                    Protestant Reformed Seminary


                   See "News from Seminary Hill" - p. 65

Vol. 73, No. 3
November 1,1996


CONTENTS:                                                                                                           November  I, 1996                                                                                Fe
                                                                                                                                                                                                               Sandard
Meditation - Rev. Carl J. Haak                                                                                                                                                                                  &earer
       That All the World May Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                                 ISSN 0362-4692
       Jesus Christ will be Lord on November 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Special Article - Prof. Robert D. Decker                                                                                                                                            Semi-monthly; except monthly during June,  July,  and August.
        Brethren, Pray for Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
                                                                                                                                                                                    4949 lvanrest  Ave., Grandville, MI  49418. Periodical Postage
Christian Education Feature - Mr. Jon J. Huisken                                                                                                                                    Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
       The Seminar on the Principles and Practices                                                                                                                                  Postmaster: Sendaddress changes to the Standard Bearer,
       of Reformed Christian Education:                                                                                                                                             P.O. Box 603,  Grandville,  MI 49468-0603.
                 An Evaluation, a Prospect, and a Prod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56                                                     EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                                                                                                                    Editor: Prof. David  J. Engelsma
Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                                                                          Secretary: Prof.  Robert  D. Decker
        Martin Luther: German Reformer (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60                                             Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
Search the Scriptures - Rev. Mitchell C. Dick                                                                                                                                       DEPARTMENT EDITORS
        "Then I Go..." .,..,..,......,..........,..,.............*..........................................                                                              63        Rev. W.  Bruinsma, Rev. A.  Brummet, Rev.  R. Cammenga,
                                                                                                                                                                                    Prof. R. Decker, Rev. A.  denHatiog,  Rev. M. Dick, Prof. H.
News from Seminary Hill - Prof. David J. fngelsma                                                                                                                                   Hanko, Rev. R. Hanko, Rev. S. Key Rev. K.  Koote, Rev. J.
        Protestant Reformed Seminary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65                               Kortering, Rev. D. H. Kuiper, Mr. J. Lanting, Mrs. M. Lubbers,
                                                                                                                                                                                    Rev. T. Miersma, Mr. G. Schipper, Rev. G. VanBaren, Rev. R.
Decency and Order - Rev. Ron Cammenga                                                                                                                                               VanOverloop, Mr. B.  Wigger, Rev. B. Woodenberg.
       The Administration of Baptism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*........................ 66                                                         EDITORIAL OFFICE                CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*............................................. 68                       The Standard Bearer             Mr. Ben Wigger
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Report of Classis East - Mr. Jon J. Huisken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70                                                  Grandvilte,  Ml 49418          Hudsonville, MI 49426
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wgger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71                                                                       BUSINESS OFFICE                NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
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5O/Standard Bearer /November 1, 1996


       That All the World May Know*

                                                       Specifically we praise Him for         the Lord is God and that there is
     That all the people of the earth              keeping the Reformed Witness               none else." Solomon spoke these
may know that the LORD is God, and                 Hour faithful to the one truth that        words at the dedication of the
that there is none else.                           stands as the core of all the truths       temple which he had built in
                               I Kings  8:60       of the Bible. It is a truth which          Jerusalem. A great assembly had
W                                                  breathes life into every truth of the      been gathered and had seen the
             e come together tonight               Bible, and which unites all the            ark of the covenant of God brought
             to thank God for His                  truths of the Bible into one beauti-       to its place of rest in the Holy
             faithfulness to us in the             ful, majestic unity which is more          Place. The ark was the symbol  to
Reformed Witness Hour. God's                       radiant than the sun. That truth           Israel of the presence of God, the
faithfulness always carries the note               is this: Jehovah is God, the God           God who dwelt between the cheru-
of His tenderness. It suggests that                who has made Himself known to              bim in all of His holiness and maj-
God knows our weaknesses and                       us in the Bible, whom to know in           esty, faithfulness and graciousness.
our lack of zeal, `our disappoint-                 His Son Jesus Christ is life eternal       It was His glory which now, we
ments and our discouragements.                     and peace and joy.                         read, so filled the temple of
Yet we can confess tonight that for                    God has kept us faithful to the        Solomon that the brightness of it
fifty-five years, over the peaks and               theme that God is God, and that            prevented the priests from stand-
valleys, God has proven His Word                   the person who, by God's grace,            ing before the Lord to minister.
to us: "I will not leave thee nor                  has been given to know, love,                   There was one theme that was
forsake thee."                                     trust, serve, and obey Him shall           pulsating through the crowd that
     We praise Him tonight for giv-                live. Apart from Him, the God of           day. That was God's faithfulness.
ing to us dedicated men and                        the Scriptures, and apart from             Solomon says in verses 15 and 56;
w o m e n   w h o   h a v e   m a d e   t h i s    faith in His Son Jesus, there is only      "Blessed be the Lord God of Is-
broadcast possible through the un-                 death, woe, and ruin.                      rael, which spake with his mouth
noticed, and often unappreciated,                      We do not gather tonight only          unto David my father, and hath
work which is performed week af-                   to express our praise to God. We           with his hand fulfilled it.... There
ter week. We gather together to                    also gather tonight to rededicate          hath not failed one word of all his
thank God for faithful pastors who                 ourselves to the work of the Re-           good promise, which he promised
have prepared messages mined                       formed Witness Hour. We gather             by the hand of Moses his servant."
from the Word of God. And,                         in order that we might warm and            This faithfulness of God prompts
above all these things, we thank                   inspire our hearts  - lest those           Solomon to fall upon his knees in
God tonight for His faithfulness in                hearts, after fifty-five years, be-        order to lead the people in prayer,
keeping our program faithful to                    come cold and complacent. We               a prayer which expressed the felt
the Bible.        That is something                wish to warm those hearts with the         need for God's continued gracious-
which, to our eyes, is grand and                   Word of God.                               ness.     Now, arising from that
glorious.                                              It is not my intention tonight         prayer, a n d   c a l l i n g   u p o n   t h e
                                                   to try to move you with mere hu-           people of God to walk in God's
                                                   man emotions, to find some kind            ways, Solomon goes back again to
Rev. Haak is pastor of Bethel Protes-              of human pry-bar to renew your             the theme of God's faithfulness.
tant Reformed Church in Itasca, Illi-              zeal for the work of the Reformed          He says, "The Lord our God be
nois, and "radio voice"  of  the Re-               Witness Hour. It is my purpose             with us, as he was with our fa-
formed Witness  Hour. *We publish                  to bring to you the Word of God            thers: let him not leave us, nor
here the message brought by Rev.                   which, I trust, will produce rededi-       forsake us" (v. 57). And again, he
Haak at the public celebration, earlier            cation within sanctified hearts.           says,  `I... that he maintain the cause
this year,  of  the 55th anniversary  of               I   K i n g s   8:60, "That all the    of his servant, and the cause of his
the RWH broadcast.                                 people of the earth may know that          people Israel at all times, as the

                                                                                                    November 1,1996/Standard  Bearer/57


matter shall require" (v. 59).           When God makes known His                  power to say anything at all about
    Now we ask the question,             truth, that congregation, that            man, the world, Christ, salvation,
Why? Why does Solomon plead              people, that person now exists for        life, and death. And, the Lord
for God to maintain the cause of         this purpose: In order that, now          willing, we hope to make this
His people, to maintain His people       knowing God in all of His ad-             theme the keynote of our radio
in the truth? Why does he ask that       equacy for sinners, in all of His         broadcasts. Whatever may be the
they be maintained in the true           purity, power, glory, and justice,        particular subject of our discus-
worship of the living God, and in        they might make known this God            sion, whether we speak of Him di-
a life of obedience to this God?         as God gives them the opportu-            rectly or of man, of Christ and sal-
Why does he plead this? For this         nity to do it.                            vation, of the church, of the world,
reason: "That all the people of the          This is not an isolated passage       of sin and grace, of life and death,
earth may know that the Lord is          of the Word of God. We read in            we shall say, God is God!"
God and there is none else." There       Isaiah  43:21,  "This people have I           This was the keynote from the
is a principle here. That principle      formed for myself." That is won-          very first broadcast' of the Re-
must be riveted to our souls. It is      derful. God formed us, for Him-           formed. Witness Hour. And God
this, God maintains the cause of         self. But was there another pur-          has kept us faithful to it. This is
His people, and God maintains a          pose in God in forming a people           why we praise Him tonight.
people for Himself in His truth for      for Himself? Yes, this people have            But, perhaps, someone may
this purpose: In order that all the      I formed for Myself; they shall           ask the question, "Well, that means
earth might know that Jehovah is         show forth My praise.                     then that your program is some-
God. God's purpose in preserv-               That is the principle that            what abstract and somewhat irrel-
ing a people, in preserving congre-      stands behind the Reformed Wit-           evant to man in his present situa-
gations, in preserving individuals       ness Hour. That is why we air the         tion. What about the unconverted
who know, love, and worship Him          messages that we do: that all the         whom we want to listen to our
is so that through them the world        earth may know the God who has            program? And what about the less
might know that He is God. Lay           made Himself known to us.                 skilled and trained in the Word of
hold of that tonight in your heart!          Herman Hoeksema, in the very          God? Would it not be better if we
    Solomon brings the truth that        first message of the Reformed Wit-        would, today, choose a different
God does maintain, and He must           ness Hour on October 12, 1941,            jumping-off point, something less
maintain, His truth in His people.       struck this note as the theme of          dogmatic, less assertive, less accu-
He must maintain His cause as            our program. After demonstrat-            satory, something a bit more ne-
represented by His people. But           ing that the messages heard in his        gotiable than "Jehovah is God
why, what is the purpose of God          day and in the world around him           alone"?
in doing this? Is the purpose, per-      centered in man, in man's inher-              Yes, the Reformed Witness
haps, that we may settle down in         ent goodness and resiliency, he           Hour certainly wants to bring the
sickly self-complacency and in           gave this passionate call: "The su-       Word of God to the need of man
spiritual smugness and say, "We          preme and, in a sense, the only           today! But there is nothing more
are the people of God"? May God          task of the church in the world is        practical, more urgent, for you and
forbid that that be our response.        to preach the Word of God. But if         your neighbor and for anyone lis-
Is it that God preserves His truth       there is a Word of God to be pro-         tening to our broadcast right now,
in order that we might enjoy and         claimed by the church, it must            than to know that Jehovah, He is
receive the benefit of that truth?       needs be a Word which God Him-            God. For, first of all,  theBible  will
Yes, that is true. That God pre-         self speaks and which He speaks           tell us that the Christian life does
serves among us the truth that He        concerning Himself. And if God            not begin with our standing as
is our God, the sovereign and sure       speaks concerning Himself, the ba-        man to man or woman to woman,
Savior, is surely an evidence of His     sic and all-pervading note of that        but the Bible is concerned, first of
pure love and goodness to us and         speech must invariably be, I am           all, with our standing before God.
of His blessing on us.                   God! God is God. Unless the               The theme of the gospel of Jesus
    But God's ways do not end            church proclaims this truth in all        Christ is not, first, how to solve
with us. God's ways are higher,          of its implications, in all of its pu-    your problems in this life with
broader, than our enjoyment. His         rity, and without compromise, she         your wife or husband, with your
purpose is greater. God has made         cannot preach. She has nothing to         boss or friends, how to improve
known His truth to us and given          say. Unless she proclaims this            the quality of your earthly life. But
us to know and confess it so that        truth, not as one of the tenets of        its theme is, first of all, to teach us
we might be faithful witnesses of        her faith but as the truth of all         concerning the only way of stand-
that truth. As Solomon says, "so         truths, not occasionally but always,      ing before God who is God. It
that the world might know."              she forfeits the right and lacks the      teaches us, first, not how to live

