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A Reformed
 Semi-Man tt7ly
 Magazine





        PRC Synod
                      1996



July I,1996


CON TEN JS:                                                                                                                                                                                                July 7, 7996
I                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           I
Meditation  - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren
             Preparing for the Lord's Return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma
             PRC Synod 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414                                            lSSNO362-4692
Address to PRC Synod 1996  - Rev. Lau Chin Kwee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
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41 O/Standard Bearer /July 1, 1996


                                                                             .
  Ji!&%R&fhm~                                                         ,,,         .`j            Rgwo  G&2  v@nBBe*~
                                                                                                                   /



                            Preparing for the
                                  Lord's Return

                                          i      `
                                                  ,                                                           `. . .          `.


    Let your loins be girded about,             Christ as a whole. We are not to               Notice, then, three things:
and your lights burning;                        be as others who set their hearts              I. The Imminent Return of our
    And ye yourselves like unto men             on things earthly and material.            Lord Jesus Christ.
that wait for their lord, when he will          The question always was, and still             II. The Slaves' Preparation
return from the wedding; that when              is today: "What shall we eat, what         with a View to that Return.
he cometh and knocketh, they  may               shall we drink, wherewithal shall              III. The Blessedness of the Ser-
open unto him immediately.                      we be clothed?" In all honesty,            vants at the Time of His Return.
    Blessed are those servants, whom            those questions often trouble us,
the lord when he cometh shall  find             too. Do we have enough? Will                   In this parable Christ speaks
watching: verily I say unto you, that           we be able to sustain ourselves not        to His disciples of a great lord who
he shall gird himself, and make them            only today but tomorrow and next           was attending a marriage feast.
to sit down to meat, and will come              year as well?                              That the lord was a prominent in-
forth and sewe them.                                   The reminder of Christ is very      dividual, probably a very wealthy,
    And if  he shall come in the sec-           much to the point: "Consider the           honorable man, is evident from
ond watch, or come in the third watch,          lilies," He said. "Consider the            several factors. First of all, he had
and find them so, blessed are those             birds of the air. Did God not              many servants. There were not
servants.                                       clothe the lilies with a beauty that       many people in the land of Canaan
                        Luke  12:35-38          we can only admire and never du-           who could afford many servants.
                                                plicate? Does He not feed the              It appears, too, that he lived in a
    We have in this passage a sum-              birds of the air? Shall He not take        grand palace, or at least a very
mary of the larger, lengthier ac-               care of us, too, who are so often          large home. This is evident not
count of the Sermon on the Mount                of little faith?" He gives that beau-      only because of the many servants,
in Matthew 5-7. We have in these                tiful assurance, at the same time,         but also because of the many lights
verses an emphasis on the central               "Fear not, little flock; for it is your    at his home. These lights were lan-
theme: the kingdom of heaven.                   Father's good pleasure to give you         terns, oil lamps, that had to be kept
    As we assemble here together                the kingdom."
tonight, and as the members of                         That assurance has comforted
Synod begin their work tomorrow,                God's little church throughout the
we must do so in a deep aware-                  ages. It is the Father's good plea-
ness of that kingdom: what it is,               sure to give you the kingdom.
what is involved in laboring in and             Nothing,  no one, not the devil him-
for that kingdom. Christ, you re-               self can change that Word of God.
member, gave warnings in that re-               And he who labors in the con-
gard, not only to the individual                sciousness of that fact will never
members but to the  churc,h  of                 labor in vain.
                                                       What we have in our text is in
                                                the form of a parable, reminding
Rev. VanBaren  is pastor of the Prot-           the disciples and the church and
estant  Reformed  Church  of Loveland,          the synod concerning proper
Colorado. This is the text of the pre-          preparation. There is a calling to
synodical sermon, given on June 10,             be prepared and preparing for the
1996.                                           Lords  return.                                     Rev. Gise VanBaren
                                                                                                    July 1, 1996/Standard Bearer141 1


burning. They had to be tended           ,ous activities unrelated to the re-      slaves, in the second place, that the
regularly. To have many lights           turn of their Lord. They realize          lights were burning. (Not  their
would indicate a large home.             full well that they have a duty, a        lights, as we read in the KJV. The
     This lord was attending a wed-      responsibility before their Lord: to      word  their  is in italics in most of
ding feast, and the time of his re-      be ready for His return.                  our Bibles. But it was  the  lights of
turn was uncertain. The servants,            And He is coming again on the         that palace in which the master
waiting his return, were not sure        clouds of glory, even as the angels       lived.) They had to tend to those
at what hour he would come. It           testified to the disciples who            lights. `At whatever time the  mas-
could be, we read, in the second         watched Him ascend into heaven.           ter might come, they were ready.
or third watch, representing the         When is He coming? Tonight?                    And the third factor that Christ
period of night. A wedding feast         No! Tomorrow? No. But soon.               emphasizes is that these slaves are
went on, sometimes, for a whole          The day and the hour we do not            at the door. Now, if you are ex-
week. The master would return            know, nor the month, nor the year.        pecting a guest, even if you know
at the conclusion of that wedding        But His servants, His church, our         approximately the time, you do
feast. And the servants had to be        churches and our synod are and            not normally wait at the door. Yet
ready for him when he came.              must be watching, ready, at the           these servants are doing just that.
     That he would come at night         door, awaiting His coming.                They are standing at the door,
might be considered an inconve-                                                    ready to open it  - though the
nience for his servants. They were           Christ reminds us, in the par-        master might not come even in the
slaves who, perhaps, had been            able, of the preparation these ser-       second watch.             It might be the
working all day, and  now  at night      vants make. There are three things        third, late into the night. They are
they had to continue to watch in         that we ought to observe.                 at the door, ready to open for their
order to be ready the moment their           In the first place, they have         master.       You can imagine them,
lord returns. One would say it           their loins girt. It is a figure which    not only standing at that door, but
would  almost  be an imposition          was perhaps understood more eas-          peering out the window. "Is the
upon these slaves to expect them         ily in Christ's day than in ours.         master coming now? Can we see
to work hard through the day and         The people of that day would of-          h i m ?   D o   w e   h e a r   o f   h i s   a p -
then continue to watch even              ten be clothed with a long, flow-         proach?" They are ready, waiting
through the night. But despite           ing garment. At times of leisure          at the door.
what seems to be an inconve-             they could walk around with that               That is quite something to live
nience, a great difficulty, the ser-     garment flowing about their feet,         up to, is it not? To be watching,
vants are there watching, at the         with no problem. But, when they           waiting, ready for Christ's return
door, for their lords return.            had to get down to work, that gar-        with that degree of faithfulness?
     It does remind us, as Christ in-    ment would easily trip them up,                That is required of the indi-
tended, of His own return on the         and interfere with their work.            vidual child of God, first of all.
clouds of glory. We know He is           They could not carry out their du-        We can tell ourselves that that is
coming again. He came once to            ties properly and accurately. Con-        the duty of a synod, or of a
bear the infinite wrath of God for       sequently, those who would do             consistory. No  - first of all it is
all of our sins, to die and then to      their work would have a girdle, a         the responsibility of  each  child of
rise again and ascend to glory.          belt, to tie about their waist in or-     God. You can say that it might
There He prepares for us a place.        der to pull up that robe so that it       not be for five years yet, maybe
He is at that wedding feast, though      would not hinder them.         Jesus      not for ten years. But that is not
much of His bride remains still on       said, "That's what those slaves did       the question. Are you ready for
this earth.                              who were waiting for the coming           Christ's return? Are you pre-
     His servants, slaves, are here      of their master from the wedding          pared, in all that you do and in all
on this earth awaiting His return.       feast." Their garments were tied          that you say and in all that you
If they are faithful servants, dili-     up so that they were ready to carry       think, for Christ's return?
gent servants, they watch for His        out the commands of their mas-                 You see the signs about you.
return. And they know that He is         ter. They couldn't stay somewhere         You cannot help but see them if
coming again soon. In the light of       in the house telling themselves,          your eyes are open. There is un-
such knowledge, they are diligent,       "When the time comes, we'll take          rest throughout the world, revo-
faithful. They are not lazy, nor are     our belts and tie them around our         lutions, wars and rumors of wars,
they of those who say, "But the          waist and begin our work." No,            earthquakes,            m i g h t y   w i n d s ,
lord delayeth his coming," and           they were ready  - though they            droughts and floods, diseases of
then go about beating and  mal-          knew not the watch in which their         every sort. There are signs of apos-
treating the servants. They are not      master would return.                      tasy, of the sort we could hardly
involved in all kinds of  extrane-          Christ says concerning these           i m a g i n e   t w e n t y   y e a r s     ago:

412IStandard  Bearer /July 1, 1996


churches departing from the con-             Our sole consideration must           for Christ's coming again.
fessions of the church, the old          be: How will our decisions serve                This is not to say that we must
paths.                                   Gods kingdom cause? How do                neglect the calling which Christ
    And the child of God who sees        our decisions reflect our desire for      gave His church to carry out mis-
these signs, and who hears the           our Lords return?                         sion work and to preach the gos-
hoofbeats of the horses of Revela-           There are several dangers we          pel where God would have us to
tion, is ready, watching, loins          face as we consider acting (or not        go. But we. must do this work in
girded, with lights burning, at the      acting), in light of Christ's soon re-    harmony with His Word. We
door ready to open.                      turn. On the one hand (and that           pray tonight for the guidance of
    Are you? Am I?                       is not an unusual thought), we            the Spirit and for instruction in His
    Watchfulness requires diligent       might say, "Since the Lord is com-        Word, so that our synod may make
study of Gods Word. How else             ing again soon, there really is noth-     proper decisions, not such as
can one watch, except through the        ing more we have to do. We've             would enhance our name, but that
spectacles of the Scriptures? We         done a lot in the past, we have           which must glorify the name of
are called to watch by way of            sacrificed much. But our Lord is          our God. The churches must be
prayer, by way of earnest suppli-        coming again, soon, so we can, if         diligent and faithful according to
cation to God for His guidance, for      you will, sit in our rocking chairs,      the Scriptures.
strength, for encouragement from         retired, inactive, looking heaven-              That is a high calling. I am
day to day. Thus the child of God        ward, proclaiming to all who will         not here tonight to tell the mem-
shows a readiness, an eagerness          hear, `Our Lord is soon coming            bers of synod what specific deci-
for the return of his Lord.              again."' But that is not the way          sions they must make. I am here
    I ask you, are you watching for      Christ portrayed those slaves in          tonight to remind ourselves to
His coming?                              the parable. They were not in their       pray earnestly for the guidance of
    That watchfulness is necessary       rocking chairs. They were ready.          the Spirit and for Divine direction
for the church of Jesus Christ           And we also must not be inactive          that right decisions might be taken.
wherever it may be. But as far as        because we know our Lord will re-
we are concerned, we must be             turn soon.                                      For servants (slaves, you under-
aware of the fact that we as Prot-           On the other hand, there is an-       stand, not just hired people) can
estant Reformed Churches, and            other danger we face. There is the        expect at the same time a great
this week as the synod of the Prot-      danger of becoming extremely ac-          blessing. Jesus said, "Blessed are
estant Reformed Churches, must           tive but in wrong ways. We can            those slaves, whom the lord when
show our concern and interest            say, "Our Lord is coming again            he  cometh shall find watching."
~solely in the kingdom of heaven,        soon. We must be involved, there-         Blessed! It reminds of the Beati-
and the return of its King, our          fore, in bringing the gospel to all       tudes, does it not? There the
Lord Jesus Christ, on the clouds         the nations of the world." But we         church of Jesus Christ is called
of heaven.                               must not neglect the calling we           poor in spirit, hungering and
    There could be a temptation          have at home. We have mission             thirsting after righteousness, etc.
for the synod to think in terms of       work to do, and that is an impor-         They are blessed, Jesus said. That
just the Protestant Reformed             tant task. Yet, at the same time          blessedness is measured according
Churches. What kinds of decisions        we all know that many churches            to the standard of God's Word, not
ought we to make in order to grow        in the past have placed the kind          according to the judgments of
larger? What kinds of decisions          of emphasis on mission work               men.  People often mock children
ought we to make to gain the at-         which resulted in a neglect of their      of God and charge that they only
tention, or perhaps the admiration,      calling at home. As churches and          look for "pie-in-the-sky." Many
of others? Let's face it. We have        as synod we must always remem-            would have us concentrate only on
a sinful nature that is all too in-      ber that God continues His church         earthly things. These are they who
clined to think of self and of  self-    in the line of our generations. We        consider the cross to be foolish-
aggrandizement rather than exclu-        must be concerned about the train-        ness.
sively of the kingdom and its com-       ing of our children and our                    But Jesus said, "Blessed are
ing. For that reason we need the         children's children. That must not        those who watch, those who look
reminder that synod, as it consid-       be neglected while performing             for Christ's return."
ers many things that will affect our     other tasks.                                   There are many whose eyes
churches not only this year but in           The apostasy about us seems           stick out with fatness, who have
the years to come, must make de-         increasingly to be touching us too.       more than their hearts could de-
cisions which always show our            For that reason we must be faith-         sire. But the Word of God says that
great interest in the kingdom of         ful in the preaching and faithful         they are cursed. "The curse of the
heaven.                                  in teaching our children as we look       L o r d   i s   i n   t h e   h o u s e   o f   t h e

