne, righteousness, and ho-       make regarding angels as such is
yet a certain stain or reproach did                     liness; of the seraphim which stand        their number. We said earlier that
attach itself to the angel realm be-                    above the cherubim, and lead the           the number of angels remains con-
cause of the rebellion of Satan and                     worship of God in heaven; of the           stant. They do not increase or de-
his demons. Christ arose as the                         archangels, one of which is Michael        crease. Now we notice that that
Firstborn of every creature, so that                    and perhaps another is Gabriel; an-        number of holy angels is very great!
in the cross of Christ every thing is                   gels entrusted with specific, great        In Daniel 7 the prophet writes that
reconciled to God and every aspect                      tasks by God. Paul speaks in               "Thousands of thousands ministered
of the universe is brought into peace                   Colossians 1 of further organization       unto God, and ten thousand times
with God. The division in the angel-                    of angels when he writes of thrones,       ten thousand stood before Him."
ic realm is healed. Christ is the new                   principalities, dominions, and pow-        Literally that is a hundred million,
Head of the angels as well, and He                      ers, all of which were created by          but the idea is really a countless
has the pre-eminence everywhere for                     Christ and for Christ. One more an-        throng! As we read in Hebrews 12,
uniting all things in one under Him-                    gel is mentioned in the Old Testa-         an innumerable host of angels.
self.                                                   ment, the Angel of the Lord. Really                                . . . to be continued 0





                   God's Providence and Evil

         Our Heidelberg Catechism de-                   meat and drink, health and sickness,       over ail his works.n7
fines God's providence as, "The al-                     riches and poverty, yea, and all                  Is the good God  the One who
mighty and everywhere present                           things come, not by chance, but by         sends hurricanes and earthquakes,
power of God; whereby, as it were                       His fatherly hand."                        diseases and deaths, wars and so-
by His hand, He upholds and gov-                             What a profoundly blessed             cial upheavals? Must we say that
erns heaven, earth, and alI creatures;                  truth!                                     the God who is Zove is also the One
so that herbs and grass, ram and                             But there is one aspect of this       who is behind such terrible events
drought, fruitful and barren years,                     truth that demands our further at-         as those that destroy and bring suf-
                                                        tention. It involves a matter that         fering and ruin and death?
                                                        we have a difficult time understand-              And what, then, shall we say
                                                        ing.          _        .~                  about the sin that is evident in all
         _  :'
              <    . .                                  '    If God's providence embraces all      the world? Are -,we also. going to
                                                        things, does That mean that .God is                   :     .I         /      `I&
                               .    a     ,.     :_.

l&v;`Ke~  i$ pas&r Of thi-Protk.stan'~Rt+               also behind? those events I that we'                                         ~`
                                                                                                                                      "      .:s  .I.,
                                                                                                    .;
formid                                                                                             lf For a$ibl&Iexp.ositi6n  of this te&t,..
             "Chikh `;if: liqikdpli~ Wiscon-            would~ call evil? ~"T~~-:LoRD  `is good
                          :                                                                        Ps$m  145:9;  se6 the  m~dk$idn   k"t$::
sin.                                                    to  alband his tender mercies are"         Stand&d Bearer {f `Octobe'r 15, `l%?"

                                                                                                          February 15,1996/Standard  Bearer1227


          say that God's providence sovereign-        Scripture passages! This is a truth          second point of emphasis in their
          ly encompasses even sin?                    that is woven like a thread through-         nurture of these new Christians.
              We boldly and without waver-            out the whole Bible!2                                Not only were God's servants
          ing give answer to these questions.                                                      found exhorting them to continue in
          The answer is, "Yes, God is the One         God's Hand in Our Afflictions                the faith, but, we read, "and that we
          who governs and controls  all                   That God appoints unto us                        must through much tribulation en-
          things." With our Belgic Confession         our afflictions is often taught                         ter into the kingdom of God"
          we confess that "nothing happens in         in Scripture as a truth of            If we are           (my  emphasis). Through
          this world without His appoint-             great comfort for the chil-          to enter the         many affEctions - and that
          ment."                                      dren of God.                       kingdom of God           is the word translated
                                                          The believers in the           in all its glo y,        ~"tribulations."  We must -
          Stumbling at the Truth                      Old Testament recognized            we will a0 so ! that is unavoidable. We
     ~        It is precisely at this point that      that great truth. Taking the        only through            must through many a#lic-
          many stumble over the truth of              words of Psalm 66 as their          the pathway tions  enter into the  king-
          God's providence. I have faced the          own confession, they sang,            of many               dom of God. So it is also
          argument of some, even within the           "For thou, 0 God, hast               afliich'ons.         for us. If we are to enter
          Reformed camp, that God Himself             proved us: thou hast tried us,                           the kingdom of God in all its
          does not bring affliction into the lives    as silver is tried.        Thou                         glory, we will do so only
          of His people, but that all things          broughtest us into the net; thou              through the pathway of many af-
          which would be classified as trials,        laidst affliction upon our loins....         flictioti. That is God's way for us.
          tribulations, or afflictions, come'from     Come  and hear, all ye that fear God,                II Corinthians 4:17,X3 sheds com-
          Satan, our adversary. That has be-          and I will declare what he hath done         forting light upon this truth. "For
          come  a rather common conception            for my soul. I cried unto him with           our light affliction, which is but for
          in the Christian church, even within        my mouth, and he was extolled with           a moment, worketh for us a far more
          Reformed church circles.                    my  tongue. If I regard iniquity in          exceeding and eternal weight of glo-
              Superficially considered, there         my  heart, the Lord will not hear me:        ry; Wh$le we look not at the things
          may even be  something attractive           But verily God hath heard me; he             which are seen, but at the things
          about that position. For they use           hath attended to the voice of my             which are not seen: for the things
          such arguments as: "Listen, you are         prayer. Blessed be God, which hath           which are seen are temporal; but the
          a father; would you kill your chil-         not turned away my prayer, nor his           things which are not seen are eter-
          dren? Would you inflict your chil-          mercy from me."                              nal."
          dren with debilitating disease? Of              Going back still earlier in the Old              This is a very beautiful text, wor-
          course not! Therefore . . . . N And so      Testament, righteous Job recognized          thy of extended exposition. But one
          they draw their conclusion. Or they         that the Lord was the One who had            significant truth set forth in this text
          point at the love of God - which            appointed his affliction. By faith he        is this: !Our affliction works for us.
          they insist is a love for everybody         recognized that, and confessed it.                   What an amazing thing!
          - and says, "A loving God cannot            "The LORD gave, and the LORD hath                    Our afflictions are working for
          bring affliction and torment and            taken away; blessed be the name of           us!
          death upon those objects of His             the LORD." What a profound con-                      It is not just that some day we
          love."                                      fession in the face of the h,eaviness        shall exchange our cross for a crown.
              I say, superficially considered         of Job's trial!                              To face' our affliction in the light of
          there may be something attractive               But the same truth is maintained         Scripture is not just a matter of look-
          about those arguments.                      in the New Testament.                        ing forward to the time when our
              But there is one problem, a rath-           In Acts 14 we find Paul and              affliction is over and glory begins.
          er serious problem at that. Those           Barnabas returning to those cities           But the apostle would have us un-
          arguments fly directly in the face of       where they had previously preached           derstand that right now, in the midst
          Scripture, opposing what God Him-           the gospel. Their purpose in return-         of our afflictions, God, in an alto-
          self reveals to us concerning the na-       ing was to nurture those who had             gether mysterious way, is working
          ture of His love toward us.                 just recently come to faith in Christ.       OLlr gloiy.
              Scripture teaches that not only         They knew that those who professed                   God uses affliction to make us
          does God permit, but He wisely or-          faith in Christ would find their faith       beautiful ornaments of His grace, fit
          ders trials and afflictions as a neces-     severely tested both by persecution
          sary good for His people. The Belgic        and by the trials that mark the Chris- 2             In this article we treat onlv God's
          Confession, in stating that nothing         tian life. So `Paul `and Barnabas            providence in affliction. We ihall re-
          happens in this world without God's         would exhort hem to continue in.             tuti -& another article, the Lord will-
          apl+ointment,  supports that single         the faith. But  -then in verse.22 of         ing, to c&sider the rtilatioriship  between
          statement with no fewer than 25             Acts 14 we find that they also had a         God's providence tid sin.
I         226lStandard  Bearer/February IS,1996