52,Standard  Bearer /November I, 1996


on the horizontal, but how to live                      know the majesty of God. The rea-        utter submission before His sov-
on the vertical. The gospel, thus,                      son why the words "forgiveness"          ereign throne? And are you filled
deals with the reality of God, our                      and "grace" are cheap today is that      with gratitude towards and joy
sin; our natural enmity against                         men think there is only half a step      and confidence in the God who
God, and God's grace in Jesus                           between themselves and God. But          reigns over all things through Jesus
Christ. The gospel brings us to                         those who know and now stand in          Christ?
stand before God, who is God, in                        the light of the true God and His            If that is true for you person-
all His glory; and causes us to love                    majesty are thrilled in their heart      ally, and if that is true for our
Him. Then, and only then, will                          and awed that God would show             churches, then we will declare to
the Bible teach us how to live with                     grace to them and would forgive          all around us, "Jehovah, He is
each other.                                             them.                                    God." Those who know God will
    The key to it all is this: Jeho-                        Still more, it is the true knowl-    be devoted to making Him known.
vah, He is God!                                         edge  .of God which will bring us        Those who know Him best are the
    That is the knowledge that will                     to an utter resignation before the       best equipped and will be the most
bring you to a deep and personal                        great and the eternal God to do          zealous to do so.
acquaintance with your own sin-                         whatsoever He wills us to do.                Then the Reformed Witness
fulness. Do not measure your sin                        Those who know their God for             Hour, as it serves that proclama-
by the standards of others, not                         who he is will be consumed with          tion, will have a place in our hearts
even by the measurement of what                         one question in all their living,        and in our prayers. Knowing Him
damage it has caused you. But                           namely:     "Lord, what wilt Thou        who rides in His majesty in the
measure your sin by the holiness                        have me to do?"                          heavens, and whose faithfulness
of God. It is the vision of the glory                       God is God.                          stretches from age to age, the God
and the majesty of the eternal God                          Jehovah has maintained this          of our salvation in Jesus Christ; we
that brings the devastating knowl-                      knowledge among us.                      will let the world around us know
edge of one's own corruption of                             Do you possess this knowl-           that Jehovah, He is God.
heart.                                                  edge?      Has God made Himself              Our Father, keep us faithful, in
    But it is the same knowledge                        known to you in the holy Bible?            years to come, to this theme. May
of God that brings to us a personal                     Has He brought you, through His            it be sounded in clarity and may
acquaintance with and a true faith                      Word, to the reality of your own           it be used in power to bring sin-
in forgiveness. The word "forgive-                      sin, to humility, and to confession        ners before the throne of God -
                                                                                                   in confession, in awe, and in love
ness" becomes an overpowering                           of sin? Has He brought you to              for Thee, the One true and eter-
and wonderful word to those who                                                                    nal God. Amen.  Cl




                    Jesus Christ will be Lord
                                             on November 5
A                                                          It is not fitting that a minister     godly world itself as a promiscu-
            presidential election will                  of the gospel of the Lord of lords       ous fornicator. The challenger, di-
           b e   h e l d   i n   t h e   U n i t e d    and presidents, or a magazine de-        vorced and remarried, is living in
           States within a few days of                  voted to the only good news in the       adultery according to the Word of
the mailing of this issue of the                        world on November 5 or any other         God.
Standard Bearer. As a presiden-                         day, engage in partisan politics.           The incumbent vigorously pro-
tial election, it will be of impor-                        In this election, it would be im-     motes the legitimizing and legal-
tance to all citizens of the United                     possible for a Reformed minister         izing of the vile wickedness of ho-
States, including believers and                         and magazine to play partisan            mosexuality and shamelessly de-
their children. It will be signifi-                     politics, even if this were proper.      fends the cruelest form of the mur-
cant for the true (instituted)                          The incumbent is openly and con-         der of half-born babies. The chal-
church.                                                 vincingly portrayed by the un-           lenger had to be pressured by the

                                                                                                         November 1, 1996)Standard  Bearer/53


right wing of his party to accede        must be impressed upon "conser-                                Which man as president would
to an anti-abortion plank in the         vatives" with urgency in our day.                          be less inclined to appoint lawless
platform.                                In times of morally despicable rul-                        (the euphemism is "liberal") su-
    There is no biblical basis, or       ers, grossly unjust policies, and                          preme court justices who will cre-
Christian motivation, for voting         persecution, it is always a danger                         ate laws to conform to the wishes
for either of the candidates.            that outraged conservative Chris-                          of an increasingly unrighteous
    It is reason for gratitude that      tians resort to earthly force.                             people, rather than judge laws in
voting is not part of the calling of           There is no room in the Prot-                        accordance with the Constitution?
the Christian as regards the ordi-       estant Reformed Churches, be-                                  Who is less likely to oppress
nance of civil government. That it       cause there is no place in the king-                       the Christian workingman and the
is the Christian's calling is a bro-     dom of Christ, for tax resisters,                          Christian school, because he is not
mide solemnly dispensed at the           members of private militias, and                           so completely in the pocket of the
time of election by preachers who        weapon-hoarding zealots waiting                            ungodly labor unions?
have not investigated the question       (and practicing) for the opportu-                              A precarious stance at the vot-
in the light of Scripture.               nity to shoot it out with the fed-                         ing booth.
    The calling that Christ gives        eral government. "Put up again                                 But one that we can still de-
the Christian citizen in government      t h y   s w o r d   i n t o   h i s   p l a c e . . . .    fend before the Lord of our con-
is threefold according to Romans         Thinkest thou that I cannot now                            science.
13, I Peter 2, and other passages.       pray to my Father, and he shall                                Our confidence on November
First, he must honor the civil rul-      presently give me more than                                5 regarding political and social de-
ers on account of their office. For      twelve legions of angels?" (Matt.                          velopments in the United States
a short while, during this present,      26:52-54).                                                 will be that Jesus Christ is Lord.
passing age, Christ loans them                 Christ the Lord has reserved                         He is sovereign over this mighty
some of His own authority. He is         to Himself the right of judging and                        nation, this important election, and
pleased to use them to keep some.        destroying unjust rulers, His un-                          these candidates for office.
outward order in society, so that        faithful civil servants. He wants                              This will be our only confi-
His church can exist and do its          to take care of Antichrist Himself                         dence. We have no confidence in
work of preaching the gospel. Ig-        (II Thess.  2:8).                                          the American people, in the main
noring the personal depravity of               Third, the calling of the be-                        political parties, or in the candi-
the rulers, the believer must stare      liever is to pay his taxes,  all of his                    dates.
fixedly at their office.                 taxes. For the money exacted of                                Confidence in Christ affords
    Second, the Christian's duty is      him by state decree is no longer                           perfect serenity with regard to the
to submit and obey in all matters        his, but theirs.                                           outcome of the election. It pro-
that do not require him to disobey            Voting is not an aspect of the                        tects us from discouragement. It
the Lord Jesus. The qualification        Christian calling in the sphere .of                        guards us against any undue joy.
is fundamental. The true church          civil government.                                              Jesus Christ will be Lord on
in the United States will be com-              The day will come when the                           November 5.
pelled to pay attention to the quali-    Reformed Christian refuses to vote                             The ascended Christ sits at the
fication in the near future as it has    on grounds of conscience.                                  right hand of God governing the,
never had to before.                           If we vote in this election, it                      presidential election in the United
    When antichristian rulers de-        will be without enthusiasm. The                            States. He decides who will be
mand that the church not discrimi-       standard of the choice will be the                         president, as He decides the make-
nate against women by excluding          lesser of two evils. Which man                             up of the congress and the com-
them from office; when they for-         and party are less radically op-                           position of the supreme court. He
bid church and believer to con-          posed to the law of God, e.g., the                         will give us the man of His will.
demn homosexuality; when they            law that sexual relations are lim-                             What will move Him will be
legislate that the Christian school      ited to one male and one female                            His reading of the counsel of God
hire the practicing homosexual           in marriage? Which, therefore, is                          concerning the last things  - how
(thus putting the fox in the  hen-       less the foe of the family?                                this election fits into God's plan
house), the Spirit of Him who is              Which candidate is less eager                         for the  endtime. Christ will be
truth and light in a world of lie        to subvert fundamental justice in                          opening the book with the seven
and darkness will compel us to           the basic service of the state, e.g.,                      seals (Rev. 5).
say, "We must obey Christ rather         protecting unborn human beings,                                This by no means implies that
than man."                               innocent before the law of the land,                       the better, or even less unworthy,
    But never may the Christian          and executing abortionists, sui-                           man will win. Christ raises up the
rebel.    Christ the Lord forbids        cide-assisting doctors, and other                          basest of men to rule the world's
revolution unconditionally. This         murderers?                                                 great nations (Dan.  4:17).

54)Standard  Bearer /November 1, 1996


       That Christ will be Lord on               be judging as judged. All Chris-         tices the rival I<ingdom of Christ
  November 5 certainly does not as-              tian influence and restraint are re-     in its midst  - the light of truth,
  sure the United States of four years           pudiated and cast off. The nation        principle, integrity, holiness, and
  of divine blessing.          Christ gives      now gives itself over, with aban-        life in the midst of its falsehood,
  rulers in His wrath  - self-aggran-            don, to the worship and service of       moral squalor, and death. In the
  dizing rulers who deceive, op-                 Man (Humanity, of course, to a           confession and conduct  of, the citi-
  press, and ruin, just as an unrigh-            feminist society), the real  - and       zens of the Kingdom  of.Christ, the
  teous nation deserves (Hos.  13:ll).           terrifying  - god of the United          kingdom of Man hears and sees,
       But neither does the fact that            States.                                  first with irritation and then with
  Jesus Christ will be Lord on No-                   There is no turning back. The        hatred, the Lordship of Jesus
  vember 5 mean easy times and                   scoffers are wrong when they al-         Christ, true God.
  happy days for the church. The                 lege that all things continue as they        Persecution follows.
  days of relative earthly ease for the          were from the beginning of the cre-          In this, too, Jesus Christ will
  church in the United States are fast           ation. So are we wrong when we           be Lord. The church is effectively
  coming to an end. Just in time to              suppose that all things in the           delivered from the temptation to
  keep the church from fatal com-                United States will continue pretty       become worldly. Christ accom-
  promise with the pleasure-mad-                 much as they have been in the past       plishes, in His persecuted people,
  ness of the world and with the  un-            50  years, or even 200 years. The        the full measure of His suffering
  Reformed ways of the apostate                  schools, the media, the false            at  the'hand of the world. And the
c h u r c h e s .                                church, and the spirit of Antichrist     world fills its cup of iniquity, so
       The most ominous feature of               control the mind and behavior of         that Jesus Christ can come in the
  the election of 1996 is the indiffer-          the people and drive the nation,         body, on the clouds, to take ven-
  ence of the majority, or near ma-              with all of Western civilization, to     geance on the wicked and to glo-
  jority, of American voters to  ret:            its end in the beast of Revelation       rify His saints.
  ognized lack of all principle; dis-            whose number is the number of                The `prayer of the Reformed
  regard for truth; flagrant immoral-            Man.                                     Christian, as he votes on Novem-
  ity of personal life; and support of               As determined by God and             ber 5, is not for the victory of ei-
  homosexuality.and  abortion in one             governed by His Christ.                  ther Democrat or Republican.
  who runs for the highest office in                 This will mean hard times for            His prayer is, "Come, Lord
  the land. Regardless of the out-               the true church.                         Jesus, come quickly."
  come, this election will be the judg-              Soon.                                    Through the election of No-
  ment of the United States as a na-                 Every kingdom of Man, when           vember 5.  Ll
  tion. The people will not so much              it has developed somewhat, no-                                         - DJE.