                                                                                                July 1, 1996Etandard  Bearer/41 3


wicked." But you, slaves of Jesus          slaves, who had a great palace           no part in Me." He must be the
Christ, blessed are ye.                    adorned with many lights, comes          servant of slaves.
     Of course, we know that bless-        home and tells his slaves, "You sit              Finally, and gloriously, He
edness. It is the blessedness of           down at the table. I am going to         "serves" on the cross! There could
Calvary. Did He not come to suf-           serve  youN He girds himself and         be no lower position than that the
fer and die for us? Did He not             serves them.  One  serving  many  is     Son of God in our flesh should
give His life's blood; did He not          itself remarkable. It took many          bear the agonies of hell for all of
bear the agonies of hell that His          servants, many slaves, to serve one      His  own.  He must cry out, "Why
people might be blessed  - now             master. But one master comes and         hast Thou forsaken Me?" so that
and eternally? Did He not send             says, "I am going to serve  many         His slaves might eat at the ban-
forth His Spirit to work in our            slaves."    If that really happened      quet feast of our Lord Jesus Christ.
hearts, turning us from darkness           here on this earth, I suppose you                Now we await His coming
to light? Did He not bring us to           would find it recorded in that old       again. We must be standing at the
the cross to cry out for mercy and         newspaper column "Believe it or          door, our loins girt, the lamps
grace? And does He not guide us            not" by Ripley. But it  did  happen.     burning. And all this we do, not
by His Spirit and Word so that we          The Master, the Word, the Lord of        because we shall earn something
walk that straight, narrow way of          heaven and earth, the second Per-        now, not because we would de-
life? Does not our Lord prepare            son of the Trinity, God of gods,         mand that He serve us.         The
for us, even now, a place in glory?        entered into our flesh. He was           watching, the longing, the praying
Does He not prepare for us that            born of a virgin. Through the            for His return is a fruit of His
treasure which neither thief can           power of the Holy Spirit He came,        grace.  That  we watch is our call-
steal nor moth or rust corrupt?            as He Himself declared in Luke           ing.      When He comes again He
Therefore, blessed are ye who              22:27, to serve. The Creator  came       gathers to Himself His people of
watch!                                     to  serve. The Master  came  into the    every tribe, nation, tongue, and
     The blessedness of faithful ser-      midst of slaves and made Himself         language. He brings them to Him-
vants is portrayed again remark-           as the lowest of them. That is the       self in that day of judgment and
ably in the parable. The lord, at          wonder of the ages.                      declares, "Enter thou into the joy
his return, finding his slaves                 In His first coming, and at that     of thy Lord."
watching, does what? Does he say           last Passover Feast, He stooped                  Then He serves His people,
to them, "You have done well. But          down lower than any of His dis-          serves them by leading them and
now I want to sit at the table and         ciples were willing to go: He            guiding them into all the joys of
eat. Prepare me a meal and serve           washed His disciples' feet. So low!      salvation. He is our Head and
me; make my bed ready so I can             So humble! The Master serving            King who  came  to serve. What
retire. And after I retire, you must       slaves.                                  blessedness indeed! When we, as
clean the house"?                              Even Peter could not take it.        synod, labor in that consciousness,
     Look again at the parable.            "Thou shalt never wash my feet,"         then that word "blessed" will cer-
Christ said, "Blessed are those ser-       he said. But Christ declares, "If I      tainly be spoken of us and of the
vants, whom the lord when he               do not wash your feet, you have          work which we gather to do. May
cometh  shall find watching: verily                                                 God grant it.  Cl
I say unto you, that  he shall gird
himself and make them to sit down to        EdifQfi@i
meat, and will come forth and serve
them. I' It is thrilling, unbelievable,
unimaginable! Certainly it is noth-              PRC Synod 1996
ing that one would expect to hap-
pen between master and slave.
     Christ, elsewhere, speaks of
masters who could demand that
their slaves work all day in the
field and at night come and serve             The synod of the Protestant           not be finished in the minor as-
them at the table. They are un-            Reformed Churches (PRC) met for          semblies or pertained to the
profitable servants. They must do          seven days, from June 11 through         churches in common. Delegates
all that the master requires but           June 19, at the Southwest PRC in         from the Evangelical Reformed
they have earned nothing. They             Grandville, Michigan. Ten minis-         Churches in Singapore (ERCS),
are slaves.                                ters and ten elders from the two         Pastor Lau Chin Kwee and Elder
    But here, the master, a rich and       classes of the denomination dealt        Tan Tor Swee, were seated as fra-
powerful man who had many                  with the matters that either could       ternal delegates and participated

414lStandard Bearer /July 1, 1996


in synods deliberations. The PRC
have a sister church relation with
the ERCS.
   The president of synod was
Rev. James Slopsema, pastor of the
First PRC of Grand Rapids, Michi-
gan. The vice-president was Rev.
Ron VanOverloop, pastor of the
Georgetown PRC of Bauer, Michi-
gan.    The first clerk was Rev.
Steven Key, pastor of the Randolph                  l-r: Revs. Key, Slopsema, VanOverloop,  and Gritters              I
PRC of Randolph, Wisconsin. The
second clerk was Rev. Barrett
Gritters, pastor of the Hudsonville     the better part of two days, Rich-       Doon, Iowa PRC until accepting
PRC of Hudsonville, Michigan.           ard Smit, originally from the            the call to Hope earlier this year.
   Three matters stood out on           Lynden, Washington PRC, was de-          Rev. Dykstra has three weeks to
synod's agenda: the examination         clared a candidate for the minis-        consider the call to the seminary.
of a senior seminarian at the Prot-     try of the Word and Sacraments           The alternate chosen by synod is
estant Reformed Seminary with a         in the PRC. He is eligible for a         Rev. Charles Terpstra, pastor of
view to his becoming a candidate        call on or after July 13, 1996. The      the PRC of South Holland, Illinois.
for the ministry; the appointment       commencement exercises were                  On the evening of June 13,
of a new professor to replace Prof.     held on the evening of June 17 in        synod held a dinner and open
Herman Hanko who has reached            the auditorium of the Southwest          house to commemorate Prof.
the age of 65; and a proposal from      church. The  synodical  delegates,       Hanko's 41 years in the ministry
the Foreign Mission Committee of        fraternal delegates, and members         and 31 years in the seminary. Rev.
the PRC to begin a mission work         of the Theological School Commit-        Carl Haak, a delegate to synod and
in Ghana, Africa by calling a mis-      tee attended as a body. Also             one of Prof. Hanko's students,
sionary to work in that country.        graduating was Cheah Fook Meng,          gave a fitting speech. The speech
                                        a three-year, special student from       will be published in a later issue
 Training Men for the Ministry          the ERCS. Prof. Hanko gave the           of the  SE. At the commencement
   After oral examination over          graduation address,  "Redemptive-        exercises of the seminary earlier in
                                        Historical Preaching and Preach-         the week, synod presented Prof.
                                        ing Christ Crucified." We will           Hanko with a lovely plaque. Prof.
                                        publish this speech in a later issue     Hanko will continue to teach in the
                                        of the  Standard Bearer.  Remarks        seminary during the  1996/1997
                                        by fraternal delegate Tan Tor Swee       school year.
                                        were part of the program. Elder
                                        Tan expressed the gratitude of the                Preaching the Gospel
                                        ERCS for the help given by the                      to all Creatures
                                        PRC through their seminary in the           Following the direction of its
                                        training of ministers for the ERCS:      Foreign Mission Committee, synod
                                        "Your help to train our brother          authorized the calling of a mission-
                                        Fook Meng for the ministry is also       ary to labor in Ghana, Africa, thus
                                        something (for), which we felt very      approving this country as a mis-
                                        much indebted."                          sion field of the PRC. It was de-
                                            Rev. Russell Dykstra, pastor of      cided      t h a t    Nvolunteer          lay
                                        the Hope PRC of Walker, Michi-           person(s)" are to accompany a mis-
                                        gan, was appointed professor to          sionary "to minister to the physi-
                                        replace Prof. Hanko according to         cal and material needs of the mis-
                                        the rule in article 4 of the "Consti-    sionary and the field." The Hull,
                                        tution of the Theological School":       Iowa PRC will be the calling
                                        "With a view to orderly transition       church.
                                        in the seminary, a new professor            Another important decision re-
                                        shall be appointed when any of the       garding missions was the approval
                                        active professors reaches the age        of the organization of the Cov-
 Rev. Dale Kuiper,  president of the    of 65." Rev. Dykstra was ordained        enant Reformed Fellowship (CRF)
 TSC, awards diploma to Mr. Smit.       in 1986 and served as pastor of the      in Northern Ireland as a church.

