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                           I





                                See "`Christian Training (2)" - p. 490


Vol. 72, No. 22
September 15,1996


     CONTENTS:                                                                                                                              September   15,  1996
I                                                                                                                                                                                                                       I

     Meditation  - Rev.  Meindert Joostens
                Faithful Wounds and Deceitful Kisses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
     Editorials  - Prof.  David J.  Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                                  ISSN 0362-4692
               A Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism                                                                                                                                                                         Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                           9. A Spiritual Interpretation of Isaiah 65:17ff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485                                                                                                     Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
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                           I Remember Miss Reitsma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492                                                          DEPARTMENT  EDITORS
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               An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494                                                                                         Decker, Rev. Arie  dentfartog,  Rev. Carl  Haak, Prof. Herman
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     News From Our Churches  -  Mr. Benjamin  Wgger                                                                                                                                                                           Kuiper, Mr. James  Lanting,  Mrs.  MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev.
     Index to Volume 72 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497                               Thomas Miersma, Rev. Gise  VanBaren, Rev. Ronald
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     482lStandardBearerlSeptember 15,1996


                                  Faithful Wounds
                         and Deceitful Kisses

~    "Faithful  are the wounds of a friend;     kisses of an enemy are deceitful"         purpose of correction and warn-
     but  the kisses of an enemy are deceit-    (Prov.  27:6).                            ing.
     ful.  "                                         We find wounds and kisses                    But the kisses of which the
                             Proverbs  27:6     standing over against each other          Preacher speaks are nothing more
                                                in typical Hebrew parallelism.            than flattering lies motivated by
           Although all Scripture is  God-      They appear in stark contrast, the        hatred and by a desire for our ruin.
     breathed and "profitable for doc-          one to the other. They are as dif-        They are like the kiss  @tldas placed
     trine, for reproof, for correction,        ferent as day and night, black and        upon the Lord's cheek in the gar-
     for instruction in righteousness,"         white. A wound is the painful af-         den of Gethsemane. And they be-
     we always look for particular little       termath of violence or accident. It       tray, even as that disciple betrayed
     nuggets of practical wisdom that           is a laceration that cleaves the flesh    our Lord for thirty pieces of sil-
     find immediate application to our          and lays bare the nerve ends which        ver.
     lives, passages with which we can          signal great pain. Who is not fa-                 True friends withhold their
     readily identify in our daily liv-         miliar with such intense pain? A          lips from betraying flattery. True
     ing. We find an abundance of such          kiss on the other hand is a symbol        friends refuse to employ such a
     Scripture in the poetical books of         of friendship, love, and intimacy!        loving sign to betray. They with-
     the Bible, and the book of Proverbs        We plant them upon the cheek or           hold their lips from false flattery
     stands out in our minds. I want            lips of those for whom we feel            and speak the truth in love. But
     to explore  with, you a moment             deepest affinity and love. Among          the enemy will use even the beau-
     such a practical nugget, one which         the ancients it was a customary           tiful symbol of a kiss to deal
     exposes our vanity and will guide          greeting among friends. Today it          falsely. His words are full of de-
     us in evaluating the praise and            signifies the intimacy of a relation-     ceit and lying.
     criticism of others.                       ship of love. A tender kiss stands                You will find such deceitful
           In all honesty, we must con-         at one end of the spectrum of feel-       words in the world. They proceed
     fess that we often fall prey to the        ing, and a painful wound at the           from the mouths of Satan's chil-
     flattery that is heaped upon us and        other.                                    dren.        They perform the lust of
     we are unjustly angered by faith-               But you notice that, strangely       him who is a liar from the begin-
     ful rebuke and warning! Unwar-             enough, the wounds are here as-           ning and the father of it (John
     ranted praise tickles our fancies          cribed to a friend, while the kisses      8:44). But words of truth, though
     and seems good to our flesh, while         are planted by the enemy! It is           they inflict deep wounds, may be
     we tend to bristle at well-meant           evident that the Preacher is not          found in the realm of the church
     correction, admonition, or rebuke.         speaking in literal terms but in          and among the people of God
     God, through the Preacher, has             symbolic. Faithful "wounds" are           where His love pertains.
     some wise counsel for us in this           faithful words! "Kisses" are deceit-              It stands to reason, does it not?
     regard when he writes, "Faithful           ful  lies!                                True friendship is found exclu-
     are the wounds of a friend; but the             Faithful wounds are spoken           sively among the children of God
                                                words of truth which are uttered          in the covenant and church. For
                                                out of deepest care and loving con-       such friendship is of God! He
                                                cern. We can place stock in such          called the patriarch Abraham His
                                                words. They are words in which            friend, as we read in James  2:23.
     Rev. Joostens is pastor of the Protes-     we can have confidence, because           God is the sovereign Friend of His
     tant Reformed Church in  Lynden,           they are motivated by a sincere           people as He has justified them in
     Washington.                                love and are intended to serve the        the blood of His Son, even as He

                                                                                            September 15,1996lStandard  Bearer/483


did Abraham. And it was our                    Through preaching he inflicts deep                    and sisters in trying to persuade
Lord Himself who called us His                 wounds, and we feel as if our toes                    them of the truthfulness of the lie!
friends when He was about to lay               have been stepped on. Pastors are                         Let us be warned! The kisses
down His life for us (John  15:13).            the "power of God" unto salva-                        of the enemy are sweeter than
    That friendship is revealed                tion! (I Cor.  1:18). Such faithful                   honey, but their end is bitter as
unto us by God in the gospel as                wounds are also inflicted by the                      gall. The lie inevitably leads to
we find it in His Word. And we                 words that are found upon the lips                    ravaging and destruction. We can
understand, do we not, that the                of faithful and conscientious elders                  count on the fact that the father of
faithful  ,Word  of God which calls            of the congregation, who discipline                   the lie is bent on our devastation,
us powerfully into His friendship              us by means of the Word of God                        for his time is short. He will spare
and makes us mutual friends in.the             as a "remedy" for our spiritual                       no effort. As the Prince of the
body of Christ inflicts a painful              health. It would be deceitful, and                    power of the air, he enlists the
wound. For the gospel does not                 they would make themselves our                        whole of the sinful world against
come with flattering words which               enemies, if they planted flattering                   us, and through them he whispers
appeal to the flesh, but with pain-            kisses upon us as we walk in the                      his sweet lies. We can hear it in
ful words, words of truth that in-             way of sin to our destruction.                        the entertainment of the world.
flict deep wounds and devastate                        It is the love of God which en-               We can mark it in her culture. We
our pride, words which, taken to-              courages us, as saints, in mu-                        perceive it in reading her philoso-
gether, form the first of the "tu-             tual admonition, which refuses to                     phy. We are continually exposed
lip" doctrines of Calvinism,                   allow a brother and sister in the                     to it in the advertising of the
namely, the total depravity of man.            Lord to walk in the way of sin.                       world: sweet nothings, pretty pic-
    Who cares to hear it? By na-               Children and young people ought                       tures, and attractive ways as so
ture none of us does. It makes                 to understand that they have                          many smooth kisses motivated by
our flesh bristle in hatred to hear            friends in their parents, who stood                   deceit and geared to our destruc-
God's faithful Word speak the                  before the face of God in the midst                   tion. He who is the Liar from the
devastating truth about us. For it             of the congregation and vowed                         beginning uses the facade of rep-
humbles all our pride and makes                      concerning them that they                       robate men, concerning whom
us fall upon our knees and                              w o u l d   n u r t u r e   t h e m   i n    Paul warns that  `I... their throat is
beat our breast, saying,                                  Jehovah's fear by speaking                 an open sepulcher . . . the poison of
"God be merciful to me the                 It is           words of Christian chas-                  asps is under their lips: . . . Destruc-
sinner.N     That faithful               the love           tening and rebuke. For                   tion and misery are in their ways"
Word of God humbles us             of  God which             the words of godly par-                 (Rom.  3:13-16).
so deeply and makes us                  encourages            ents, teachers, elders,                    It is so easy to fall prey to the
feel so ashamed when we            us, as saints,             preachers, and fellow                  flattery of those who masquerade
learn from it that the                  in mutual             saints of God create                   as friends but are, in fact, our en-
only way of salvation is           admonition,                "faithful wounds" which                emies. It is so difficult to hear
found in that accursed             which refuses              are inflicted in the spirit            good words of true friends who
tree. Yet, it is precisely               to allow             of love and devotion for               inflict faithful wounds for our
such faithful wounds  in-               a brother             God's sake.                            spiritual welfare. We do well to
flitted by the Holy Spirit              and  sister                  But if we desire                turn away from the deceitful kisses
that bring about our  spiri-            in the Lord          that smooth kisses of de-               of the enemy and hearken to faith-
tual good to His glory!                  to walk            ception which spell our                  ful words of our true friends in
    The Word of God  in-                in the way         ruin be lavished upon us,                 the Lord!  c1
flitting  such  faithful wounds           of sin.         then we must set our ear
is found among- God's cov-                               toward the world, where the
enant people, who as His friends                     enemy will gladly embrace us
gather round His Word from                     with his godlessness.                The wis-
Lord's Day to Lord's Day. And                  dom of the world, which is fool-
that Word of God becomes the                   ishness in their science, philoso-
fountainhead of all their speech               phy, psychology, etc., will pleas-
and activity!    It is the church of           antly deceive us. They will, with
God which makes the Word of                    enticing words as lush kisses
Truth her faithful and  inerrant               placed upon our cheeks, betray us.
guide. First of all, therefore, we             The world, as the enemy of God
find a friend in our pastor, who as            and His church, is as so many
the oracle of God leads us in the              Judases who seek to plant betray-
green pastures of that Word.                   ing kisses upon Christ's brothers

484/StandardBearerlSeptember 15,1996


               A Defense of (Reformed)
                                        Amillennialism
                     9. A Spiritual lnterpretatiotm of Isaiah 65:17ff.

                                                     fore the second coming of Christ.
     Postmillennialism  - the teach-                                                                      Testament prophecy is earthly,
                                                     This will be the Messianic kingdom
ing about the. last things that pos-                                                                      rather than spiritual.
                                                     of Jesus in its full, final glory.
its the earthly victory of the church                                                                         North freely acknowledges
and a coming "golden age" in his-                                                                         that his interpretation of the pas-
                                                       The passage in Isaiah 65 proph-
tory  - rests its case, finally, on                                                                       sage is literal. Indeed, he boasts
                                                       esies of a coming era on earth and
Old Testament prophecy.                                                                                   of this as though it were a virtue,
                                                       before the final judgment (since
     Emphatically not on New Tes-                      sinners will still be active) in                   railing against the spiritual inter-
tament doctrine about the days                         which there will be great external                 pretation of amillennialism as a
leading up to the coming of Christ.                    blessings, including very long life                fault.
     Old Testament prophecy fore-                      spans ("Foreword," in Kenneth L.
casts glorious prospects for Judah                     Gentry, Jr., He Shall Have Domin-                    A postmillennialist can interpret
                                                                                                            this passage literally: a coming
and Jerusalem.                                         ion, Institute for Christian Eco-
                                                       nomics, 1992, p. xxvii; see the                      era of extensive millennial bless-
     One such passage is Isaiah                        longer explanation of the passage                    ings before Jesus returns in final
65:17-25.   J e h o v a h   c r e a t e s   n e w      by North quoted in the August,                       judgment.            So can a premil-
heavens and a new earth (v. 17).                       1996 issue of the Standard Bearer,                   lennialist.... But the amillennialist
In this new world, Jerusalem will                      pp. 439, 440).                                       cannot admit the possibility of
be a rejoicing and the citizens of                                                                          such an era of literal, culture-wide
Jerusalem, a joy (v. 18). None will                       To the postmillennialist, the                     blessings in history. His  escha-
die young, and old sinners will be                   Isaiah 65 passage is not only one                      tology denies any literal, culture-
accursed (v. 20). The people of                      of many Old Testament prophecies                       wide triumph of Christianity in
                                                                                                            history. Therefore, he has to
Jerusalem will live productive,                      that predict a glorious future of                      "spiritualize" or allegorize this
profitable, peaceful lives, free from                earthly power and peace for the                        passage  (He Shall Have Domin-
disappointment, opposition, and                      church in history, but it is also the                  ion,  p. xxviii).
trouble. They will build houses                      p a s s a g e   t h a t   c l i n c h e s   t h e
and live in them; they will plant                    postmillennial position against                          Equating the spiritual interpre-
vineyards and eat of them; theirs                    amillennialism. It is "the one pas-                  tation of Old Testament prophecy
will be lives without weeping (vv.                   sage  moYe  than any other passage in                with allegorizing is either igno-
19-23). Such will be the bliss of                    the Bible,  that categorically refutes               rance or malice. Both are inexcus-
this new world that even the ani-                    amillennialism" (North, He  Shall                    able in one who claims to be a Re-
mals will be at peace: "The wolf                     Have Dominion,  p. xxviii  - the                     formed defender of the faith.
and the lamb shall feed together"                    emphasis is North's).                                    But our interest is drawn to
(v. 25).                                                                                                  this postmillennialist's startling
     According to postmillennialist,                          The Error of a Literal                      admission of a literal interpreta-
Christian Reconstructionist Gary                          Interpretation of Prophecy                      tion of Old Testament prophecy.
North, this proves that, when the                         The postmillennial interpreta-                      Does he not know that in this
church aggressively works at                         tion of the passage is erroneous.                    insistence upon a literal interpre-
dominating nations and culture,                      The error is obvious and grievous.                   tation of Old Testament prophecy
there will be a long period of                       It is the error of interpreting Old                  the postmillennial Christian
earthly victory, earthly prosperity,                 Testament prophecy in a literal                      Reconstructionists break with the
and earthly peace for the saints be-                 way, so that the fulfillment of Old                  entire Reformed tradition?  Com-