                           Brethren, Pray for Us*
                                                 nary is governed by the synod of         the bills through the  synodical as-
       "Brethren, pray for us. u                 the churches through its Theologi-       sessments. This is about all you
                       I Thessalonians  5:25     cal School Committee. The pro-           have to do with the seminary.
  W                                              fessors teach their classes, preach          But there's more, much more.
               hat have you, the be-             in the vacant pulpits, lecture from      The Heidelberg Catechism teaches
               liever, to do with the            time to time, teach catechism            that the  first  requirement of the
               seminary?        Perhaps in       classes, and lead Bible Study soci-      Fourth Commandment is "That the
  your mind, very little. The  semi-             eties. The students do their as-         ministry of the gospel and the
                                                 signments, write the research pa-        schools be maintained . . . .  N    By
  Prof. Decker is professor of Practical         pers, take the tests and exams,          "schools" the Catechism means the
  Theology in the Protestant Reformed            and, after sustaining the oral ex-       Theological Schools, the seminar-
  Seminary.          `This is the text of the    amination before the synod, are          ies. How are the ministry of the
  Seminary Convocation address at the            declared candidates for the minis-       gospel and the seminary main-
  start of our fall term.                        try. And you, the believer, pay          tained? By the financial support

                                                                                               November  1,1996/%ndard Bearer/55


of God's people? Certainly. By             forced to leave Thessalonica pre-        in doctrine and manner of living.
the words of encouragement and,            maturely because of the persecu-             Hence the professor must ex-
sometimes, admonition?             Cer-    tion by the unbelieving Jews. Paul       pound Holy Scripture. This does
tainly. But primarily the ministry         went to Berea and was followed           not mean that he merely interprets
of the gospel and the schools are          by these Jews of Thessalonica.           the Bible  - in exegesis classes, for
maintained by the prayers of               And now Paul is writing this             example. He certainly does this
God's people.                              epistle from Corinth, which was a        too, and this is a very important
    As we begin another school             church troubled by all kinds of se-      part of his teaching. But this
year, therefore, the Word of God           rious problems.                          means he must teach the truth to
to us, and especially to you, the              Thus he writes this urgent           the students.  EIe teaches them the
people of God, is this: "Brethren,         command, "Brethren, pray for us."        doctrines of Holy Scripture, and
pray for us" (I Thess.  5:25).             We desperately need your prayers.        the history of those doctrines and
    Paul the apostle was deeply            This is the calling of the church        of the church. He shows how that
conscious of his need of the               today as well. You, the believer,        doctrine applies to the life of the
prayers of God's people. Notice,           must always be praying for us.           child of God. He teaches the stu-
Paul addresses the brethren. Some                                                   dents the principles of preaching
commentators say the apostle is            The Calling of the Professors            and shepherding God's people.
speaking here to the elders and                The calling of the professors is     And all his teaching must be
pastors, the officebearers of the          explained in Article 18 of the           rooted in Holy Scripture.
church. This is incorrect. All             Church Order and the Form for the            In his teaching, the professor
through this epistle, Paul repeat-         Installation of Professors of Theol-     must be antithetical/polemical as
edly addresses the congregation as         ogy. According to Article 18 of          well. He must caution the stu-
brethren. So also here in the text         the Church Order the professor's         dents against all error  - the her-
he addresses the believers, the en-        calling consists of two elements:        esies which have plagued the
tire congregation. This, therefore,        he must expound the Holy Scrip-          church of the past and the heresies
is the calling of the church always        tures, and he must vindicate sound       of the new day. He must always
and in every age. Believers must           doctrine against heresies and er-        present the truth of Scripture as it
pray for us.                               rors. The Form teaches the same,         stands over against the lie.
    Note, too, that this is an im-         but in a little more detail. The pro-        Still more, the professor must
perative. We have no choice in             fessor must instruct and establish       be an example of true godliness to
the matter. This is a command of           the students in the knowledge of         his students. They must be able
God to all believers, pray for us.         God's Word by expounding to              to see in their professors how they
The exhortation is emphatic. We            them the mysteries of the faith. He      are to conduct themselves as faith-
could translate it, "Brethren, al-         must caution the students in re-         ful ministers of the Word among
ways be praying even, or espe-             gard  to' the errors of the old, but     God's people.      Never must the
cially, concerning us." Paul means         especially of the new day. `He           professor contradict by ungodly
himself and his fellow apostles and        must seek to explain to them how         living what he teaches from God's
the pastors and teachers, the el-          they are to shepherd the flock of        Word.
ders, and the evangelists. And, re-        God. He must maintain order and              Because all this is possible only
ally, what he is saying is, "Let your      discipline among the students. To        by the grace of God, brethren, pray
prayers encircle us," or "Bathe us         this the Form adds that the pro-         for us.
in your prayers."                          fessor must be an example to the             The need for your prayers is
    Paul is deeply conscious of the        students, "a living illustration of      accentuated by the perilous times
absolute necessity of the prayers          the power and practice of true           in which we are called to live and
of the believers. He needs their           godliness."                              work. We too must do our teach-
prayers with respect to his calling.           Both the Church Order and the        ing in a very hostile environment,
He is a preacher of the gospel. He         Form accurately reflect the teach-       one characterized by terrible apos-
is busy establishing churches and          ing of Holy Scripture. II Timothy        tasy.      That apostasy/departure
governing those churches. Paul             2 teaches that the professor must        from the truth concerns not some
has a tremendous responsibility            commit the truth of Holy Scripture       minor/peripheral matters of the
before God. He is unable to carry          to faithful and able men in order        doctrine and life taught in Scrip-
out his task without the prayers           that they may teach others. He           ture. It does not have to do with
of the believers. Remember, too,           must study and rightly divide the        doctrinal hairsplitting. The apos-
that Paul is doing all this in a very      Word of truth, and he must warn          tasy concerns the very heart/es-
hostile environment. He came to            against errors and ungodliness. I        sence of the truth of Holy Scrip-
Thessalonica from  Philippi  where         Timothy 4 requires the professor         ture as summed in the Reformed
he had been imprisoned. He was             to be an example of the believers        confessions.     The great falling

5QStandard  Bearer /November 1, 1996


away we are seeing in our day con-      pose in mind. Said Smedes, "I            fute on the basis of Scripture the
cerns that fundamental truth upon       don't believe there will ever, ever      errors of the past but especially of
which. depends the whole truth of       .be a good purpose in the Holo-          the new day. They must know the
Scripture and the godly life of the     caust, and if there is I don't want      history of the church and the
Christian founded upon that truth.      to hear it; and if God did that be-      battles she has fought over the cen-
In one word, God is rejected!           cause he had good in it too, I don't     turies.     They must acquire the
    The result is that our little       know if I like God anymore.... To        skills necessary to interpret Holy
seminary stands virtually alone.        me, the answer to the problem of         Scripture correctly. They must be
Even those few conservative semi-       pain and suffering is hope  - not        adept in the original languages of
naries left in the world are fatally    a philosophy of the all-controlling      the Bible.       They must be able
compromised by a commitment to          God but a hope that an all-loving        rightly to- divide the Word of
the error of common grace and the       God will rescue the world." This         Truth. They must develop their
well-meant gospel offer. And that       is rank heresy!                          God-given talents for preaching
error denies the antithesis between         `God the sovereign Holy Spirit,      and teaching the Word of God.
the church and the world and            who gave us sacred Scripture by          And they must develop their  God-
leads inevitably to Arminianism         the wonder of infallible inspira-        given talents `so as to be able to
and modernism. The evidence for         tion, is rejected.                       shepherd the flock of God with the
the truth of that last statement is         The rejection of these funda-        compassion of the Great Shepherd
written in huge, bold letters on the    mental truths affects the worship,       of the sheep, the Lord Jesus.
pages of the history of the church.     ethics, and life of the Christian. In        To this calling the seminarians
    Consider the fact that God as       worship, anything goes. No longer        must give their all. They must let
the sovereign Creator is denied.        is worship governed by the teach-        everything in their lives be sub-
The Bible's plain teaching that God     ings of Holy Scripture. Worship          servient to this. They must work
created all things by His Word in       has become entertainment. The            very, very hard at this, for God is
six days is rejected. And various       chief means of grace, the preach-        not pleased with mediocrity. God
forms of evolutionism are openly        ing of the Word, is replaced by li-      demands our very best efforts.
taught in the churches and schools.     turgical dance, drama, dialogue,             But there's more. The instruc-
This is a rejection of God and of       and individual testimonies. Sab-         tion given in the seminary is not
His Christ, by whom and for             bath desecration is widespread. If       merely academic. It is a special
whom all things were made.              people go to church at all, they go      aspect of the preaching of the
   God as the sovereign Re-             only in the morning, and then use        Word by the church. And this
deemer of the elect in Christ is re-    the rest of the Lord's Day for their     means that the seminarians must
jected. God's sovereign decree of       own pleasures. Worldliminded-            receive the teaching with believ-
election and reprobation is denied.     ness has won the day. Nothing is         ing and obedient hearts.           The
Jesus, whose Name is the only           regarded as sinful anymore. The          Truth of God's Word must be the
Name under heaven given among           Law of God, the teacher of our           burning conviction of their hearts.
men by which we must be saved,          misery and the rule for our life of      Only thus will they be faithful pas-
is denied. In place of these cardi-     gratitude, is not even read, much        tors and teachers in the church of
nal truths universal salvation is       less obeyed, in many a church.           Jesus Christ.
openly taught. God doesn't send         There is divorce for any reason,             Brethren, pray for us, the semi-
anyone to hell. Islam, Judaism,         and the remarriage of divorced           narians!
Hinduism, and other world `reli-        persons. And the worst of it all is
gions are, along with Christianity,     the approval of homosexuality and        The Calling of the Believers
ways to salvation.                      lesbianism.                                  That is the believers' calling,
   The God of Scripture who sov-            In the midst of this kind of so-     your calling! Pray always, espe-
ereignly causes all things to work      ciety and church world we must           cially concerning us.       Pray ear-
together for good to those who          prepare men for the gospel minis-        nestly, fervently, that the profes-
love Him, those who are the called      try. Brethren, pray for us!              sors may be obedient to their call-
according to His purpose, is de-                                                 ing to commit the truth to faithful
nied.    Lewis Smedes, a  well-         The Calling of the Seminarians           men who shall be able to teach oth-
known, highly-respected, evangeli-          And in those prayers pray for        ers. Pray that the seminarians may
cal theologian who taught at            the seminarians. They must re-           be obedient to their calling to re-
Calvin College and Fuller Theo-         ceive the instruction. They must         ceive the instruction with believ-
logical Seminary, according to a        know the doctrine of the Word of         ing hearts and minds. Pray that
recent article in the Banner, dis-      God as summed in the Reformed            in this way the churches, our chil-
agrees with the view that God           confessions. They must know it           dren and children's children, may
plans bad things with a good  pur-.     thoroughly so as to be able to re-       continue to receive from the  semi-

                                                                                      November 1, 7996EAandard  Bearer/57


nary able and faithful pastors, men         devotions as well. We ought not                          they be singing psalms and hymns
who will continue the great tradi-          let one day pass without praying                         and spiritual songs as you do?
tion God has so graciously given            earnestly for the seminary.                              Will they hear faithful Reformed
us.                                              There is urgent necessity here!                     preaching which will enable them
       This is the Word of God to the       What we do at the seminary, what                         to live sanctified lives to God's
congregations. This means that the          we will be doing- this academic                          glory.just as you do? And, should
ministers in the congregational             year, shapes the future of our                           the Lord tarry, will their children
prayers must lead the congrega-             churches. Brethren, pray for us.                         be faithfully catechized just as
tion in petitions for the seminary.         Church history shows that de-                            your children are now?
I know that in some instances, I            nominations last for only a hun-                             The answer to these questions
hope they are few, this is not done.        dred years or so. Our churches                           is, yes! Yes, if the seminary re-
This ought not be. The ministers,           are already making plans for the                         mains faithful to its calling. Will
in at least one of the congrega-            celebration of our 75th anniversary  ' the seminary remain faithful to its
tional prayers, ought to pray for           in the year A.D. 2000.                                   calling? The answer is, yes!- Yes,
the seminary. Further, they ought                Will our churches continue to                       if you the believers remain faith-
to instruct the congregations to            manifest the marks of the true                           ful to your calling to pray for your
pray for the, seminary. This, as            church of Christ in the world?                           seminary.
we noted earlier, belongs to obe-           Will our churches continue to send                           Brethren, pray for us. Be as-
dience to the Fourth Command-               out faithful, Reformed missionar-                        sured God will hear and answer'
ment of God's Law.                          ies to preach the blessed gospel of                      those prayers.     God gives His
       This means we must be pray-          sovereign and particular grace in                        grace and Holy Spirit to those who
ing for the seminary in our family          Christ to the nations? Will your                         continually ask them of Him and
devotions.        Parents ought to in-      children and grandchildren attend                        are thankful for them. By means
struct their children to pray for the       a faithful Protestant Reformed con-                      of your fervent, faithful prayers,
seminary. We are called to pray             gregation? Will they be worship-                         God in His mercy will preserve
for. the seminary in our personal           ing just like you are now? Will                          His church.  0