to decorate His house of many man-         ing rains. If only the watering which      we do have to walk by faith in or-
sions.                                     we receive could be ever so com-           der to confess these things.
     It is not for us to try to figure     fortable for us - never too wet and            We speak about Gods handi-
out the "why."                             never too dry. If only the humidity        work in OUY afflictions, as believers
     We are called to take God at His      was just right and the air filtered        in Christ Jesus. The almighty and
Word and believe it. Affliction is         from all unwanted germs.                   everywhere present power of God
for the benefit of everyone who be-            But God knows that such an en-         is also that which sends afflictions
lieves. So says the psalmist: "It is       vironment would be absolutely dev-         to the wicked. No question about
good for me that I have been afflict-      astating to any true growth in grace.      that. The affliction of the wicked
ed."                                           God knows what is best for us.         works their damnation. It renders
     Our afflictions, as the handiwork         Affliction is an instrument in His     them helpless in all their pride and
of God, the outworking of His prov-        hand, to work for us a far more ex-        self-love.  ,It shows them their total
idence, are His way to lead us to          ceeding and eternal weight of glory.       dependence upon the God whom
tM-Y*                                          The psalmist recognized that           they reject. It leaves them without
     To use a figure: Our heavenly         great wonder of God's handiwork            excuse. But for US God works our
Father does not cause His children         in our afflictions, when he wrote in       blessedness even through affliction.
to grow to maturity in the protected       Psalm119:75:   "I  ~~ow,OLORD,   that          We speak of that which Scrip-
environment of a greenhouse. He            thy judgments are right, and that          ture reveals. These things are not
puts them out where they are ex-           thou in faithfulness hast afflicted        seen with the natural eyes. This
posed to the rains, sometimes ex-          me.N Will you join him in that con-        truth is seen with the eyes of faith.
tremely heavy rains; to the winds,         fession?                                   It is a beautiful thing to be able to
sometimes gale-force winds; to the             Oh yes, there are many, many           look .upon the things that are not
bite of winter and the blasting heat       details in the handiwork of (God's         seen. To be able to see the reality of
of drought. And in that set of cir-        providential government that we            things, as all is for Christ's sake -
cumstances, albeit controlled circum-      cannot understand. "Why must I             that is a beautiful thing. Because
stances, God prepares us for our           suffer  this  affliction? Why must this    that  sight,$  that spiritual understand-
place in glory.                            agony last for so long? Why?" We           ing, is God's wonder work of grace
     Our flesh would love the green-       sometimes ask those questions. We          in us.
house treatment, wouldn't it. If only      must be careful that we do not ask             Receive the instruction of Scrip-
we were protected,from  all trials. If     such questions from an attitude of         ture. And in everlasting glory God
only we were surrounded by thick           rebellion against God's way with us.       will give you to see how His way
plexiglass panels that would shelter       The simple fact is, we don't have to       was the best way, the only way, for
us from the heaviest storms, that          know "why" in order to experience          you. And we shall praise Him for
would protect us from the hailstones,      the truth that God governs these           bringing us safely home. Cl
the gale-force winds, and the driv-        things for our spiritual profit. But




w                            Gijsbert Voetius:
                   Defender of Orthodoxy

                                                                                      men, qualified by Christ, placed at
                                           Introduction                               crucial times in the church, and
                                               The Lord has promised the              equipped spiritually for the task, do
                                           church, purchased with His own             battle with heresies that threaten the
                                           blood, that the gates of hell shall        church's welfare. After all, one cru-
                                           never prevail against it. To accom-        cial means used by Satan to destroy
Prc$ Hanko,is  pyofesS&  of Church I$-     plish this, Christ raises men in'the       the churcbis  the introduction of her-
~O~IJ and New Testayjzent iG th~+rotes-    church who are strong and Rassion-         esy into the. church's ministry and
                                           ate defenders of the faith. These  -
tant Reformed  Seminaiy.                                                              teaching;,

                                                                                           February 15,1996/Standard  Bearer1229


     These men are not always the         men filled the cities. The nation's         in Vlijmen. The year was 1611, sev-
most liked; indeed, they must often       navy could stand before the mighty          en years before the great Synod of
suffer abuse at the hands of their        sea powers of England cvd France            Dart: After serving  many years in
own fellow members in the church.         without flinching. It was enough to         the pastorate, he became professor
They are not free from sin; God is        make any out&man proud.                     in the University of Utrecht, where
pleased to use weakest means to ful-          Politics, however, were troubled.       he spent the rest of his life, a profes-
fill His will. But they are men of        The Eighty Years War with Spain             sor for no less than 42 years.
courage and faithfulness, and             was still raging and the borders to
through them Christ preserves the         the south were dangerous places to          His Able Pastoral Ministry
cause of His church in the world.         live. The' nation was divided be-               Before Voetius became professor
     It is quite amazing that almost      tween Orange& (who wanted the               he sdrved two congregations. He
as soon as the delegates from the         House of Orange of the throne of            spent about six years in Vlijmen,
great Synod of Dordrecht said fare-       Holland) and Republicans (who               where he was first called, and about
well to their fellow delegates and re-    wanted nothing resembling a mon-            17 years in Heusden, the town of
turned to their homes and churches,       archy). The divisions were deep and         his birth.
serious heresies arose in the church-     bitter.                                         During the years of his minis-
es of the Netherlands which threat-           The Reformed faith had taken            try, Voetius preached eight times a
ened her orthodoxy. The echo of           root in the nation and had, within a        week - and we think we are busy
the ringing bells in Dordrecht which      few decades, become the dominant            when we preach twice a week.
marked the end of the Synod had           religion of the Lowlands. That Re-          While it was the custom in those
not yet died away and errors of al-       formed faith, born and nurtured in          days for an elder to read the Scrip-
most every conceivable sort entered       Geneva, had found particularly rich         tures and for a precentor  to lead the
the universities and pastorates. Only     soil among the fiercely independent         singing, Voetius often did this him-
through the courageous battles of         Dutch. But the Reformed faith was           self for the congregation.
some staunch men  bf God were             being threatened by  a growing at-              He was faithful in his pastoral
these errors turned away  - and           tachment of many ministers and              labors, and the congregations he
then only for a time.                     leaders to the evil heresy of Armin-        served came to love him deeply.
     One of the most ardent defend-       ianism. It had been spawned in the              But his ministry was not limited
ers of the faith was a man by the         fertile, though shallow, brain of           to the work of the congregation. He
name of Gijsbertus Voetius; or, if we     Arminius, minister in Amsterdam             was intensely interested in evange-
would abandon his Latinized name,         and later professor of theology in          lism and missions. While in vlijmen,
Gijsbert Voet - the surname being         the University of Leyden.                   a village in which were still many
the Dutch word for "foot." Gijs Foot.         Voetius' father was a sturdy de-        Roman Catholics, he was instrumen-
He was a man who stood head and           fender of the Reformed faith, and           tal in bringing a large number of Ro-
shoulders above his contemporaries.       his son imbibed this doctrine from          man Catholics to the Reformed faith.
                                          youth.                                      And, while minister in Heusden, he
Early Life                                    He was a brilliant lad who soon         was influential in persuading the
    Gijsbert Voetius was born of a        outshone his fellow students in his         large trading compani&  to send mis-
Dutch Reformed minister in the            studies. Leyden was lhis home               sionaries with the Dutch ships to dis-
town of Heusden, the Netherlands.         school and there he studied under           tant parts of the world so that mis-
He was born on March 3, 1588 or           Gomarus and Arminius, though                sion work could be done in these
1589 (biographers are not sure; ap-       Gomarus did more than any other             far-o@ islands and lands.
parently some mishap clouded the          to shape his mind. He was indus-                And, if all this were not enough,
town records). The date of his birth      trious and possessed what we would          Voetius gave himself over to the
tells us that he lived in some of Hol-    call today a photographic memory.           study of Arabic, the better to under-
land's most troublous, though pros-       So rapidly did he advance in his            stand the Semitic languages, otie of
perous, times.                            studies that, while still in the Uni-       which was the Hebrew of the Old
    Holland had become a naval            versity, he was appointed lecturer          Testament  Scriptures.
power, and Holland's navy sailed          in Logic. In his classes he defended
the seven seas. Colonies were es-         the strictest Calvinism and already         His Influential Professorship
tablished by these navies in the West     in th&e years showed his disdain                In 1634 Voetius accepted the call
Indies, the East Indies, America, and     for any viewpoint which challenged          to  -b&come  piofessor in the new
South Africa.  Exdtic silks, spices,      the teachings- of the Reformer from.        Acad&+ df Utrecht. Wh&-i in 1636
and woods flowed ti an unending           G&fieva:-     `.      :          ?          the; Academy  `$ec&e a Ur&rs$y,' '
stream into the country. The grow-          Because   `of  hi&  `&any   gifts  lie    Vo;etitis:pn?dched  the~inatigural'der-
ing trade of Europe passed through,       was,"upon  "graduhtion,  called sooli       m&  bnT.L&C 5~463' C&&d it  && to.'
its. ports. Merchantmen and cr&fts-       to the ministry of the Word, of Gbd         pass, that after f&&z& days they found