                                                                                                             September 15,1996/Standard  Bearer/485


menting on the very passage un-                     Does not this postmillennial                    The Impossibility of a Literal
der discussion, Isaiah  65:17ff., John      Christian Reconstructionist see                                         Interpretation
Calvin wrote:                               that the Spirit of Christ speaking                            Whatever Isaiah  65:17ff.  may
                                            in New Testament Scripture gives                      mean, it is not a prophecy of the
  Now the Prophets hold out those           a symbolic, spiritual interpretation                  improvement of the present form
  things which relate to the present        of Old Testament prophecy? The                        of creation; of material houses,
  life, and borrow metaphors from           raising up of the tabernacle of                       fields, and work; of physical life
  them; but it is in order that they        David is not fulfilled in the resto-                  extended to hundreds of years;
  may teach us to rise higher and
  to embrace eternal and blessed            ration of the earthly dominion                        and of the avoidance of mundane
  life. We must not fix our whole           wielded by David's royal line, but                    troubles.
  attention on these transitory bless-      in the spiritual salvation of the                             T h e   f u l f i l l m e n t   o f   I s a i a h
  ings, but must make use of them           Gentiles (cp. Amos  9:ll with Acts                    65:17ff. is not earthly.
  as ladders, that, being raised to         15:16-19).                                                    The prophecy may not be in-
  heaven, we may enjoy eternal and                  G o d 's   c a l l i n g   t h e m   " m y    terpreted literally. The New Tes-
  immortal blessings (Commentary            people" which were not His people                     tament teaching that all prophecy
  on the Book  of  the Prophet              does not refer to earthly Israel, as                  is fulfilled spiritually in Jesus
  Isaiah, vol. 4, Eerdmans, 1956, p.        the literalist must hold, but to the                  Christ, His gospel, and His church
  401).                                     spiritual church of Jew and Gen-                      forbids it.
                                            tile (cp.  Hosea   1,2 with Rom. 9:24-                        It cannot be interpreted liter-
        Expressing, not a Dutch Re-                                                               ally. Gary North cannot interpret
formed idiosyncrasy but the Prot-           26).
                                                    Ezekiel's new temple is not a                 the prophecy literally. To inter-
estant consensus, the great Dutch           physical building that will yet be                    pret the prophecy literally would
Reformed theologian Herman                                                                        mean that literal, earthly, Old Tes-
Bavinck wrote:                              erected on a mound of dirt in the
                                            earthly city of Jerusalem, but the                    tament Jerusalem and its people,
  And this kingdom (of Messiah  -           spiritual body of Jesus Christ (cp.                   the Jews, will be the main delight
  DJE) is sketched by the prophets          Ezek. 40-48 with John  2:18-22 and                    of Jehovah God in the coming Mes-
  in hues and colors, under figures         I Pet.  2:1-10).                                      sianic kingdom (v. 18).
  and forms, which have all been                    The  irenic Bavinck was not too                       Interpreted literally, the pas-
  derived from the historical cir-          severe when he said that to inter-                    sage teaches that nowhere will
  cumstances in which they lived....        pret the prophecy of the Old Tes-                     anyone cry during the "golden
  But into those sensuous earthly           tament literally means that one                       age": not the mother in childbirth,
  forms prophecy puts everlasting           "breaks with Christianity and                         not the child who gets a spanking,
  content.... Prophecy pictures for         lapses back into Judaism."                            not a penitent sinner over his sins,
  us but one single image of the fu-
  ture. And this image is either to                 Christian Reconstructionism                   not a mourner at the deathbed of
  be taken literally as it presents it-     with its avowed literalist interpre-                  a loved one. For "the voice of
  self  - but then one breaks with          tation of Old Testament prophecy,                     weeping shall be no more heard
  Christianity and lapses back into         its binding of all the civil laws that                in her, nor the voice of crying"  (v.
  Judaism - or this image calls for         regulated national Israel upon                        19).
 a very different interpretation            New Testament Christians (if not                              Also, a literal interpretation
  than that attempted by chiliasm           today, then in the coming millen-                     demands that prior to the second
  (millennialism  - DJE).                   nium), and its willingness to im-                     coming of Christ, before the radi-
                                            pose such ceremonies as the di-                       cal renewal of all things, the fierce
This "very different," and correct,         etary laws of the Jews and the garb                   wolf will be friendly with the do-
interpretation of Old Testament             of the Jewish priests upon the                        mestic lamb and that the carnivo-
prophecy is, Bavinck continued,             church of the new dispensation has                    rous lion will eat straw (v. 25).
"symbolic" and "spiritual"  (Tlze           already succumbed to this mortal                      Now the Christian  Reconstruc-
Last Things,  Baker, 1996, pp. 90-          p e r i l .                                           tionists are jolly optimists, as they
98).                                                But postmillennialism gener-                  never tire of telling us. But does
        Does Gary North not know            ally flirts with this horrendous her-                 even the most optimistic of them
that this issue of the literal or spiri-    esy by its identification of the Mes-                 really expect this radical change in
tual interpretation of Old Testa-           sianic kingdom with an earthly                        the animal world before the com-
ment prophecy is the basic issue            kingdom of physical dominion,                         ing of Christ? Will frogs no longer
between dispensational premillen-           material prosperity, and worldly                      eat bugs? Will spiders no longer
nialism (the "rapture theory"),             peace. This was, and is, the hope                     catch flies? Since Iambs  wiIl be
which is the enemy of the Re-               of the Jews (see John 6). The cause                   safe from wolves, and bullocks
formed faith, and Reformed  cov-            is a literal interpretation of Old                    from lions, will lambs and bullocks
e n a n t a l   t h e o l o g y ?           Testament prophecy.                                   also be safe from the saints? Must

486/StandardBearerlSeptember 15,1996


we all become vegetarians in the                                 Nor will this new world come            the saints have deserved by keep-
millennium? But this is demanded                  about by gradual "transforma-                          ing the law.
by a literal interpretation.                     tion," much less transformation "in                           North's interpretation does not
    North, Gentry, and their co-                 response to the ethical transforma-                     do justice to the plain sense of the
horts cannot even explain the glo-                tion of the great portion of man-                      main thought of this important
rious opening words of this impor-               kind," as North explains. In plain                     prophecy, much less explain it lit-
tant prophecy literally: "I create               language, the new world of Isaiah                       erally.
new heavens and a new earth" (v.                  65 will not come into being by the                           Isaiah  65:17ff. is not about the
17). A literal interpretation does               efforts of the church to dominate                      present world, Jerusalem, Jews,
not vaguely and lamely speak of a                 culture and as the effect in history                   long and trouble-free earthly lives,
"fundamental transformation of                    of men's obedience to the law.                        nice houses, good farms, plenty of
the way our world presently                                      But Jehovah God will "create"          money, ease, happy times, and
works," as North does in the quo-                the coming new world. The word                          tame wolves.
tation given in the August, 1996                 in Hebrew is  bara,  the word that                            It is about Jesus Christ, His
issue of the SB.                                  describes the exclusively divine                       church, salvation, eternal life, and
    Isaiah did not prophesy a "fun-               action of calling into existence the                   a new, different world.
damental transformation of the                   things that are not as though they                            It is about a  spirittlal  Christ, a
way our world presently works."                  were.                         By a wonder of divine    @ritual people,  spiritun2  salvation,
He prophesied  n new  world.  Such               power, wisdom, and goodness,                           spirittlnl blessings,  spirit~nl life, and
will be its newness, said the                    comparable to and outstripping                          a  spiritual  world.
prophet, that it will be radically               the wonder of the original creation                           If the prophecy is not about
different from the present world.                 of the heavens and the earth, a                        this, the Jews can have it.
It will be a new world in distinc-               new world will replace the old                                A Christian is not interested.
tion from "the former" world.                    one. This wonder will be an act                                                                 n
                                                 of sheer grace, not something that                                                        - DJE

                                        .  .  .  .  ;-.  <"'  ,,.-5  `;.    ...,     `
                                                                                     ;,.;     .'        1I

                         A Reformecl Voice
                                out of Australia
    A powerful voice in defense of                              The other publication is a little       a response from the Protestant Re-
particular, sovereign grace in the               book of  73  pages,  The Biblical Offer                formed. Connors' "analysis and
preaching of the gospel!                         of  the Gospel.  The author of the                     answer to Rev. K.W. Stebbins'
    A voice that devastates the lat-             book is the Rev.  CJ. Connors. The                     Christ  Freely  Offered in Light of
est effort to corrupt the doctrines              book was published in May of this                      Scripture and the Confessions" is
of grace in Calvinistic circles: the             year.                                                  decisive.
well-meant offer of the gospel!                                 Connors' book is occasioned                    Connors lays bare both the in-
    It is the voice of the Evangeli-             by the book of Australian Presby-                      herently weak and the unreformed
cal Presbyterian Church of Austra-               terian minister, K.W. Stebbins,                        character of Stebbins' doctrine.
lia (EPC).                                       Christ  Freely  Ofleered.  In this 1978                With a Reformed scholar's hon-
    The voice is sounded through                 publication, Stebbins defended the                     esty, the EPC theologian consid-
two recent publications. One is a                well-meant offer of grace, explic-                     ers every important argument of
20-page pamphlet entitled, "Com-                 itly attacking the doctrine of the                     his opponent. With a Reformed
mon Grace: A Paper by the Evan-                  preaching of the gospel maintained                     preacher's procedure, he tests
gelical Presbyterian Church of                   and practiced by the Protestant Re-                    Stebbins' brand of the well-meant
Australia on the Westminster Stan-               formed Churches. Oddly, no one                         offer by Scripture and the creeds.
dards' Position in Relation to Com-              in the PRC responded to Stebbins'                             Stebbins' notion of God's lov-
mon Grace." This paper was is-                   book, even though it was written                       ing pursuit of every sinner is
sued by the presbytery of the EPC                against their view.                                    found wanting: It is ungrounded,
in July, 1995.                                                  There is no longer any need for         unreformed, and insincere.

                                                                                                              September 15,1996/StandardBearerl487


    Connors also clearly and con-             Advocates and defenders of                               I assume that the pamphlet on
vincingly sets forth the "biblical      the well-meant offer abound. They                          "Common Grace" can also be or-
offer," or as we are accustomed to      w i l l   n o t   s u c c e s s f u l l y   i g n o r e    dered from this address.
say, "the external call of the gos-     Connors'  work - not if it falls into                          It would be helpful if some or-
pel." He demonstrates the falsity       the hands of the people.                                   ganization in the United States,
of the charge that denial of the              The book can be obtained                             perhaps the Reformed Book Out-
well-meant offer destroys urgent        from:                                                      let in Hudsonville, MI, would ob-
preaching to all.                              Magazine and Literature                             tain a supply of the books for the
    The little book demands a re-                    Committee of the                              convenience of readers of the SB
sponse from the Rev. Stebbins.           Evangelical Presbyterian Church                           in North America.
    The wider Reformed and Pres-                          of Australia                                 They will like to hear this
byterian community in Australia                        9 Talune Street                             voice.
will have to listen to this voice.               Youngtown, TAS 7249                                   They will also benefit from it.
    So will Calvinists in other                            Australia.                                                                    cl
lands.                                        Price is not indicated.                                                              - DJE




                                        missed a lot that you wrote on the                         the mind of the liberated there
4 Produce a Commentary on               subject.                                                   ought to be "sufficient room for
Matthew 24                                                                 Jewy   Grigsby          various views on the covenant."
                                                                      Cincinnati, OH               Indeed Dr. DeJong boasts that "In
    I am writing to compliment                                                                     fact `Liberated' means that bind-
your excellent series on  amillen-                                                                 ing to one particular view on the
nialism.    As a seminary student       n The Nature of Church Unity                               covenant was explicitly rejected."
who has read and studied exten-                                                                    And that is the crux of this whole
sively on this subject, I find that           The ongoing endeavor by Rev.                         issue. In I Corinthians  1:lO the
your view confirms what I con-          Woudenberg to revisit the disrup-                          apostle Paul commands the church
cluded through my studies inde-         tion of 1953 in a series of articles                       that "ye be perfected together in
pendently. It is a real blessing to     in the  Sfandavd   Beaver   is to be                       the same mind and in the same
me to have a group as learned and       commended. Indeed, for myself I                            judgment" (ASV). The noted New
highly respected for biblical integ-    have found it to be extremely edi-                         Testament commentator R.C.H.
rity as the PRC theologians arrive      fying. However, as I have read                             Lenski comments here, "Paul de-
at the same conclusion that I have.     these articles I can't help but think                      sires that the same mind and the
It shows me that I am not alone in      that maybe we are missing the for-                         same judgment be found in all of
my beliefs.                             est for the trees in the exchange                          the Corinthians and not  divergent
    Being raised in a pre-millennial    between Rev. Woudenberg and                                OY contradictory conclusions.       Yet
church prior to converting to the       Messrs. DeJong and Tuininga. It                            mere harmony and agreement is
Reformed (Presbyterian) faith, I        seems to this reader that the on-                          not Paul's ideal but a  unity  of  right
was always unsettled by the view        going debate centers in the con-                           understanding  and of judgment. This
that attributes everything in Mat-      tent and intention of a private let-                       is the thought that underlies his
thew 24 to the destruction of           ter of Prof. Holwerda and the  not-                        words."
Jerusalem in A.D. 70. To think that     too-subtle suggestion by Messrs.                               Now, as Prof. Engelsma has
we in our age are always going to       DeJong and Tuininga that Revs.                             rightly observed elsewhere, "the
experience smooth sailing, while        Hoeksema and Ophoff were some-                             truth of the covenant lies at the
the Bible clearly warns us to ex-       how guilty of ecclesiastical chica-                        center of all the teachings of Scrip-
pect persecution, is pure fantasy.      nery in the action of the PRC                              ture, error in the doctrine of the
    I hope that someday you will        Synod of 1951 in the adoption of                           covenant will certainly affect other
print a commentary on Matthew           the Declaration of Principles. But                         biblical teachings as well, specifi-
24 that all Reformed churches will      really all this is quite a secondary                       cally the doctrine of sovereign
have available to them. Perhaps         matter.                                                    grace." This being the case, I
you could put all the past writ-              It seems that the fundamental                        would submit it would have been
ings of PR men on this chapter to-      issue here is a defective view of                          sinful  if the Synod of 1951 would
gether into  one  book. Having          the nature of the unity of the vis-                        not have adopted the Declaration
come in contact with the  Standard      ible church on the part of our lib-                        of Principles. For, fact is, there is
Bearer only a year ago, I am sure I     erated brethren. It seems that in                          wide and fundamental difference