                    The Seminar on the Principles and Practices of

                                   Reformed Christian Education:
           . . Ati. ,Evalu,atiIon, a Prospect,
                                            and a Prod
          fter
A a bit of ballyhoo, a bit creator and professor of this course Schools. The Federation has spon-
           of opposition, a bit of frus-    to tell of its success, but I've been                    sored many different kinds of ac-
           tration, and a whole lot of      asked to comment about the                               tivities aimed at the proper devel-
anxiety on my part in planning and          course. I believe I can call it suc-                     opment of teachers in our schools
preparation, a course called a              cessful not just because I believe                       - workshops, lectures, week-long
seminar on the principles and               that the objectives of the course                        seminars. Agatha Lubbers did an
practices of Reformed Christian             were met, but because the partici-                       excellent job of summarizing all
education was launched in Janu-             pants thought so too. They gave                          this activity in a recent issue of
ary, 1996 and concluded in July,            the course a very positive evalua-                       Perspectives.  But this course is re-
1996. It's a bit awkward as the             tion.                                                    ally a first of its kind for this
                                                 This course, in some sense,                         group. This was a special course
                                            was a culmination of lots of ac-                         authorized by Hope College for
Mr. Huislcen is registrar at Hope Col-      tivities sponsored by the Federa-                        credit. Now to many of you this
lege, Holland,  Michigan.                   t i o n   o f   P r o t e s t a n t   R e f o r m e d    makes little difference, I suspect,

58)Standard  Bearer /November 1,1996


but to a teacher or prospective                                   5.To demonstrate an under-                      it did not end there. The mission
teacher it can make  a  difierence.                        standing of the mission, goals, and                    statement figured prominently in
Those currently teaching are re-                           objectives of Reformed Christian                       objective  #5. The final presenta-
quired. to continue their education                        education and how they apply to                        tions given by each participant to
almost on a constant basis,  -and                          teaching and administering of the                      the class had to demonstrate how
those who are currently in college                         Reformed Christian school.                             the project they presented related
studying to be teachers have their                                It is interesting to note, first of             directly to the mission and goals
plates full with requirements  to be                       all, that these objectives, in my                      of the institution. It became a re-
certified. So, to offer a course,                          judgment and in the judgment of                        quired, and therefore inescapable,
with credit, was significant  iri two                      those  tiho took the course, were                      part of their thinking to do a suc-
regards: 1) it gives the course in-                        met. Secondly, it is interesting to                    cessful presentation. The products
tegrity because it is authorized by                        note that there is a sense of pro-                     speak for themselves. T h e   c o r n -
a college for credit, and 2) it gives                      gression in these objectives  - they                   ment heard most often was that it
transportability to the credit given                       build upon each other. Third, it is                    was too bad that board members
for the course because it can be                           interesting to note that the objec-                    and parents were not present to
transferred to other institutions. I                       t i v e   w h i c h   c a u s e d   t h e   m o s t    witness these presentations.. They
am pleased to report that several                          struggle and pain was objective  #3                    w o u l d   h a v e   b e e n   h a p p y   a n d
institutions of higher education                           - to understand the mission,                           proud. I was.
have already recognized the course                         goals, and objectives of Reformed                           So what did these students in
for credit to fulfill either major or                      Christian education. Part of the                       this course come away with? First,
elective requirements in several                           problem was that only one of our                       I think they had a new or renewed
teachers' programs.                                        schools has any kind of a mission                      sense of the historical and theo-
      The  Course, even though of-                         statement, and that statement was                      logical roots of Reformed  ~Christian
fered for undergraduate or gradu-                          not very familiar to the teachers                      education as we know it in Prot-
ate credit, took on the nature of a                        who worked there. So mission                           estant Reformed circles. In a sense
g r a d u a t e - l e v e l   s e m i n a r .   T h a t    statements, statements of clear in-                    that history is long  - Christian
translates into much reading, some                         tent about what the school is and                      education has been around for a
writing,  some discussion, and a fi-                       how it is distinguished from other                     long time. But, in another real
nal presentation which pulled to-                          like institutions, became  - as in-                    sense, parental education, as we
gether, in the minds of the stu-                           tended  - a focal point for this                       know it, has a very short  histoky
dents, the different aspects of the                        course. The writing of a mission                       - no more than a hundred years.
course. I considered this final pre-                       statement           required           careful         For this we owe a great debt to
sentation to be the test case(s) for                       thought, required  knbwledge  of                       the likes of Abraham Kuyper,
the course. What difference did                            the       history
all the reading and discussing and                         and principles
lecturing make? I am pleased to                            of the  institu-
report that, in -my judgment, it                           .tion,  and re-
made a great deal of difference.                           quired careful
Let me explain a bit more about                            articulation,
the objectives of this course to see                       because it de-
how this happened.                                         fined        what
      The specific course objectives                       this Reformed
given to the participants in this                          C h r i s t i a n
course were as follows:                                    school was to
      1. To understand the historical                      be.
and theological roots of Reformed                                 The results
Christian education.                                       of this particu-
      2. To understand the principles                      lar      activity
which form the foundation of Re-                           were quite re-                          Front: Ron  Koole  (Administrator, Hope  PRC)
formed Christian education.                                m a r k a b l e .            James  Huizinga  (Covenant  CHS), David Harbach (Adams Chr.),
      3.To understand the mission,                         W o r k   t e a m s Jane Woudenberg  (Calvin CoZIege  Student),  Dan VanDyke  (Heritage Chr.),
goals/aims, `and objectives/out-                           d i s c u s s e d ,         Doug Boone (Heritage Chr.), John  Huizenga  (Faith Chr., Randolph),
                                                                                  Joe Brummel (Hope PRC Board), Agatha Lubbers (Administrator, Covenant
comes of Reformed Christian edu-                           wrote,         and          CHS, Federation Executive Director), Rick Gritters (Heritage  Chr.)
cation.                                                    then presented             Back: Sarah Decker (Heritage  Chr.),  Jon Huisken (Seminar Director,
     4.To understand the character-                        their mission            Registrar Hope College), Joanne Huisken (Heritage  Chr.), Brenda Pastoor
istics of the Reformed Christian                           statemefits  t o (Heritage  Chr.), Dorothy  VanderSchaaf  (Homemaker and former Teacher),
                                                                                      Marlys   VanMaanen  (Heritage  Chr.), Kristin Dykstra (Adams Chr.),
teacher.                                                   the class. But Gerald  Kuiper  (Administrator, Heritage  Chr.), Rick  DeVries (Adams  Chr.)

                                                                                                                        November 1, 7996/Standard  Bearer/59


Groen  vanl'rinsterer,  and Herman             mission of these schools and in-         sations about these matters. That,
Bavinck. I believe, further, that              tentional about the application of       in my opinion, is what needs to
they came away with a heightened               the theological principles upon          happen if this course is to make a
sense of how the doctrine of the               which these schools are founded.         difference in our schools. School
covenant, figures prominently in                   Will it make a difference?           boards and administrators now
our thinking about Reformed                    Time will tell. It became obvious        have the opportunity and the  re-
Christian education. For this we               to me, however, that, among the          sponsibiiity to give these teachers
owe a great debt to Herman  Hoek-              participants in this course, conver-     the *occasions and the financial
sema and, more recently, David                 sations became more focused on           support to make this happen. The
Engelsma. And, they have come                  what they are and do as Christian        conversation must continue; and,
to know and believe that if our                educators. A bond was formed             then, actions must follow the talk.
schools are to remain as parental,             among them that will make it             It is very possible. This course, in
covenantal, Reformed schools,                  easier to have continuing conver-        the final analysis, gave evidence
thev need to be clear about the
   ,                                                                                    of that.  0



                                I\, artin Lulther:
                       Gem aIt Ref&TlttW (-2)

                                               public attention, was a conference         derive their strength and their au-
The Progress of the Reformation                and debate within the  Augustin-           thority, is a heretic.
           e
W cannot, in this brief bio- ian Order over Luther's views.
           graphical sketch, give a            The Roman Catholic prelates ap-              Luther was ordered to appear
           detailed     a c c o u n t   o f    pealed to papal authority and            in Rome to have his views exam-
Luther's work. It is possible to               thought that would end the mat-          ined,  and Frederick, Elector of
mention, and then only in passing,             ter. Luther took the opportunity         Saxony, was ordered to turn him
some of the outstanding events.                to get behind the indulgence ques-       over. Frederick refused and be-
    Although the upheavals in Eu-              tion to expose various theological       came Luther's protector through-
rope over Luther's theses soon                 errors: the merit of good works          out the Reformation.
came to the attention of the pope,             and the free will of man. Nothing            The Leipzig Disputation, held
Rome was not immediately per-                  much came of it all except that          from June 27 to July 15, 1519, was
turbed by these events and dis-                Luther gained many for his views,        one of the great debates of all time.
missed the whole matter as "a                  including Martin  Bucer,  later Re-      The main debaters were Martin
monks' quarrel." But it was far                former of Strassburg.                    Luther and John Eck, the latter a
more than that, and even Luther                                                         skilled orator and debater and a
did not know the extent of it. But             The Leipsig Disputation                  man devoted heart and soul to
when the seriousness of it all be-                 Rome now began to take some          Romish orthodoxy. From a purely
came evident, some important                   interest in the matter and ap-           formal point of view, Luther lost
events took place.                             pointed Prierio, responsible for all     the debate. He was charged with
                                               that was taught in Christendom,          Hussitism and was forced to ad-
The Heidelberg Disputation                     to investigate. He wrote a tract         mit it. Eck proved to be the more        .
    The Heidelberg Disputation,                attempting to refute the theses of       skilled in debating techniques, and
held in April of 1518, less than a             Luther, but his. chief appeal was        he drove Luther to positions he
half year after the theses came to             to papal authority:                      had not originally held.
                                                                                            But these positions were the
                                                Whoever does not rely on the            positions where God wanted
                                                teaching of the Roman Church            Luther to stand. Under the pres-
Prof. Hanko is professor  of  Church            and of the Roman Pontiff, as the        sures of Eck's skillful attack,
His'tory and New Testament in the               infallible rule of faith, from which    Luther was, step by step, forced
Protestant Reformed Seminary.                    the Holy Scriptures themselves         to deny the infallibility of church