                                                                                            July 1, 1996lStandard Bearer141 5


This mission group of seven fami-                        Synod also encouraged the EPC to                         two delegates at your synod may
lies and  some  eight individuals has                    continue to send their theological                       serve to enhance a closer sister-re-
requested organization as the Cov-                       students to the seminary of the                          lationship between us." The en-
enant Protestant Reformed Church                         PRC. If invited, the PRC will again                      tire letter appears elsewhere in this
in Northern Ireland. The basis will                      send observers to the 1997  meet-                        issue of the  Standard Bearer.
be the "Three Forms of Unity," the                       ing of  NAPARC  (North American                              The Singapore  deIegates  gave
Church Order of Dordt, and the                           Presbyterian and Reformed Coun-                          synod a "love-gift" of money that
Reformed liturgical forms. Mis-                          cil).                                                    will be used in the new addition
sionary Rev. Ronald Hanko will                                    Synod received a report of the                  to the seminary building.
continue as missionary in North-                         f r u i t f u l   w o r k   o f   R e v .   J a s o n        Synod will send a delegation
e r n   I r e l a n d ,   m a k i n g   t h e   n e w    Kortering, minister-on-loan from                         to Singapore in 1997 to assist in
church the center of his work.                           the PRC to the ERCS. This work                           and supervise the work of Rev.
     The CRF addressed synod by                          includes assisting the ERCS in their                     Kortering.
a letter that expressed gratitude                        mission labors in that area. Synod
for the "faithful  labours  in the                       scheduled a slide presentation by                            Executing Everything that
preaching of the gospel in North-                        fraternal delegates, Pastor Lau                            Pertains to the Denomination
ern Ireland" by the PRC. It voiced                       Chin Kwee and Elder Tan Tor                                  The request by Rev. Bernard
the hope for a "close relationship                       Swee, on the mission work of the                         Woudenberg for emeritation was
that will be mutually beneficial                         ERCS in Myanmar (Burma).                                 approved. Synod expressed its ap-
and profitably serve for the ad-                                  Pastor Lau addressed synod,                     preciation to Rev. Woudenberg for
vancement of the gospel in Ulster                        giving the official greetings of the                     his 40 years of faithful labors in
and throughout the British Isles."                       ERCS. He spoke of the "golden                            the church of Christ among us and
The organization is scheduled for                        opportunity for our . . . churches                       communicated this appreciation by
July 24, 1996 in Ballymena, North-                       to express our unity in the faith                        a specially appointed delegation.
ern Ireland.                                             and support of each other in this                            Synod adopted the overture of
                                                         increasingly dark and sinful world                       First PRC, Grand Rapids, Michi-
    Manifesting the True Unity                           of unbelief." He acknowledged the                        gan to schedule a  denominationa
               of the Church                             help of the PRC in the training of                       commemoration of the 75th anni-
     Synod took several significant                      three men for the  ministry  in the                      versary of the PRC for the sum-
decisions bearing on the ecumeni-                        ERCS: "The cost incurred in such                         mer of 2000 and appointed a steer-
cal task of the PRC. It declined an                      acts of love on your part has been                       ing committee to present concrete
invitation to send observers to the                      great, and we are not unaware nor                        proposals for this commemoration.
Reformed Ecumenical Council                              unappreciative of it.                  The Re-               The  synodical  budget for 1997
(REC)  meeting  in Grand Rapids                          formed faith, which we have come                         was increased to $650 per family
this summer on the ground that                           to know and love through the min-                        (from $595 in 1996).
"member churches, particularly                           istry of your churches, we will up-                          Synod 1997 will  meet at  the
the GKN, had departed far from                           hold and defend with all our might                       Grandville, Michigan PRC, the
the Reformed faith in doctrine and                       in the Far East."                                        Lord willing.
walk." It "regretfully" declined an                               The official letter of greeting                     The full account of synods ac-
invitation from the International                        from the ERCS stated:                                    tions can (and should) be read in
Council of Reformed Churches                                                                                      the "Acts of Synod and Yearbook
(ICRC) to send observers to the                            on our observation of you, we                          1996" of the PRC. These "Acts"
meeting of the ICRC in Seoul,                              continue to notice, with great de-                     are distributed without charge to
South Korea in 1997 "because of                            light, your steadfast defense of the                   all members of the PRC. They are
the cost in light of our total  syn-                       Reformed faith in  all your publi-                     available at nominal cost to all oth-
odical budget for 1997." It ap-                            cations. Your undaunted effort                         ers from the stated clerk of synod,
proved the proposal of its                                 to clarify your fine theological po-
                                            Com-           sition is helping the Reformed                                 Mr. Don  Doezema
mittee for Contact with Other                              community more and more to de-                                 4949  Ivanrest  Ave.
Churches to hold a conference                              velop in greater depth of under-                           Grandville, MI 49418.  Cl
with the Evangelical Presbyterian                          standing of the truth.... (We) can                                                     - DTE
Church of Australia (EPC) in Janu-                         only encourage you to press on
ary, 1997. The subjects to be dis-                         in what you are doing for the
cussed are the regulative principle                        glory of God and the good of His
of worship and its application, the                        people all over the world.
relation between the church and
civil government, divorce and re-                        It closed with the prayer "that the
marriage, and  eternaI  justification.                   presence and contributions of our

416IStandard Bearer /July 1, 1996


                                                        1997 Graduates





                     Mr. Richard John Smit                                               Mr. Cheah Fook Meng

Age: 27                                                          Age: 32
Wife's Name:  Tricia                                             Wife's Name: Lee Choo
Membership: Faith PRC, Jenison, MI, USA                          Membership:            First Evangelical Reformed Church in
Internship: Southeast PRC, Grand Rapids, MI, USA                           Singapore
Colleges: Trinity Western University, Langley, BC, Canada        Internship: Evangelical Reformed Churches in Singapore
            Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada       Colleges: Anglo-Chinese Junior College
Contact: 601 N. First St.                                                     Far Eastern Bible College
           P.O. Box 163                                          Contact:     Blk 854 Woodlands St. 83,
            Doon,  IA 51235                                                   #05-82
            (712) 726-3382                                                    Singapore 573854
                                                                              telephone: 011-65-367-9163




                                              other side of the globe, and who              blessings from the Lord have come
Dear Highly Esteemed Brethren in              wish you well and prosperity in               our way through you.
t h e   L o r d ,                             all your deliberations at this                   In the ministry of the Word,
                                              Synod.                                        these past twenty years have seen
    Called to serve Him who was                  We are thankful for your gra-              many of your ministers bringing
and who is and who is to come,                cious invitation through your Con-            us the Word of God. Two of them
the Lord of lords and King of                 tact Committee to attend this                 spent at least five years with us.
kings, the soon coming Judge of               Synod and the graduation of Mr.               Two of our pastors were trained
all, our wonderful Lord and Sav-              Cheah Fook Meng. This indeed is               in your seminary, and another will
ior, our Lord Jesus Christ.                   another golden opportunity for our            soon return to Singapore for his
    Loving greetings in the Name              two churches to express our unity             internship after having studied for
of our  Lord  - from us who serve             in the faith and support of each              three years in the PRC seminary.
the same glorious Lord on the                 other in this increasingly dark and           The cost incurred in such acts of
                                              sinful world of unbelief.                     love on your part has been great,
                                                 We remain thankful to our                  and we are not unaware nor un-
                                              Lord for having come to know                  appreciative of it. The Reformed
Rev. Lau is a pastor in the Evangeli-         you, the Protestant Reformed                  faith, which we have come to
cal Reformed Churches in Singapore.           Churches in America. Ever since               know and love through the minis-
This address was the official greeting        1975, when the late Prof.  Hoek-              try of your churches, we will up-
by the ERCS.                                  sema visited our country, untold              hold and defend with all our might

                                                                                                     July 1, 1996IStandard Bearer141 7


in the Far East. We covet your                         are all excited about reading and                    clarify your fine theological posi-
continual prayers that we may re-                      understanding the Word of God                        tion is helping the Reformed com-
main faithful and steadfast in this                    for themselves, reading it in their                  munity more and more to develop
task even as the "mammon of                            own mother-tongue! We can all                        in greater depth of understanding
unrighteousness" makes its un-                         understand this excitement of a                      of the truth. We cannot help you
precedented onslaught upon our                         very close community. They are                       much in this area, but can only en-
beloved country.                                       presently very open to all kinds of                  courage you to press on in what
     The life of our churches these                    influences, and we are thankful for                  you are doing for the glory of God
past years was not without its tri-                    the opportunity to bring them the                    and the good of His people all over
als and temptations. But the Lord                      Reformed faith which they do ap-                     the world.
h a s   h e l p e d   u s   t h r o u g h   y o u r    preciate and are asking for more.                        T h e   o r d e r l i n e s s   o f   y o u r
churches. What a comfort it is to                           More can be said about this                     churches continues to attract us,
know that the Lord is able to carry                    mission work in Myanmar, but this                    even as it did when we first came
us through all these trials. It gives                  is enough for our present purpose.                   to know you. If lawlessness is the
us greater confidence and trust in                          Our plan for brother Fook                       hallmark of the Antichrist's king-
Him. The ministry of your minis-                       Meng in the near future is his  six-                 dom, biblical orderliness must be
ter-on-loan, Rev. Kortering (and                       m o n t h   i n t e r n s h i p   w i t h   o u r    that of the true church. Young
his wife), has been of great help to                   churches and his classical exami-                    people in the church of God, in
us the last few years, to stabilize                    nations in February 1997. Like                       their natural craving for indepen-
our churches in time of confusion.                     you, we treat the calling of a min-                  dence, need not view such order-
     Pastor Kortering's ministry has                   ister of the gospel seriously. This                  liness as restricting their freedom,
also helped us to reach out in mis-                    will be the first time we are hav-                   just as a fish need not object to the
sion work to Myanmar (the present                      ing a classical examination, the                     limitation of the water. True ma-
name for Burma). To date we have                       previous two being local church                      turity will see that soon, and we
conducted two Bible Conferences                        examinations.         Having now a va-               need not be ashamed in uphold-
i n   Yangon   ( p r e s e n t   n a m e   f o r       cant congregation and a potential                    ing orderliness in our families and
Rangoon, the capital of Burma).                        candidate, a proper system of call-                  churches.
The conferences were attended by                       ing a minister (much like yours)                         We pray that the presence and
the locals as well as by some                          will be introduced next year.                        contribution of our two delegates
church leaders from the Chin                                Our hope and plan for the fu-                   at your Synod may serve to pro-
States in the far north northwest                      ture (should the Lord tarry) is the                  mote a closer sister-relationship
corner of Myanmar.                 So far we           establishment of a good Reformed                     between us.
have made four trips to  Yangon                        Training School in Singapore, the                        The Lord bless you and the
and have seen the United Re-                           hub of the Asia Pacific Rim. Ev-                     churches you represent in all the
formed Churches of Myanmar,                            ery adult individual and every na-                   proceedings of Synod 1996. Amen.
which have grown from two con-                         tion is engaged in trading. And                          Yours in His service and love,
gregations to the present 20. This                     Singapore is a world class trading                       w/s Pastor Lau Chin Kwee Cl
is church reformation, as many                         center, according to the judgment
Christians are dissatisfied with the                   of well-established institutions. It
ungodly ways of the nominal                            is an international market place.
church! They are crying out for                        What better place is there to es-
training and for other helps to                        tablish a good Reformed witness
meet the increasing demands ac-                        than Singapore if we are genuinely
companying church growth. Do                           interested in reaching out to the
pray for us as we are finding it                       world with the gospel of Christ?
not easy to help our brothers and                      And what better witness is there
sisters there in Myanmar, consid-                      than a church with a theological
ering our limited resources and                        school? We can see that, but we
their unique need and situation.                       feel unequal to the task. Pray for
     The Chin people are only one                      us that greater faith and ability
of 16 ethnic groups in Myanmar.                        may be granted from on high to
It is a minority group with its own                    meet the present need.
language and dialects. More than                            In our observation of you, we
90% of Chin people are nominal                         continue to notice, with great de-
Baptist Christians. Only about two                     light, your steadfast defense of the
years ago the Bible was translated                     Reformed faith in all your publi-
into their own Falam dialect. They                     cations. Your undaunted effort to                             Rev. Lau Chin Kwee