488lStandardBearerlSeptember 15,1996


between the covenant conception          disintegration of the churches                     but  ooze voice speaking  "in the
of Rev. Hoeksema and those of the        eventually. As  Lenski notes in his                same mind and  in the same judg-
liberated churches. So serious a         comments on I Corinthians  l:lO,                   ment." That would not have been
matter is this that Rev. Hoeksema        doctrinal differences, "If they. are               the case if Synod had not acted in
declared in print that the view of       allowed to continue, the result                    1951. Today the PRC would be as
the liberated churches was really        must eventually be . . . factions and              confused and aimless  on  the issue
an Arminianizing of the covenant.        rents in the congregation, which                   as the Presbyterian churches are
Now my question to Messrs.               are not only disturbing but also                   today.
DeJong and Tuininga is, how can          destructive in their effect." I ask                    This is not to say that the
a church be faithful to the apos-        D r .   D e J o n g   w h a t   g o o d   a r e    churches handled all things as well
tolic injunction of I Corinthians        churches with many members if                      as they could have in the period
1:lO to be of the same mind and          those churches are filled with fac-                of disruption. Indeed, I think the
the same judgment, to not have di-       tions  and. rents due to doctrinal                 lesson in this period for us today
vergent and contradictory conclu-        disharmony? Surely the present                     is to avoid the very great tempta-
sions, and at the same time have         experience of the CRC answers this                 tion to add significantly and sud-
in the preaching and teaching min-       question all too well. The "liber-                 denly to rather small numbers by
istry of the church radically. dif-      ated churches," far from boasting                  relaxing doctrinal standards. The
ferent views of  the.covenant  ("the     "that binding to one particular                    history of the disruption shows
center of all the teachings of Scrip-    view of the covenant': is rejected,                that we must never give in to the
ture") being propagated? Thus it         ought to repent and give them-                     temptation to bring large numbers
was necessary, and in fact de-           selves that same clear, crisp, doc-                of persons at one sweep into the
manded by Scripture, that Synod          trinal direction that Rev.  Hoek-                  churches by dropping our ecclesi-
of 1951 take the action that it took     sema and Rev. Ophoff gave the de-                  astical guard as it were.          The
to insure that in the PRC one view       nomination so many years ago.                      events of 1951 are far from irrel-
and one view only of the covenant             I would also like to add a per-               evant for us; for as the apostasy of
would be taught to the churches.         sonal note. Over ten years ago                     the institutional church around us
Rev. Hoeksema and Rev. Ophoff,           when our Lord, by His grace, was                   grows we will, I judge, be faced
far from being guilty of "overre-        pleased to call my family and me                   again with the same temptation as
action" and a "highly charged re-        out of the error of the "Reformed                  1949-1951. We will, I pray, be dili-
actionary attempt to shore up            Baptist" persuasion, we had a dif-                 gent to learn from that experience.
Hoeksema's view of the covenant,"        ficult time. It was difficult pre-                     Finally, Dr. DeJong speaks of
in fact exhibited the greatest piety     cisely because in our Presbyterian                 making progress "in Reformed
and concern for Christ's little          circles no view of the covenant was                ecumenicity." I may be misread-
lambs by seeing clearly (even pro-       binding. Yes, those Presbyterian                   ing the brother at this point but
phetically) the great harm that          churches have many more people                     Dr. DeJong seems to imply that
would come if the churches were          on the rolls than our churches                     "Reformed ecumenicity" means,
so broadened as to include a mul-        probably will ever have. But our                   among other things, the institu-
titude of various conceptions of the     inability to become fully per-                     tional organic uniting of various
covenant.    For this they should        suaded on the issue of infant bap-                 segments of the church. This is
have our eternal gratitude.              tism and to have clear and certain                 simply not correct. One may and
    Dr. DeJong argues that, "Had         views of why we practiced it was                   should fellowship with brethren
the brothers been more cautious          due precisely to the fact that no                  from the  same  Reformed back-
and less stringent in their ap-          clear, uniform sound was coming                    ground. We may and should help
proach, they would not have lost         forth from the Presbyterian pulpits                each other in common endeavors.
so many people to the Christian          `on the matter. In I Corinthians                   We must pray for and love one an-
Reformed Church (CRC) and the            1423  the apostle Paul asks, "For if               other. But the call to unity in the
Canadian Reformed Churches."             the trumpet gives an uncertain                     Bible is founded on a doctrinal
But again, such a view flies in the      voice, who shall prepare himself                   unity, and where there is no doc-
face of the Bible's teaching: "Shall     for war?" (ASV). It was only                       trinal unity on major biblical teach-
two walk together, except they           through private correspondence                     ings no organic unity should be
have agreed?" (Amos  3:3, ASV).          with Rev. Engelsma, and reading                    contemplated. It is really the er-
Fact is, "the brothers" did see this     the writings of Prof. Hanko and                    ror of modern ecumenical teach-
scriptural principle and knew only       Rev. Hoeksema, that we were able                   ing to speak of organic unity of
too well that a failure to have har-     to embrace fully infant baptism                    the churches even when serious
mony in the doctrine of the cov-         with clarity and certainty in our                  doctrinal issues are unresolved.
enant would not have resulted in         minds. Why? Because it was no                      Fact is, they never get resolved af-
larger churches but total, all-out       uncertain voice we were hearing                    ter the "unity" finds expression.

                                                                                              September 15,1996/Stanciard'Bearer/489


      Doctrine simply disappears alto-              a biblical perspective, so long as       it doctrine  or  some other standard?
      gether as a consideration. I con-             we differ on the doctrine of the         The liberated brothers, for all the
      sider myself united with my liber-            covenant each of us must main-           dialogue back and forth in the re-
      ated brethren, but in a biblical              tain our own churches.                   cent issues of the SB, do not seem
      sense. I praise our God for them                  So, in conclusion, I do not be-      to want to grapple with this fun-
      and rejoice in their commitment               lieve that the issues here are a pri-    damental question.  CI
      with us to the Three Forms, but at            vate letter and a synod. Rather,                              Mark  L. Brooks
      t.he same time I realize that, from           the real issue here is what consti-                           Pittsburgh, PA
                                                    tutes the unity of the churches? Is

                 ..:  ,,  .,:  ,.    .,
        !F&g#i,A@jGj@                         "            :'           j      "      `.               `h&m&a h?&&g@m@




                           Christian Training (2)*

      The Way in which that' Child                  They are not alike in mental ca-         God's way. We must not be afraid
      must Learn to Go                              pacity. That is why we should not        to bring to the child what it does
              The education must train the          have large classes. The one is  wil-     not understand. That which you
      child in the way in which he                  ful and stubborn and must be bro-        bring it, the child will store away.
      should go.. That clause has been              ken. The other is slow and must          It will come back to him in later
      variously interpreted. The origi-             be spurred on. Another is quick          years, and he will reflect upon it.
      nal reads literally: "according to            in developing, but also in temper,       You must not treat the child as you
      the demand of his way." Because and must be checked. All children                      would the youth. Neither must
      of this literal reading of the  origi-        cannot be educated according to          you treat the youth as if it were a
"i    nal, there are those who say that             one line and method.                     child.
      the meaning is that you must train                So it is with regard to age. The         Yet, important as that may be,
      the child according to his age and            system of grade to grade instruc-        it is not the meaning of the text.
      character, according to his ability,          tion is largely due to that devel-       That is plain from the last part of
      according to his capacity. Now                opment of the child. That is the         the text: "even when he is old he
      that is undoubtedly true. The                 difficulty in the Sunday School.         shall not depart from it." That is,
      child must be trained also in that            The difficulty in the Sunday School      he will not depart from the way in
      respect according to the demand               is that the same material is taught      which you have taught. him to go
      of his way. Children are not all              to all. You cannot bring the same        in childhood. So that the meaning
      alike. They are not alike in age.             material at any age. You would           is that you must train the child in
      They are not alike in character.              not feed a baby course food. But         harmony with the way in which
                                                    that is what we attempt to do spiri-     he must walk in the midst of the
                                                    tually. The child must have it           world.
                                                    mostly in story form. The child              The way of man refers to his
                                                    develops. The imagination is first.      whole life. Scripture often speaks
                                                    To that the education must be            of the life of man as a way. It
                                                    adapted. You must train the child        speaks of that way of man from a
              "This article is the conclusion       even if it does not understand that      twofold point of view. In the first
      of a public lecture by Herman                 which you bring it. The child will       place, it speaks of the way of man
      Hoeksema on Christian education.              commit it to memory even if it           as God has determined that way,
      For the first part of this lecture,           does not understand it. You must         as God sets that way'before him.
      confer  33, September 1, 1996, p.             bring to the child that upon which       In the second place, it speaks of
      463.                                          it will reflect later on. That is        the way of man as man walks that

      490lStandardBearerlSeptember 15,1996


way, from a spiritual-ethical point                            speak of many ways of life. There                       that when he is old he will not de-
of view.                                                      is the way of man in his family                          part from it. The text in the origi-
      In the first sense, the way in-                          life. There is the way of man in                        nal points to a very old man. He
cludes all the sorrow and joy, the                             the church. There is the way of                         goes along with his cane, stooping
adversity and prosperity, that                                man in the world. There is the                           low. Who would think that that
comes upon our way.                                           way of man in his business. There                        old man would still, by virtue of
      In the second sense, the way                            is the way of man as employee.                           the training he received in his
includes three elements. There is                              There is the way of man as em-                          childhood, walk in the way in
the idea of direction, of progress,                           ployer. But in all these ways man                        which he must go? Who would
and of purpose.                 Man does not                  walks according to righteousness                         think that he would still remem-
walk at random. He walks accord-                               or  unrighteousnesss.                                   ber that training? You ask him
ing to a certain standard. He                                         Therefore, to train the child                    what he did yesterday, and he will
walks according to the law of God,                            means that all its training must be                      say,  `!I forgot." But ask him about
or he does not walk according to                               adapted to that purpose  - not                          his training, about the precepts in
that law. He walks in the way of                              m e r e l y   i n   t h e   h o m e   a n d   t h e      which he was instructed in his
righteousness, or in the way of                                church, but in the school as well.                      early age, and he will tell you, "In
unrighteousness.                                              The training in the school must be                       spite of all the opposition, in spite
      As there is the idea of direc-                           adapted to teach the child that the                     of all the powers that have tried
t i o n ,   s o   t h e r e   i s   t h e   i d e a   o f     way in which it must go in every                         to draw me away from that way, I
progress. Man does not stand still.                            sp.here  of life is the fear of the                     still walk in the way in which I
He is constantly developing. He                               Lord. That is the purpose of the                         should go, by virtue of the train-
never ceases to develop. He never                              Christian school. All the rest must                     ing I received in childhood."
ceases to change. The way of righ-                            be banished. There is no excuse                                You say, that is not always
teousness, or of unrighteousness,                             for anything else.                                       true? You say, some that are
is a way of progress.                                                 Do not say, that is impossible.                  trained in the way they should go
      So it is with the purpose of                            Do not say that the Christian                            never walk in that way? My an-
man's way. The purpose is God,                                 school is a school with the Bible.                      swer is that Scripture never has a
His honor, His glory, and His king-                                   The Christian school is a                        view to all, but is always particu-
dom; or the purpose is corruption,                             school, or should be, where the                         lar. It does not mean that your
self, man's own honor and                                               fear of the Lord permeates all                 training can cause anyone to walk
glory and position. The  des-                                             the branches of instruction.                 in the right way. You must have
tination of the way is life,                      The training             It is not a school that is                  a good man, to teach him to walk
the perfect man of God,                           in the school             j u s t   l i k e   t h e   p u b l i c    in the way he should go. You
thoroughly furnished                                     must be            school in its teaching of                  must have a wise man, to produce
unto all good works; or                                  adapted              history and geography,                   a wise man. But the purpose of
the end is death, outer                                  to teach              etc., but that differs in               the text is that, if God's people
darkness.                                                the child             this respect, that it                   train their children upon whom
      That is man's way.                          that the way                 opens with prayer. It                   rests the promise, that training the
      Now the training of                                in which             is not an institution to                 child will never forget, and when
the child must be with                              it must go                save souls. It is not a                  he is old he will never depart from
a view to the way in                                     in every             place where the child                    it. He will have the fruit of that
which it must go. That                            sphere of life             learns to sing hymns. If                  training until the day of his death.
is true of all training. The                        is the fear              that were all, the church                 In the day of Christ you will be
world also trains her  chil-                       of the Lord.            could very well take care                   able to say, "See, I and the chil-
dren in the way in which                            "                     of it. If it is merely an ad-                dren which thou hast given me."
she conceives that they should                                          dition, it is not worth the                    0
go. So also it is the calling of the                           cost.
people of God to train their chil-                                    No, but the Christian school is
dren. It is their calling to train                            based on the fear of the Lord. It
their children in such a way that                             must breathe the fear of the Lord.
they become exercised, and they                               And in all the talk and actions of
must supply the means by which                                the teachers, the fear of the Lord
the child may be trained in the                               must become manifest. We must
way it must go. The way in which                              remember that.
it must go is the fear of the Lord.
      Now remember, that is appli-                            The Divine Assurance
cable to every way of life. We can                                    Then we have this assurance

                                                                                                                            September 15,1996/Stanflard  Bearer/491


   -lWh@~  .~~~~,~~~~~~~~~,~~~~~   liib#&,;,,,  `,,;
                          .;; . .         `,.  .,,,.  .,;  .L ji    .`_                                                 &i/m,  hi!&wj@@@h  &ii&&g&.