23OlStandard  Bearer /February 15,1996


  him in the temple, sitting in the                                                         embraced' wholeheartedly, led to
  midst of the doctors, both hearing           His Battle Against Arminianism               Christian piety.
  them, and asking them questions."                    Voetius hated Arminianism. He
      During the years of his labors in        saw it for what it was: a wholesale          Other Battles
  Utrecht, Voetius taught theology,            attack on the very heart of the Re-                  But Voetius did not do battle
  logic, physics, metaphysics, and             formed faith and, fundamentally, a           with Arminianism only. Other her-
  Semitic languages: Hebrew, Arabic,           return to Roman Catholicism and its          esies appeared soon after Dort, and
  and Syraic, surely a heavy load. But         doctrine of salvation by works               Voetius took up the weapons of his
  in addition to this massive load of                  He began his battle against          spiritual warfare against them.
  teaching, he also became the pastor          Arminianism already before Dort as                   We mention here three heresies.
  of the church in Utrecht, and the            the Arminians increasingly began to                  Strange as it may seem to us,
- street on which he lived bears his           influence the theology of the Dutch          soon after the Synod of Dort the phi-
  name to this day.                            churches. In fact, more than likely,         losophy of the French philosopher
      He was a prolific writer in many         Voetius took a call to become pastor         Rene Descartes was beginning to
  different fields, although those who         in Heusden because this city had be-         have an impact in Holland, even in
  have read his writings complain that         come a hotbed of Arminian think-             the University of Utrecht. Descartes
  they were almost impossibly boring           ing.                                         firmly believed that the Christian
  and difficult to read.                               Yet, as Arminianism gained           faith could be supported by reason
      To accomplish all this work,             ground prior to Dort, Voetius was            alone and really had no need of faith
  Voetius rose at 4:00 A.M. to begin his       not averse to traveling to other cit-        to bolster its tenets. This was ratio-
  studies for the day and prepare for          ies (such as Gouda and Bois-le-Due           nalism, pure and simple. Against it
  his many lectures.                           on the Belgian border) to do battle          Voetius waged bitter war, and in fact
      He has often been accused of be-         with these enemies of the Reformed           secured the dismissal of his own col-
  ing "scholastic" in his theology; in         faith.                                       league in Utrecht, Regius. So biting
  fact, one author calls him "the great-               So trustworthy was he consid-        was his attack that Descartes him-
  est of the scholastics." This was            ered to be that he was voted dele-           self, in lonely isolation in France, but
  meant, of course, as criticism. Many         gate to the Synod of Dordrecht               adored by all Europe, considered it
  today complain that the theologians          (1618-29).  At the Synod he made             necessary to respond to Voetius.
  of the Dutch Reformed tradition, be-         major contributions to the defeat of         Sadly, Voetius, while winning the
  ginning with Theodore Beza and               the Arminians and the writing of our         battle in his own lifetime, lost it in
  continuing through Herman Hoek-              precious Canons. When Bogerman,              the long run of Dutch theology.
  sema, have altered fundamentally             the president of the Synod, angrily                  When the French Calvinists
  the theology of Calvin with their            dismissed the Arminians from the             were persecuted in France, many of
  "scholasticism." Before we become            Assembly and forbad  them to  re-            them fled' to the Lowlands, where
  too critical of these supposed "scho-        turn, Voetius supported his actions.         they could find political asylum.
  lastic" theologians however, we do                   Although Dort was a mighty           Among them were mystics who
  well to listen to more balanced stu-         victory for the Reformed faith,              found a congenial home in  some
  dents of Dutch Reformed theology             Arminian poison continued to affect          parts of Holland. Their spokesman
  who have pointed out that it was             the churches, and Voetius spent all          at the time of Voetius was Jean de.
  not that the theology of the early           his life doing what he could to root         Labadie, who was not only deeply
  Dutch theologians was scholastic,            out this pernicious evil.                    imbued with mysticism, but who
  but rather that the method in which                  Yet, his interest in the Reformed    also preached and practiced separa-
  they developed their theology was            faith was not merely in its mtellec-         tion from the instituted church -
  the method used by the Medieval              tual coherence and internal harmo-           as  mystics usually  do. It was the
  scholastic theologians. That is, these       ny. Voetius was a godly and pious            valiant efforts of Voetius which
  Dutch theologians were intent on             man. One of the first books, if not          brought these miserable mystics to
  developing Reformed thought by               the first, was entitled "Proof of the        bay.
  careful analysis, detailed definition,       Power of Godliness." His thesis in                   But his greatest battle was with
  thorough development of each theo-           this book was that, while Armin-             Cocceius, a colleague in the minis-
  logical concept, careful repudiation         ianism  is destructive of Christian          try. In a way this controversy was
  of every heresy, and logcal organi-.         moral$y,.,the  orthodox:ftith  gives at-     sad, because Cocceius himself was
  zationwhich  was intended .to: show:         tes!tation  to, itself in.a godly and up-    an +nportant figure -in the develop-
  the  ,relationships   beiwee,n all  the,` right life. The book was not the writ-          ment of, Reformed. thought.'
  tru@s :of Scripture. It was not, :,by        ings of a.m.an who did not live what              .,_
  spy .means, dl bad+ ,--But that.@  an-, I    h&believed,   .He  -was  f,irmly  .con-
  other. story - perhaps for another           vinced, .and showed it in his own            1    We shall treat Cocceius in a later.
  time.                                        life, that the Reformed faith, when          article.

                                                                                                    February 15,1996/SfandardBeared231


 Cocceius was disturbed by the              the death of the two opponents, and        Christian, and a most devoted ser-
 "scholasticism" of his colleagues and      only gradually died out.                   vant' of the Church. Few men have
 developed what later became known              After producing three sons, two        in any age exercised greater influ-
 as biblical theology.* In the course       of whom became professors and one          ence: over the Church of their time
 of `his work Cocceius made such a          a minister, and after seeing even a        and country."
 sharp distinction between the Old          grandson become a professor,                    It is a man who himself loves
 and New Testaments that he denied          Voetius died on November 1,1676.           the church and the cause of Gods
 the validity of the New Testament              Voetius has often been charged         truth who can see beyond a man's
 Sabbath. Although Voeiius attacked         with "using the end to hallow the          character and stand with him in the
 him for this, the controversy in-          means": "Voetius was vehement,             defense of the faith. 0
 volved other points as well, includ-       and not careful as respects the choice
 ing various political questions.           of his weapons." He has even been
Voetius promoted strongly the need          charged with dishonesty by some bi-        2    We cannot enter here info the ideas
 for Holland to be ruled by the royal       ographers  - a reference to his de-        x&ich  served as the foundation of bib-
 House of Orange, while Cocceius            bate with Rene Descartes when he           lical theology. That would require an
 wanted a more Republican form of           denied authorship of a book which          article in its own right. For an interest-
 government.                                was published under another man's          ing defense of biblical theology, we re-
      The controversy became very           name. But that he was a vehement           fer the interested reader to Geerhardus
 bitter and the church was divided          defender of orthodoxy cannot be de-        Vos' inaugural address at the time he
                                                                                       took the chair of Biblical Theology in
 into a Voetian Party and a Cocceian        nied, and one author, not a friend,        Princeton Seminary. The title of the
 Party. In fact, the controversy was        pays even this tribute to Voetius:         speech was: "The Idea of Biblical The-
 never settled. It continued beyond         "With all the faults of his character,     ology As A Science and As A Theologi-
                                            Voetius was an earnest and sincere         cal Discipline."