418IStandard Bearer /July 1, 1996


                                            elect? Was it impossible to break         of believing.
                                            that covenant? Many people did               Faith is a condition unto  cov-
                                                                                      enantal salvation.
n                                           in Israel and many do today. By
         Conditional  Covenant,             unbelief they refused (and refuse)            This doctrine is fundamentally
Conditional  Salvation                      to accept the conditions of the cov-      different from the teaching of cer-
                                            enant, that is, faith in the only Sav-    tain older Reformed theologians
    Allow me a few words in re-             ior Jesus Christ.                         that faith may be called a condi-
sponse to Dr. Steve Spencer (Start-             As to Jeremiah  31:33 and He-         tion  in the sense  of  the necessary
dard Bearer,  Feb. 15, 1996). That          brews  88-12,  the new covenant in        means by which God realizes His cov-
the covenant contains a condition           which God would put His laws in           enant and bestows His salvation. Re-
should be clear to all. Romans              their hearts is that of Romans 11.        formed theologian Francis  Turretin
11:22 states this clearly, that is, that    The Jews refused to be led by             points out this important distinc-
God showed great kindness to the            God's hand (Heb.  8:9) and were           tion. Under the heading, "Is the
Gentiles (the wild branches) when           cut off, but the Gentiles who be-         covenant of grace conditional and
they were grafted into the cov-             lieved were grafted in. The old           what are its conditions?" he writes:
enant tree in place of the disobe-          covenant conditions were fulfilled
dient natural branches, a place             in Christ and when the Holy Spirit          (1) Condition is used either ante-
they will keep, "if you continue in         was poured out the promises of              cedently and  a priori,  for that
His goodness." That is a condi-             the new covenant were fulfilled.            which has the force of a meritori-
tion!                                                                                   ous and impulsive cause to ob-
                                            As with the old covenant, the new           tain the benefits of the covenant
    Dr.  Wm Hendriksen, in his              is entered only by faith. But the           (the performance of which gives
commentary on this particular               children of all believers are de-           man a right to the reward); or
verse, puts it this way, "The mani-         clared by God to belong to that             concomitantly and consequently  a
festation of this kindness is, how-         covenant.  Are. all of these elect?         posteriori,  for that which has the
ever, not unconditional. It re-             Hebrews 6:1-6 gives an answer. It           relation of means and disposition
quires genuine faith on man's part.         spells out the condition for cov-           in the covenanted. (2) A condi-
Says Paul, `toward you God's                enant children to remain faithful           tion is either natural, flowing
kindness, if you remain in his              or be cut off.                              from the strength belonging to na-
kindness. Otherwise you also will                        (Rev.) Cecil W. Tuininga       ture; or supernatural and divine,
                                                                                        depending upon grace.... These
be cut off.' This must not be un-                        Edmonton, AB, Canada           things being laid down, we say
derstood in the sense that God will                                                     first, if the condition is taken an-
supply the kindness, man the faith.         Response:                                   tecedently and  a priori  for the
Salvation is ever God's gift. It is                                                     meritorious and impulsive cause
never a 50-50 affair. From start to             In the doctrine of the covenant         and for a natural condition, the
finish it is the work of God. But           defended by the Rev. Cecil W.               covenant of grace is rightly de-
this does not remove human re-              Tuininga, a condition is an act of          nied to be conditioned.          It is
sponsibility. God does not exer-            the child upon which the saving             wholly gratuitous, depending
cise faith for man or in his place.                                                     upon the sole good will  (eudokia)
                                            act of God in Jesus Christ toward           of God and upon no merit of man.
It is and remains man who reposes           that child depends. God promises            Nor can the right to life be
trust in God, but it is God who             to every baptized child that He             founded upon any action of ours,
both imparts this faith to him and          will be the God of the child and            but on the righteousness of Christ
enables him to use it."                     that the child will be God's son or         alone. But if it is taken conse-
    One more comment. When                  daughter. Thus, God promises to             quently and  a posteriori  for the in-
God made the covenant with                  every child that He will save him           strumental cause, receptive of the
Abraham he received " . . . the sign        or her. Whether God, in fact, does          promises of the covenant and for
of circumcision, a seal of the righ-        become the God of the child, thus           the disposition of the subject, ad-
teousness of faith" (Rom.  4:ll).  He                                                   mitted into the fellowship of the
                                            actually saving him or her, de-             covenant (which flows from grace
was commanded to circumcise all             pends upon the child's work of be-          itself), it cannot be denied that the
his sons and all who were bought            lieving. The promise of God, given          covenant is conditional  (Insfifufes
as slaves. These all received the           to all the children alike, is made          of  Eknctic Theology,  P&R, vol. 2,
sign and seal of the righteousness          effectual and saving to a particu-          pp. 184, 185).
of faith. Did all these have that           lar child, in distinction from the
faith? Were all those circumcised           other children, by that child's work          In the language of Turretin,

                                                                                                July I, 1996kitandard Bearer141 9


 "condition" in Tuininga's theology                      clared  by God to belong to that           faith included? Does God at bap-
 has the meaning of "impulsive                           covenant. Are all of these elect?          tism promise to give every child
 cause and . . . natural condition."                     Hebrews 6:1-6 gives an answer. It          faith?
 Tuininga does not intend by "con-                       spells out the condition for cov-                  5) With regard to the second
 d i t i o n "   m e r e l y   a   n e c e s s a r y    enant children to remain faithful           principal part of the doctrine of
 "means." For in Tuininga's theol-                      or be cut off"? What he is saying           holy baptism in the Reformed
 ogy, the promise  comes  to all the                    is that all the covenant children are       "Form for the Administration of
 baptized children alike, so that it                    alike in the covenant, not only by          Baptism" that Rev. Tuininga uses,
 is the condition of faith that causes                  receiving the promise but also by           is it Rev. Tuininga's understand-
 the promise to become effective in                     receiving the covenantal grace and          ing:
 some, thus saving  them,  in distinc-                  the covenantal Holy Spirit within.                  a) that God the Father wit-
 tion from others.                                      But because some fail to fulfill the        nesses and seals to every baptized
      Scripture's gospel of grace con-                  condition for remaining in the cov-         child that He makes an eternal
 demns this doctrine of a condi-                        enant, they fall away from this             covenant of grace with the child
 tional covenant and conditional                        covenantal grace and salvation.             and adopts him or her for His
 salvation. The salvation of the                        This is bold, bald teaching of the          child and heir, on the condition
 elect child of believing parents is                    real possibility of the falling away        that the child will believe;
 not by God's grace and by the                          of covenantal saints.                               b) that God the Son seals to
 child's work, but by God's grace                           The Reformed confession that            every baptized child that He
 alone. The promise does not de-                        is binding for Rev. Tuininga ex-            washes the child in His blood from
 pend upon faith, but works and                         pressly denies, and nowhere af-             all his or her sins, incorporating
 gives faith. Faith is not the basis                    firms, that faith is a condition unto       the child into the fellowship of His
 of salvation ("because  of faith") but                 salvation:                                  death and resurrection, on the con-
the means  and instrument of sal-                                                                   dition that the child will believe;
vation  ("through  faith"). Faith is                      The Synod rejects the errors of                   c) and that God the Holy Ghost
not the condition required of the                         those . . . who teach . . . that (God)    assures every baptized child that
sinner in order that he be saved                          chose out of all possible condi-          He will. dwell in the child and
 (really, save himself!), but God's                       tions . . . or out of the whole order     sanctify the child to be a member
gift to him, saving him (see Rom.                         of things, the act of faith which         of Christ, applying unto the child
9:16;  9:8; Eph.  2:8).                                   from its very nature is undeserv-
                                                          ing, as well as its incomplete obe-       that which he or she has in Christ,
     If the salvation of the children                     dience, as a condition of salvation       on the condition that the child will
of believers in the new covenant                          . . . (Canons of Dordt, I, Rejection      believe?
depends upon a condition by                               of  Errors/3;  cf. also I, Rejection                                      - Ed.
which they make effectual in them-                        of  Errors/5;  II, Rejection of Er-
selves the promise of God given                           rors/3, 4; III,  IV/14).                  H  An  Open  Letter
to all, salvation in the new cov-                                                                   Proposing  a Book
enant is by works.                                          Rev. Tuininga has written be-
     Jeremiah  31:33,  to which Rev,                    fore on these pages, I think, de-           on  the  Gospel-Call
Tuininga appeals, is conclusive                         fending his conditional covenant.
proof of the unconditionality of the                    If he writes again, he must begin           Professor David J. Engelsma,
new covenant. For the obedience                         by answering these questions:               Editor
of faith, with the faith from which                         1) Does the promise that, ac-           The Standard Bearer
this obedience springs, is itself part                  cording to Rev. Tuininga, is made           Grandville, MI
of the promise. It is not a condi-                      by God to every child of believing
tion upon which the promise de-                         parents express God's covenantal            Reverend Maurice Roberts, Editor
pends. "I will put my law in their                      love for every child?                       The Banner of Truth
inward parts, and write it in their                         2) Does this promise indicate           Ayr, Scotland
hearts...."                                             that God sincerely desires to save
     Does Rev. Tuininga, a Re-                          every child of believing parents?           Dear Brothers in Christ:
formed minister and subscriber to                           3) Does this promise rest upon             I have benefited immensely in
the fifth head of doctrine of the                       and flow from Jesus Christ's death          my own personal knowledge of the
Canons of Dordt, really want to                         for every child of believing par-           sovereignty .of God in the salva-
appeal to Hebrews  6:1-6 in sup-                        ents? Did Jesus Christ shed His             tion of elect sinners by both the
port of his covenant doctrine?                          blood for every baptized child of           Banner of Truth Trust and the Re-
Does he really want to say what                         believing parents?                          formed Free Publishing Associa-
he says when he writes, "But the                           4) Among the benefits included           tion. During the previous year I
children of all believers are  de-                      in the promise to every child, is           have found numerous references