                                                The Reformedl Family:


        "... receive instruction, that thou                                wore ecru-colored silk blouses and         gether with yards of Scotch Tape.
        lnayest   be wise in thy latter  end."                             pleated wool skirts, and she tied               Every once in a while my hus-
                            Proverbs  19:20                                scarves sassily over her sweaters.         band pulls my copious junior high
                                                                                   She wore fashionable pumps.        history outlines out of his file. We
        I Remember Miss Reitsma                                                    She never raised her voice; yet    both agree that the students in this
                                                                           she had the control of a drill ser-        country school lacked no good
        There is a certain danger in                                       geant.                                     thing. We had an exemplary edu-
writing about a person who has                                                     And her eyes, the corners          cation. Miss Reitsma embraced the
died. That danger is heightened                                            crinkled and they sparkled when            pedagogy that the object of teach-
when one loved the person now                                              she laughed  - and she laughed a           ing a student is to enable that stu-
deceased. One tends to immortal-                                           lot.                                       d e n t   t o   g e t   a l o n g   w i t h o u t   a
ize that person, or, at least, to eu-                                              In short, she was everything       teacher. She was unquestionably
logize him. One sees only the                                              our mothers were not.                      influential for the ministers, pro-
good, the strong and likable fac-                                                  Miss Reitsma had beautiful         fessors, and teachers who came out
ets; one is blinded to the character                                       handwriting, and when we arrived           of her classes  - I count seven out
flaws and the negatives of that per-                                       at school each morning, the black-         of the 21 students in grades eight
son.                                                                       board was filled end to end with           and nine.
        I write this reminiscence with                                     all our assignments, lengthy out-               Try as I can, I scarcely remem-
my blinders on.                                                            lines, and notes. This was the era         ber one individual lesson that Miss
    I was an eighth grade student,                                         before copying machines. We stu-           Reitsma taught. I only recall how
gap-toothed and gawky when I                                               dents wrote and copied, and took           eagerly I looked forward to school
first came under the tutelage of                                           notes all day long, and my third           each day; how good she made you
Miss Alice Reitsma in 1955. She                                            finger on the right hand still bears       feel about yourself; how kind and
had come to Hope PRCS as its ad-                                           an extra little pad of flesh with a        patient she was, especially to stu-
ministrator and junior high teacher                                        callus on it.                              dents of lesser abilities; how en-
in 1950 from our Christian school                                                  We `memorized line after line      thusiastically she taught her
in Redlands. We were rural kids,                                           of poetry and scores of  Psalter           courses; how happy she always ap-
and many of the raw-boned ninth                                            numbers, which we also wrote for           peared  i even when breast can-
grade boys who went up to the                                              penmanship. Every Friday after-            cer viciously attacked her.
front to ask her a question  - or                                          noon we sang from the "yellow                   Once every month or so, Miss
just to be noticed by her  - tow-                                          book" of spirituals and patriotic          Reitsma would invite a local PR
ered over her.                                                             songs. We had no formal school             minister to come and speak to us
    That first day in class, I stud-                                       choir, but our love for singing is         junior high students. We listened
ied her well.                                                              shown yet today in the church              to Rev. Heys, Rev. Harbach, Rev.
    She was single.                  s                                     choirs and professional singers,           Blankespoor, Rev. Lubbers, Rev.
    She was blond.                                                         members who passed through                 Lantin.g,   R e v .   H a n k o ,   R e v .
    She was shapely and trim.                                              Miss Reitsma's capable hands. We           McCollam,  Rev. H. Veldman, Rev.
    She was a smart dresser who                                            engaged in formal debates, polish-         Ophoff. More than once we lis-
                                                                           ing our inherent argumentative             tened to the venerable Rev. Vos
                                                                           skills. `Without a doubt,  ourargu-        from Hudsonville PR Church. Be-
                                                                           ments shed more heat than light;           sides stimulating our love for spiri-
                                                                           nevertheless, skills of logic and          tual things, this helped us become
                                                                           rhetoric were encouraged. The              acquainted with our ministers. We
Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in                                       time-lines we made were lengthy            peppered them with questions,
the Protestant Reformed Church  of                                         and thorough, printed by hand on           and drank deeply of the cup of
South Holland, Illinois.                                                   ordinary `typing paper, taped to-          wisdom which they offered.  Ac-

492iStandardBearerlSeptember 15,1996


cording to my best judgment, Miss         she had  been.haggling  call out,                    would leave the classroom in pain,
Reitsma pioneered the present-day         " C o m e   b a c k ,   B l o n d i e !   C o m e    telling the students to sing loudly
practice in our schools to hold           back!"                                               so they would not be able to hear
regular chapels for the student                When Miss Reitsma stepped                       her cries in the hallway. But in
body.                                     out on our sandburred playground                     between the songs, the students
    Undoubtedly, Miss Reitsma             - infrequently, I might add, due                     could hear the agony she was in.
was also the innovator of the  all-       to her heavy teaching schedule and                   She remembers the wail of the am-
school program. She fine-tuned            that blackboard she felt compelled                   bulance jouncing up the gravel
this activity to an art form, com-        to fill up for the afternoon session                 driveway of school to carry her be-
plete with narrators and  hand-           - everyone batted a little more                      loved teacher away. Breast can-
painted banners conveying the             briskly, teeter-tottered a little more               cer had inexorably wasted her
theme. She taught us songs we             rapidly, jump-roped a little more                    body from its onslaught. seven
were totally unworthy of singing;         agilely, and pumped the swing a                      years earlier. This was 40 years
she gave us speeches to recite more       little higher. She motivated kids                    ago, and very little research had
worthy of senators. Nothing but           indoors or outdoors, Such was her                    been done on this debilitating dis-
the best for this little country          talent.                                              ease. I had occasion to remember
school. And we rose to the occa-               Eminently qualified for teach-                  my dear teacher when I wrestled
sion. Many parents will recall the        ing, Miss Reitsma was above all                      with my own demons with breast
program given in Hudsonville              inspirational. She motivated us                      cancer.
Church where all the students             kids to think and respond above                           I went to visit her at her home.
came in at once, using all the            and beyond that which we our-                        This vibrant, energetic teacher lay
aisles, singing full throttle:            selves thought possible. And, isn't                  weak and wasted, her pallor at one
                                          this what teaching is all about?                     with the white, crisp sheets. Even
    We're marching to Zion,               Anyone can assign pages, parrot                      those wonderful green eyes were
    Beautiful, beautiful Zion;            teachers' manuals, and hand out                      robbed of vitality. I'm told that
    We're marching upward to              detention slips. But to challenge                    on one occasion a group of us stu-
         Zion,                            students to dig deeper, think more                   dents stood around her bed and
    That beautiful city of God.           broadly, and reach higher is the                     sang for her. Mercifully, I remem-
                                          mark of a classic teacher. To give                   ber nothing of this.
    The School Board could have           students roots and wings signals a                        Quoting from the  Hope Echoes:
doubled tuition that night, and the       real teacher. Miss Alice Reitsma                     September 14, 1952: Miss Dykstra
parents would have cheerfully             was a real teacher.                                          substituted today because
paid it.                                       I have attended school for                              Miss Reitsma went to the
    Miss Reitsma could teach, she         many years. Almost all my teach-                             hospital for an operation.
could inspire . . . and she was a         ers were above average. I remem-                     S e p t e m b e r   1 8 ,   1 9 5 2 :    Mrs.
head-turner. I saw farm boys tuck         ber them with fondness. Many, I                              Stuursma came today to take
in their shirts, tie their shoe laces,    even love. But Alice Reitsma was                             Miss Reitsma's place for
slick back their hair, and act just a     peerless. She came to Hope School                            some time.
bit more like a gentleman when            "for such a time as this" (Esther                    December 19, 1952: Miss Reitsma
she was around. I saw grown men           4:14b).                                                      has been teaching afternoons
trip over their own feet in an ef-             It is a credit to the confidence                        for 2 weeks and will start full
fort to be chivalrous. It was amus-       parents had in her that she was                              time Monday.
ing, really. I can imagine women          able to show the movie "Drums                        November  4,1953:  Had a big treat
felt more than a little threatened        Along the Mohawk" for our his-                               today. Miss Reitsma bought
by her. And this didn't  escape  us       tory class  - a practice not com-                            us caramel apples because
astute teenagers. We had an eye           mon in our Protestant Reformed                               we sang so well at our  Ref-
for that sort of thing. The late          schools  - with not so much as a                             ormation,Day   P r o g r a m .   '
Sietze Buning would have called           raised eyebrow from our parents.                     September 2, 1954: Rev. Harbach
it  ?%rpaleanie."                         I remember how she held her hand                             teaches us in the afternoon
    I remember our ninth grade            over the lens when the husband                               and Miss Reitsma in the
class trip to Chicago. One of our         and wife in the film went to bed.                            morning.
excursions included a walk down           How her eyes danced with  mis-                       January 17, 1958: Miss Reitsma
the now defunct Maxwell Street.           chief as we kids called out our pro-                         wasn't at school today, and
Every foreign merchant snapped to         tests!                                                       we received the news that
when she walked by. Teachers                   My sister recalls the long ill-                         she is in the hospital for sur-
weren't supposed to look this way!        ness which plagued Alice Reitsma.                            gery. This makes us all feel
I can still hear the Jew with whom        She recalls how Miss Reitsma                                 very sad and serious.

                                                                                                  September 15,1996/Stanctard  Bearer1493


March 17, 1958: We have been                familiar hymn "He Leadeth Me"               The thought of opening day
      having substitute teachers..,.        come to my mind:                          without an assignment for myself
      We were happy  .to see Miss             His faithful follower I would be        on the teaching staff at Hope quite
      Reitsma well enough to visit            For by His hand He leadeth me.          overwhelms me at times. Often
      school today. She wore the                                                      during the summer months I have
      white jacket that the Hope              I've always tried to teach you          contemplated this day, sometimes
                                            that, and now I'm trying to teach         with hope, sometimes with fear,         -
      pupils gave her, and treated          it to myself.                             sometimes with the prayer  - "0
      us all to paddle pops.                                                          Lord, let me teach  - any grades,
April 8, 1959: Everybody is seri-             September is a month in which           any conditions -just give me the
      ous and it's hard to work.          good teachers everywhere take de-           strength to teach once more." But
      Miss Reitsma fell this morn-        light. The beginning of a new               opening day is here and the Lord        '
      ing and had to be taken to          school year with its fresh hopes            has shown me the way. He has
      the hospital.                                                                   also given  the necessary grace. I
                                          and aspirations is hard to repli-
    In response to the dedication                                                     used to consider the words -that
                                          cate. Pencils and erasers, note-
of the Hope                                                                           God gives grace as needed  - a
                 Echoes  to her that      books and brand-new color cray-             handy phrase which people said
spring, Miss Reitsma penned:              ons, and "children's faces holding          to each other when nothing else
                                          wonder like a cup"  - something             seemed appropriate. But it really
    When on that final day at             this good comes only once a year.           is true. It is an actual experience.
  school, I lay in the hall on our            In September of 1959, Miss
  little army cot with the teachers                                                     On December 21, 1959, at 5:00
  standing helplessly around and          Reitsma realized that she would
  the pupils filing mystified to their    not be able to teach that year, and       A.M.,  Miss Reitsma died at the age
  classrooms (mine without an in-         quite likely never again.  ' Here is      of 41 years. No bells tolled, no
  structor), the thought struck me        the final paragraph of a letter filled    banners waved, no trumpets
  squarely that for this year at least    with information about the com-           sounded. At least, none that we
  my teaching days were over....          ing school year, written to her con-      could see or hear. Cl
  Many times the words of the old         stituency in the  Hope Highlights:





                                                               etter to the
                                                                Nobility:

Dear Esteemed Sirs:                       noble than those in Thessalonica          of all kings and Lord of all lords.
    In this letter I would address        (Acts  17:lOff.).                         And, well-born of the Holy Spirit
a matter which, you have indi-                Indeed, they were of a differ-        of God, they were also well-bred
cated, is of utmost concern to you,       ent sort of nobility. The Bereans         of Him through His sanctifying
and to those of your  estate.             were truly noble. They were truly         power and divine tutelage.
I It concerns Scripture Study,            honorable. Their character and                These Bereans could not help
which, as at the first, you have          virtue were sterling.                     but show their nobility. They did
continued to show is your joy and             How did they get this way?            not do this by flaunting earthly
delight. Indeed, you have shown           What was their noble line, their          wealth and attending public events
yourself to be like those Bereans.        heritage, their breeding, the source      with great pomp and pageantry.
    They, you recall, were more           of their nobility? The answer, we         No, there was just one thing, an
                                          know, is that these noble men, and        entirely unworldly thing, which
                                          honourable women, not a few,              evidenced their nobility. And that
Rev. Dick is pastor  of Grace Protes-     were born of God. Their noble line        was this: their attachment to God.
tant Reformed Church  of  Standale,       could be traced directly to heaven.       This was especially seen in their
Michigan.                                 Their Father was and is the King          being captive to God's Word.


Drawn by cords of love into the           lies. They did this in societies of     their love and attachment to God.
blessed life and society of the           believers. They did this on Sun-        This then they would do in their
triune God, delighting daily in           day, and every day of the week.         untiring quest to draw nigh unto
spiritual communion with their            They did this from September to         their Redeemer.
King and Father, God, these Chris-        May, and also during the summer             The mark of Berean nobility
tian nobles simply loved God's            months. There was no stopping           was a searching of the Scriptures.
Word! They loved to hear Father           them!                                   You, esteemed brethren, are such
speak. They loved to hear His cov-            Why did they so search the          nobility  - as believers. You are
enant secrets, His promises, His          Scriptures? Because, in the first       the true nobility of the land. Yours
truth as it is in Jesus, the gospel of    place, they understood that this        is Christian nobility. You are
salvation by grace only, by faith         was how God communicates His            prophets, priests, and kings of the
only, in Christ only. They would          will and gospel to human beings.        Most High God. *Your delight is
know and submit to the decrees            They recognized, as so few do to-       believing Bible study: for the
of the Most High Noble of nobles.         day, that the Scriptures are the        Bible, to you, is the light revealing
There was a power in them, even           revelation of God to His church.        the Father, the Son, and the Holy
the power of the living God, com-         And even in those days of the           Spirit, and the life in Christ now,
pelling them to hear, to know, to         early New Testament church,             and that is to come.
revere, to delight in, and to trust       when God was pleased, in the es-            You realize you must continue
God's Word.                               tablishing of the church, to con-       to search. The prosperity of your
   1 That is why, when Paul came          firm the word by miracles, the          soul, and of the heart and soul of
preaching to Berea, these noble           Bereans recognized the primacy of       your religion and that of your chil-
Bereans attached themselves to            the Word.     They were not like        dren and churches depends on it.
Paul and hung on every word he            those spiritists who say they can       This is a crucial way God has or-
spoke. They had been remade by            commune with God by circum-             dained for, His own to be estab-
God to do so. They were born to           venting the written Word, or that       lished and built up: searching the
drink the milk of the Word and to         there are revelations today apart       Scriptures!
eat its meat, born to receive mes-        from the Scriptures (I smite their          And how needed today! There
sages from heaven. And so they            spirit on the snout!). The Bible,       was a time when the Word of God
received the Word, Acts tells us.         for them, was the source of all         was scarce. Now this is true all
They received it with all readiness       light. The Spirit  of the Word  was,    the more. It is scarce via corrupt
of mind. There was no hesitation          for them as for us, the only  Holy      translations of the Bible. It is
on their part, no doubts. Nor did         Spirit.                                 scarce through false preachers and
they receive it to debate with that           And search they did, in the         preaching. It is scarce due. to a
Word, to criticize it. Rather, they       second place, for confirmation of       self-proclaimed nobility:           the
received it by faith, humbly, grate-      what Paul said about the Word.          "Christian intelligentsia," who
fully, with great expectations that         They wanted to see for them-          liken Scripture to mythology and
they would be blessed by that             selves, and not just because a          ordinary literature, and who de-
Word, and eager to submit to this         preacher told them, that Jesus          clare themselves and themselves
revelation of God's will for them.        Christ was the fulfillment of           alone, to be able to interpret the
    And they searched. They               prophecy. Not that they despised        Scriptures and to find in them the
searched spiritually, prayerfully,        Paul's teaching  - for then they        real, historical Jesus and His real
as Jacob-princes seeking the bless-       would never have listened to him.       gospel. But, as well,  Scripture-
ing of God upon them in their             But they had received the anoint-       searching is scarce. No one, or
quest for God's light and commun-         ing of the Spirit-teacher, and so       very few, are searching the Scrip-
ion through the Word.                     would go to the Word themselves.        tures! If there is study, it is easy
    And then, prayerfully, they ex-       They would not let a priest, a          - simply to confirm one's own
amined the Scriptures. They pored         preacher, or a pope usurp their         prejudices, and not to discern the
over them. They scrutinized them,         own noble office of all believers!      truth. If there is study it is non-
comparing Scripture with Scrip-               But then, too, they knew that       chalant, haphazard, irregular  -
tures. They did this daily, regu-         Scripture study was important that      reflecting on the priorities and
larly. Their Bibles, if they had had      they themselves might be con-           worldliness of our age. If there is
personal copies, would have be-           firmed in the faith. The Christian      study it is to criticize  - man
come worn with use, and they,             nobility of Berea recognized that       showing he would have the last
very familiar with the Bible's gos-       searching the Scriptures was a          word. If there is study it is cold,
pel message. They searched! They          means' God gave for strength of         mechanical, lifeless  - indicative of
did this on their own, personally.        faith, and that they might increase     dead orthodoxy or killing apostasy
They did this, no doubt, as fami-         in the knowledge of God and in          resident in the churches.