 H What Do They Believe?                      22 percent agreed, 10 percent were       thankful that the percentages in
     The Grand Rapids Press, Decem-           undecided and 10 percent dis-            these two denominations who placed
 ber 16, 1995, carried a clarification        agreed.                                  themselves in these categories were
 of an earlier Press story  .on a survey        Regarding whether the devil ac-        relatively very small. But there is
 made of the theological beliefs of the       tually exists, 72 percent of CRC pas-    something indeed troubling in this
 clergy in the CRC and the RCA. The           tors strongly agreed and 25 percent
                                              agreed. And just 2 percent were          report. Are these small minorities
 survey had dealt with two very sig-          uncertain and 1 percent disagreed.       who inntister the Word in Reformed
 nificant questions: is Jesus the only          Among RCA clergy, 48 percent           churches being truly honest? Do
 way of salvation? And: does the dev-         strongly agreed and another 33 per-      they not express agreement with the
 il really exist? Apparently the earli-       cent agreed; 8 percent were uncer-       three Forms of Unity  (cf. Heidelberg
 er Press story contained incomplete          tam, 9 percent disagreed and 2 per-      Catechism,  L.D.  11,  or  Canons  of
 information. The clarification read as       cent strongly disagreed.                 Dordt, Head III-IV, article 1) when
 follows:                                                                              they enter the ministry? More basi-
                                                One could surely rejoice that          cally stilk do they not maintain the
     While 73 percent of Christian Re-      such a large percentage of the cler-       infallibility of Scripture? Scripture
   formed Church clergy "strongly           gy in both of these denominations          allows no room for doubt about ei-
   agreed" that Jesus is the only way       "strongly agreed" with the above           ther of the propositions above. Can
   to salvation, the story should have      propositions. One might wonder
   noted another 23 percent said they                                                  it be that men (women?) publicly ex-
                                            about the lesser number in both de-
   "agreed"; 3 percent were undecid-                                                   press agreement with Scripture and
                                            nominations who would not state
   ed and 2 percent disagreed.                                                         the Confessions on these proposi-
                                            that they "strongly agreed," but sim-
     Likewise, while 58 percent of Re-                                                 tions  - yet deny them in their
   formed Church in America clergy          ply were recorded as "agreed." Is          hearts? One assumes that the sur-
   strongly agreed with the statement,      the distinction this, that those who       vey was submitted in a manner that
                                            "agreed were nevertheless not to-          no one knows who answered in
                                            tally and absolutely sure in their own     these'various ways. But God knows.
                                            minds?                                          Troubling too is the fact that
                                                And what of those who were
 Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protes-                                                such a survey (which, I assume, is
                                            "uncertain," or "disagreed," or even
 tant Reformed Church  of  Loveland,                                                   answered anonymously) places
                                            "strongly disagreed"? One could be
 Colorado.                                                                             many clergy under suspicion. Many

 2321Sfandard  Bearer/February 15,1996


within the churches will likely be          decade alone, archaeologists in Is-           Time  magazine presents  its own
wondering: "Does my minister deny           rael have unearthed amazing arti-        slant  on  @e  Bible  and its veracity.
the existence of the devil? Does he         facts pertaining to two important        Its cover asks, "Is the Bible Fact or
believe that there are other ways           figures from the Bible: a ninth-cen-     Fiction?" Sounds much like the
unto salvation apart from the cross         tury B.C. stone inscription bearing      question of Satan to Eve in Paradise,
of Christ?" If there is any possible        the name of David, the ancient Is-
                                            raelite warrior-king who killed the      does it not? Time writes:
doubt, our Formula of Subscription          giant Goliath, and a first-century
requires a con&story (classis or syn-       A.D. tomb believed to be that of              In what may be the most impor-
od) to examine the preacher, elder,         Caiaphas, the Jerusalem high priest        tant of these discoveries, a team of
or deacon carefully. Is that not also       who presided over the trial of Jesus.       archaeologists uncovered a 9th cen-
done in these other denominations?          In both cases, it was the first ar-        tury B.C. inscription at an ancient
                                            chaeological evidence ever discov-         mound called Tel Dan, in the north
n "Yea, Hath God said....?"                 ered suggesting that the two exist-        of Israel, in 1993. Words carved
     The attack against God's Word          ed beyond the pages of the Bible.        into a chunk of basalt refer to the
                                                                                       "House of David" and the "King of
as first made in Paradise is known          "These are tremendously important
                                           finds," says James K. Hoffmeier,            Israel." It is the first time the Jew-'
to all. Satan (yes, the Bible presents      chairman of archaeology and bibli-         ish monarch's name has been found
him as very real) came in the ser-          cal studies at Wheaton  College in         outside ,the Bible, and appears to
pent to deceive first Eve  - then          Illinois. "They will certainly cause        prove he was more than a mere leg-
Adam through his wife. His ap-             anxiety for the skeptics." Some             end.
proach was to cast doubt upon the          have even hailed the discoveries as           On the other hand, say many
Word which God had spoken, "Yea,           the beginning of a new "golden              scholars, much of what is recorded
bath God said...?" Satan knew what         age" of biblical archaeology.               in the Bible is at best distorted, and
God had said. Eve knew what God               Yet for many scholars, such exu-         some characters and events are
                                                                                       probably totally fictional. Most
had said. The question, however,           berance raises profound questions.
                                           Just how far can archaeological ev-         scholars suspect that Abraham,
casts doubt upon that Word. That           idence go in "proving" the accua-           Isaac, and Jacob, Judaism's tradi-
has been the approach of Satan ever        `cy of the Bible?....                       tional founders, never existed;
since.  It  is a clever attack; it is a       But modern archaeology has               many doubt the taIes of slavery in
basic attack on fundamentals. If one       found little tangible evidence from         Egypt and the Exodus; and relative-
can undermine the foundation, the          the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500            ly few modem historians believe in
entire superstructure will fall.           B.C.) - roughly the period many             Joshua's conquest of Jericho and the
    The national newsmagazines             scholars consider to be the patriar-        rest of the Promised Land. In the
U.S. News &                                                                            most extreme view, all of the above
                World Report (April        chal era - to corroborate the bibli-        are complete fabrications, invented
17, 1995) and Time (December 18,           cal account. Nor are there extra-
                                           biblical references to the early bat-       centuries after the supposed fact.
1995) have cover stories treating the      tles and conflicts reported in some           . . ..Science has neither proved nor
question of the accuracy of the Bible      detail in Genesis as Abraham and            disproved the existence of the itin-
in light of recent archaeological dis-     his descendants claimed their inher-        erant preacher and wonder worker
coveries. Both appear to question          itance....                                  who Christians believe was the Son
the reality of much of what the Bi-           . ..The Book of Joshua, for exam-        of God. After all, writes biblical
ble records through the reign of           ple, describes an early and impor-          scholar R.T. France, "no 1st centu-
Solomon. These raise questions             tant baffle at the fortified city of        ry inscription mentions him and no
about the `very existence of Christ        Jericho, where the Israelites               object or building has survived
                                                                                       which has a `specific link to him."
Himself. Interestingly, these men-         marched and the trumpets sound-
                                           ed and the walls came tumbling              Nonetheless, recent finds in the
tion those  instances where archaeo-       down. Yet Kathleen Kenyon, a Brit-          Holy Land have provided a wealth
logical discoveries have confirmed         ish archaeologist who excavated Jer-        of insights into the milieu from
some  of the biblical accounts  -          icho during the 195Os,  concluded           which belief in Christ emerged....
which were earlier questioned or de-       `that there was no wall there dur-
nied. But the doubts, the questions        :ing the period many scholars asso-           One heading in the Time article
raised, remind us of the fact that Sa-     ciate with the Israelite conquest -       states it correctly, "Fact vs. Faith."
tan is up to his old tricks again Here     the Late Bronze Age III (1300-1200        How true! The attacks on the very
follows just a few of the statements       B.C.). The city, which had existed        foundation of Christianity, the infal-
made                                       since about 8000 B.C., appeared to
         in U.S. News'& World Report:      have been destroyed in about 1500         lible Scripture, continue with increas-
                                           B.C. and was uninhabited until the        ing ferocity. It was the devil's origi-
    Now the sands of the Middle East       eighth century B.C. Some experts          nal battle plan, "Yea, hath God
  are yielding secrets hidden for thou-    suggest Kenyon might have mis-            said...?" When national news  mag-
  sands of years that shed surprising      dated the debris. But hers is still       azines enter the fray, obviously there
 new light on the historica veracity       the accepted interpretation in most       is the design of creating doubt about
 of those sacred writings. In this         archaeological circles....                Scripture itself. Sadly,  many  theo-