42OlStandard  Bearer /July 1, 1996


                                                                                                                                                                                     _-



to the difference these organiza-                                  would be in the time and trouble                                                                                                              hopefully, to help them come to a
tions sustain toward each other in                                 that two busy men would have to                                                                                                               greater visible unity of faith. I
both  the Standard Bearer  and the                                 exert to prepare such a book. It                                                                                                              hope this suggestion-request is not
Bamer of  Truth.  This difference,                                 would however be a real labor of                                                                                                              perceived as impertinent. It is out
of course, centers on the issue of                                 love for the churches and minis-                                                                                                              of a sincere love for like-minded
how the external call of the Gos-                                  ters who desire to understand and                                                                                                             brothers that I have written.
p e l   i s   t o   b e   e x t e n d e d   b y   t h e            follow Christ's Word as precisely                                                                                                             Thank you.
Church. Both parties deny the va-                                  as possible.                                                                                                                                                     Sincerely in Christ's service,
lidity of a "hyper-Calvinism,"                                             What I have in mind is along                                                                                                                                                      (Rev.) Allen Tomlinson
which refuses to obey the com-                                     this order. (This is, of course, only                                                                                                                  First Congregational Church
mand to proclaim the Gospel to                                     a suggestion.) Each representative                                                                                                                                                                             Merrimack, NH
every creature, regardless of their                                of the two camps could write ap-
election or reprobation (which God                                 proximately a fifty-page presenta-
alone determines and exhaustively                                  tion of their own position. This                                                                                                              n Insights  in Apologetics
knows). What seems to be at is-                                    presentation would be, for the
sue is  lzow we understand God's                                   most part, "positive" in that it                                                                                                                           When I read your review of
intent in commanding us to preach                                  would primarily explain that                                                                                                                  John Frame's book on Cornelius
the Gospel to every creature, and                                  camp's view of what the Bible                                                                                                                 VanTil in the latest  Protestant Re-
how we formulate our language to the                               teaches in regard to the external                                                                                                        formed Theological Journal  I was
unsaved in accordance with our                                     call of the Gospel and God's in-                                                                                                              very impressed with your analy-
understanding of God's revealed                                    tent in commanding the church to                                                                                                              sis of Frame's apologetics. Then
intent.                                                            extend that call by the preaching                                                                                                             when you reprinted your review
      In the April 15th issue of the                               of the Gospel to every creature.                                                                                                              in the May 15 issue of the  Stnn-
Standard Bearer,  Prof. Engelsma                                   After both of these presentations                                                                                                             d a r d   B e a r e r   ("John Frame o n
suggests some kind of conference                                   there could be a twenty-page re-                                                                                                              Cornelius VanTil") I was doubly
to discuss this issue as Reformed                                  sponse to the other position by                                                                                                               impressed!                                        I think you have
believers. May I make a sugges-                                    each spokesman. After this there                                                                                                              touched on some critical matters
tion, which could have the poten-                                  could be a five-page "final clarifi-                                                                                                          that need to be better addressed
tial of being used by our sover-                                   cations and summary" article by                                                                                                               by Reformed scholars who are
eign Lord for greater clarification                                each writer. Whichever camp has                                                                                                               writing on apologetics.
and unity of mind and purpose?                                     the first presentation, the other                                                                                                                          Those who speak of the Bible
Perhaps a book could be written                                    would have the final (in accor-                                                                                                               being full of paradoxes (a polite
by two of the more calm and ar-                                    dance with formal debate  proce-                                                                                                              term for contradictions) are not
ticulate exponents of both posi-                              .dure).                                                                                                                                            doing the cause of God's truth any
tions? Such a book would be of                                             I do not believe that God's                                                                                                           service. Please write more in this
great value and fill a great need in                               truth should ever be debated for                                                                                                              critical area of biblical thought.
the Reformed world, and would                                      entertainment or out of anger or                                                                                                              We need your insights.
surely pay for itself because of a                                 for any reason other than to help                                                                                                                                                                  (Rev.) Norman Jones
growing interest in this subject in                                true believers come to a better un-                                                                                                                                                                                    Pierre, SD Cl
many circles. The real expense                                     derstanding of that truth and,




                                       Hendrik De Cock:
                       Reformed Reformer
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                                                           /I.        "            7:.  .a;&  I  ,_......   /  I  I  ;w4*  "/  .,,,.,,.,  .;:.  1                                                                        A              i                   j                 ,.                   ,~YF                     i     "  :

                                                                   Introduction                                                                                                                                  those times, according to God's
Prof.  Hanko is professor  of  Church                                      The times when true  reforma-                                                                                                         clock, actually come, they come in
History and New Testament in the                                   tion comes to the church of Jesus                                                                                                             strange and surprising ways.
Protestant Reformed Seminary.                                      Christ are not often. But when                                                                                                                             Already in the Old Testament

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              July 1, 1996lStandard Bearer1421


God had reminded His people of                         of which we are speaking was the       ily moved shortly  ,after his birth)
this. He had emphatically im-                          church of the Reformation and of       and his teachers in school had no
pressed upon the mind of the                           Dordrecht, it had become only a        idea of what the Reformed faith
moody and depressed Elijah that                        shell of what it formerly was.         was all about; and if they did
He did not work through stirring                       Even the great truths of Scripture     know anything at all about it, they
events such as took place on                           were denied by many in the uni-        failed to teach it.
Carmel  (God was not in the earth-                     versities, seminaries, and pulpits.          The University of Groningen
quake, nor the fire, nor the wind);                    I refer to the truths of the virgin    where he went to prepare for the
rather God worked quietly and                          birth of Christ, the atoning sacri-    ministry of the gospel did no bet-
unnoticed by His Spirit in the                         fice of our Lord on the cross, and     ter. He graduated and entered the
hearts of the 7000 who had not                         His bodily resurrection from the       ministry as a thoroughly modern
bowed the knee to Baal. And to                         dead. In the place of the religion     minister equipped only to preach
Zechariah the prophet, who wor-                        of salvation by grace alone through    a modern gospel of Jesus the good
ried about the building of the                         Jesus Christ had come a religion       example whose life could serve as
temple after the return of the cap-                    which was interested in little more    a pattern for us. But of sin, salva-
tives, God had laid down a funda-                      than living a good life, walking       tion, and grace, De Cock knew
mental principle: "Not by might,                       morally, and contributing to           nothing.
nor by power, but by my Spirit,                        society's good through upright               This did not mean that already
saith the Lord of Hosts"  (Zech.                       ethical conduct. The confessions       during these years God was not
4:6).                                                  were ignored or denied; hymns          working in His own mysterious
     The great reformation of the                      had been introduced in the place       ways to prepare De Cock for
16th Century, while eventually it                      of the Psalms of the church; church    greater things. Already as a boy
shook Europe to its foundations,                       government after the principles of     he received some catechetical in-
began with the quiet nailing of 95                     the Church Order of Dordrecht          struction from one of his teachers
theses on a chapel door by an ob-                      was long forgotten and the church      who insisted that a man is saved
scure monk out of the forests of                       was ruled by boards which had to-      only by the sovereign grace of
Saxon Germany. The Reformation                         tal and decisive power.                God. And while such teaching
of 1834 in the Reformed Churches                           All this apostasy did not mean     made no apparent impression on
of the Netherlands began in a dark                     that there were no people of God       Hendrik, God used it to put ideas
and smoke-filled Consistory room                       anywhere to be found. They were        of a different sort in his soul even
of a country church of no impor-                       there, scattered about, starving       though these ideas would not
tance where five men gathered to                       spiritually, groaning beneath the      come to fruition till later.
sign a single sheet of paper to pro-                   tyranny of apostate preachers, des-         So at ordination he was little
test what had happened to their                        perately casting about to find         more than a mediocre modernist
minister.                                              places to feed their souls. Many       minister destined to serve in a se-
     It is in that reformation of 1834                 of  them  gathered in small  "con-     ries of modernist congregations of
that many Reformed churches                            venticles"  which were little more     no use to God or man  - though
throughout the world find their                        than groups of believers who           his denomination still bore the
roots.                                                 would meet in private homes to         proud name of "Reformed."
     The man who is called the fa-                     read the old Reformed writers,              Both the church and De Cock
ther of the Secession of 1834 is                       study the Scriptures, discuss the      were in need of reformation.
Hendrik De Cock (pronounced                            sad state of the church and what
Cok), the pastor of the small                          could be done about it, and listen     Reformation in De Cock's Soul
church in Ulrum whose elders and                       to an "exhorter" (if they had one)          Little changed in De Cocks
d e a c o n s   p r o t e s t e d   w h a t   t h e    explain from Scripture the ancient     first two charges. About three
churches had done. Here God be-                        truths of the faith.                   years in Eppenhuizen and two
gan His work.                                              Hendrik De Cock was a per-         years in Noordlaren did little to
     It would be forever evident, as                   fect example of the sad situation      alter his views. He was, in fact,
it always must be evident, that the                    in the Reformed Churches. Born         so thoroughly under the influence
care of the church is God's work                       in Veendam on April 12, 1801, he       of the modernists in his church
and His alone that He may receive                      was brought up in a home where         t h a t   h e   m a d e   n o   u s e   o f   t h e
all the glory.                                         the only religion that was taught      Statenvertaling,  the translation of
                                                       was the worldly and quasi-religion     the Bible authorized by the Synod
Need For Reformation                                   of living a decent life. Nor did       of Dort and filled with important
     That the church of that day                       the churches or schools he at-         marginal notes which would have
needed reformation could hardly                        tended do any better. His minis-       helped him understand the Re-
be debated. Although the church                        ter in Wildervank (where the fam-      formed faith. He had never read