                                                                                    September 15,1996/Standard  Bearer1495


      And you? Christian nobility, I                  Scripture study at home and in the                                SEARCH THE
write that you should persevere in                    church, for devotions, formal stud-                    S - ystematically
your noble quest of the Word. The                     ies, or to enliven your table talk. I                       Cb- learly
Spirit, I know, is willing, but the                   realize that I am a lowly Protes-                                 R  - egularly
flesh is weak! Persevere! Desire                      tant monk, and the least of all the                                I - ntelligently
the Word as the deer panting af- --=-Christian  nobility. But, God help-                                                        P  - rayerfully
ter water brooks. As the babe on                      ing me, I. would gladly help you                                                T  - rustingly
the breast. As the saved sinner.                      in your noble occupation.                                                             U  - ntiringly
As becoming your nobility!                                 Let us go on then. For refor-                                                          R - esolutely
      In conclusion, I herewith offer                 mation. For continuing reforma-                                                                   E - nthusiastically
you my services in a series of ar-                    tion. For we either go forward, or                                                                      S - eriously*
ticles in this noble magazine. It                     we go back to Babylon. And if                          *          The author of this acrostic is
will be found in a column called                      the latter must be, give me death                      unknown to me. I found it taped
"Search the Scriptures." Use these                    instead.                                               to my dear Katy's well-worn Bible!
articles, if you like, to further your                     Here I stand. And you?                                                                                                                                 cl
                                                                          M.L.  (in spiriti), 1996


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                                                                                                                  -_           .`.r.`.  :  ,Y',  ,:*\  r.  .:.>~..i+   ,.,.q.   ?;...I'.   .'    `..;::.`? `.  .>",~



Evangelism Activities                                 one-year subscription given to any                     http://bul.eecs.umich.edu/
    The Evangelism Committee of                       w h o   e x p r e s s e d   a n   i n t e r e s t .    -phillipv/dad/homepage/.  A Mr.
our Hudsonville, MI PRC recently                      Hudsonville felt this was a good                       Dennis Lee is also beginning such
received an interesting letter from                   way to help the community around                       a work for our sister churches in
a Mr. B. Bassiliades, the editor of                   them become familiar with our                          Singapore. If you would like to
a Greek Christian magazine en-                        churches and our beliefs.                              see his efforts, check it out at
titled,  Tychicus.  Mr. Bassiliades                        The congregation of the Hope                      http://www.iti.gov.sg/staff/dlee/
wrote that Rev. Gritters' messages                    PRC in Redlands, CA, through the                       ercs.html.
prepared under the general title,                     efforts of their Evangelism Com-
"The Family; Foundations are                          mittee, prepares a monthly  Re-                        Denominational Activities
Shaking," had been chosen to be                       formed Witness  newsletter. The title                             The evening of August 15, at
translated into Greek and pub-                        of July's letter was, "Archaeology                     our Hope PRC in Walker, MI, Rev.
lished as articles in this magazine                   and the Bible." It was written by                      R. Dykstra was installed into the
for the benefit of the spiritual                      Phil Climer. Hope now sends this                       office of professor of theology in
brotherhood in Greece.                                newsletter to about 250 people ev-                     our churches' seminary.                                                                Prof.
      This August, Hudsonville's                      ery month.                                             Hanko led the worship service,
Evangelism Committee, along with                           T o d a y   G o d   g i v e s   u s ,   a s       taking as his text the first two
many volunteers from  Hudson-                         churches, many different means to                      verses of II Timothy 2. Rev. Dale
ville's congregation, were also                       broadcast the truth of the gospel,                     Kuiper, president of our Theologi-
busy for the week of the 19th - 24th                  and we do well to  stay in touch                       cal School Committee, read the
staffing a booth at the Hudsonville                   with these. One such means is the                      form for installation. We also add
Fair. Plans called for the handing                    ever-growing Internet.                  In our         here that, due to the fact that Prof.
out of informational literature                       churches, Phil VanBaren, son of                        Dykstra plans to remain as a mem-
about the PR churches and their                       Rev. and Mrs. G. VanBaren of our                       ber of the Hope congregation and
doctrines. Orders were also taken                     Loveland, CO congregation, is do-                      will preach weekly and teach Mon-
for some of the books that are                        ing graduate work in computer sci-                     day evening catechism there, no
available through the  R'FPA,  as                     ence. This knowledge has enabled                       formal farewell program was
well as Hudsonville's own book-                       him to prepare a  "homepage".                          planned.
store.                                                w h i c h   o u r   c h u r c h e s   c a n   u s e               Staying with our Seminary for
      Past issues of this magazine                    through the Loveland congrega-                         one more news item, we note that
were also on display, with a free                     tion.                                                  Prof. D. Engelsma has played a key
                                                           This is, definitely a worthwhile                  role in the publication of the.first
                                                      place to go on the WWW. There                          E n g l i s h - l a n g u a g e   e d i t i o n   o f
Mr.  Wigger is a member  of  the Prot-                is much detail about the Reformed                      Herman Bavinck's  The Last Things:
e s t a n t   R e f o r m e d    C h u r c h   o f    faith and plenty of things to down-                    Hope  for  This World and the Next.
Hudsonville, Michigan.                                load if interested. The address is:                    Bavinck  (.1854-1921)  wrote this

496/StandardSearer/September 15,1996


study of biblical eschatology as                                                       s p o n s o r   t h e   t r a n s l a t i o n   o f                             the Grandville, MI PRC, preached
part of his Reformed Dogmatics.                                                       Bavinck's entire Reformed Dog-                                                   at the Atwood CRC in Atwood, MI
This is the first time this section                                                    matics.              This work is available                                     on Sunday, July 21 in conjunction
of his work has been published in                                                      through Baker Book House.                                                       with the celebration of the 100th
English.                  Prof. Engelsma is trea-                                                                                                                      anniversary of that church. Rev.
surer of the Dutch Reformed                                                            Young People's Activities                                                       Spriensma is a former pastor of the
Translation Society which spon-                                                                On the weekend of July 26-27,                                           Atwood CRC.
sored the translation .of this clas-                                                   the young people of the Randolph,                                                       The Hope, Walker, MI PRC has
sic. This society draws its mem-                                                       WI PRC were able to enjoy a camp-                                               formed a trio from which to call
bership from the Christian Re-                                                         ing and rafting outing.                                                         another pastor. That trio is made
formed Church, the Reformed                                                                    The congregation of our First                                           up of the Revs.  denHartog,  Key,
Church of America, the PRC, the                                                        PRC in Holland, MI was invited                                                  and Koole.
Heritage Netherlands Reformed                                                          to attend a slide presentation on
Churches, and the Free Reformed                                                        July 24 of their Young People's trip
Church.                                                                                to the San Luis Valley, made back                                               F o o d - f o r   IhouBht
             The publication of  The Last                                              in mid-June when they spent time                                                        "You can do more than pray,
Things  is the first fruit of the                                                      with our home missionary there.                                                 after you have prayed; but you
DRTS's   e f f o r t s .   N e x t   w i l l   b e                                                                                                                     cannot do more than pray until
Bavinck's treatment of creation.                                                       Minister Activities                                                             you have prayed."
The society hopes eventually to                                                                Rev. A. Spriensma, pastor of                                                                              - John Bunyan  Q



    M!!EX

Text                                                Author            Page             Text                                    Author                 Page             Text                                            Author             Page

                           Textual Index
Genesis 1:27; 2:18ff.. ...... HCH ........ 110                                         Isaiah 65:17-25 ................... DJE ....... .437                            John 20:11-18.. .................... HH ........291
Genesis 2 .......................... HCH .......... 67                                 Matthew 8:23-27.. .............. JDS ....... .243                               Acts  6:3 .................................. GS ........ 155
Deuteronomy 23:21-23 .... CJT .......... 99                                            Matthew 11:28 .................. JAH ....... .363                               I Corinthians 1:23 ............. HH ........445
II Samuel 7:18, 19.. ............. CH ............ 3                                   Matthew 24 ......................... DJE ....... .284                           I Corinthians 1:23 ............. HH ....... .467
Psalm 2 .............................. AdH ....... .352                                Matthew 24.. ....................... DJE ........319                            I Corinthians 3:7 ............ MCD .......... 79
Psalm 2 .............................. AdH ........450                                 Matthew 24 ......................... DJE ........ 341                           I Corinthians 15:55-57 ...... CH ....... .267
Psalm  5:3 ........................... MBL ........ 107                                Matthew 24.. ....................... DJE ....... .365                           II Corinthians 4:15 ............. CH .......... 75
Psalm 103:1, 2 ................. MCD ....... .219                                      Luke 2:15 ............................. HH ........ 123                         II Corinthians 8:1-7 ........ RDD ............ 8
Psalm 139:14.. .................... JAH ....... .195                                   Luke 12:35-38 ................... GVB ....... .411                              Ephesians 5:ll ................. MBL ....... .474
Psalm 145:9a, 20b.. ............ HH .......... 27                                      John 5:19-47 ....................... CJH .......... 20                          II Timothy 2:19 .................. HH ....... .387
Proverbs 14:ll ................. MBL ....... .326                                      John 5:19-47 ....................... CJH .......... 65                          Hebrews 4:15, 16.. .......... MDV ....... .315
Proverbs 17:6.. .................... JDS ....... .435                                  John 6:1-21 ......................... CJH ........ 131                          James 4:13-15 ...................... CH ........ 147
Proverbs 19:20 ................. MBL ....... .492                                      John 6:22-40 ....................... CJH ........ 153                           I Peter l:l, 2.. ....................... KK ....... .339
Proverbs 27:6.. ...................... MJ ....... .483                                 John 6:41-59 ....................... CJH ........ 189                           I John  4:l ............................ SRK ........357
Isaiah  63:9 .......................... BLG .......... 51                              John 6:60-71 ....................... CJH ....... .210                           I John  4:l ............................ SRK ....... .403
Isaiah 65:17ff. ..................... DJE ........485                                  John 7:1-31 ......................... CJH ....... .255

T i t l e                                                                    Author Reviewer Page                            Title                                                                    Author Reviewer Page
                                                   Book Reviews                                                              God's Hammer: The Bible and
Art  of Biblical History, The  .,...... V. Philips Long . . . HH . . . . 284                                                          Its Critics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gordon H. Clark . . . DJE . . . . 143
.Beauty  of God's                                                                                                            John Gill and the Cause  of  God
             Holiness, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas L. Trevethan . . . HH . . . . 118                                       and Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .George M. Ella . . . DJE . . . . 331
Biblical Offer of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CJ. Connors . . . DJE . . . . 487                                   Leadership Handbook of Practical Theology: Outreach
Cambridge Platform  .,..,...  Darrell Todd Maurina . . . DJE . . . . 262                                                              and Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . James D. Berkley . RDD . . . . 142
Cornelius VanTil: An Analysis                                                                                                Our  Reformed  Church
             of  His Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John M. Frame . . . DJE . . . . 379                      Service Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .G. VanRongen  . RDD . . . . 478
Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine                                                                                        Saved By Grace: A Study of the Five Points of
             of Justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.C. Sproul . RDD . . . . 286               Calvinism . . . . . . Ron Cammenga, Ron Hanko . AdH  . . . . 214
Fighting the Good Fight: A Brief History                                                                                     Seasons of Refreshing: Evangelism and Revivals
             of the OPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hart/Muether . . . HH . . . . 381             in America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Keith J. Hardman  . . . HH . . . . 333
God Meant It for Good: The Covenant 8 the                                                                                    Secession, Doleantie, and
             Church Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ted Hoogsteen . . . DJE . . . . 261                       Union: 1834-1892 ,.............. Hendrik Bouma . . . DJE . . . . 213

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Title                                                                       Author Reviewer Page                              Title                                                              Author Reviewer Page

 Sermons on Galatians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Calvin . . . DJE . . . . 453                      To Glorify  and Enjoy God: A Commemoration of the
 Songs of  Zion, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Bushnell . . . HH . . . . 118                                     Westminster Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carson/Hall . . . HH . . . . 286
 Sz.&xitting  to One Another out of Reverence for Christ:                                                                      When the Foundation Crumbles: Why Did I
         Eight Sermons on Marriage and                                                                                                 Leave the CRC? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edward Heerema . . . DJE . . . . 190
         the Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .P.G. Feenstra . . . DJE . . . . 117     Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church
 Summoning Up Remembrance . . . . . . . . . . . . Henry Stob . . . DJE . . . . . . 93                                                  and the Last Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Hunt . . . DJE . . . . 236
Thomas Paine: Apostle of
         Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack Fruchtman . . . DJE . . . . 237

Title                                                                                           Author Page                   Title                                                                               Author Page