GO/Standard Bearer /November 1,1996


councils, the supreme authority of      safe conduct issued by the em-                         sion, and when finally instructed
the papacy, the idea of priestly        peror himself; But Luther and his                      to make clear his position without
mediation, and the silly notion that    friends remembered well that a                         equivocation, he uttered those
the morality of monks in monas-         safe conduct meant exactly noth-                       words which have so many times
teries was superior to the moral-       ing to Rome's charlatans, even                         moved the souls of the heirs of the
ity of God's people: And so,  .fi-      though it was a sacred promise be-                     Reformation, though they filled the
nally, he stood where God wanted        fore God.        When urged by his                     enemies with consternation and
him to, stand: The sole authority       friends not to go, Luther re-                          dismay:
of Scripture; the truth that only       sponded that the cause of Christ
that which is of faith is good in       required it, and if every roof tile                      Unless I am refuted and convicted
God's sight; the principle of the       in Worms were a devil, he would                         by testimonies of the, Scriptures
priesthood of all believers. Luther     still need to go. Shortly before his                     or by clear arguments (since I be-
                                                                                                 lieve neither the Pope nor the
was forced to see the conse-            death, reflecting on those perilous                      councils alone; it being evident
quences, stark and naked, of the        days, he said: ,"I was fearless, I was                   that they have often erred  and
position he had taken.                  afraid of nothing; God can make                          contradicted themselves), I am
                                        one so desperately bold, I know                          conquered by the Holy Scriptures
The Diet of Worms                       not whether I could be so cheerful                       quoted by me, and my conscience
    In June of 1520 the bull of ex-     now."                                                    is bound in the word of God: I
communication was issued in                 He was not given opportunity                         can not and  will not recant any
Rome at Eck's instigation. Because      to defend his position, but was                          thing, since it is unsafe and dan-
the German people were behind           asked whether the books lying be-                        gerous to do anything against the
                                                                                                 conscience. Here I stand. I can
Luther, it was difficult to deliver     fore him on the table were his.                          not do otherwise. God help me!
the bull to Luther personally.          When he acknowledged that they                           Amen..
When finally it was done, Luther        were, he was asked whether he
publicly burned the bull in the         would recant what he taught.                               The Roman Catholics put a lot
street of Wittenberg in December            It was a solemn moment.                            of pressure on Charles to break his
of the same year. It was the com-       Luther was awed by the assembly,                       safe conduct promise and arrest
plete break between Luther and an       nervous and excited, unprepared                        Luther, but Charles refused. It has
apostate church.                        to be confronted with a question                       been said that Charles' refusal was
    The Diet itself was really a        which could mean his life without                      because of a memory of the blush
meeting of the Reichstag; a convo-      any opportunity to defend himself.                     on the face of Sigismund when
cation of all the princes which         And so he asked for a day to con-                      John Hus, as he was led away to
ruled the different provinces of        sider his answer. After a brief con-                   be burned, reminded him of the
Germany. Present were also high         sultation, the emperor granted it.                     safe conduct he had issued. In any
and mighty officials. from the          Some thought he was about to col-                      case, Luther was put under the ban
Romish Church decked in all their       lapse. His enemies were filled                         of the empire.
splendid robes and mitres, deter-       with glee.
mined to force the will of the pope         B u t   t h e   r e s p i t e   o f   a   d a y    Stay in  Wartburg
on the Reichstag. Charles V, cho-       brought him renewed strength and                           Frederick, fearful that Luther
sen by the princes to be ruler of       vigor. He wrote that night to a                        would be captured after all, ar-
the Holy Roman Empire, which in-        friend: "I shall not retract one iota,                 ranged for his "kidnapping" by
cluded Germany, was there with          so Christ help me."                                    friends who carried him to the
his court.     The meeting was to           The next day had to be the                         castle at Wartburg. Here Luther
settle, if possible, "the German        most important day of his life.                        stayed for 11 months, writing con-
p r o b l e m . "                           On the way to the hall, an old                     stantly. His chief work was his
    At crucial times God arranges       warrior is said to have clapped                        translation of the New Testament
affairs in His church in such a way     him on the shoulder and said: "My                      Scriptures into the German lan-
that just one man alone, among the      poor monk, my poor monk, thou                          guage. (The Old Testament was
multitudes, is called upon to stand     art going to make such a stand as                      done later, and was completed in
for the cause of God and truth. So      neither I nor any of my compan-                        1534 by a group of men.) It was
it was at Worms. Luther, against        ions in arms have ever done in our                     an amazing accomplishment, for
the entire Romish Church. Luther,       hottest battles. If thou art sure of                   by it Luther not only gave the Bible
threatened by the cruelties of the      the justice of thy cause, then for-                    to God's people, but he also de-
Inquisition. Luther, against the        ward in God's name, and be of                          termined the course of the German
might of the Empire.        Luther,     good courage: God will not for-                        language for centuries following
alone.                                  sake thee."                                            him.
    He went, it is true, under a            After some preliminary discus-

                                                                                                       November 1,1996/Standard  Bearer/61


     Luther returned to Wittenberg                   tells us of the struggles of the Ref-                      sometimes with exasperation, the
only when he heard that the radi-                    ormation more clearly than these                           tumultuous household which al-
cal Zwickau prophets with their                      sermons, and nothing shows us the                          ways. had visitors and never had
awf,ul mysticism were disturbing                     power of the Spirit in Christ-cen-                         enough money. To them were
the peace and tranquility of his                     tered preaching more vividly than                          born six children: three daughters,
city. If one wonders how impor-                      to read what Luther preached.                              two of whom died young, and
tant a role preaching played in the                                                                             three sons. Especially the death
Reformation, one need only be re-                    Luther the Writer                                          of Lena (Magdalene) touched
minded of the fact that Luther                             Luther's writings are volumi-                        Luther with great sorrow.  Schaff
stopped the radicals in their tracks                 nous. In the edition in our library                        describes the scene at her bedside:
and sent them scurrying out of the                   his writings take 54 volumes. Sev-
city by means of a series of eight                   eral are outstanding and sooner or                           "I love her very much," he
sermons which he preached from                       later ought to be read by God's                             -*prayed;  "but, dear God, if it is thy
Wittenberg's pulpit.                                 people  - as they were read by                               holy will to take her hence, I
   From the time Luther returned                     God's people in Luther's day. In                             would  gladly leave her with
to Wittenberg to the end of his life,                his Bondage  of  the  Will, Luther re-                       Thee." And to her he said, "Lena
                                                                                                                  dear, my little daughter, thou
Germany tottered on the brink of                     futed the heresy of the freedom of                           wouldst love to remain here with
war between the armies of the                        the will taught by the "Prince of                            thy father: art thou willing to go
Protestant princes and the armies                    t h e   H u m a n i s t s , "       Desiderius               to that other Father?"  - "Yes,
of those princes determined to                       Erasmus. It was Luther's break                               dear father," she replied, "just as
keep Germany Roman Catholic. It                      with Humanism and is one of  ,the                            God wills." And when she was
was a time of danger and struggle,                   great books of the Reformation.                              dying, he fell on his knees beside
but only after Luther's death did                          Luther's three great pamphlets                         her bed, wept bitterly, and prayed
the Thirty Years' War break out, a                   defined the basic truths of the                              for her redemption. As she lay
war which left Germany devas-                        Lutheran Reformation: "Address                               in her coffin, he exclaimed, "Ah!
                                                                                                                  my darling Lena, thou wilt rise
tated.                                               to the German Nobility," in which                            again, and shine like a star,  -
                                                     the doctrine of the priesthood of                            yea, as a sun. I am happy in the
Luther  the Preacher                                 a l l   b e l i e v e r s   w a s   d e v e l o p e d ;      spirit, but very sorrowful in the
     Above all else, Luther was a                    "Babylonian Captivity of the                                 flesh."
preacher. This ought not to sur-                     Church," in which Luther made
prise us, for preaching is the one                   his case against Rome's sacramen-                              Luther wrote extensively on
and only power of the church.                        tal system; and "Freedom of the                            education because the education of
A n d   n o   r e f o r m a t i o n   c a n   b e    Christian Man," a clear view of                            the children of the church was cru-
brought about in any other way                       Christian freedom.                                         cial to him. And, in writing on
than through preaching.                                   If anyone wishes to know                              this important subject, from which
     Luther's preaching is charac-                   Luther at his most down-to-earth                           we can learn today, Luther was far
terized by exposition of Scripture,                  and rugged character, he need only                         ahead of his times.
but extremely down-to-earth im-                      to pick up and read the "Table                                 But instruction in the home oc-
agery by which Luther made God's                     Talks." Here is Luther comment-                            cupied a crucial part of Luther's
truth come alive in the minds and                    ing on almost everything in life                           life. The home of Martin and Katie
hearts of the simplest of God's                      with simple expressions, biblical                          was filled with prayer, Bible study,
people.       The sermons reflected                  insights, humorous comments, and                           theological discussion, and the ex-
Luther's rapport with his own                        talk that would delight the soul of                        ample of godly people.              One
countrymen.                                          the rough-hewn peasant.                                    prayer of Luther lives in my
     Yet the one characteristic                                                                                 memory in a special way because
which is most striking is the fact                   Luther  the Husband and Father                             it shows his intimate life of fellow-
that Luther always brought the                            One could write a book on this                        ship with God, his dependence
congregation to the cross. It is                     aspect of the Lutheran Reforma-                            upon divine grace, and his love for'
hard to find a sermon in which                       tion alone. Luther not only laid                           the church. It was a prayer at the
Luther did not do this. He him-                      aside his monastic vows; he mar-                           end of a busy day.
self had found the peace that                        ried Catherine von Bora, a former
passes understanding at the foot                     nun with a mind of her own and a                             My dear God, now I lie down and
of the cross, and to that suffering                  force in her own right in the home.                          turn your affairs back to you; you
and dying Savior Luther was in-                      He married her, he said, "to please                          may do better with them. If you
tent on bringing God's people.                       his father, tease the pope, and vex                          can do no better than I, you will
     Luther's sermons are extant.                    the devil." He affectionately called                         ruin them entirely.         When I
                                                                                                                  awake, I will gladly try again.
They ought to be read. Nothing                       her Katie, my rib. She managed,                              Amen.
6Z~tandard   Bearer /November 1, 7996


        B y   h i s   h o m e   l i f e ,   L u t h e r     tremes is evidence in itself of the     cult negotiations, and in the city
brought true reformation into                               power of grace in Luther's life.        of his birth and baptism; at the age
home and family, something sorely                               By means of his theology he         of 63, Luther went to be with his
needed after the corruption of                              battered and destroyed the impos-       Lord, whom he loved and served.
Rome. The effects of Luther's own                           ing and seemingly indestructible        The date was February 17, 1546.
example linger to the present  bin                          walls of the Roman citadel of her-      He had for a long time not been
covenant homes.                                  I          esy. While Calvin was the one to        well and suffered severely from
                                                            rebuild Jerusalem's walls, Calvin       various ailments. As death neared,
Luther the Warrior                                    L     could not have done his work            in characteristic fashion he com-
        Luther fought courageously                          without Luther's fierce cannonades      mitted his soul to God with the
and unflinchingly in the battles for                        against Rome. But Luther also laid      words of Psalm  31:5 and with the
the truth. Whatever was neces-                              the foundations of the doctrines of     request to those at his bedside that
sary in his mighty blasts against                           sovereign grace, so that the truths     they would pray "for our Lord
Rome to show her evils, he did.                             of salvation by grace alone could       God and his gospel, that all might
By his work he threw the entire                             be more beautifully and fully. set      be well with  .him, because the
church into confusion.                                      forth by those who were to follow.      Council -of Trent and the accursed
        And yet it must be remem-                               It is always reason for sorrow      pope are very angry with him."
bered that he had to fight on two                           that, on the doctrine of the sacra-     He died with the words of Simeon
fronts: Rome on the one side, but,                          ments, Luther should also have felt     on his lips: "Lord, now  lettest thou
on the other front, the miserable                           it necessary to do battle with his      t h y   s e r v a n t   d e p a r t   i n   p e a c e .
Anabaptist radicals  - the  so-                             fellow Reformers.                       Amen. !'
called "right wing" of the Refor-                                                                         The Reformer had gone to join
mation. That he could maintain                              Luther's Death                          the church triumphant. His work
his balance between these two ex-                               Far from Katie, in Eisleben,        lives on.  Cl
                                                            where he had gone for some  diffi-




                                                           "Then I 60.2
                                                                 John 7: 32-36

In the passage before us, John imagine that when Christ would seek Him, they would not find
   7:32ff., Jesus is at the Jews' feast                     come He would do more miracles          Him.
   of tabernacles. He is there to                           than this man, Jesus of Nazareth.             This puzzles the Jews no end.
teach (v. 14).                                                  It was when the Pharisees
        This was a bold move on Jesus'                      heard that the people were inclin-              For Study, Meditation,
part. For the Jews were seeking                             ing toward Jesus, and speaking                         and Discussion
to kill Him for His words and                               well of Him, that the Pharisees and
works  (5:X3,  7:ll). And Jesus' in-                        the chief priests sent officers to      Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God
struction at the temple at this time                        take Him (v. 32).                       *     In verses  33,34,  the Lord Jesus
only serves to fan the anger of                                 At this time Jesus addresses        calmly. announces His departure:
some of the Jews towards Him (v.                            them (v. 33). There were prob-          "Yet a little while . . . and then I go
30).                                                        ably others who heard what Jesus        unto him that sent me." The ref-
        However, many of the Jews be-                       said, but Jesus' words seem to be       erence, of course, is to His going
lieved on Jesus (v. 31). For, ac-                           directed specifically towards those     to heaven. He will go there in a
cording to verse 31, they could not                         who had come to take Him. He            little while. The little while He
                                                            speaks  ofthe fact that He will soon    will yet be on earth is about six
Rev. Dick is pastor of Grace Protes-                        depart from their midst to a place      months: for at the time He was
tant Reformed Church in Standale,                           where they cannot come. He              speaking it was the month of Oc-
Michigan.                                                   prophesies that though they would       tober, and Jesus would be  cruci-