422lStandard Bearer /July 1, 1996


the creeds. He paid no attention                       saint whose soul thirsted for sal-     preaching so prevalent in the state
to the old Reformed writers. And                       vation in Christ, but who had none     church. His colleagues in the area
he did not even know that such a                       to give him drink.    The sad part     made every effort to dissuade him
book as Calvin's  Institutes  existed.                 was that thousands like him could      from the path he had chosen to
     Perhaps the only influence on                     be found throughout the Nether-        follow and ridiculed the people
his life at this time which was of                     lands.                                 who hung on De Cock's preaching
any value was the influence of a                           But De Cock was a serious pas-     as more ignorant than cattle in the
godly and pious wife whom he                           tor and longed to help these           cowshed.
married shortly before his ordina-                     troubled sheep. How to do it, that         His own close friend and pre-
tion to the ministry. Her name                         was the question.                      decessor in Ulrum came especially
was Frouwe Venema, and while                               As De Cock searched for an-        to visit him and try to alter De
we do not know the extent of her                       swers, he was in the study of a        Cock's thinking. But De Cock had
knowledge of the Reformed faith,                       fellow minister in a neighboring       found peace for his own soul and
she was a pillar of strength to                        village when the minister turned       was not about to turn from that
Hendrik throughout his life when                       to Calvin's  Institutes  to prove a    which was the heart of Reforma-
troubles all but overwhelmed him.                      point which had come up in the         tion truth and the faith of the fa-
     It was in the small country                       conversation. So impressed was         thers.  Hofgtede  de Groot wrote
church in Ulrum, however, that                         De Cock that he asked to borrow        De Cock in chagrin:
God changed De Cock into the                           the copy, and, having done so, pro-
man whom God would use to                              ceeded to read it through several        De Cock! De Cock! Such a bitter
bring reformation to an apostate                       times in amazement and growing           and unchristian writing (The ref-
church.                                                consternation.                           erence is to another brochure by
     De Cock had come to Ulrum                             During this period of drinking       C .   B a r o n   v a n   Z u y l e n   v a n
                                                                                               Nijeveldt entitled De Hervomde
because of the influence of an old                     at the fountain of Calvin's great       Leer, Reformed  Doctrine,   HH)
uniyersity friend, a modernist like                    work, De Cock also became ac-           contains your confession of faith?
himself, a predecessor to De Cock                      quainted With the Canons of Dort,       How deep, deep have you fallen,
in Ulrum, an influential man by                        writings from earlier Reformed          and how dark is to me the coun-
the name of Hofstede de Groot.                         Dutch theologians, and the more          sel of God that such a doctrine is
     In Ulrum were people who                          devotional writings of a more re-       now being taught the congrega-
were starving for biblical and  God-                   cent writer, Cornelis Baron van         tion that once was mine. I have
c e n t e r e d   p r e a c h i n g   a n d   w h o    Zuylen van Nijveldt. The latter         prayed to God many a time that
would not be put off with moral-                       had written a pamphlet entitled De      He would grant me the spirit of
                                                                                                moderation in order that I might
istic sermons about doing good.                        Eenige  Redding  (The Only Salva-        exercise truth and love and avoid
They had not been happy with de                        tion), a pamphlet which opened De       Van Zuylen's abusive tone.
Groot; they were not happy with                        Cock's eyes to the truth that all
De Cock. In fact, de Groot had                         godly living is rooted in doctrine.        But De Cock would not budge.
viewed these people as odd and                             It is not surprising that De       We sing in our  versification  of
in need of special pastoral care.                      Cock's preaching began to change       Psalm  8 this line: "Weakest means
He had urged De, Cock to pay spe-                      radically. And the more he came        fulfill Thy will." So it was that
cial attention to them.                                to understand the great historic       the obscure and [by human stan-
     But, though De Cock did this                      doctrines of God's sovereign and       dards] mediocre minister of a
and attempted to show them that                        particular grace, the clearer be-      small country church became a
the key to living a good life lay in                   came his sermons as they set forth     stubborn defender of the truths of
education, they were not per-                          salvation by grace through faith in    sovereign grace and a mighty re-
suaded. One common laborer, a                          Christ and His atoning sacrifice.      former in the church of Christ.
faithful visitor at the parsonage to                   It is not surprising that as the           The story of the reformation
be catechized by his pastor, had                       word of this kind of preaching         God wrought through him will
not dared make confession of faith                     spread like wildfire through the       have to wait till next time. 0
under de Groot because of his un-                      surrounding countryside, people
ease with de Groot's teachings. He                     starving for the Bread of Life
kept telling De Cock that his in-                      streamed to Ulrum to hear De
struction did no good because,                         Cock preach.
"Should I be required to contrib-                          All this does not mean that De
ute a mere whisper to my salva-                        Cock now became a conquering
tion, I would be forever lost." The                    hero. He was opposed, sometimes
man's name was Klaas Pieters                           strenuously, by those who cher-
Kuipenga, a simple, uneducated                         ished the `modernistic and liberal

                                                                                                          July 1, 1996lStandard Bearer1423


                                                                                              Southwest PRC, Grandville,  MI





                                                                          Synod in Session



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                                                                                                         Working coffee-breaks
                Committees of Pre-Advice at work





424iStandard Bearer /July I,1996


                                                                               Elder Tan's address

Laptop technology


                                              Professors confer





                                      Examination  of Mr. Smit                 Rev. Slopsema presides





                                                      The  VanBarens  express appreciation to the Hankos
    Enjoying pictures of Singapore





                     Table of honor at banquet for Prof. Herman Hanko


                                                                            July 1, 1996lSfandard Bearer1425


                     Reaching the Nations
             with the Gospel of Grace
  An Evangelism Seminar in Houston, March 30-April 4, 1996


    The Word of God in Mark              the gospel which is to be preached         olive branches of the Gentiles
16:15 calls us to "preach the gos-       is one and the  same  to all, but it is    (Rom.  11:9-21).    It is but a rem-
pel to every  creature,N  that is, to    nevertheless a very real difference.       nant which are kept in their gen-
proclaim the gospel to all who will      Where the gospel has gone we are           erations. Yet God is also sending
hear without distinction, wherever       often confronted with small groups         the gospel to those who have never
God is pleased to send His Word.         of believers who have had a form           heard.
We are called to reach the nations       of the Christian gospel in their               The result of this apostasy in
with the gospel of grace. This call-     generations. They have  come to            the life of the Christian church also
ing we seek to carry out both here       or yet hold the pure gospel of the         in the Reformed and Presbyterian
in North America and abroad as           Reformation and are a remnant in           community in North America is
God gives us the means and op-           the midst of a largely apostate            that we often meet those who are
portunity, both by local church ex-      post-Christian community.                  confused, misled by false doctrine,
tension and as a denomination of             This situation confronts us            and spiritually drifting in their
churches through our mission             here in North America. Our soci-           generations. They hold a form of
work.                                    ety as a whole, by its European            the Christian faith mixed and con-
    When we think of this calling        descent, has long known the Chris-         fused with serious sinful errors of
we are perhaps inclined to catego-       tian gospel and been shaped by it.         which they are unaware. They are
rize it either as work among those       It has also turned from it to its          not unlike the sheep of Israel of
around us in North America or            own imagination in willful unbe-           Jesus' day over whom our Savior
Eurotie who may have had the             lief and now in enmity seeks to            was moved with compassion, "be-
gospel in their generations, and         suppress the truth of the gospel.          cause they fainted, and were scat-
who are in many respects a rem-          It is a society of which Paul speaks       tered abroad, as sheep, having no
nant, or as work among those have        when he says, "For the time will           shepherd" (Matt.  9:36). Reaching
never heard the gospel in heathen        come when they will not endure             the nations with the gospel of
lands. Our "Form of Ordination           sound doctrine; but after their own        grace means that we have a seri-
of Missionaries" makes such a dis-       lusts shall they heap to themselves        ous calling to bring the gospel also
tinction, and it is a valid one when     teachers, having itching ears; and         to such wandering sheep who are
we consider the work and influ-          they shall turn away their ears            departing in their generations and
ence of the gospel in history among      from the truth, and shall be turned        to labor to gather the remnant.
the nations.                             unto fables" (II Tim.  4:3, 4).            This we are doing as churches in
    There is a difference between            We must see that God is work-          our mission labors with many scat-
laboring among those who have            ing in a process of judgment in this       tered contacts, not only here in
heard the gospel in their genera-        apostasy in North America just as          southern Colorado where I am
tions and those who have not. It         He did in the history of the church        based as home missionary, but also
is not an essential difference, for      in North Africa, Asia Minor, and           in the eastern U.S. in Cincinnati
                                         more recently in Europe. As He             and Pittsburgh where I have also
                                         did with the natural branches of           had opportunity to work on be-
                                         the Jews, God is also cutting off          half of the churches this year.
                                         through unbelief those who have                We must not conceive of this
                                         long stood in their generations in         calling, however, as merely the
Rev. Miersma is home missionay  of       the olive tree of salvation as wild        work of missionaries or ministers
the Protestant Reformed Churches.

426lStandard Bearer /July 1, 1996


or the churches and evangelism          of church extension as a congrega-      meet with contacts and leave a wit-
committees. It is that to be sure.      tion, our church in Houston has         ness by the presence of the young
God gathers His church by faith         been given an opportunity to            people with them.
through the Word preached. The          preach the gospel to the Hindu              The Lord also used the semi-
church as the body of Christ is         community of Sindhi descent in          nar to open doors to bring His
called to let its light shine in the    Houston and to the Chinese im-          Word both by the pastors present,
world. But God uses the personal        migrant community as well. While        whether in a shopkeeper's office,
confession and witness of His           many today who have had the gos-        in the presence of his idols, where
people to draw men under the            pel in their generations will not       the Word was proclaimed, or in
preaching of the Word to be saved.      hear, and will shrug off the Word       after-recess discussions following
It was the personal confession of       in indifference, God has given          the speeches and sermons. The
the Samaritan woman: "Come see          Trinity an open door to speak His       young people by their group de-
a man, which told me all things         Word among those who have               votions in the homes in which they
that ever I did; is not this the        never heard the gospel in their         stayed were likewise given occa-
Christ?" (John  4:29), which led the    generations. Some are recent con-       sion to confess their faith. The
people out of the city and drew         verts who are just coming to know       families often sat in on their devo-
them to Christ to hear the Word         the historic Christian gospel of the    tions, and these became discus-
preached (John  4:30). There is a       Reformed faith, who have been           sions lasting into the late evening.
living organic connection between       taught the errors of the Arminians      Opportunity was also provided to
that personal witness and its fruit     and Baptists or Roman Catholics.        confront error, as when what was
in faith in Christ (John  4:39-42).     Others are yet heathens who have        supposed to be strictly an evening
Evangelism is the work of the           idols in their homes. But God has       of recreation with one of the fami-
church, but as such it is also the      opened the door to preach among         lies became an occasion to confront
concern. of every living member         them the gospel of sovereign grace.     the error of an Arminian "altar
thereof, and that not only in prayer        This was also the purpose of        call."
and support but also in personal        the seminar sponsored by the                Several things stand out from
witness. It is bound up with liv-       Christian S.I.N.D.H.I. outreach of      the seminar. It is the Lord who
ing a sanctified godly life in all      our Houston  church,.as well as of      opens the door both to preach and
gratitude that "by our godly con-       my presence as missionary. While        leave a witness. He has given such
versation, others may be gained to      senior members of our churches up       an open door to our Houston
Christ" (Heidelberg Catechism,          north who winter in Houston have        church.     If we seek opportunity
L.D. 32, Q/A 86).                       been involved in aspects of this        and fit occasion to confess our
    To return to that opening dis-      work, the purpose of the seminar        faith to others, God will give those
tinction, while we may distinguish,     was also to give some of our young      occasions, according to His wis-
as we are called to reach the na-       people from Georgetown PRC an           dom and in ways we had not nec-
tions with the gospel of grace, be-     opportunity both to experience the      essarily foreseen.         Our young
tween those who have known the          work being done and to assist by        people also have a place in such
gospel in their generations, as         their witness in it. (Houston has       work. God is truly reaching the
nominally Christian nations, and        essentially the same weather as         nations who have not known Him
those who have not, the heathen,        Florida in the winter, the same         with the gospel of grace, also here
our mission work today does not.        beaches in Galveston, and should        in North America, not only in hea-
The recent labor in Myanmar, by         be a destination for more of our        then lands. As the leaders gath-
the ERCS and Rev. Kortering, were       senior members who must flee the        ered for prayer before the last
with Christians seeking to know         cold, as it is a place where we have    meeting on  .Thursday  night to
the Christian faith better, a rem-      a church.)                              bring the gospel to the Sindhis this
nant in a heathen land. Yet here           The seminar consisted of             was underscored. The nations of
in North America there are en-          preaching and teaching by Pastor        the Gentiles were represented in
claves of immigrants from heathen       Mahtani and me in the church, di-       that gathering for prayer  - Chris-
lands who have never known the          rected both to our young people         tian Sindhis, diverse European de-
gospel with whom we must work.          and to the Sindhis invited to the       scendants, Afro-American, and
   This was vividly demonstrated        meetings. It also consisted of our      Chinese. Seeking to reach the na-
at a recent evangelism seminar          young people staying in groups in       tions with the gospel of grace.
sponsored by Trinity Protestant         the homes of the families who are       This is the Lord's great work. Cl
Reformed Church in Houston. The         being worked with, both heathen
theme of the seminar was "Reach-        and nominally Christian. It con-
ing the Nations with the Gospel of      sisted, further, of going into the
Grace." As part of its official work    Hindu and Asian communities to