                                                                                          February 15,1996/StandardBearetl233


logians (also those labeled "Re-             Kalamazoo due to complications of           1970-1973. He was the author of
formed") have adopted the same po-           congestive heart failure.                   many articles published in various
sition: if the Bible can be proved by            Rev. H. VanderKam, aged 78,             periodicals, and was writer of a num-
archeological studies, they will be-         had a massive heart attack fourteen         ber of Bible study booklets. He has
lieve it; if archeological studies dis-      years ago. He continued his labors,         a book on the Dutch Reformed
prove portions of the Bible, they will       however, and was instrumental in            church leader, Dr. Klaas Schilder,
accept that too. No longer is this a         the founding of Mid-America Re-             scheduled for release this spring.
matter of faith, but rather of "fact"        formed Seminary, then in Orange                 VanderKam was recently in-
as presented by the archaeologist.           City, Iowa, where he also served for        volved in drawing up a new church
    We must be very aware of the             a time as professor.         He left the    order `for the Alliance of Reformed
attacks on the foundations of God's          CRC in 1992 and became founding             Churches. He was one of the men
church. These will surely continue           pastor of a new independent church,         who labored to "federate" the Alli-
and intensify. If these days were            the Free Christian Reformed Church          ance into a new denomination called
not shortened, it would seem that            of Kalamazoo.                               provisionally "Federation of Uniting
the very elect would be deceived!                Rev. H. VanderKam served in             Reformed Churches."
                                             various Christian Reformea  Church-             Rev. H. VanderKam preached
W Rev. Henry VanderKam                       es as pastor. He was president of           his final sermon on Sunday, Decem-
    (The following is taken from the         the CRC synod in 1976 and served            ber 24, 1995. Though scheduled to
"United Reformed News Service"               five other times as an officer of syn-      preach again on Christmas Day, he
bulletin by Darrel Maurina.)                 od. He was president of the CRC             was unable to do so.
    Rev.  Henry VanderKam, found-            home missions board from 1960"                  We would extend also our
ing pastor of the Free Christian Re-         1965 and president of the board of          Christian sympathy to his widow,
formed Church of Kalamazoo,                  Calvin College and Seminary  from           children, and congregation. Cl
passed away on January 11,1996  in





                                                      Chapter 5
             Paradise the First (cont.)

The Tree of Knowledge                            We note at once that this is a          trouble to satisfy our curiosity as to
of Good and Evil (2)                         very peculiar name. The tree is not         how the tree looked and what kind
    But to return to the immediate           named according to its fruit, what-         of fruit it produced and how that
subject of discussion, it is in the light    ever the nature and appearance of           fruit tasted to Adam and Eve when
of this principle (namely, that man          that fruit may have been. Thus we           they ate of it. In fact, Scripture does
lives, not by bread but by the Word          identify trees: we speak of a peach         not call the tree by its fruit at all.
of God - Ed.) that we can properly           tree, or a pear tree, or an apple tree.     The tree is named in Scripture from
understand the name of this tree,            Of such kinds of trees there must           the point of view of its meaning and
which, in turn, stands very closely          have been many in Paradise the              significance for man, and that, too,
related to the purpose of the tree in        First, offering to Adam the fruit of        in connection with the command-
Adam's life and in the history of the        the ground for the sustenance of his        ment of God which was attached to
covenant of God. Scripture calls the         earthly existence as a creature who         it. It was "the tree of knowledge of
forbidden tree "the tree of knowl-           was taken from the dust of the              good and evil."
edge of good and evil."                      ground. Undoubtedly also the tree               What does this mean?
                                             of which Adam was forbidden to eat              The evolutionistic conception of
                                             bore its own fruit, a fruit which in        this tree is that it serves to bring
The late Homer Hoeksema was profes-          itself and apart from God's prohibi-        mm to moral consciousness and self-
sor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in        tion was good. It is striking, how-         consciousness, or pictures man as
the Protestant Reformed Semina y.            ever, that Scripture does not even          having evolved to that state.  Ac-

234lStandard  Bearer/February I$1996


cording to this theory, the story of         always on the way upward, from               vine prohibition to eat of the tree,
the tree is not literally true. Yet there    good to better to best. As surely as         he actually did recognize the viola-
is a deep spiritual meaning in it all.       sip and the fall have no reality, so         tion of that command as evil.
The meaning is that man was a sort           surely a different content must be               Besides, in,the second place, this
of animal, or as yet a hal&nimal.            poured into such scriptural concepts         explanation of the tree is directly
He was without moral conception              as Christ and grace and redemption           .contrary  to Scripture. Man was em-
and moral consciousness. Good and            and salvation.                               phatically commanded not to eat of
evil did not mean anything to him                    Over against all such philosophy     the tree. In this light the name "tree
as yet. But somehow he  de-                            stands the plain Word of God       of knowledge of good and evil"
veloped moral consciousness                              that man was created good        could hardly denote that this tree
                                      As surely
and a conception of good                                                                  was to make man know good and
and evil. This is then the              as sin            and after God's image, that
                                                           he stood originally, as he     evil by eating of the forbidden fruit.
meaning  of the narrative of         and the fall          came from the hand of              Nor, in the third place, is that
                                  have no reality,
the tree of knowledge of                                                                  the meaning of the text in Genesis
good and evil.                        so surely             His Creator, in righteous-
                                                            ness and true holiness,       322. That text rather points to man's
    Here you have an il-              a difSerent           possessed of the true         sin and fallen estate. The  wor,ds
                                    content m,ust
lustration of the fact that                                 knowledge of God, of          "man is  ybecome  as one of us, to
                                      be poured
the issue in evolutionism                                   God's will, and of his        know good and evil" point to the
                                      into such
and the question of the lit-                                own relation to God and       fact that man, heeding the he of the
                                      scrkptural
eral or non-literal charac-                                 to all things, and that he    devil, has sinfully assumed such a
ter of the Genesis account             concepts                                           likeness with God as to determine
                                      as  Christ            certainly knew the good
is certainly not a merely                                                                 and to know for himself what is
                                      and grace            by experience from the
academic question concern-                                                                good and evil.
ing some insignificant facts.      and redemption          moment that he first gazed
                                                          upon God's creation, and            What, then, positively speaking,
Nor is it merely a question and salvation. was able to recognize and                      is the meaning of this name of the
concerning  origins.- But the                          did recognize the &il when         tree?
truth about man, about the fall,                     he met with it.                          That name implies, in the first
about sin, and therefore about grace,                Another presentation would find      place, in connection with the com-
about Christ,  abqut redemption,             the meaning of the name "tree of             mand of God attached to it, that it
about salvation, about the consum-           knowledge of good and evil" in the           is not man's lot, but God's preroga-
mation of all things, about heaven,          fact that this tree served to make           tive to determine what is good and
about hell - all these truths are in-        man know good and evil by experi-            what is evil. It is man's calling sim-
evitably at stake in this controversy        ence through eating of it. This idea         ply to listen and obey. God, the Cre-
about the philosophy of evolution-           isbased  on what we read in connec-          ator, is sovereign; and man, the crea-
ism and in those theories which deny         tion with this tree after man's fall         ture, is servant. God's alone is the
the reality and historicity of the mat-      into sin, as recorded in Genesis 3:22:       sovereign prerogative to determine
ters concerning which the book of            "And the Lord God said, Behold,              what Hisservant shall do and what
Genesis informs us. Take note of             the man is become as one of us, to           he shall not do, what is good and
the fact that a theory like this is de-      know good and evil." But the mean-           what is evil.
structive of the entire scriptural doc-      ing there is not that heretofore Adam            Thus,' in the second place, the
trine of man. Man, then, was not             and Eve were in a condition of child-        name of this tree denotes that by not
created a rational, moral being: he          ish innocence, that they were naive          eating, that is, by the way of obedi-
developed into one. He was not               with respect to good and evil, and           ence, man would truly know, know
made morally good: he is as yet              that through eating ,of the tree they        by experience, know as taught by
evolving into such a good being, he          learned to know good and evil by             God, know in the sense that he
is on the way. Thus it is also with          experience. For again, as we said            would actively assume the right at-
respect to the doctrine of sin. Mo-          before, man was created in true              titude over against good and evil.
rality and immorality, goodness and          knowledge of God, righteousness,             In this sense the tree was the means
sin, religion and impiety - all these        and holiness, having been created in         whereby man would have an expe-
have no objective standard, and are          the image of God. As such, he cer-           riential knowledge of good and evil.
not a matter of the will of the sover-       tainly knew the good by experience;          If he obeyed God's commandment,
eign Lord of heaven and earth; no,           and he positively delighted in it, per-      he would so know good and evil
they are .strictly relative, the prod-       formed it, and tasted life in the fel-       that he loved the good and hated
uct of a long process of evolution,          lowship of God. Moreover, he was             the evil, and thus experience the fa-
and determined by the evolving man           created with the ability to recognize        vor and fellowship of God that con-
in society. The fall has no reality,         the evil when he met with it; and            stitute the true knowledge of God.
then, for man never fell, but he is          when he was confronted by the di-            If he disobeyed that command, he