                                                                                                            November I, 1996Atandard  Bearer/63


fied during the feast of the Pass-        many of the Jews  find  Jesus and                      deny Christ will occur under An-
over the next April.                      enter heaven?                                          tichrist. Do we see this today?
*      With these words Jesus shows                                                              *    Notice that unbelief leads' to
complete confidence here in His           Believest Thou This?                                   confusion and spiritual blindness
glorification. "I go unto him that        +    In this passage we see the re-                    (vv. 35, 36). The Jews had only
sent me," Jesus declares. This is         action of unbelief to the Person,                      carnal notions of that of which.
an amazing statement in light of          words, and works of our Lord                           Jesus spoke in verses 33, 34. Dis-
the present humiliation and sor-          Jesus Christ. In fact, the Jews had                    cuss, in this connection, the doc-
row of the man of sorrows, but            some (sort of) faith in God. They                      trine of depravity, and hardening
also in light of the future suffer-       even boasted of it.                And they            of sinners (cf. Is. 6:9-13; Rom.  8:6,
ing which our Savior knew He              thought they did God service. But                      7; I Cor. 2).
must undergo in the last week of          they denied and rejected the Christ                    * And you? Believest thou? Do
His life on earth! Look up other          of God. What does this say of                          you believe? As believers, we be-
verses which show the Savior's            their faith in God? (Cf. John  14:1,                   lieve it is better that Jesus is no
confidence in His glorification. In       6,7; John  16:1-3;  Rom.  10:2.) What                  longer on earth in body, but is in
light of the complete confidence of       words and works of Jesus did the                       heaven. Why? (Cf. the Heidel-
the Savior, how do we explain His         Jews despise?                                          berg Catechism, and Scripture ref-
praying to be glorified in John 17:5?     * This rejection  of  the Christ,                      erences, Q. 49, 51.) How is Christ
*      The ground of Jesus' confidence    God in flesh, our Savior revealed,                     with us still, and what  .encourage-
is the eternal decree of God. This        is the principal fruit of unbelief of                  ment is this?
is something Jesus knew. He knew          Jew and Gentile. Show from the                         +    In believing we seek Jesus, and
that His being on earth was ac-           history recorded in the Bible how                      seek the truth as it is in Jesus. And
cording to a plan. It was Father's        the Christ had been rejected all                       the promise is that those who seek, 2
plan. That He had come to earth           along. How is such unbelief seen                       by faith, shall find. Discuss the
was according to Father's plan.           today in doctrine and life in both                     Scriptures which show how, and
That He would be taken and cru-           the church and secular world? Is                       why, this promise is invariably
cified was Father's will. That af-        Christ rejected when other ways                        kept by God as we seek to find
ter this He would be glorified was        to God are accepted? A popular                         direction, comfort, and the Lord
according to Father's eternal, sov-       church in the Grand Rapids area                        Himself in all our life.
ereign purpose. Cite Scriptures to        recently celebrated "Yom Kipper,"                      * Notice how the Jews, though
show that salvation in Jesus the          the Old Testament Day of Atone-                        they were confused about what
Christ was ever the purpose of            ment. How is this a rejection of                       Jesus said, did not ask Jesus for
God (e.g., Ephesians 1; Colossians        Christ?                                                an explanation. Rather, they spoke
1).                                       *    If the Jews were such unbeliev-                   among themselves. And their dis-
* When Jesus declares in verse            ers, how can it be said that they                      cussion among themselves (vv. 35,
34: "Ye shall seek me, and shall          would, at some time, "seek" the                        36) was certainly not that they
not find me:       and where I am         Lord (v.  34)? And how can they                        might understand what Jesus was
thither ye cannot come," He shows         be said to seek the Lord and not                       saying. Rather, they spoke thus
Himself to be the Judge. He is not        find Him, in light of the promise                      to mock the Savior! God grant us
simply announcing a fact. Rather,         of Matthew  7:7?                                       true faith and humility to ask the
Jesus is pronouncing judgment upon        *    The depth of the Jews' hatred                     Lord for help in understanding His
a certain people  - the unbeliev-         of Jesus is seen in that repeatedly                    words and ever to reverence what-
ing Jews. Other Scriptures teach          they sought ways to kill Him. This                     ever He says!
that God,' by Jesus, judges the           is shown in our text, too:                    the
world.       Which Scriptures are         Pharisees and the chief priests sent                   Life Through His Name
those?                                    officers to take Him. But note here                    *    Jesus said He would go "unto"
* The statement in verse 34 is            also that the Pharisees and the                        Him that sent Him, that is, unto
similar to many others in the Scrip-      chief priests are united. This is                      the Father. Just as "in the begin-
tures (Prov.  1:24-28; Amos  8:11,12;     striking because many of the                           ning" the Word was "with" God
John  8:21). In their light, explain      p r i e s t s   o f   t h o s e   d a y s   w e r e    (John  1:l: literally, "toward" God),
the reason for the judgment of God        Sadducees. But the Pharisees and                       so when Jesus ascended unto His
upon the Jews (i.e., for what spe-        Sadducees were, for various rea-                       Father He went to be "with" Him
cific sins did God reject the Jew-        sons (cf. a good Bible Dictionary),                    in glory again.      There was, in
ish nation?). In connection with          sharply at odds! How hatred of                         Jesus' ascension, a reunion, a con-
this, consider this question: Are         the Messiah unites all in opposi-                      tinuation of the life in glory that
we to look for any revival of the         tion to Him! Discuss how this                          the Son incarnate enjoyed with the
Jews? That is, shall any or even          same unification of all those who                      Father before the world began

64Atandard Bearer /November I, ,I996


(John  17:5). How does believing              *  M a n y   v i e w   t h e   j o y   o f   w h a t       go unto the Father. Is that what
on the Lord Jesus take us "unto"              they call "heaven" as freedom                              you look forward to most about
the Father  - already now? Is not             from pain and trial and the ability                        heaven? How do we begin, on this
this being in the fellowship of the           to do what they want to do for                             earth, to "cultivate" and show such
Father what life is all about? How            ever. Jesus' desire and  expecta-                          hope and desire.7 What comfort
do we  slzozu that our  life,`and  the        tion with regard to heaven was                             do we derive in this present vale
joy of our life, is being with  Fa-           that in going to heaven He would                           of tears from our life with Father?
ther?                                                                                                                                                cl




                                         Ptiotes`tarit R&formed  Seminary
                                                          4949  Ivanrest  Avenue
                                                      Grandville, Michigan 49418

Thehighlight of this school-year at the Protestant In addition, five men from the Heritage Nether-
         Reformed Seminary is the addition to the faculty                    lands Reformed Congregations are either auditing
         of Prof. Russell J. Dykstra. Prof. Dykstra is teach-                or taking for credit the
ing a course in Greek grammar to three  p&seminary                           dogmatics and church
students. He is working on obtaining the Th. M. de-                          polity courses. We are
gree in Historical Theology at Calvin Seminary. He is                        glad that we can be of
fully involved in the life of the seminary and in all                        service to them, and
faculty activities. Much of his time is spent in his of-                     appreciate their pres-
fice at the seminary preparing for the courses he will                       ence with us.
begin teaching next year. This enables him to cooper-                              This month, the
ate with Prof. Hanko next door, whose classes he will                        faculty publishes the
take over. We are thankful to God and to the churches                        Fall, 1996 issue of the
for this capable, energetic co-laborer in the seminary.                      Protestant Reformed
                                                                             Theological Journal.
                                                                             This issue of the jour-
                                                                             nal is devoted to Re-
                                                                             formed church polity,
                                                                             with articles on the                           teaching Greek in his
                                                                                                                      "'
                                                                             principles               o f   Re-                 classroom.
                                                                             gormed church polity, the autonomy of the local
                                                                             congregation, and the authority of the major assem-
                                                                            blies.The new addition to the building is used and
                                                                             appreciated by us all, especially the spacious, grow-
            Prof. Dykstra - at work in his office and . . .                  ing library. About $30,000 remains to be paid on
                                                                             the addition. Synod has decided that the debt is to
    There are seven full-time students. Six aspire to                       be paid by private gifts and collections in the
the ministry in the Protestant Reformed Churches; one                        churches. We commend this cause to the liberality
will seek admission into the ministry in the Orthodox                        of our supporters.
Presbyterian Church. There is one student in each of                              And pray. for us, that our work on behalf of the
the first three years of the seminary program. There                         churches may bear fruit in able, faithful preachers
are four seniors. The four seniors are finishing up in-                      of the glorious gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ
ternships in the churches the first semester of the present                  the Lord.
school-year. Daniel Kleyn is working in the South Hol-                                                                        Cordially in Christ,
land, IL church; James Laning, in the Southwest,                                                                                   For the faculty,
Grandville, MI church; Darren Thole, in an Orthodox
Presbyterian church; and Martin  VanderWal,  in the Hol-
land, MI church. All four will return for classes the
second semester. They will graduate in June, 1997, God
willing.                                                                                                           Prof. David J. Engelsma  c;I


                                                                                                             November 1, 1996/5tandard Bearer/65


    The Administration of Baptism

                  In the ceremony  of,  baptism{  both of children and of adults, the minister shall use
             the respective forms drawn up for the administration of this sacrament.
                                                                                           C~zuvch  Order, Article 58
                  Adults are through baptism incorporated into the Christian church, and are  ,ac-
             cepted as members,  of. the church;' and' are therefore obliged also to partake  .of the
             Lord's Supper, which they shall  promises  to do at their baptism,
                                                                             :            .a  Chz~rdi  brder,  Article 59
                  The.names  of  .those   ,baptized,  together with those of the parents,. and likewise the
             date of birth and baptism, shall be recorded..
                                                    _)  `                                  Church Order, Article 60


Use of the adopted forms
A                                         Administration of Baptism." This                  a few corrections and char`I?
         rticles 58-60 conclude the       form has two parts, the first "To                                  --     _     -    ;es, that
                                                                                            was approved by the Synod of the
         section of the Church Or-        Infants of Believers" and the sec-                Christian Reformed Church in
         der which deals with the         ond "To Adult Persons." The first                 1912 and remains the form used
administration of the sacrament of        part of the "Form" is the same                    today in our Protestant Reformed
baptism. These articles concern           whether an infant or an adult is                  Churches.
certain details connected to the ad-      being baptized.                                        The part of the form which
ministration of the sacrament: use            Our "Form" can be traced to                   deals with the baptism of adults
of the adopted forms for baptism,         the Reformed churches of the Low-                 also can be traced to the Synod of
adult baptism, and maintaining ac-        lands.     Already the Synod of                   Dordrecht, 1618-19. At that time
curate records of those who have          Wezel, 1568, made reference to a                  at least two forms were being used
been baptized.                            baptism form that had been drawn                  in  the.churches  on the occasion of
    Article 58 makes the use of the       up by Peter Datheen and Caspar                    adult baptism. Dordt approved a
forms for baptism obligatory in the       VanDerHeyden.  Because of the                     single form and urged its use upon
churches. Consistories and minis-         multiplication of forms, the Synod                the churches. It is really this form
ters are not at liberty to introduce      of Dordrecht, 1574, urged the                     that has become the second part
their own forms. Neither is it per-       churches to make use of the same                  of our form, "To Adult Persons."
mitted that changes be made in the        form.     Although the Synod of                        There is good reason for the
forms, or liberties taken in the use      Dordrecht, 1618-19, approved cer-                 use of the "Form for Baptism" at
of the forms, at the time of bap-         tain revisions of the existing bap-               the time of the administration of
tism. The forms have been ap-             tism form, those revisions were                   the sacrament. As with our other
proved by the churches in com-            never published and therefore                     forms, so this form arises out of
mon. The use of them in the lit-          never incorporated into the liturgy.              the conviction of the Reformed
urgy of the churches is an impor-         Our present form reflects the work                churches that the sacraments are a
tant expression of our unity.             of the well-known Dutch Re-                       means of grace to believers only,
    Strictly speaking there are not       f o r m e d   ,theologians   D r .   F . L .      in connection with the preaching
separate "Forms" in use in our            Rutgers, Dr. H. Bavinck, and Dr.                  of the Word. Hence, there must
churches, but one "Form for the           A. Kuyper. They cooperated in a                   be an understanding of the mean-
                                          revision of the existing form, tak-               ing of the sacrament on the part
                                          ing into account the changes that                 of the members of the church. This
                                          had been approved by the Synod                    is the purpose served by the form.
Rev. Cammenga is pastor                   of Dordrecht. Their revision was
                             of South-                                                      It explains the Reformed concep-
west Protestant Reformed Church           published in 1897. It was an En-                  tion of baptism, defends the prac-
in Grandville, Michigan.                  glish translation of this form, with              tice of infant baptism, and from