                                                                                           July 1, 1996IStandard Bearer1427


                                                            .
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                                                .,.                       ,.       ,...     :.                            -

                                                 Order
            The several words that are translated  or-           to proceed differently. Scripture calls us to
       der  in Scripture have the meaning of placing             withdraw ourselves from every brother that
       in a certain arrangement, to assign a place, to           walks disorderly (II Thess, 3:6-11). A life of
       appoint, or to ordain. The reason that great              confusion is equated with every evil. work
       emphasis is placed on order in the Bible is               (James  3:16).
       that God is not the author of confusion (I Cor.               Family life ought to be well-ordered life.
       14:23),  but the God of order. The life of the            Manoah asked the angel who had promised
       Triune God is a life of harmony and order.                him a son (Samson), "How shall we order the
       The order of His eternal decrees is logical and           child, and what shall be done with him?" (Jud.
       clear. His covenant with David was ordered                13:12). Isaiah told King Hezekiah to set his
       in all things (II Sam.  23:5); His covenant pro-          house in order, for he shall die (II Kings  2O:l).
       ceeds in an orderly fashion with believers and            That this does not refer merely to the writing
       their seed (Gen.  17:7). When God saves His               of a will and disposing of property is clear
       elect, He does so following the order of salva-           from Genesis 49, where Jacob gathers his sons
       tion (regeneration, calling, faith, conversion,           around his bed, commanding his sons before
       justification, sanctification, preservation, and          he died. Dying parents speak in faith of their
       glorification) that is suggested in Romans  8:30.         God and His good ways, give final instruc-
       He grants the gift of faith to as many as  ,were          tions and encouragements, perhaps must
       ordained (ordered) unto eternal life (Acts                sound some warnings and give dire prophe-
       13:48).                                                   cies. All the life of the family, the conduct of
            The worship that pleases God is orderly              the members, the very appearance of the
       worship. In the old dispensation the equip-               home, ought to reflect good order, sound man-
       ment of the temple was set in order before                agement, and regular schedule.
       Him (Ex.  40:4);  the priests were arranged in                The personal life of the saints is to be a
       order and served according to orders (Luke                life that is well-ordered. The steps of a good
       1:8); Christ is a priest after the order of               man are ordered by the Lord (Ps.  37:23).  We
       Melchizedek (Ps.  110:4). In the new dispensa-            are taught to pray that our steps are ordered
       tion all things should be done decently and in            in God's Word  (I%.  119:133).  When the child
       order in the church (I Cor.  14:40). Preaching            of God is in doubt, he feels full of confusion
       is not a hit and miss proposition, but is an              (Job  10:15), his confusion is ever before him
       orderly presentation of the truth (Acts  11:14;           (Ps.  44:15),  and he fears being put to confu-
       17:2,3).  Paul rejoiced in the good order mani-           sion (Ps.  71:l). He fears this because he knows
       fest in the life of the church at Colosse (Col.           that Scripture calls final destruction "everlast-
       2:5). He himself walked orderly, keeping the              ing confusion" (Jer.  2O:ll).   B u t   h e   t h a t
       law (Acts  21:24).  Thus he is a good example             ordereth his conversation  aright shall see the
       to Christians because he did not behave him-              salvation of God (Ps.  50:23).
       self disorderly (II Thess.  3:7).                             Today confusion reigns in society at large,
            The church today, guided by Scripture in             in government, in the churches, homes, and
       worship and life, pays attention to good or-              schools. None of this is pleasing to God. Al-
       der. We have an order of worship which pre-               though the charge is brought against the
       vents the unexpected, the chaotic, and the in-            church, that it has turned the world upside
       appropriate. We have a Church Order which                 down (Acts  17:6), this charge is false. The
       spells out practically every aspect of congre-            hearing, believing, and living of the gospel
       gational and denominational life. At our meet-            brings peace, causes uproar to cease, and es-
       ings we have agendas, and only a motion "to               tablishes good order in the kingdom of
       depart from the order of the day" allows us               heaven. May that good order be evident in
                                                                 our churches, homes, and schools. Cl
     Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.


428lStandard Bearer /July 1, 1996


  @gi@@  q$6fiz?&Bsis  E&q                                                                                                 .A'
                                                     ,,
                                            :                                                                                     .P.
                                                                                                                       May  8,1996
                                                                                    Grandville Protestant Reformed Church

    Classis  East met in regular ses-            rangements for Rev. Flikkema pro-        the end as is now the custom in
sion on Wednesday, May  8, 1996                  posed by his consistory. Covenant        Classis East. 2) One of the funda-
at the Grandville PRC. Each                      PRC was instructed to inform the         mental purposes for the questions
church was represented by two                    churches about their decision and        of Article 41 is to insure unity
delegates. Rev. Doug Kuiper had                  Rev. Flikkema's eligibility for a        within the churches. Questions of
the privilege and challenge of serv-             call.                                    unity ought to take precedence
ing as chairman for the first time                         An overture from Rev. R.       over other matters in the agenda.
in his ministry. Present at  classis             VanOverloop  concerning the place        3) Placing the questions early in
also were the delegates  ad examina              in the classical agenda of the ask-      the agenda would allow  classis to
from  Classis West.                              ing and answering of the questions       appoint a committee of pre-advice
    The burden of this  classis was              of Article 41 of the Church Order        if, for example, a consistory
to consider a request from Cov-                  was adopted. The questions will          needed the advice of  classis  ac-
enant PRC to release its pastor,                 now be asked right after the read-       cording to question  #4.
Rev. Richard Flikkema, from his                  ing of the minutes of the previous           Covenant requested, and was
ministerial duties. Considered in                meeting, rather than at the end of       granted, classical appointments  -
this matter were the reports of the              the meeting. The grounds for the         two Sundays a month  - from
special committee of  classis  ap-               overture were as follows (summa-         May-October, 1996. The schedule
pointed to assist Covenant PRC,                  rized): 1) There is no historical        adopted has been sent to the
the welfare of the congregation                  precedent in our churches for plac-      churches.
there, and the welfare of Rev.                   ing the questions of Article 41              T h e   e x p e n s e s   o f   classis
Flikkema and his family, Since this              early in the agenda, but there is        a m o u n t e d   t o   $2,063.61.   Classis
matter was treated in closed ses-                precedent in the very earliest of        will meet next on Wednesday, Sep-
sion, further comment about this                 meetings of Reformed churches            tember  11,1996  at the Faith PRC.
matter would not be judicious.                   and in the Christian Reformed                          Respectfully submitted,
Classis did approve this request                 Church to place these questions                              w/s Jon J. Huisken
and approved the financial ar-                   early in the agenda, rather than at                              Stated Clerk Cl





                                                 and plans of their church building       also noted that there were some
Evangelism Activities                            for possible use by their own            30 visitors at that service.
    Typically most requests that                 church (Orthodox Presbyterian).              In other evangelism news from
come to the evangelism commit-                   Randolph's building committee            Edgerton, we learn that they are
tees of our various churches are                 chairman gladly granted that re-         making plans for a four-to-six
for literature or tapes. However,                quest.                                   week Community Bible Study
the evangelism committee of the                            The evangelism committee of    sometime later this summer. They
Randolph, WI PRC received a re-                  the Edgerton, MN PRC sponsored           are also looking into the possibil-
quest recently that included more                a special evening worship service        ity of video-taping their services
than these usual items. Having                   on May 19. A special invitation to       for airing on the local public cable
seen the sketch of Randolph's                    the greater  Edgerton community          channel.
church on one of their bulletin cov-             was extended by way of the paper             The members of the Pella, IA
ers, an individual asked about the               and by word of mouth. Rev. A.            PRC, through their evangelism
possibility of getting more infor-               Brummel, pastor at Edgerton,             committee, have extended a warm
mation, complete with drawings                   brought the Word that evening in         welcome to their community to
                                                 a sermon based on Psalm  29:2 (the       share some time together this sum-
                                                 text that appears on the cover of        mer to study God's Word. Plans
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Prot-              their introductory brochure  - see       call for Pella to host a six-part
es tan t Reformed      C h u r c h   o f         May 1  SB), and entitled "Worship-       seminar series entitled, "Genesis  l-
Hudsonville, Michigan.                           ing in Holiness." Rev. Brummel           11: The Foundation of the Faith."