                                                Title Index                                                                   Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism ..... ......... DJE ........ 365
About the Brisbane EPC ......................................... DH ........ 199                                              Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism .............. DJE ....... .437
Abundant Thanks ...................................................... CH .......... 75                                       Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism .............. DJE ....... .485
Action and Reaction to the                                                                                                    Development of the Computer ........................... GVB ........299
    "Women in Office" Issue.. ................................ GVB .......... 69                                              Development of the Covenant of Grace:
Adam, God's Covenant Friend ............................ SRK ........469                                                         A Rich, Consistent Reformed View ................. CJT ..........41
All .............................................................................. DHK ........ 138                           Doctoral Study of Hoeksema's Theology ......... RJM ........ 176
And Now: Homosexuality.. ................................ GVB ........ 114                                                    Does God Desire that the "Offer" be Received
Annual Meeting of the RFPA  -                                                                                                    by All Sinners? ...................................................... DJE ........ 173
    Secretary's Report .................................................. HK .......... 63                                    Domestic Mission Committee, Report .................. DD ........376
Banner of  Truth   Against Itself, The ......................... CP ........ 399                                              Down the Slippery Slope.. .................................... GVB ........400
Baptism of Children of Non-attenders ............. GVB ........ 178                                                           Dutch Church Breaks Ties with CRC ................ GVB ........ 161
Being a Crown of Glory to Our Family.. ............ JDS ....... .435                                                          Elders and the Care of the Congregation.. ....... RDD ....... .444
Bethlehem's Hidden Revelation ........................... HH ........ 123                                                     Enduring Apostolic Address, The ........................ KK ........ 339
Birth of the Only Begotten, The ............................ DJE ........ 126                                                 Enemy Within .......................................................... MBL ....... .474
BRF Family Conference in England.. ................... DJE ........ 197                                                       Entering the New Year ............................................. CH ........ 147.
Burn or Bury? ......................................................... RGM ....... .276                                      Esteeming the Elders Very Highly for their
Called to Come and Be Refreshed ...................... JAH ....... .363                                                          Work's Sake.. ........................................................ RDD ........ 204
Called to Indoctrinate ............................................... RK ........ 152                                        Faithful Promise Keepers ....................................... CJT .......... 99
Calling of the Young Women to Marry                                                                                           Faithful Wounds and Deceitful Kisses ................. MJ ........483
   and to Bear Children ......................................... AdH ........ 281                                            Fall of Our First Parents ...................................... HCH ........309
Calling of the Young Women to Marry                                                                                           Family Structure and Missions ............................... JH ....... .440
   and to Bear Children (2) ................................... AdH ....... .306                                              Fearfully and Wonderfully Made ....................... JAH ........ 195
Calvin Seminary  Profs:  Classis  Went                                                                                        Federal Court Declares Nation's First Physician-Assisted
   Too Far ................................................................... GVB ........ 202                                  Suicide Law Unconstitutional .............................. JL ........ 139
Children in the Covenant ....................................... BW .......... 13                                             Federal Court Declares State Good Friday
Christ Jesus, Our Minister .................................... RDD ............ 8                                               School Holiday Unconstitutional ........................ JL ........ 164
Christ Jesus, Our Minister .................................... RDD .......... 81                                             Feeding of the Five Thousand, The .................... CJH ........131
Christian Training .................................................... HH ........463                                        Foreign Mission Calling of the Church .............. AJB ....... .374
Christian Training (2) .............................................. HH ....... .490                                         Further Correspondence ......................................... BW ........448
Church of the Promise-Keepers, The ................ GVB ....... .323                                                          Further Debate on Children  iq the Covenant.. . BW.. ..... .211
Coming to the Throne of Grace ......................... MDV ........ 315                                                      Further Developments in the CRC.. ................... GVB ....... .247
Common Grace and the Janssen Controversy .. HH.. ....... .31                                                                  Gifts Necessary for the Office of Elder (1) ...... RDD ........254
Conditional Covenant,                                                                                                         Gifts Necessary for the Office of Elder (2) ...... RDD ........300
   Conditional Salvation.. ..................................... CWT ....... .419                                             Gifts Necessary for the Office of Elder (3) ...... RDD ........350
Conditional Covenant-:                                                                                                        Gijsbert Voetius: Defender of Orthodoxy......... HH ....... .229
   Why We Can't Just Leave it There ............ ..! ....... SS ....... .223                                                  Giving Thanks to God for our
Contemporary Worship ........................................ GVB ........ i35                                                   Protestant Reformed Young People .................. JM .......... 60
Correction and Comment.. ...................................... GK ....... .222                                               God and His Farmers ........................................... MCD .......... 79
Court Rejects Layman Taxpayer's Claim for Religious                                                                           God the Creator ....................................................... SRK .......... 82
   Exemption from Self-employed                                                                                               God's Creative Handiwork.. ................................. SRX ........129
   Social Security Taxes .............................................. JL ........ 405                                       God's Providence and Evil ................................... SRK ....... 1227
Covenant  - Just Leaving It There, The ............. .BW ........ 159                                                         God's Providence and Sin ..................................... SRK ........259
Creation or Evolution.. .......................................... GVB ........ 163                                           God's Truth concerning Marriage:
Creation's Time Frame ........................................... SRK ........ 157                                              A Blessed, Reformed Heritage ........................ AdH ..........57
Deathbeds and Angels .............................................. ES ....... .321                                           Good Tidings for All People ................................. JLK ........ 127
Dedication of God's House, The ......................... SRH ........ 171                                                     Hating the Haters of God (1)............................... AdH ........ 184
Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism .............. DJE ....... .294                                                          Hating the Haters of God (2). .............................. AdH ........206
Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism.. ............ DJE ....... .319                                                          He that Sitteth in the Heavens
Defense of (Reformed Amillennialism ............... DJE ....... .341                                                             Shall Laugh (1) .................................................... AdH ........ 352

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Title                                                                      Author Page              ritle                                                                      Author Page

He that Sitteth in the Heavens                                                                      Open Letter Proposing a Book
   Shall Laugh (2) .................................................... AdH ........ 450               on the Gospel-Call ................................................. AT ....... .420
Hendrik DeCock: Reformed Reformer (1). ....... HH ........421                                       Open Letter to Gary North (1) .............................. DJE ........245
Hendrik DeCock: Reformed Reformer (2). ....... HH ....... .471                                      Open Letter to Gary North (2) .............................. DJE ....... .269
High Grain Prices ................................................... GVB ....... .371              Open Letter to the Christian Nobility, An...... MCD ........494
Hoeksema on a Controversy in the OPC ........... DJE ............ 5                                 Order ......................................................................... DHK ....... .428
Humble Thanks .......................................................... CH ............ 3          Our 27th Congregation............................................ DL .......... 56
Hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism:                                                                    Paradise the First (1) ............................................. HCH ........ 110
   The Alternatives?.................................................... DJE ........317            Paradise the First (cont.) ...................................... HCH ....... .186
I Am From Him, and He Hath Sent Me ............ CJH ....... .255                                    Paradise the First (cont.) ...................................... HCH ........ 207
Inclusive Bible ......................................................... GVB ........ 298          Paradise the First (cont.) ...................................... HCH ........ 234
Infant Baptism .......................................................... RLC ........ 274          Paradise the First (cont.) ...................................... HCH ........ 279
Insights in Apologetics ............................................. NJ ....... .421               Peace PRC Dedication Service ... ............................ DT ........ 191
Integrity.. .................................................................. DHK .......... 86    Persecution on a Grand Scale .............................. GVB ........ 273
Interclassical Conference of CRC ....................... GVB ....... .136                           PRC Synod, 1996.. ..................................................... DJE ....... .414
Jehovah's Goodness ................................................. HH .......... 27               Preaching of the Gospel:
Jesus' Absolute Equality with God.. ................... CJH .......... 65                              Promise and Command .................................... RDD .......... 34
Jesus'Sermon on the Bread of Life (1) .............. CJH ........ 153                               Preparing for the Lord's Return ..... .................... GVB ........411
Jesus'Sermon on the Bread of Life (2) .............. CJH ........ 189                               Produce a Commentary on Matthew 24.. ............. JG ....... .488
Johannes Cocceius: Biblical Theologian.. .......... HH ....... .345                                 Promise Keepers Again ......................................... GVB ........ 298
Johannes Maccovius: Supralapsarian ................ HH ....... .257                                 Prospects for the New Volume-Year.. ................. DJE ............ 5
John Frame on Cornelius  VanTil:                                                                    Protestant Reformed Covenant View, The ........ BW .......... 89
   The "Limiting Concept" ..................................... DJE ........379                     P r o t e s t a n t   R e f o r m e d   S e m i n a r y :   :
John Gill: Hyper-Calvinist? .................................. DJE ....... .331                        The Lion Still Roars (1) ....................................... DJE .......... 54
John Gill: Hyper-Calvinist? No! ..................... GME ........397                               Protestant Reformed Seminary:
Kings Shall Be Your Foster Fathers ..................... MK ....... .201                               The Lion Still Roars (2) ....................................... DJE .......... 77
Last Four Days of Creation-Week, The ........... HCH .......... 67                                  Protestant Reformed Worker Successfully Asserts
Leakage or Hemorrhage? ..................................... GVB ....... ,343                          Conscientious Objector Status at Union Shop.  JL ........465
Liberating the Covenant from Election .............. DJE ........393                                Protestant Reformed Worker Successfully
Love and the Husband.. ........................................ RVO ....... .355                       Challenges Sunday Work Assignment .............. JL ........249
Love for the Old Faith.. ............................................ DC ........ 103               Providence ................................................................. SRK ........ 181
Lover of God ... or a Liar? ............................. :. .... WGB ....... .328                  Psalm-Singing in the Consciousness
Lutherans on Promise Keepers ........................... GVB .......... 92                             of the Congregation ............................................. JVB ....... .296
Man: Created in God's Image ............................. SRK ........372                           Reaching the Nations with the
Man: God's Unique Creation .............................. SRK ....... .324                             Gospel of Grace.. ................................................. TCM ........ 426
Manifestation of Jesus to Mary ............................. HH ....... .291                        Redemptive-Historical Preaching and
Maturity .................................................................... RVO .......... 21       Preaching Christ Crucified ................................ HH ....... .445
Minor Corrections in the                                                                            Redemptive-Historical Preaching and
   Theory of Evolution.. ......................................... GVB ....... .176                    Preaching Christ Crucified (2) .......................... HH ........467
Miracle at the Pool of Bethesda, The.. ................ CJH .......... 20                           Reformation of Church Government ................. BLG .......... 38
Mission Labors of the ERCS (1) ............................ JLK.. ...... 115                        Reformed Family: Houses ................................... MBL ........ 326
Mission Labors of the ERCS (2) ............................ JLK ........ 133                        Reformed Family: Teachers ................................ MBL ....... .492
More on "Promise Keepers" ................................ GVB ........ 161                         Reformed Family: Voices .................................... MBL ........107
More on Gill and Call.. ......................................... GME ....... .441                  Reformed View of Angels (1) ............................. DHK ....... .225
More on Psalms-Singing ......................................... JVB ........201                    Reformed View of Angels (2) ............................. DHK ........252
Narrow Victory for Religious Expression ............ JL .......... 11                               Reformed Voice out of Australia, A.. ....... ........... DJE ........487
Nature of Church Unity, The ................................. MB ....... .488                       Reformer of 1924: "Doctor of the
Necessary Editorial ..................................................... JR ....... .103               Covenant," The ..................................................... DJE .......... 29
New "Radio Voice" of the PRC ............................ DJE ........ 101                          Rejection of Hell ..................................................... GVB ........ 248
New Questions Concerning Divorce.. ............... GVB ........273                                  Report of  Classis  East ............................................... JJH .......... 71
News from Seminary Hill ...................................... DJE .......... 16                    Report of  Classis  East ............................................... JJH ....... .238
News from Seminary Hill ...................................... DJE ........297                      Report of  Classis  East ............................................... JJH ........429
1924 and the Antithesis  - a Reaffirmation....... RJD ..........36                                  Report of  Classis  West ........................................... SRK .........i 70
Office of Deacons: Qualifications and                                                               Report of  Classis  West ........................................... SRK ........ 166
    Responsibilities ....................................................... GS ........ 155        Report of  Classis  West ........................................... SRK ........334
Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector (1) ................. HH .......... 87                              Response to "Pulling the Plug on the Flood" .................... 103
Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector (2) ................. HH ........108                                Retired, Not Dead ..................................................... DJE .......... 53
On Behalf of Our Schools ....................................... DJE ........ 149                   REPA Publishing Merger ........................................ DJE ....... .461
On Behalf of Reformed Theology ........................ DJE ........ 150                            Same-Sex Marriage ................................................. GVB ........344
On the "Free Offer". ................... ............................ GVB ............ 9            Samen  op Weg (Together on the Way) ............. GVB ........ 162
Only Name Whereby We Are Saved, The ....... GVB ....... .476                                        Shameful Death, Indeed ....................................... GVB ........ 272

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Title                                                                                                 Author Page                    T i t l e                                                   "                             Author Page

Shepherding the Flock of God ............................ RDD ........ 105                                                           To Keep the Record Straight (2) ........................... BW ........347
Signs of the Times: "A Record-setter                                                                                                 To Keep the Record Straight (3) ........................... BW ....... .367
   for Disasters" ....................................................... GVB ........ 299                                           Transformed by the Sight of
Signs of the Times: Condemning the sin                                                                                                  Our Lord's Glory .................................................. CJT ....... .459
   of _ Forbidden in NJ.. .................................... GVB ........203                                                       Trying the Spirits ..................................................... SRK ........ 357
Signs of the Times: Disturbing Report                                                                                                Trying the Spirits ..................................................... SRK ........ 403
   about AIDS ........................................................... GVB ........ 164                                           Untapped Resource ............................................... DHK ........ 200
Signs of the Times: Infectious Diseases                                                                                              Victors Over Death .................................................... CH ........ 267
   Up Sharply in U.S. ............................................. GVB ........ 248                                                 Vineyard Ousts "Toronto Blessing" Church.. . GVB ........248
Sincere Offer of the Gospel, The .......................... HH .......... 18                                                         Warding Off False Doctrines ................................ RLC ........ 140
Singing  Psalms .......................................................... JVB ........ 152                                          Weighty Agenda, A ................................................. DJE ........392
Sodomy, Scripture, Schools, and a Sign.. ........... DJE ....... .221                                                                What Do They Believe? ......................................... GVB ....... .232
Standard Bearer  - In Defense of the Faith (1).. RLC ..........61                                                                    What is "Reformed"?. ............................................. GVB ........322
Standard Bearer  - In Defense of the Faith (2).. RLC ..........84                                                                    What's Next? Christian Nudists?. ..................... GVB ....... .323
Stilling the Tempest ................................................. JDS ........ 243                                              Where We Stand Today ........................................... CH .......... 44
Stirring Up the Soul to Bless the Lord ............. MCD ........219                                                                 Whom Say the People That I Am? ..................... GVB ....... .370
Sure Foundation of God, The ................................ HH ....... .387                                                         Will Ye Also Go Away? ......................................... CJH ........ 210
Television: The Children Speak.. ....................... GVB ........ 163                                                            William Ames: Puritan in the Netherlands...... HH ........ 302
Tender Mercies ......................................................... BLG .......... 51                                           William III of Orange: Warrior of the Faith..... HH ........178
That "Gut Feeling" ................................................. GVB ....... .247                                                Women in Office ..................................................... GVB ........ 113
To Keep the Record Straight.. ................................ BW ....... .304                                                       Yea, Hath God said ... ?. ........................................... GVB ........ 233
Subject                        Title                                                                  Author Page                    Subject                   Title                                                          Author Page