                                                                                                   February 15,1996/Sfandard  Bearer1235


would so know good and evil that          - as if God had to test His own                 3) Without the tree of knowl-
he would love the evil and hate the       work in order to discover what was          edge of good and evil there was no
good, and thus experience the very        in it! Of such a covenant and its           such antithesis expressed in Adam's
opposite of the blessedness of the        elements you find not a word in             life. He could serve God positively,
true knowledge of God, namely, the        Scripture; it can only be discovered        with his whole heart. But in the con-
abject misery and desolation of spir-     by reading something into the text          crete sense of the word he could not
itual ignorance and darkness, the,        which is not really there. No, the          serve ,God antithetically. This an-
wretchedness of that experience that      covenant consisted in the bond, the         tithes& is given in the tree. In con-
is denoted in the words, "to live         relation, of friendship, in the living      nection with that tree a prohibition
apart from God is death."                 fellowship between God and the              is created in the life of Adam. In
     In this light we can understand      man who was created after His own           fact, that tree, which was in itself
the purpose of this tree from a mor-      image. That covenant came into ex-          perfectly good, served eminently to
al, spiritual point of view.              istence by virtue of man's very cre-        emphasize the nature of that antith-
     1) That purpose stands con-          ation. In that covenant man is the          esis. For the eating of that in-itself-
nected with the fact that Adam was        friend of God, but always as friend-        perfectly-good-tree was evil purely
created the covenant friend of God.       servant, while God is the friend of         because of the prohibitive command
He stood in covenant relation to the      man, but always as Friend-Sover-            of God that was attached to it.. That
living God, his Creator. That cove-       eign.                                       co-and was purely and simply a
nant did not consist in the com-              2) God willed to reveal that            matter of obedience to the good
mandment attached to the tree of          covenant relation and willed that           Word :of God.
knowledge of good Andy evil. Nor          Adam should enjoy it by way of an-              Moreover, soon that tree and its
was that covenant any kind of agree-      tithesis. Hence, God's friend-servant       antithesis were to be strengthened
ment or contract, a covenant of           must show himself an enemy of               by the, temptation of the serpent, and
works.. Thus it is often presented.       God's enemy, an enemy of that               man, God's covenant friend, was to
The elements of such a covenant are       which is not of God, an `enemy  of          be confronted concretely by the call-
supposed to have been a condition         that which is contrary to the will of       ing toi say "Yes" to God and "No"
(obedience), a promise (eternal life),    God. As God's friend-servant, he            to Satan and to sin.
and a penalty (the threatened death).     must show himself to be opposed to              Such was the tree of knowledge
In that case, the commandment .not        all that isnot of the service of God.       of goo'd and evil. 0
to eat of the tree was to test Adam       He is to be the friend of God, there-
                                          fore, antithetically.




A Woman Rides the Beast: The Ro-            false church, rapidly developing in       ecumenism. "The foundation is be-
man Catholic Church and the Last            our own time.... This false church        ing laid for the world religion head-
Days, by Dave Hunt. Eugene, Ore-            *.. shall ultimately reveal herself as    quartered in Rome" (p. 432). At the
gon: Harvest House Publishers,              the power  in the kingdom of Anti-        end, soon, Rome will help bring to
1994. 544 pp. [Reviewed by the              christ (Behold, He Cometh!`, Grand        power, will support, and will pro-
editor.]                                    Rapids: RFPA, repr. 1974, pp. 562,        mote the world-power of Antichrist.
                                            563).                                         Hunt's exegesis of Revelation 17
    In his outstanding commentary             Dave Hunt, internationally              is, in the main,  sound. His docu-
on the book of Revelation, Behold,        known author, agrees with this in-          mentation from Rome's own pro-
He  Cometh!,  Herman Hoeksema ex-         terpretation of the important,              nouncements and actions and from
plained the Antichrist of Revelation      eschatologicall7th  chapter of Reve-        events in contemporary history is
13 as a future political world-power      lation. He is more specific: the            compelling. The prospects for the
(the beast from the sea) that will be     "mother of harlots," "drunken with          true church in the near future are
supported by the false church (the        the blood of the saints, and with the       sobering.
beast from the earth). This is also,      blood of the martyrs of Jesus," is              The book exposes, in a popular
according to Hoeksema, the expla-         the Roman Catholic Church. The              manner, the damnable heresies, the
nation of the great whore sitting on      Roman Church is now actively                corrupt history, the murderous na-
the beast in Revelation 17:               working at uniting all the Christian        ture, and the malevolent designs of
                                          churches and, indeed, all religions         the church of Rome. It should be
  Surely this woman is the church as                                                  read by every Protestant and by ev-
  she appears on earth; but it is the     under herself. Her tactic today is          ery Roman Catholic who has the