                                                                                                      July 1, 1996lStandard Bearer1429


The first seminar was held June 13                     run by the Hope PRC in Redlands,       the Southwest PRC in Grandville,
at Pella PRC and was entitled, "In                     CA has decided to feature books        MI.
the Beginning God."                                    for children and young people  -              Many of you have seen an-
     On Sunday, June 2, the congre-                    a move no doubt intended to give       nouncements in your church bul-
gation of the Byron Center, MI                         Hope's younger generation some-        letins inviting you to order either
PRC made a special effort to in-                       thing to do over summer vacation.      a tape or CD from the Protestant
vite visitors to their evening wor-                    I include this here to encourage us    Reformed Psalm Singing Choir.
ship service. Visitors were able to                    all to spend some  time  this sum-     Let  me  say that if that recording
hear Rev. Doug Kuiper, Byron's                         mer with a good book.                  is as good as the concert they gave
pastor, speak from God's Word                                                                 in early May at the Grandville, MI
concerning the lawlessness that is                     Mission Activities                     PRC, it will be well worth having.
evident in the world today. This                          The weekend of May 12 saw           You may remember from a past
sermon found its basis in Matthew                      Rev. Ron  VanOverloop,  pastor of      "News" that this choir started
24:12  and II Timothy  3:1-5  and                      the Georgetown PRC, along with         meeting just last fall, and that this
promised to answer questions such                      Elder Don Doezema, a member of         was their first public concert. The
as: How does lawlessness serve                         the Domestic Mission Committee,        choir was made up of 21 men and
as a sign of the times? And do we                      traveling to the Pittsburgh,. PA       21 women, and each one of our
see an increase in lawlessness in                      area to make a follow-up visit to a    west Michigan churches was rep-
the world and church today?                            group of interested families that      resented. What a thrill it was to
                                                       Rev. T. Miersma, our home mis-         be part of the program that night.
Minister Activities                                    sionary, visited in February.          Tapes ($6.00) and CDs ($11.00)
     Since our last "News," the con-                                                          may be ordered from Mrs. Rebecca
gregation of the Immanuel PRC in                       Denominational Activities              Kleyn, 8510 Clyde Park, Byron
Lacombe, AB, Canada extended a                            We also want to extend our          Center, MI 49315.
call to Rev. R. Miersma of our sis-                    congratulations to Prof. H. Hanko
ter church in New Zealand. We                          of our seminary, as he commemo-                       Food-for Itiougfit
can follow that up by saying that                      rated forty years in the ministry             "To this end we should our-
he has accepted that call. The                         of the Word in our churches. This      selves call our sins to remem-
Miersmas will be arriving in the                       evidence of. God's faithfulness to     brance. For the more we remem-
U.S. on June 26 and hope to take                       Prof. Hanko and his wife, as well      ber  them,  the more God forgets
up residence in the Lacombe par-                       as to our churches, was marked         them;  the more we forget them, the
sonage during the week of July 14.                     with an  ouen house on Tune 13 at      more God remembers them."
                                                                 L
     Our vacant  Doon, IA PRC has                                                                                 - W. Bradshaw Cl
e x t e n d e d   a   c a l l   t o   R e v .   G .
VanBaren.  With him on the trio
for that call were the Revs. R.
Cammenga and A.  denHartog.                                           PRAYER FOR OUR GRADUATES
Congregational Activities                                  Lord, as they enter a new phase of life
     On May 19, after their evening                        May they retain what they have now been taught;
service, the congregation of the                           Not so that earthly gain and wisdom be their aim,
Georgetown PRC in  Hudsonville,                            But that they love and serve Thee as they ought.
MI hosted a farewell for Mr. Cheah
Fook Meng and his wife, Lee Choo.                          May their perspective not be mammon's goals
As many of you know, Fook Meng                             Of fame and wealth and seeking earthly pleasure.
has now completed a special  three-                        But give them grace to fix their eyes of faith
year course at our seminary and                            On heav'nly joys - the true unfading treasure.
will by God's grace soon be or-
dained as a pastor in the Evangeli-                        The skills they've learned, may they apply  aright;
c a l   R e f o r m e d   C h u r c h e s   i n            May they be fitted for the  awesome  task
Singapore. Following a light sup-                          Of being stalwart members of Thy church.
per and an opportunity to say                              This is the goodly blessing that we ask.
good-bye, Fook Meng presented a
program entitled, "Mission Oppor-                                                                                   Thelma Westra
tunities of the ERCS: Past, Present,
a n d   F u t u r e . "
    `For this summer, the bookstore

43OlStandard  Bearer /July 1, 1996


        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                  NOTICE:                                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
         On June 18, 1996, our dear                 Immediate change of address                      With gratitude to our Triune
     parents,                                    for Rev. Thomas Miersma.                        God, our parents,
        REV. and MRS. MEINDERT                               102 Price                             DAVE and SUSAN ZYLSTRA
                 JOOSTENS,                          Alamosa, CO 81101-2728                       will celebrate their 45th wedding
     celebrated 25 years of marriage.                                                            anniversary on July 13, 1996. We,
     We, their children, would like to                                                           their children and grandchildren,
     take this opportunity to thank them                                                         are thankful to the Lord for His sov-
     for years of Christian love, instruc-                                                       ereign care in these years, and our
     tion, admonition, and guidance in                                                           prayer is that they may be blessed
     the ways of the Lord. Each day                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                          in the years to come.
     we are grateful to our heavenly Fa-            On May 14, 1996, our parents,                    "Yea, thou shalt see thy
     ther for giving to us such God-fear-             MR; and MRS. JOSZEF                        children's children, and peace upon
     ing parents. They have been an                          POSTMA,                             Israel" (Psalm 128:6).
     example and an inspiration of how           celebrated their 25th weclding  an-             @ John and Hilda Zylstra
     we must strive to live unto the Lord.       niversary. We, their children, are                    Adam & Jen, Rachel, Mark,
     May God bless and keep them in              thankful to God for their many                                            Aaron, Joshua
     the way that is before them and             years together and their Christian              @ Martin and Adeline Zylstra
     give them many more years to-               example and upbringing. It is our                     Vanessa, Darren, Daniel,
     gether.                                     prayer that the Lord continue to                  Sharmain, Angeline, Craig, Whitney
     @b Daniel and Faith Bult                    keep them in His care.                          @ Herman and Geraldine
I    @ Timothy Joostens                          @ Philip  Postma                                                               Klaassens
     @ Steven Joostens                           @ David  Postma                                       Michael, Sara, Rebecca,
     8 Joy Joostens                              @ Daniel  Postma                                      Heather, Pamela, Alison,
     @ Paul Joostens                             @ Steven  Postma                                                      Jeremy, Chantelle
                                  Lynden,  WA                         South Holland, Illinois    @ Clayton and JacquelineDeGroot
                                                                                                       Clinton, Heidi, Laura, Jeffrey,
                                                                                                                                        Ryan
                                                                                                 @ Richard and Arlene Schmidt
                                                                                                       David, Beverly, Wilfred
                                                                                                 @ Edward and Patricia Huizing
                                                                                                       Jonathan, Justin, Stephanie,
                                                                                                                              Kevin, Aaron
                                                                                                 @Q Richard and Marsha Span
                                                                                                       Robert, Matthew, Maria,
                                                                                                              Rachelle, Melissa, Patricia
                                                                                                 8 Timothy and Jill Zylstra
                                                                                                       Joel, Cameron, Megan, Steven,
                                                                                                                                    Amanda
                                                                                                 @ Joe and Valerie VanGelderen
                                                                                                       Nathan, Lianne, Vanessa
                                                                                                 @ Peter and Rhoda Hendricks
                                                                                                       Julie, Jocelyn, Mitchell
                                                                                                                          Ardrossan,  AB. Canada





                                                                                                               NOTICE!!!
                                                                                                     Bethel PRC has changed the
                                                                                                 starting time for their evening ser-
                                                                                                 vice to 5  P.M.  We ask that all visi-
                                                                                                 tors please take note of the
                                                                                                 change.

                                                                                                            July 1, 1996btandard  Bearer/431


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 ~~~~~~
    /Ej/W&~l                                                                                                                                                PREFERRED
                                                                                                                                                            PERlODlCAL
                                                                                                                                                            Postage Paid at
   P.O. Box 603                                                                                                                                             Grandville, Michigan
   Grandville, MI 49468-0603

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  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                     NOTICE!j                                                              NOTIFICATION
     The Men's and Ladies' Society                        Classis  West of the Protestant                                                         OF CANDIDACY
of the First PRC of Holland, MI ex-            Reformed Churches will meet at the                                                        All Protestant Reformed  con-
press their Christian sympathy to              Randolph Protestant Reformed                                                          sistories are hereby informed that
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lubbers in the              Church in Randolph, WI, on                                                            the 1996 Synod of the Protestant
death of his brother,                          Wednesday, September 4, 1996 at                                                       Reformed Churches in America has
           MR. PETER LUBBERS.                  8:30 A.M., the Lord willing. All ma-                                                  declared Mr. Richard Smit a candi-
      May they find comfort in the             terial for the classical agenda is to                                                 date for the gospel ministry in the
knowledge that "When thou passest              be in the hands of the Stated Clerk                                                   Protestant Reformed Churches.
through the waters, I will be with             thirty days before  Classis con-                                                      Candidate Smit will be eligible for
thee" (Isaiah 43:2).                           venes.                                                                                a call on or after July 13, 1996.
                   Allen Elzinga, President                                          Rev. Steven Key,                                    Mr. Smit's address is:
     Mrs. Vern Casemier, Secretary                                                            Stated Clerk                                           P.O. Box 163
                                                                                                                                                   Doon,   IA 51235
                                                                                                                                                   (712) 726-3382
                                                                                                                                                              Don Doezema,
  RESOiUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                                                                                                    Stated Clerk
     The Southwest PR Mr. and                                                NOTICE!!
Mrs. Society express their sincere                        The Board of the Reformed
Christian sympathy to Rod and                  Heritage Christian School Associa-
Evonne Kreuzer in the death of her             tion of Kalamazoo, Michigan is in-                                                                      NOTICE!!
father,                                        viting applicants for a full-time                                                         Classis  East will meet in regu-
     MR. JOHN WONDERGEM.                       teacher/administrator position                                                        lar session on Wednesday, Sep-
     May they find comfort in the              which will begin in August of 1996.                                                   tember 11, 1996 at the Faith Prot-
words of Psalm 116:15,  "Precious              Our school, now completing its sec-                                                   estant Reformed Church, Jenison,
in the sight of the Lord is the death          ond year, has two full-time teach-                                                    Ml. Material for this session must
of his saints."                                ers and one half-time, with 30 stu-                                                   be in the hands of the Stated Clerk
                    Al DeYoung, President      dents in grades K-8. This position                                                    no later than August 12, 1996.
                 Joyce Noorman, Secretary      involves teaching the upper el-                                                                               Jon J. Huisken,
                                               ementary (grades 5-8) class. Ap-                                                                                             Stated Clerk
                                               plicants must be committed to the
                                               Reformed faith, biblical inerrancy,
  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                       6-day creation, male headship, the                                                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
     The Martha Ladies' Aid Soci-              antithesis, and covenantal theology.                                                      The Council and congregation
ety of the Hull Protestant Reformed            Teacher certification and experi-                                                     of the South Holland PRC express
Church express their Christian                 ence  are, strong pluses. Salary:                                                     their sincere sympathies to Don
sympathy to their fellow member                low to mid 20's; health insurance.                                                    and Patheresa Haak in the death
Mrs. Joyce Kooiker in the loss of              Those interested only in teaching                                                     of her sister,
her step-mother,                               and not in administrative responsi-                                                       MRS. CLARICE HOVING,
                 ALICE MULDER.                 bilities are also encouraged to ap-                                                   on April 24.        May our sovereign
     May she and her family find               ply (salary: $14 to $22K w/ health                                                    Father give comfort to them in our
comfort in these words from Isaiah             ins:-). Applicants should send a let-                                                 risen Savior. "Yea, though I walk
49:13, "Sing, 0 heavens; and be                ter and resume to:                                                                    through the valley of the shadow
joyful, 0 earth; and break forth into                                 Tom Nagel                                                      of death, I will fear no evil: for
singing, 0 mountains: for the Lord                                 18230 Michigan                                                    thou art with me; thy rod and thy
hath comforted his people, and will                        Three Rivers, Ml 49093                                                    staff they comfort me" (Psalm
have mercy upon his afflicted."                            Phone: (616) 279-7373                                                     23:4).
                  Rev. R. Moore, President                  FAX: (616) 279-6207                                                                Pastor C. Terpstra, President
                  Judy Brummel, Secretary           E-mail:  DAKloost@aoU.com                                                                          Mr. Bert Wories, Clerk

432lStandard Bearer/July 1, 1996