66/Standard  Bearer /November 7, 1996


the Scriptures binds upon those         stands on the foreground in Ar-           was really the answer of the Synod
presenting their children for bap-      ticle 59. The original Dutch of the       of Dordrecht, 1618-19, to a contro-
tism, as well as those who are bap-     article speaks not of "kerk" (that        versy that was being carried on in
tized, their calling before God. It     is, "church") but of "gemeente,"          the churches at that time. The de-
is a very beautiful and fitting form    which is "congregation."                  bate concerned whether or not
that our churches ought to con-             By virtue of their membership         those who made public confession
tinue to treasure.                      in the congregation as adults, those      of faith should be required to par-
    When in the worship service         who receive adult baptism are en-         take of the Lord's Supper. There
should the form be read? This is        titled to all of the privileges and       were those who took the position
not prescribed by the  Church Or-       responsibilities of adult members.        that this requirement should not
der but is left to the discretion of        Adult baptism involves confes-        be made, so that one might very
the individual consistory. In some      sion of faith. It is not the case         well make confession of faith but
congregations the form is read at       that after one has been baptized          for a number of years refrain from
the conclusion of the service, after    as an adult he must also make con-        partaking of the Lord's Supper.
the preaching of the Word. In           fession of faith, the "Form for Pub-      Article 59 makes clear which view
most of our congregations the form      lic Confession of Faith" also being       prevailed at the Synod.
is read prior to the sermon, with       read. Only the "Form for Bap-                 The fact that those who receive
the concluding prayer of the form       tism" is read, which form itself          adult baptism are required to par-
used as the lead-in to the congre-      makes plain that adult baptism  is        take of the Lord's Supper means
gational prayer.                        confession of faith.                      that only those who are competent
                                                                                  to celebrate the Lord's Supper may
Adult baptism                             Therefore it is not lawful now to       be baptized as adults. There has
    Article 59 teaches that through       baptize any other adult person,         been much discussion regarding
baptism adults are received as            than such as have been taught the       the cut-off between infant baptism
members of the church and are             mysteries of holy baptism, by the       and adult baptism. At what age
therefore obliged to partake of the       preaching of the gospel, and are
                                          able to give an account of their        is it no longer possible to baptize
Lord's Supper.                            faith by the confession of the          someone as an infant? How young
    Adult baptisms are rare in our        mouth ("Form for the Adminis-           can one be to receive adult bap-
churches.. This is not surprising.        tration of Baptism, To Adult Per-       tism? Early synods faced ques-
In the sphere of the covenant, in-        sons").                                 tions regarding the'baptism of ado-
fant baptism is the rule. Adult                                                   lescents of 13-15 years of age. Al-
baptisms are also infrequent be-            Since a'dult baptism is confes-       though it would be a mistake to
cause in our nominally Christian        sion of faith, it is required of those    set a definite age, and although
country it is common practice,          who receive adult baptism that            each case must be judged individu-
even for parents who do not take        they partake of the Lord's Supper.        ally, the general principle that
their professed Christianity seri-      The "Form for `Baptism" specifies         must be remembered is that those
ously, to have their children bap-      this. The fourth promise that is          who are baptized as adults must
tized. Rarely is it the case that       made by those who are baptized            be able responsibly to approach
those who join our churches from        as adults is:                             the Lord's Table.
outside have not been baptized.
Nevertheless, occasionally our con-       Dost thou assent to all the articles    Baptismal  re:ords
gregations are privileged to wit-         of the Christian religion, as they         A r t i c l e   6 0   e n j o i n s   u p o n
ness an adult baptism. Such an            are. taught here, in this Christian     consistories the keeping of accu-
event, I have found, leaves a very        Church, arcording  to the Word of       rate records of births and bap-
deep impression on the congrega-          God; and purpose steadfastly to
                                          continue in the same doctrine to        tisms. All our consistories main-
tion. What is rare in our estab-          the end of thy life; and also dost      tain a membership file or record
lished congregations is more fre-         thou reject all heresies and            book. Besides date of birth and
quent in the foreign mission work         schisms, repugnant to this doc-         baptism, a record is also kept of
in which the Lord has privileged          trine, and promise to persevere in      date of confession of faith and
us to be involved in the last sev-        the communion of the Christian          marriage.
eral years.                               Church, not only in the hearing             When Article 60 was written,
    By "church" in Article 59 is          of the Word, but also in the use of     the government relied upon the
meant "local congregation." Bap-          the Lord's  Supper? ("Form for the      churches for the keeping of accu-
tism is the means by which one            Administration of Baptism, To
                                          Adult Persons").                        rate records on its behalf. No
becomes a member of the insti-                                                    longer is this the situation. Nev-
tuted church, whether baptized as           Article 59 of the  Church  Ovder      ertheless, decency and good order
an infant or as an adult. This                                                    within the church require the  keep-

                                                                                       November 1,1996/Standard  Bearer/67


ing of good records. Even in our        church officers.                          Sapphira. Divine names must be
day the civil government honors             Since Article 60 speaks of reg-       avoided. Pagan names ought also
ecclesiastical records of births and    istering the names of those who           to be avoided, although we know
baptisms.                               are baptized, the question arises         from the New Testament that there
    If the keeping of accurate          concerning the names that Re-             were converts who retained their
membership records is important,        formed believers give to their chil-      pagan names even after conver-
it follows that when members            dren.                                     sion, such as  Apollos,  Hermes, and
transfer from one congregation to           Certainly the naming of their         Fortunatus. Parents ought also to
another their membership records        children is the prerogative of the        avoid naming their children after
should also be transferred. The         parents. This liberty ought not to        ungodly movie stars, entertainers,
record of the date of birth, bap-       be infringed upon. Nevertheless,          or sports figures: This does not
tism, confession of faith, and mar-     the Reformed church of the past           mean that only biblical names
riage should follow the member          took seriously this matter of nam-        ought to be given to our children,
wherever his membership goes.           ing covenant children, and ex-            although this properly remains
This is not always done when            horted parents to take this calling       common among us. But it does
membership transfer papers are          seriously. The following question         mean that parents ought to be
filled out.     The clerks of our       was put to the National Synod of          spiritually sensitive in the naming
consistories should routinely see       Middelburg, 1581:                         of their sons and daughters.
that this is done.                                                                    It is customary that at the time
    Those joining our churches            Whether children who are to be          of baptism the minister uses only
from outside should also produce         baptized may be given all sorts          the personal name and not the sur-
membership records. Usually this          of names? Answer: It is optional,       name of the child being baptized.
presents no difficulty. Occasion-        but diligent care should be taken        Certainly this dates to a time when
ally, however, such records have          that such names are not taken
                                          which belong to God or Christ,          there were no surnames. But the
been lost or destroyed. It has hap-       such as Emmanuel or Savior, also        continuance of this practice is to
pened that one seeking to join a          of certain offices, such as Baptist,    be recommended. By mentioning
church is unable to produce proof         Angel, or those which are pagan.        only the given name, the personal
of having been baptized as an in-                                                 significance of baptism stands on
fant. In this case, a consistory        Certainly parents ought not to use        the foreground. By virtue of bap-
should be satisfied with an attes-      the names of notoriously wicked           tism this individual is now re-
tation concerning baptism by the        men and women mentioned in `the           ceived as a member of the church.
parents, relatives, or former           Bible:    Cain, Judas, Jezebel, or                                            0




                                        four-volume work of Herman                eschatology. There are few subjects
The Last Things, Hope For This          Bavinck entitled  Gereformeerde           that are more exciting to the Chris-
World and the Next,  by Herman          Dogmatiek (Reformed Dogmatics).           tian than the doctrine of the last
Bavinck. Ed. John Bolt, tr. John        The above mentioned book is the           things. This is as it should be. We
Vriend. Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker        first volume of this work.                live in the last days when the
Book House Company, 1996. 205               The reviewer of this book has         blessed and glorious day of our
pp. $14.95 (paper). [Reviewed by        deep appreciation for the writings        Lord is approaching nearer and
Pastor Arie den Hartog.]                of Herman Bavinck, having read a          nearer. Reading this book is truly
                                        number of them in the Dutch lan-          an inspiration. As is the case with
    This book is the first produc-      guage. I am therefore very excited        all of Bavinck's works on dogmat-
tion of a recently organized soci-      about the publication of this vol-        ics, so also in this book we find
ety of business people, profession-     ume and want to encourage the             that it is replete with scriptural ci-
als, pastors, and seminary profes-      Dutch Reformed Translation Soci-          tations and quotations. This is the
sors which is sponsoring the trans-     ety to continue their work with all       work of a truly Reformed  dogma-
lation into English and publication     haste. The works of Bavinck are           tician.  His duty is to demonstrate
of classic Reformed theological         truly a treasure worthy of being          from the whole of the Scriptures
and religious literature first pub-     made more widely available to the         the right understanding of the
lished in the Dutch language. The       English speaking world.                   great doctrines of the Word of
first project of this society is to         The Last Things  is of course         God. He does not set forth his own
translate and publish the complete      Bavinck's work on the doctrines of        ideas, as so many teachers in the

6QStandard  Bearer /November 1, 1996


church always  try  to do. He does        lennium, and the carnal nature of            We challenge all dispensational
not find one-text here and one text       the kingdom of Christ are very rel-      premillennialists  to read Bavinck's
there in Scripture to "hang his own       evant today. They need to be read        book and try to refute his mighty
ideas on." He `is under solemn ob-        to help equip the church to defend       defense of the teaching of the
ligation to present the current           the truth of God.                        Scriptures. Included in this book
teaching of God's Word found                  One of the major debates in-         is some excellent exegesis of diffi-
throughout the Scriptures as the          volving eschatology has for years        cult passages that are often de-
only basis for the faith and con-         been the question of the correct         bated and misinterpreted in the
fession of the church. This is the        understanding of the "millen-            discussion of the question of the
great strength of the true theolo-        nium." This debate has been              millennium, such as Romans 11,
gian, and this is the strength of         stirred up again by the post-            Revelation 20, and a number of
Herman Bavinck in his writings.           millennial teachings of theonomy         others.
      Bavinck does an excellent job       and reconstructionism. Bavinck's             This reviewer particularly ap-
in setting forth the truth of Scrip-      book is one of the best defenses of      preciated Bavinck's clear demon-
ture concerning the many doc-             the amillennial position in print.       stration of the truth of Scripture
trines of the last things. I could        B a v i n c k 's book demonstrates       concerning the spiritual and heav-
quote many sections from this             clearly biblical Reformed  herme-        enly nature  of the coming kingdom
book to demonstrate this. The au-         neutics in the interpretation of Old     of Christ. This is one of the major
thor clearly refutes the many er-         Testament prophecy and its appli-        issues of our day in the debate
rors regarding these doctrines that       cation to the church of the New          with theonomists. Both Premils
have over the years arisen in the         Testament and the final realization      and Postmils are looking for a car-
church. He deals extensively with         of the kingdom of Christ.                nal and earthly kingdom of Christ.
the errors of the Roman church re-            The Last Things  contains an         They are both guilty of seriously
garding purgatory and the state of        excellent refutation of the com-         misguiding the church in this.
the departed saints and their many        monly promoted dispensationalist         Read what Bavinck has to say
other false teachings. These parts        teaching that the whole New Tes-         about this delusionary expectation:
of the book are extremely valuable        tament era is an "interim age."
for the controversy that the truly                                                   The chiliast expectation that a
Reformed church must continue to           Therefore the New Testament is            converted nation of Israel, re-
carry on even today with the               not an intermezzo or interlude,          stored to the land of Palestine, un-
church of Rome, for the love of            neither a detour nor a departure          der Christ will rule over the na-
God and His church and for the             from the line of the Old Covenant,       tions is without biblical founda-
                                                                                    tion. Whatever the political future
defense of the truth. What is par-         but the long aimed for goal, the
                                           direct continuation of the  long-        of Israel as a nation, the real
ticularly interesting about this also,     aimed for goal, the direct continu-      ekklesia,   the people of God, tran-
however,     is that the very same         ation and genuine fulfillment of         scends ethnic boundaries. The
errors continue to arise in the            the Old Testament. Chiliasm,             kingdom of God in the teaching
church today that were present at          judging otherwise, comes in con-          of Jesus is not a political reality
the time of the Reformation. There         flict with Christianity itself. In       but a religious-ethical dominion
are today more errors than ever in         principle it is one with Judaism         born of water and of Spirit. The
the church with respect to the doc-        and must get to where it attributes      salvation rejected by Israel is
trines of eschatology. These errors        a temporary, passing value to            shared by the Gentiles, and the
                                                                                    community of Christ-believers has
often go unopposed in Protestant           Christianity, the historical person
                                           of Christ and His suffering and          in all respects replaced national
churches. Many systems of false            death, and only first expects sal-       Israel. New Testament passages
doctrine promote these errors,             vation from Christ's second com-         such as Romans 11, which initially
Premillennialism, Postmillen-              ing, His appearance in glory. Like       seem to teach the contrary, in fact
nialism, Theonomy,  Reconstruc-            Judaism, it subordinates the spiri-      confirm the teaching that God's
tionism, New Age thinking, to              tual to the material, the ethical to     promises are fulfilled in a spiri-
name just a few. Bavinck's bibli-          the physical, confirms the Jews in       tual offspring of Abraham, even
cal answers to the false teachings         their carnal mindedness, excuses         though they may be only a rem-
of the Roman Church and of oth-            their rejection of the Messiah, and      nant. Furthermore, the New Tes-
                                                                                    tament nowhere suggests that the
ers regarding purgatory, the wor-          reinforces the veil that lies over
                                           their mind when they hear the            church of Christ will ever achieve
ship of saints, communication with         reading of the Old Testament, and        earthly power and dominion such
spirits in the other world, the idea       promotes the illusion that the           as that of Old Testament Israel.
of a second chance for men after           physical descendants of Abraham          Instead, like its master, the pil-
death, conditional  immortality, the       will as such still enjoy an advan-       grim church can expect a cross of
denial of eternal punishments, the         tage in the kingdom of heaven (p.        persecution and suffering. The
wrong understanding of the  mil-           98).                                     New Testament does not recom-