                                                                                                                                     ARMINIANISM
                                                                                                                                        Hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism:
                                               Subject Index                                                                               The Alternatives?. .............................................. DJE ....... .317
ABORTION                                                                                                                             BAPTISM
   Shameful Death, Indeed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB . . . . . . . . 272                 Baptism of Children of Non-attenders ......... GVB ........ 178
ADAM                                                                                                                                    Infant Baptism ...................................................... RLC ........ 274
   Adam, God's Covenant Friend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SRK . . . . . . . . 469                               BIBLE
ADVENT                                                                                                                                  Inclusive Bible ..................................................... GVB ........ 298
   Bethlehem's Hidden Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH . . . . . . . . 123                                BIBLE STUDIES
   Birth of the Only Begotten, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DJE . . . . . . . . 126                              Feeding of the Five Thousand, The ................ C JH ........ 131
   Good Tidings for All People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .JLK . . . . . . . . 127                         I Am From Him, and He Hath Sent Me.. ...... CJH ....... .255
AIDS                                                                                                                                   Jesus'Absolute Equality with God.. ............... CJH .......... 65
   Signs of the Times: Infectious Diseases                                                                                              Jesus'Sermon on the Bread of Life (1) .......... CJH ....... .153
         Up Sharply in U.S. ......................................... GVB ....... .248                                                 Jesus' Sermon on the Bread of Life (2) .......... CJH ........ 189
   Signs of the Times: Disturbing Report                                                                                                Miracle at the Pool of Bethesda, The.. ............ CJH ..........20
         about AIDS ....................................................... GVB ........ 164                                            Will Ye Also Go Away? ..................................... CJH ........ 210
ALL                                                                                                                                  BIBLE, FACT or FICTION?
  All .......................................................................... DHK ....... .138                                       Yea, Hath God said...?....................................... GVB ........233
AMES, WILLIAM                                                                                                                        BOWELS OF MERCY
  William Ames: Puritan in the Netherlands.. HH ....... .302                                                                            That "Gut Feeling" ............................................. GVB ........ 247
AMILLENNIALISM                                                                                                                       CGKNjCRC
  Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism.. ........ DJE ........294                                                                       Dutch Church Breaks Ties with CRC ............ GVB ........ 161
  Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism .......... DJE ....... .319                                                                   CHARISMATICS
  Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism.. ........ DJE ........341                                                                      Vineyard Ousts "Toronto Blessing" Church GVB . . . . . . . . 248
  Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism .......... DJE ....... .365                                                                   CHILD-BEARING
  Defense of (Reformed) Amillenniahsm .......... DJE ........437                                                                       Calling of the Young Women to Marry
  Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism .......... DJE ....... .485                                                                        and to Bear Children (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH. . . . . . . . 281
  Open Letter to Gary North (1) .......................... DJE ........245                                                             Calling of the Young Women to Marry
ANGELS                                                                                                                                    and to Bear Children (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .AdH . . . . . . . . 306
  Deathbeds and Angels .......................................... ES ........321                                                     CHURCH GOVERNMENT
  Reformed View of Angels (1) ......................... DHK ....... .225                                                               Reformation of Church Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLG . . . . . . . . . . 38
  Reformed View of Angels (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DHK . . . . . . . . 252                              CHURCH HISTORY
ANTITHESIS                                                                                                                             Gijsbert Voetius: Defender of Orthodoxy . . . . . HH . . . . . . . . 229
  1924 and the Antithesis - a Reaffirmation... RJD . . . . . . . . . . 36                                                              Hendrik DeCock: Reformed Reformer (1) . . . . HH . . . . . . . . 421
APOLOGETICS                                                                                                                            Hendrik DeCock: Reformed Reformer (2) . . . . HH . . . . . . . . 471
  Insights in Apologetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .NJ . . . . . . . . 421      Johannes Cocceius: Biblical Theologian . . . . . . . . HH . . . . . . . . 345
APOSTOLIC ADDRESS                                                                                                                      Johannes Maccovius: Supralapsarian . . . . . . . . . . . . HH . . . . . . . . 257
  Enduring Apostolic Address, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KK . . . . . . . . 339                                       Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH . . . . . . . . . . 87

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Subject               Title                                             Author Page              Subject              Title                                             Author Page

CHURCH HISTORY (cont.)                                                                           DEACONS
  Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector (2) ............. HH ....... .108                                Office of Deacon: Qualifications and
  Where We Stand Today ....................................... CH ..........44                        Responsibilities ................................................... GS ........ 155
  William Ames: Puritan in the Netherlands.. HH ....... .302                                     DEATH
  William III of Orange: Warrior of the Faith.  HH ....... .178                                    Victors Over Death ................................................ CH ....... .267
CHURCH ORDER, Art. 55                                                                            DE COCK, HENDRIK
  Warding Off False Doctrines ............................ RLC ........ 140                        Hendrik DeCock: Reformed Reformer (1). ... HH.. ..... .421
CHURCH ORDER, Arts.  56,57                                                                         Hendrik DeCock: Reformed, Reformer (2).... HH ....... .471
  Infant Baptism ...................................................... RLC ........ 274         DISASTERS
CLARK-VAN TIL CONTROVERSY                                                                          Signs of the Times: "A Record-setter for
  Hoeksema on a Controversy in the OPC ....... DJE ............ 5                                     Disasters" .......................................................... GVB ....... .299
  Sincere Offer of the Gospel, The ...................... HH .......... 18                         Signs of the Times: Infectious Diseases Up
COCCEIUS, JOHANNES                                                                                    Sharply in U.S. ................................................ GVB ....... .248
  Johannes Cocceius: Biblical Theologian........ HH ....... .345                                 DIVORCE
COMFORT                                                                                            New Questions Concerning Divorce.. ........... GVB ....... .273
  Sure Foundation of God, The ............................ HH ........387                        DOCTRINE
COMMON GRACE                                                                                       Trying the Spirits ................................................. SRK ........ 357
  Common Grace and the Janssen  ControversyHH.. ....... .31                                        Trying the Spirits (2) ........................................... SRK ....... .403
COMPUTERS                                                                                          Warding Off False Doctrines ............................ RLC ........ 140
  Development of the Computer ....................... GVB ........299                            DUTCH REF. TRANSLATION SOC.
CONFERENCES                                                                                        On Behalf of Reformed Theology .................... DJE ........ 150
  BRF Family Conference in England.. ............... DJE ....... .197                            ECUMENICITY
  Interclassical Conference of CRC ................... GVB ....... .136                            Samen  op Weg (Together on the Way) ......... GVB ....... .162
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR                                                                           EDUCATION
  Prot. Ref. Worker Successfully Asserts Conscientious                                             On Behalf of Our Schools ................................... DJE ........ 149
     Objector Status in Union Shop ........................ JL ....... .465                        Christian Training ................................................ HH ........ 463
COVENANT                                                                                           Christian Training (2) .......................................... HH ....... .490
  Adam, God's Covenant Friend ........................ SRI< ........469                            Reformed Family: Teachers ............................ MBL ....... .492
  Children in the Covenant ................................... BW .......... 13                  ELDERS
  Conditional Covenant,                                                                            Elders and the Care of the Congregation..... RDD ....... .444
     Conditional Salvation.. ................................. CWT ....... .419                    Esteeming the Elders Very Highly for their
  Conditional Covenant: Why We Can't Just                                                             Work's Sake.. .................................................... RDD ........ 204
     Leave it There ....................................................... s s ........ 223       Gifts Necessary for the Office of Elder (1) .. RDD ........254
  Covenant  - Just Leaving It There, The ......... BW ........ 159                                 Gifts Necessary for the Office of Elder (2) .. RDD ........300
  Further Debate on Children                                                                       Gifts Necessary for the Office of Elder (3) .. RDD ....... .350
     in the Covenant ................................................. BW ....... .211           ELECTION
  Liberating the Covenant from Election .......... DJE ........393                                 Liberating the Covenant from Election .......... DJE ....... .393
  Protestant Reformed Covenant View, The .... BW ......... .89                                   EPC of AUSTRALIA
  Reformer of 1924: "Doctor of the                                                                 About the Brisbane EPC ..................................... DH ........ 199
     Covenant," The ................................................. DJE .......... 29          ERCS
COVENANT OF GRACE                                                                                  Mission Labors of the ERCS (1) ........................ JLK ........ 115
  Development of the Covenant of Grace: A Rich,                                                    Mission Labors of the ERCS (2) ........................ JLK ........ 133
     Consistent Reformed View ....................... ..... CJT .......... 41                    ESCHATOLOGY
CRC                                                                                                Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism.. ........ DJE ........319
  Calvin Seminary Profs:  Classis  Went                                                            Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism.. ........ DJE ....... .341
     Too Far ............................................................... GVB ........ 202      Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism .......... DJE ........ 365
  Further Developments in the CRC.. ............... GVB ........247                                Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism.. ........ DJE ....... .437
  Leakage or Hemorrhage? ................................. GVB ....... .343                        Open Letter to Gary North (1) .......................... DJE ........245
  What Do They Believe? ..................................... GVB ....... .232                     Open Letter to Gary North (2) .......................... DJE ....... .269
CREATION                                                                                           Signs of the Times: "A Record-setter for
  Creation or Evolution ........................................ GVB ........ 163                     Disasters" .......................................................... GVB ....... .299
  Creation's Time Frame ....................................... SRK ........ 157                   Signs of the Times: Disturbing Report
  God the Creator ................................................... SRK .......... 82               about AIDS ....................................................... GVB ........ 164
  God's Creative Handiwork.. ............................. SRK ........ 129                      EVOLUTION
  Last Four Days of Creation-Week, The ....... HCH ..........67                                    Creation or Evolution ........................................ GVB ........ 163
  Man: Created in God's Image ......................... SRK ........372                            Minor Corrections in the Theory of
  Man: God's Unique Creation .......................... SRK ....... .324                              Evolution ........................................................... GVB ........ 176
CREMATION                                                                                        FALL
  Burn or Bury? ..................................................... RGM ........ 276             Fall of Our First Parents .................................. HCH ........309
CROMWELL, OLIVER                                                                                 FAMILY
  Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector (1) ............. HH .......... 87                               Being a Crown of Glory to Our Family.. ........ JDS ....... .435
  Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector (2) ............. HH ........ 108                                Family Structure and Missions ........................... JH ....... .440
                                                                                                                                    September 15,1996/Sfandard  Bearer/501


Subiect                Title                                              A u t h o r   Page      Subject               Title                                               Author Page

FAMINE                                                                                            JQHN, BOOK OF
  High Grain Prices ............................................... GVB ....... .371                Feeding of the Five Thousand, The ................ CJH ........ 131
FLOOD                                                                                               I Am From Him, and He Hath Sent Me ........ CJH ....... .255
  Response to "Pulling the Plug on the Flood" ................ 103                                  Jesus' Absolute Equality with God.. ............... CJH .......... 65
FREE OFFER                                                                                          Jesus' Sermon on the Bread of Life (1) .......... CJH ........153
  Does God Desire that the "Offer" be                                                               Jesus' Sermon on the Bread of Life (2) .......... CJH ........ 189
     Received by All Sinners? ................................ DJE ........ 173                     Miracle at the Pool of Bethesda, The.. ............ CJH ..........20
  Hoeksema on a Controversy in the OPC ....... DJE ............ 5                                   Will Ye Also Go Away? ..................................... CJH ........210
  On the "Free Offer". ........................................... GVB ............ 9             LABOR UNIONS
  Reformed Voice out of Australia .............. ....... DJE ........487                            Prof. Ref'd. Worker Successfully Asserts Conscien-
  Sincere Offer of the Gospel, The ...................... HH .......... 18                             tious Objector Status in Union Shop .............. JL ........465
FRIENDSHIP                                                                                        LOVE
  Faith Wounds and Deceitful Kisses.. ................. MJ ....... .483                             Love and the Husband ...................................... RVO ....... .355
GILL, JOHN                                                                                          Lover of God ... or a Liar? ............................... WGB ....... .328
  John Gill: Hyper-Calvinist? No! ................. GME ....... .397                              MACCOVIUS, JOHANNES
  More on Gill and Call.. ..................................... GME ....... .441                    Johannes Maccovius: Supralapsarian ............ HH ........257
GOOD FRIDAY                                                                                       MAN
  Federal Court Declares State Good Friday School                                                   Adam, God's Covenant Friend ........................ SRK ........469
     Holiday Unconstitutional .................................. JL ........ 164                    Man: Created in God's Image ......................... SRK ........372
GOODNESS OF GOD                                                                                     Man: God's Unique Creation .......................... SRK ........324
  Jehovah's Goodness ............................................. HH .......... 27               MARRIAGE
G O S P E L - C A L L                                                                               Calling of the Young Women to Marry
  Open Letter Proposing a Book on                                                                      and to Bear Children ..................................... AdH ........281
     the Gospel-Call.. ................................................. AT ....... .420            Calling of the Young Women to Marry
GRACE   PRC . . . . . . .                                                                              and to Bear Children (2) ............................... AdH ....... .306
  Our 27th Congregation ........................................ DL ..........56                    God's Truth concerning Marriage: A Blessed,
HATE                                                                                                   Reformed Heritage ......................................... AdH .......... 57
  Hating the Haters of God (1). .......................... AdH ........ 184                         Love and the Husband ...................................... RVO ........ 355
  Hating the Haters of God (2). .......................... AdH ....... .206                         Same-Sex Marriage.. ........................................... GVB ........ 344
HELL                                                                                              MARY MAGDALENE
  Rejection of Hell ................................................. GVB ....... .248              Manifestation of Jesus to Mary.. ....................... HH ....... .291
HOEKSEMA, HERMAN                                                                                  MATURITY
  Reformer of 1924: "Doctor of the                                                                  Maturity ................................................................ RVO .......... 21
     Covenant," The .................................... ............. DJE .......... 29          MERCY
HOEKSEMA, THEOLOGY OF                                                                               Tender Mercies ..................................................... BLG .......... 51
  Doctoral Study of Hoeksema's Theology ..... RJM ........176                                     MISSIONS
HOMOSEXUALISM                                                                                       Domestic Mission Committee Report .............. DD ........ 376
  And Now: Homosexuality.. ............................ GVB ....... .114                            Family Structure and Missions ........................... JH ........440
  Down the Slippery Slope.. ........................ ........ GVB ....... .400                    ; Foreign Mission Calling of the Church .......... AJB ........374
  Same-Sex Marriage.. ........................................... GVB ........344                   Mission Labors of the ERCS (1) ........................ JLK ........ 115
  Signs of the Times: Condemning the                                                                Mission Labors of the ERCS (2) ........................ JLK ........ 133
     sin of _ Forbidden in NJ ........................... GVB ....... .203                          Reaching the Nations with the Gospel
  Sodomy, Scripture, Schools, and a Sign.. ....... DJE ....... .221                                    of Grace ............................................................. TCM ........ 426
HOUSES                                                                                            NEW YEAR
  Reformed .Family: Houses.. ............................. MBL ....... .326                         Entering the New Year.. ....................................... CH ........ 147
HYPER-CALVINISM                                                                                   1924
  Banner of Truth Against Itself, The.. ................... CP ....... .399                         1924 and the Antithesis  - a Reaffirmation ... RJD ..........36
  Hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism:                                                                  Where We Stand Today ....................................... CH ..........44
     the Alternatives?. ............................................... DJE ........ 317          NUDISM
  John Gill: Hyper-Calvinist? ............................... DJE ........ 331                      What's Next? Christian Nudists?. ................. GVB ........323
IMAGE  QF GOD                                                                                     OFFER OF THE GOSPEL
  Man: Created in God's Image ......................... SRK ....... .372                            Preaching of the Gospel: Promise and
INTEGRITY                                                                                              Command ......................................................... R D D .......... 34
  Integrity.. .............................................................. DHK .......... 86      Sincere Offer of the Gospel, The ...................... HH .......... 18
JANSSEN CONTROVERSY                                                                               ORDER
  Common Grace and the                                                                              Order ..................................................................... DHK ....... .428
     Janssen Controversy ........................................ HH .........~31                 PARADISE
JESUS CHRIST                                                                                        Paradise the First (1) ......................................... HCH ........ 110
  Only Name Whereby We Are Saved, The ... GVB ....... ,476                                          Paradise the First (cont.). ................................. HCH ........ 186
  Transformed by the Sight of                                                                       Paradise the First (cont.). ................................. HCH ....... .207
     Our Lord's Glory .............................................. CJT ........ 459               Paradise the First (cont.). ................................. HCH ........234
  Whom Say the People That I Am? ................. GVB ....... .370                                 Paradise the First (cont.). ................................. HCH ........279