236lSfandard  Bearer/February 15,1996


faintest flickering of doubt about his            Finally, only the Reformed faith             A personal friend of Washing-
church for this reason alone.             - Calvinism  - can, and will, say                ton, Franklin, and Jefferson, Paine
    The depths of evil - doctrinal        no to Rome. Rome knows this. So                  was highly influential in bringing
and ethical - in the Roman Catho-         d           o              we;                   about the revolution of the Ameri-
lic Church are impenetrable. She is               Dave Hunt is a dispensational            can colonies against Great Britain.
a mystery of iniquity. Her gospel is      premillennialist. He can, therefore,             By his powerful work,  Common
a message of salvation by the works       write of the coming Antichrist and               Sense, published in January 1776,
of man, another gospel than the bib-      his terrors with a certain coolness, if          Paine convinced the colonists that
lical good news of grace (chapters        not carefreeness. Hunt is confident              "separation from the empire was cor-
22-25).    "The Roman Catholic            that he will be raptured beforehand.             rect. The Continental Congress' Dec-
Church has been the greatest perse-       Should he be alive when the man of               laration of Independence just five
cutor of both Jews and Christians         sin is revealed, Hunt is in for the              months later on July 4, 1776, came
the world has ever seen, and has          surprise of his life.                            as almost an inevitability after
martyred far more Christians than                 As a dispensational&,  Hunt de-          Paine's little essay" (p. 64). Paine's
even pagan Rome or Islam" (p. 262).       nies infant baptism and is at pains,             treatise was "truly a declaration of
The life of her clergy, from priest to    more than once  in the book, to at-              war against the Beast of Britain" (p.
pope, has always been scandalous,         tack it:                                         75). It is Fruchtman's assessment
ridden with fornication and homo-                                                          that "a straight line goes from the
sexuality, in part because of Rome's           Catholicism's doctrine of infant            publication of Common Sense in Jan-
demonic prohibition of marriage                baptism destroyed the truth that            uary 1776 to the Declaration of In-
(chapter 12).                                  one becomes a Christian not by any          dependence just six months later"
    This makes it incredible that              work or ritual but by responding
                                               to the                                      ( p .   4 3 9 ) .
evangelicals - J. I. Packer! - would                       offer of God's grace through
                                               personal faith in Christ (p. 271; cf.           This life of Paine is of impor-
bless Rome and make alliances with             p. 384).                                    tance in refuting the notions found
her. Yet, this is happening, as Hunt                                                       among today's "Christian right," and
demonstrates. The introduction'                   The truth is that Scripture's doc-       even some Calvinists, that the found-
("Overturning the Reformation")           trine of the baptism of the i&ants of            ing fathers of the United States were
calls attention to the recent             believing parents illustrates brilliant-         Christians, if not Calvinists; that
"Evangelicals  and Catholics Togeth-      ly, the truth that one becomes a                 America was originally a Christian
er: The Christian k&ssion in the 3rd      Christian not by any work or ritual,             nation;  aitd that it is the duty of
Millennium." In a chapter entitled        including the activity of man's will             Christians to restore the United
"The Reformation Betrayed," Hunt          (see Rom. 9:16), but by the work of              States to its (their) biblical founda-
expresses puzzlement that such men        the sovereign Spirit in the elect sin-           tion.
as Billy Graham, Luis Palau,              ner.                                                 Paine went on from revolution
Norman Geisler, and W. A. Criswell                This is a book to read for in-           in America to become active in the
have sold out to Rome.                    sight into end-time developments                 French Revolution. He became a
    Hunt's puzzlement may be due          that fulfill biblical prophecy. It is            French citizen, sat in the National
to his failure to uncover the funda-      also a book. to read, to withstand               Convention as a delegate; cooperat-
mental heresy of Rome: free will.         both the seduction of Rome and the               ed with all the leaders, including
Luther identified the error of free       treachery of evangelicalism. II                  Danton and Robespierre, wrote pas-
will as "the hinge on which all turns"                                                     sionately on behalf of the Revolu-
at the outset of the Reformation in       Thomas Paine: Apostle  of  Freedom,              tion, and almost lost his own head
his monumental  The Bondage  of the       by Jack Fruchtman, Jr. New York/                 in the Terror. All the while, Paine
Will. Graham and Palau, as well as        London: Four Walls  Eight Win-                   was urging world-revolution: "A na-
the majority of "evangelicals," share     dows, 1994. 557pp., $30.00 (cloth).              tion has at all times an inherent in-
this denial of grace with Rome. One       [Reviewed by the editor.]                        defeasible right to abolish any form
with Rome as regards their gospel,                                                         of Government it finds inconvenient"
they can now dally with Rome in                   This biography of one of the             (Rights  of  Man,  cited in Fruchtman,
alliances and cooperation. Eventu-        chief instigators  of the American               p. 249).
ally, this will render them power-        Revolution of 1776 by a scholar who                 This revolutionary's rage against
less to refuse Rome's seduction to        smiles on his subject proves that this           the authority of the state reflected
the full embrace of organizational        "apostle of freedom" was also an                 his rebellion against God. He wrote
union.                                    apostle of the hatred of God and                 a diatribe against Scripture and the
    Where does Hunt himself stand         Scripture, of the worship of man and             God who reveals Himself in this holy
on this vital issue of the ability of     reason, and of the violent overthrow             book:
the unregenerated sinner to choose        of government everywhere.
Christ?                                                                                      It would be more consistent that

                                                                                                    February 15,1996/Sfandard  Bearer1237


  we called it (the Bible) the word of      is? Who can be? His religion was a         our power to begin the world over
  a  demon than the Word of God....         curious combination of deism and           again"  (Common  Sense, cited in
  For my part, I sincerely detest it as     pantheism. It opened him up to an          Fruchtman,  p. 64).
  I detest everything that is cruel (The    avowed embrace of the spiritualism             Paine died disillusioned, drunk-
  Age ofReason, cited in Fruchtman,
  p.                                        of the "Illuminati" and freemasonry        en, destitute, and disowned.
     326).                                  (pp. 371-389).                                 A&o, damned.
    This charge of cruelty, from an              Intriguing is this rebels  utopian        For, "whosoever therefore
enthusiastic advocate of the French         dream. He heralded the American            resisteth the power, resisteth the  or-
                                            Revolution as "the birthday of a new       dinance of God: and they that re-
D,.r7,.lrrGAn
I,tz""IULI"IL.
     Paine was not irreligious. Who         world (now) at hand." The ground           sist shall receive to themselves dam-
                                            of this hope was that "we have it in       nation" (Rom. 13:2). Cl



    Classis East met in regular ses-        Rapids, requesting that synod ap-          Jonker, J. Kalsbeek, Jr., H. Lange&,
sion on Wednesday, January lo,1996          point a committee to begin planning        G. Wassink;  Secundi - D. Harbach,
at the Southeast PRC. Each church           for our denomination's 75th anniver-       C. Kuiper, D. Lotterman, D.
was represented by two delegates.           sary. The second came via South-           Ondersma, K.  Schipper.  In other
Rev. Dale Kuiper was the chairman           west PRC from Donald Doezema               voting, classis elected Rev. K. Koole
of this session. Special guests were        and Rev. R. VanOverloop asking the         to a three-year primus  term and Rev.
the church history students of Mr.          synod to make further corrections          A.  Spriensma to a three-year
Cal Kalsbeek from Covenant Chris-           in grammar and punctuation to the          secunZEus term as delegates ad
tian High School.                           forms and creeds section a-t the back      exam&a.  Rev. R. VanOverloop was
    Classis  dealt with the routine         of The PsaZter. Both overtures were        elected to serve a three-year term
matters of hearing reports from the         forwarded to synod with the approv-        on the Classical Committee; Revs.
Stated Clerk and the Classical Com-         al of classis.                             Dale Kuiper and J. Slopsema were
mittee. The church visitors report-             Subsidy requests for 1997 from         chosen as church visitors with Rev.
ed that they found peace, harmony,          Covenant PRC and Kalamazoo PRC             R. VanOverloop as alternate.
and evidence of spiritual growth in         were received. Classis forwarded,              Classis was in closed session to
our congregations.                          with its approval, the request for         deal with a matter brought via ques-
    Classis received a request from         $43,500  from  Covenant and the re-        tion #4 of Article 41 by Covenant
Rev. B. Woudenberg for emeritation          quest from Kalamazoo for $14,000.          PRC and for a matter of discipline
beginning October, 1996. This re-               Voting for synodical  delegates        brought by a consistory.
quest was supported by Kala-                resulted in the following: MINIS-              The expenses of classis amount-
mazoo's consistory. By October,             TERS:  Primi - R. Cammenga, R.             ed to  $1,366.80  for this session.
1996 Rev. Woudenberg will have              Dykstra, B. Gritters, J. Slopsema, R.      Classis will meet next on May 8,1996
spent 40 years in the ministry.             VanOverloop;  Secundi  -  W.               at the Grandville PRC.
    Two overtures were considered.          Bruinsma, K. Koole, Dale Kuiper, A.                     Respectfully submitted,
The first was from First PRC, Grand         Spriensma, B. Woudenberg. EL-                      Jon J. H&ken, Stated Clerk
                                            DERS:  Primi   - D. Doezema, C.





                                            Mission Activities                         now regularly attending and is  com-
                                                Rev. T. Miersma, home mission-         mitted' to the work. This is the oc-
                                            .ary to the San Luis Valley Mission,       casion for much encouragement both
                                            in Alamosa, CO, reports slow but           to the' missionary and the people
                                            steady progress in the work there.         who support the SLV mission.
                                            With two elders from our Loveland,             Rev. R. Cammenga and elder
                                            CO PRC (the calling church) Rev.           Gary Kaptein of our churches' Do-
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protes-       Miersma has conducted family vis-          mestic Mission Committee also vis-
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,        its with the families of the mission. .ited the SLV mission January 19-22,
Michigan.                                   He reports that another family is          to meet with and. encourage Rev.