502lSfandardBearerlSeptember 15,1996


Subject               Title                                                Author Page              Subject                                  Title                                                                                          Author  Page

PEACE PRC                                                                                             Report of Classis West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SRK . . . . . . . . 334
  Dedication of God's House, The ..................... SRH ........ 171                             REPORT, SEMINARY
  Peace PRC Dedication Service ........................... DT ........ 191                            News From Seminary Hill . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DJE . . . . . . . . . . 16
PERSECUTION                                                                                           News From Seminary Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DJE . . . . . . . . 297
  Persecution on a Grand Scale.. ........................ GVB ........273                           RESURRECTION
PR HISTORY                                                                                            Manifestation of Jesus to Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH . . . . . . . . 291
  Called to Indoctrinate.. ......................................... RI< ........152                RETIREMENT
  Further Correspondence ..................................... BW ........448                         Necessary Editorial ................................................. JR ........ 103
~ To Keep the Record Straight.. ............................ BW ....... .304                          Retired, Not Dead.. ............................................... DJE .......... 53
  To Keep the Record Straight.. ............................ BW ....... .347                          Untapped Resource ........................................... DHK ........ 200
  To Keep the Record Straight.. ............................ BW ....... .367                        RFPA
PR SEMINARY                                                                                           RFPA Publishing Merger.. .................................. DJE ........ 461
  Protestant Reformed Seminary: The Lion Still                                                      RHEM, RICHARD
     Roars (1) .............................................................. DJE .......... 54       Down the Slippery Slope.. ................................ GVB ....... .400
  Protestant Reformed Seminary: The Lion Still                                                        What is "Reformed"?. ........................................ GVB ....... .322
     Roars (2) .............................................................. DJE .......... 77     SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES
PRE-SYNODICAL ADDRESS                                                                                 Court Rejects Layman Taxpayer's Claim for
  Preparing for the Lord's Return.. ................... GVB ........411                                     Religious Exemption for Self-employment
PREACHING                                                                                                   Social Security Taxes .......................................... JL ........405
  God and His Farmers ....................................... MCD .......... 79                     STANDARD BEARER
  Redemptive-Historical Preaching and Preaching                                                       Standard Bearer,  In Defense of the Faith (1).. RLC ......... .61
     Christ Crucified ........................................ ........ HH ........ 445               Sfandard Bearer,  In Defense of the Faith (2).. RLC ..........84
  Redemptive-Historical Preaching and Preaching                                                     SUICIDE
     Christ Crucified ................................................ HH ........ 467                Federal Court Declares Nation's First Physician-Assisted
PROMISE KEEPERS                                                                                             Suicide Law Unconstitutional.. ........................ JL ........ 139
  Church of the Promise-Keepers, The ............ GVB ....... .323                                  SUPRALAPSARIANISM
  Faithful Promise Keepers ................................... CJT .......... 99                      Johannes Maccovius: Supralapsarian ............ HH ....... .257
  Lutherans on Promise Keepers ....................... GVB .......... 92                            SYNOD, PRC 1996
  More on "Promise Keepers" ............................ GVB ........161                              PRC Synod, 1996 ................................................... DJE ....... .414
  Promise Keepers Again.. ................................... GVB ....... .298                        Weighty Agenda, A ............................................. DJE ....... .392
PROVIDENCE                                                                                          TEACHERS
  God's Providence and Evil ............................... SRK ........227                           Reformed Family: Teachers ............................ MBL ........492
  God's Providence and Sin ................................. SRK ....... .259                       TELEVISION
  Providence ............................................................. SRK ........ 181           Television: The Children Speak.. ................... GVB ........ 163
PSALM-SINGING                                                                                       THANKSGIVING                                                                                           . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . ,
  Correction and Comment.. .................................. GK ....... .222                         Abundant Thanks .................................................. CH .......... 75
  More on Psalms-Singing.. ................................... JVB ....... .201                       Humble Thanks ...................................................... CH ............ 3
  Psalm-Singing in the Consciousness of the                                                         VAN TIL, CORNELIUS
     Congregation ..................................................... JVB ........ 296              Insights in Apologetics ......................................... NJ ....... .421
  Singing Psalms ...................................................... JVB ........ 152              John Frame on Cornelius  VanTil:  The "Limiting
RADIO VOICE                                                                                                 Concept" ............................................................. DJE ....... .379
  New "Radio Voice" of the PRC ........................ DJE ........ 101                            VOETIUS, GIJSBERT
REFORMATION                                                                                           Gijsbert Voetius: Defender of Orthodoxy..... HH ....... .229
  Reformation of Church Government ............. BLG ..........38                                   VOICES
REFORMED FAITH                                                                                       Reformed Family: Voices, The ....................... MBL ........107
  Love for the Old Faith .......................................... DC ........ 103                 WILLIAM of ORANGE
REFORMED THEOLOGY                                                                                     William III of Orange: Warrior of the Faith. HH . . . . . . . . 178
  On Behalf of Reformed Theology .................... DJE ........ 150                              WOMEN IN OFFICE
REITSMA, ALICE                                                                                        Action and Reaction to the "Women in Office"
  Reformed Family: Teachers ............................ MBL ....... .492                                   Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GVB . . . . . . . . . . 69
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM                                                                                     Further Developments in the CRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB . . . . . . . . 247
  Narrow Victory for Religious Expression ........ JL ..........,ll                                   Women in Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB . . . . . . . . 113
REPORT, RFPA SECRETARY                                                                              WORD STUDIES
  Annual Meeting of the RFPA  - Secretary's                                                           All . ..~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . DHK . . . . . . . . 138
     Report ................................................................... HK .......... 63      Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DHK . . . . . . . . . . 86
REPORT,  CLASSIS  EAST                                                                                Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DHK . . . . . . . . 428
  Report of Classis East.. ......................................... JJH .......... 71              WORSHIP, CONTEMPORARY
  Report of Classis East ........................................... JJH ........238                  Contemporary Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB . . . . . . . . 135
  Report of  Classis  East ........................................... JJH ........429              YOUNG PEOPLE
REPORT,  CLASSIS  WEST                                                                                Giving Thanks to God for our Protestant Reformed
  Report of Classis West ....................................... SRK ..... .)... 70                        Young People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JM . . . . . . . . . . 60
  Report of Classis West ....................................... SRK ........ 166
                                                                                                                                                                        September 15,1996/Sfandard  Bearer1503


                                                                                                                                                                          PERIOD/CA6
                                                                                                                                                                          Posfage Paid at
      P. 0. Box 603                                                                                                                                                       GrandvIle, Michigan
      Grandviie,  Ml 49468-0603

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                                                                                                                        ,                                                                                     I



Subject                   Title                                         Author Page                          Subject           Title                                                Author Page


YOUNG  WOMEN                                                                                                 YOUNG WOMEN (cont.)
      Calling of the Young Women to Marry and                                                                   Calling of the Young Women to Marry and . . . . . . . .
       to Bear Children (1)CAdH2)                                                                                                             ..,..........................,..........  AdH  ..,.....  306
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            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                            NOTICE!!!                                                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
       On September 14, 1996, our parents and                           The Fall Meeting of the Eastern Men's                                   The  Doon Adult Bible Society express
grandparents,                                                    and Ladies' League will be held on Tuesday,                            their heartfelt sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Alan
      MR.  and MRS. ROGER GROENENDYK,                            September 24, at 8  p.m. in Southeast PR                               DeBoer in the death of his sister,
celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. We                    Church. Our speaker, Prof. Russ Dykstra, will                                              ARLOA DE BOER.
give thanks and praise to our heavenly Father                    speak on the topic `Societies: An Aid for                              May they find comfort and peace in God's
for His sovereign care over them, and pray for                   standing in the Last Days." A collection for                           Word, "But though he cause grief, yet will he
His continued blessing upon them.                                the Reformed Witness Hour will be taken. All                           have compassion according to the multitude
       "For the Lord is good; his mercy is ever-                 Men/Ladies Society members as well as any                              of his mercies" (Lamentations 3:22).
lasting; and his truth endureth to all genera-                   other Adult Bible Society Members and young                                                            Mr. Jim Regnerus, Pres.
tions" (Psalm'100:5).                                            people who may be interested are invited to                                               Mrs. David Wiersma, Sec./Tress.
l :* Randy and Betsy Groendyk                                    attend.
           David, Sara                                                                                                                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Q Steve Groenendyk                                                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                              The Men's and Ladies' Society of the
4%      Ron and Cheri Smit                                              The Council and congregation of the                             First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland,
           Nicholas, Cody                                        South Holland Protestant Reformed Church                               Michigan expresses their Christian sympathy
9 Todd and Lisa Groenendyk                                       express their sincere sympathies to the family                         to Mr. and Mrs. Joe VanKampen in the death
           Ethan                                                 and many relatives of                                                  of his brother,
                                            Wyoming, Michigan                MRS. ESTHER VAN  BAREN,                                                 MR.  EIBERT VAN KAMPEN.
                                                                 whom the Lord took to be with Himself on                               May they find comfort in the words of Romans
           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                July 1, at the age of 101.                                             8:28, "And we know that all things work to-
       The Mr. and Mrs. Society of Southwest                            May our sovereign Father of comfort give                        gether for good to them that love God, to them
Protestant Reformed Church express their sin-                    peace and joy in His work of delivering this                           that are called according to his purpose."
cere Christian sympathy to Pete and Fran                         sister out of all her affliction and making her                                                              Allen Elzinga, Pres.
Feenstra in the death of Fran's father,                          perfect in glory.                                                                                 Mrs. Vern Casemier, Secy.
               MR. CASE VELDMAN.                                        "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow
       May they and their family be comforted                    me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in                                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
by the words of II Corinthians  51, "For we                      the house of the LORD forever" (Psalm 23:6).                                   On August 25, 1996, our parents and
know that if our earthly house of this  taber-                                                                                          grandparents,
nacle,were dissolved, we have a building of                                                 NOTICE!!                                             MR. and MRS. JACK ANDRINGA,
God, an house not made with hands, eternal                                       Annual RFPA Meeting                                    celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary.
in the heavens."                                                                    September 26, 1996                                  We, their children and grandchildren, thank the
                                   Al DeYoung,  President                                          8  p.m.                              almighty God for a home where Christ is King.
                           Joyce Noorman, Secretary                                    Grandville PRC                                   It is our prayer that the Lord will continue to
                                                                        Men, women, young people, families -                            bless them, and us through them.
                                                                 you are all cordially invited to attend this meet-                             `Children's children are the crown of old
                          NOTICE!!                               ing, the main attraction of which will be a                            men; and the glory of children are their fa-
       The issue of September 15 is the last in                  speech by Rev. Charles Terpstra on "The                                thers" (Proverbs 17:6).
Volume 71. Bound volumes will be made avail-                     RFPA  - Stimulator of Sound Knowledge in                               +       J.T. and Sharon Andringa
able for $20.00 (t postage) each. Or, if you                     an Age of Ignorance."                                                              Joshua and Alex
bring or send to the SB business office soon                            Three new board members will be elected                         + Ted and Audra Andringa
your own loose issues for binding, you can                       from a nomination consisting of Don DeJong,                                        Jacob, Joseph, and Samantha
obtain the bound volume for just $9.00. (The                     Leroy DeVries,  Arnold Dykstra, Leon Garvelink,                        +       Jeff and Rose Andringa
latter service can be provided if we have your                   Jon Hop, Marinus Kamps, Gordon Schipper,                                           Thomas, Marcus, Courtney, and Zachary
copies by October 15.)                                           Mark VandenBerg.                                                       + Gassy Andringa
                                                                                                                                                                                                 Hull,  Iowa


504/SfandardBearerlSeptember 15,1996