238lSfandard  Bearer/February 15,1996


Miersma and his family and to get a       Evangelism Committee of the                Rev. Brummel and his family as re-
firsthand look at the work being          Randolph, WI PRC is busy with the          cipients. And the churches that, the
done.                                     work of evangelism. One area of            Lord willing, Rev. Brummel will
    We have also learned from Rev.        labor that continues to grow is their      serve throughout his ministry will
Brummel, pastor of the Edgerton,          tape ministry. Randolph has re-            pay the premium.
MN PRC, that due to increasing in-        ceived many requests for the three-
terest from the Philippines, the For-     tape albums, "Reformed Worship,"
eign Mission Committee of our             the series on "Daniel," and "OLX Tri-      School Activities
churches has decided to send two          als, God's Handiwork." Randolph                    The first  Saturday of each
men there to investigate that field       was also encouraged by an unex-            month, January through April, the
this July, conditional upon Synod's       pected response to their pastor's          Hope Foundation of the Hope PR
approval.                                 booklet  Church Membership in an Evil      Christian School in Walker, MI is
    Rev. J. Kortering, our churches'      Age.  Rev. Key received a letter from      sponsoring a series of travelogues
minister-on-loan to our sister church-    the Foundation for Biblical Studies        in the auditorium of the Grandville
es in Singapore, with' his wife flew      in `Denver, CO requesting permis-          Public H@h School. The first in this
from  Singapore to Yangoon, capital       sion to reprint  Church Membership in      series, on $anuary  6, was given by
of Myanmar (forme?ly Burma) for           the next issue of their Quarterly Jour-    Mr: Karl VanOostenbrugge  on Can-
two weeks in mid-January to attend        nal, which will be focusing on the         ada.
a conference with members of the          subject of Presbyterian/Reformed
United Reformed Church, a new             church government.
church that has formed out of the            The Evangelism Committee of             Ministers ,Activities
modernistic and apostatizing              the Hope PRC in Redlands, CA was               On  Jtiuary  30, the Lord will-
churches of that country. Let us re-      greatly encouraged by the attendance       ing, the cbngregation  of the Doon,
member to pray for the Korterings         at the special Christmas Bible Study       IA PRC was to call a pastor from
and the outreach of our sister            in Victo&lle. About 30 altogether          the trio of the Revs. Bekkering,
churches in Singapore, the First and      were present.                              Bruinsma, and Koole.
Covenant Evangelical Reformed
Churches.
    Rev. B. Gritters, pastor of the       Congregational Activities
Hudsonville, MI i?RC, the calling             Our congregation in Randolph,                      +oodfor Qiought
church for our churches' mission          m has decided to follow the lead of            "When men speak evil of you,
field in Northern Ireland, along with     several of our churches by includ-         so live that no one will believe
Mr. Gord Wassink,  a member of our        ing the reading and signing of the         t h e m . "   C l
Domestic Mission Committee,               Formula of Subscription during the
planned on traveling to Northern Ire-     installation service for elders and
land the first two weeks in February      deacons each year.
with a view to preparing advice con-          The Council of the Grace PRC
cerning the Covenant Reformed Fel-        in Standale, MI was happy to inform
lowship and their desire to be orga-      their congregation that they received
nized into a congregation.                a gift f-om the Southwest PRC in
                                          Gr+ndviUe, MI of 75 Psalters.
                                              Classis East, meeting in Grand
Evangelism Activities                     Rapids in mid-January, approved
    The Extension Committee of the        the request of Rev. B. Woudenbefg
Lynden, WA PRC handed out free            and the Council of Kalamazoo, MI             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
copies of the late Rev. H. Hoekse-        PRC that Rev. Woudenberg be grant-             The Nien's and Ladies' Society
ma's book entitled Z'?ze Mystery of       ed emeritation as of October 1,1996,       of the  Fidst Protestant Reformed
Bethlehem to each family and indi-        the  40th  anniversary of his ministry     Church in Holland, MI expresses its
vidual of their congregation. This        in our churches.                           heartfelt Christian sympathy to Tina
book of devotional readings for the           In keeping with a decision made        Bosman and Rich and Nancy
Christmas season was given as a           at last year's Synod (Acts, page 56),      Bosman in the death of their hus-
note of thanks for Lynden's past sup-     the congregation of the Edgerton,          band and father,
port of evangelism, as well as an en-     MN PRC approved a retirement                   MR. BENJAMIN BOSMAN.
couragement for the spiritual growth      plan for their newly installed pas-            "Castitjg  all your care upon him;
of the Lynden congregation.               tor, Rev. A. Brummel. This plan is         for he careth for you" (I Peter 57).
    From a newsletter to their con-       in the name of our churches, with                      Mr. Allan Elzinga, President
gregation, we also learn that  the        Rev. Brummel as the insured, and            Mrs. LaVerne Casemier, Secretary

                                                                                             February 15,1996/Sfandard  Bearer1239


      T
 ST&DM                                                                                                                     SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                                           Postage Paid af
                                                                                                                           Grandville, Michigan
    P.O. Box 603
   Grandville,  MI 49468-0603


     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
     On February 3, 1996, our par-                        With gratitude and thankfulness
ents and grandparents,                           to God,                                                     CALL'TO ASPIRANTS
 MR. and MRS. CHARLES E. VAN                             MR. and MRS. Wm. HOFMAN                               TO THE MINISTRY
              MEETEREN,                          celebrated their 35th wedding anni-                      All young men desiring to begin
celebrated their 40th wedding anni-              versary on January 19, 1996.                         studies for the 1996-l 997 academic
versary. We thank our heavenly Fa-                        We are grateful to them for our             year in the Theological School of
ther for giving us God-fearing par-              covenant upbringing. And it is our                   the Protestant Reformed Churches
ents, for the many years they have               prayer that our heavenly Father will                 should make application at the
shared together, and for the Chris-              watch over them and bless them as                    March 21, 1996 meeting of the
tian love, the covenant instruction,             they continue through life together.                 Theological School Committee.
and the guidance they have given                          "But the mercy of the Lord is                   A testimonial from the prospec-
us through the years. May the Lord               from everlasting to everlasting upon                 tive student's consistory that he is a
continue to bless them and keep                  them that fear him, and his righ-                    member in full communion, sound
them in His care in the years ahead.             teousness unto children's children;                  in faith, and upright in walk; a cer-
"But the mercy of the Lord is from               to such as keep his covenant, and                    tificate of health from a reputable
everlasting to everlasting upon them             to those that remember his com-                      physician; and high school and col-
that fear him, and his righteousness             mandments to do them" (Psalm                         lege transcripts must accompany the
unto children's children" (Psalm                 103:17, 18).                                         application.     Before entering the
103:7).                                          # Bill and Joan Hofman                               seminary, all students must have
% Charles A. and                                           Katelyn, Jeff, Jill                        earned a bachelor's degree and met
                     Beth VanMeeteren            % Tom and Darla Hofman                               all of. the course requirements for
       Faith, Curtis, ,Tarah, Nathan                       Jacob, Emily                               entrance to the seminary. These
%z+ Randy and Nancy Hendriks                     rti:     Doug and Melissa Looyenga                   entrance requirements are listed in
       Sheri, Joel, Jeffrey                                Stephanie, Justin                          the seminary catalog available from
* Donald and Shelly DeVries                                                       Grand Rapids, MI    the school.
       Kari, Daniel, Abigail                                                                              Al! applicants must appear be-
$ Gary and Mary Gaastra                                                                               fore the Theological School Com-
       Scott, Kristina, Brittany, Adrian                                                              mittee for interview before admis-
# Steven and Beth Potjer                                 Hope PR Council (Walker)                     sion is granted. In the event that a
       Lauren, Bradley, Austin                           announces that, as of Feb-                   student cannot appear at the March
                                                         ruary 4, their evening wor-
                                 Redlands, CA                                                         21 st meeting, notification of this fact,
                                                         ship service  .will begin at                 along with a suggested interview
                                                         6:00 instead of 7:00 P.M.                    date, `must be given to the secre-
  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                              tary of the Theological School Com-
     The Consistory and Congrega-                                                                     mittee before this meeting.
tion of the First Protestant Reformed                                                                     Ali correspondence should be
Church of Edmonton, AB express                                    NOTICE!!                            directed to the Theological School
their heartfelt sympathy to Mr. and                      All students enrolled in the Prot-           Committee,
Mrs. Herman Klaassens and their                  estant Reformed Seminary who will                           4949 lvanrest Avenue
family in the loss of his mother,                be in need of financial assistance                          Grandville, Ml 49418.
           ANNA KLAASSENS.                       for the coming school year are asked                                 John Buiter, Secretary
     May they be sustained by God's              to contact the Student Aid Commit-                          *  *  *  *  *  *  *
grace and comforted by His Word:                 tee Secretary, Mr. Larry Meulenberg                      The Protestant Reformed Semi-
"Thou wilt show me the path of life:             (Phone: 616-453-8466). This con-                     nary admits students of any race,
in thy presence is fullness of joy; at           tact should be made before the next                  color, and national or ethnic origin.
thy right hand there are pleasures               scheduled meeting, March 27, 1996,
for evermore" (Psalm 16:ll).                     D.V.
    Rev. Michael DeVries, President                               Student Aid Committee
                Henry Ferguson, Clerk                       Larry Meulenberg, Secretary
24OISfandard  Bearer/February  15,4 996