                                                                                        November  I, 1996,&andard  Bearer/69



--


 mend virtues that lead believers          errors promoted today even in Re-           Testament is there a ray of hope
 to conquer the world but rather           formed and Presbyterian churches:           that the church of Christ will
 patiently to endure its enmity.                                                       again come to power and domin-
 Johns apocalypse assures the suf-             The whole New Testament,                ion on the earth. The most it may
 fering church of all times that it         which was written from the view-           look for is that, under the kings
  shares the certainty of Christ's          point of the "church under the             and all who are in high positions,
 victory even in the face of terrible       cross," speaks the same language.          it may lead a quiet and peaceable
  anti-Christian apostasy, lawless-         Believers, not many of whom are            life in all godliness and dignity
 ness, and persecution. Revelation          wise, powerful or of noble birth           (Romans 13:l; 1 Tim. 2:2). There-
  20, in analogy with the rest of           (1 Cor.  1:26  ), should not expect        fore, the New Testament does not
 `Scripture, confirms this conclu-          anything on earth other than suf-          first of all recommend the virtues
  sion rather than lending support          fering and oppression (Rom.  8:36;         that enable the believer to conquer
 to chiliast dreams of world rule           Phil.  1:29). They are sojourners          the world, but while it bids them
  (as well as those of theonomists,         and foreigners (Heb. 11:13);  their        avoid all false asceticism (Rom.
  AdH).  Also, Revelation 20 does           citizenship is in the heavens (Phil.       14:14;  1 Tim.  4:4,5; Titus  1:15),
  not teach the chiliast doctrine of        3:20); they do not look at the             lists as fruits of the Spirit the vir-
  a twofold resurrection; the "first"       things that can be seen (2 Cor.            tues of love, joy, peace, patience,
  resurrection simply refers to those       4:18),  but mind the things that are       kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
  faithful who die and immediately          above (Col. 3:2). Here they have           gentleness, and self-control (Gal.
  live and reign with Christ in             no lasting city but are looking for        5:22; Eph.  4:32;  1 Thess.  5:14f.; 1
  heaven. When human apostasy               the city that is to come                   Peter  3:Bf.; 2 Peter  1:5-7;  1 John
  and wickedness reach the apex of          (Heb.13:14). They are saved by             2:15,  etc.) (pp. 109-110).
  power and the world is ripe for           hope  (Ram:  8:24) and know that
 judgment, Christ the king will             if they suffer with Christ they will         The theonomist will sneer at
  suddenly appear to bring about            also be glorified with Him (Rom.         Bavinck's eschatology as being
  the end of world history. Jesus'          6:8; 17; Col. 3:4). Therefore, along     "pessimistic        and defeatist."
  disciples are to be watchful of the       with, the entire groaning creation,      Bavinck clearly shows that it is bib-
  signs but they are also forbidden         they wait with eager longing for
  to calculate. All believers ought                                                  lical, spiritual, heavenly,  Christ-
                                            the future of Christ and for the
  at all times to live as though the                                                 centered, and truly triumphant
                                            revelation of the glory of the chil-
  coming of Christ is at hand (p.           dren of God (Rom.  8:19; 1 Cor.          and victorious.
  99).                                       15:48),  a glory with which the suf-        This is an excellent book. Get
                                            ferings of this present time are not     it as soon as possible and read it
    One more excellent quote                worth comparing (Rom.  8:lB; 2           for much clear, sound, biblical
which is a powerful refutation of            Cor.  4:17).  Nowhere in the New        teaching on eschatology.  Q
                    . .





Faith Protestant Reformed Church           1996  classis  had posed nine ques-       approved for September,  1996-Feb-
                  September  11,1996       tions regarding their viability as a      ruary, 1997.
                                           congregation. Their response was              Initial emeritation stipends for
C                                          given at this meeting of  classis.        1996 and 1997 were approved for
     lassis  East met in regular ses-      Classis East decided at this meet-        Rev. B. Woudenberg and for-
     sion on Wednesday, Septem-            ing that, for the present, Covenant       warded to the Emeritus Commit-
ber 11, 1996 at the Faith Protes-          should be considered as a congre-         tee. A letter of appreciation was
tant Reformed Church.              Each    gation, but several concerns were         sent by  classis  to Rev. Woudenberg
church was represented by two              addressed to her concerning her           for his 40 years of faithful minis-
delegates; Seminarians Laning and          viability. These concerns were            try in our churches.
VanderWal  were also present as            then referred to the special com-             T h e   e x p e n s e s   o f   classis
part of their internship assign-           mittee appointed by the January,          a m o u n t e d   t o   $1,531.48.   Classis
ments. Rev. J. Slopsema chaired            1996  classis to assist them in re-       will meet next on Wednesday,
this session of  classis.                  solving their difficulties.               January  8, 1997 at the First PRC,
    Prominent in this meeting was              Requests for classical appoint-       Grand Rapids.
the discussion of  classis  regarding      ments were received from Hope                          Respectfully submitted,
the status of Covenant PRC,                PRC, Holland PRC, and Covenant                    Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk
Wyckoff, New Jersey. The May,              PRC. A schedule was drawn and

7Obtandard   Bearer/November  7, 1996


     Mission Activities                       nate Thursdays until December 5.                       the Covenant Christian School in
          ev.
     R A. denHartog declined the The first class, held September 19, Lynden, WA enjoyed a two-day
          call to serve as our churches'      was entitled, "The Origin and His-                     outing in mid-September at Warm
     missionary in Ghana.' Pray for our       tory of the Reformed Faith."                           Beach Camp. Marine biology and
     Hull, IA PRC. as that church must                                                               forest ecology were studied. Be-
     now form a new trio.                     Denominational Activities                              sides that, some other, really "fun"
         In connection with this call to              The Mr. and Mrs., Adult, and                   outdoor activities (sorry, biology
     Ghana, our churches' Foreign Mis-        Junior Societies' a n n u a l   F a l l                teachers) such as swimming and
     sion Committee has also asked that       League Meeting for the churches                        canoeing were also planned.
     the councils of our churches in-         in Michigan was held on Septem-
     q u i r e   i n their congregations      ber 17 at the Byron Center, MI                         Congregational Activities
     whether there be individuals,            PRC. Rev. R.  VanOverloop  gave                              At the beginning of Seminar-
     couples, or families that are inter-     a very well-received speech en-                        ian  VanderWal's  internship at the
     ested in spending a minimum of           titled, "Reformed Admonition:                          First PRC in Holland, MI, the
     six months on the field in Ghana         True Love of the Brother," based                       diaconate asked the members of
     to be a help and to assist the mis-      on Matthew 18.                                         that congregation to bring grocer-
     sionary to Ghana when God calls                  A recent letter of thanks to the               ies for the  VanderWals  as a show
     a missionary to that field.              congregation of the South Holland,                     of welcome.
                                              IL PRC from Prof. D. Engelsma on                             Pastor-elect Richard Smit sus-
     Evangelism Activities                    behalf of the. Seminary, thanking                      tained his oral examination at
         The Reformed Witness Com-            them for a recent offering for its                     Classis West in Randolph, WI in
     mittee, part of the evangelism ef-       building expansion reminds me to                       early September, giving a good ac-
     forts of the Edgerton, MN; Hull,         report that about  $30,000.00  is still                count of himself. He was ordained
     IA; and  Doon, IA  PRCs is once          needed to pay off the expansion                        on September 9 as the twelfth pas-
     again sponsoring a Bible Discus-         project just completed last year.                      tor of the  Doon,  IA PRC. Prof. R.
.    sion at Dordt College. Their first       We echo Prof. Engelsma when he                         Decker preached the ordination
     meeting was held on September 16.        asked South Holland to remember                        sermon, and Rev. R. Moore read
         The Evangelism Committee of          t h e   S e m i n a r y   i n   g i v i n g   a n d    the form for ordination.  Doon of-
     the Grace PRC in Standale, MI is         prayers.                                               ficially welcomed the Smits on the
     also sponsoring a Bible Study this            The Hope Heralds, an all-male                     following Friday, with fellowship
     year at Grand Valley State Univer-       choir from the churches in and                         and a ball game before supper and
     sity in Allendale, MI. For your in-      around Grand Rapids, MI, pre-                          a short program following. The
     formation, GVSU is located about         sented their annual end-of-the-sea-                    next Lord's Day, September 15,
     five miles from Grace and has an         son concert on September 8 at the                      Rev. Smit preached in the morn-
     enrollment of around 14,500 stu-         Hope PRC in Walker, MI.                                ing from the Heidelberg Catechism
     dents. Many of the college-age                                                                  and in the afternoon from II
     young adults in our west Michi-          Minister Activities                                    Corinthians  4:7, entitling his inau-
     gan churches also attend there.               The First PRC of Holland, MI                      gural sermon, "This Treasure in
         The Evangelism Committee of          extended a call to Rev. C. Terpstra,                   Earthen Vessels." May the Lord
     the South Holland, IL PRC is spon-       elected from a trio which included                     bless Rev. Smit and his wife Tr'cia
     soring a community Reformed              also Revs. A.  denHartog  and S.                       in  Doon  and enrich that  tong dega-
     Doctrine class this fall. This is in-    Key.                                                   t-ion  a n d   o u r   denomi, 
                                                                                                                                            .l-d ation
     tended to be a series of six classes,                                                           through his labors.
     taught by Rev. C. Terpstra, pastor       School Activities                                           The blueprints of the new par-
     at South Holland, and Seminarian              An Open House Celebration                         s o n a g e   o f   t h e   P e a c e   P R C   i n
     D. Kleyn, serving his internship at      for the newly relocated and ex-                        Lynwood, IL were recently on dis-
     South Holland, and will run  alter-      panded Adams Christian School                          play for their congregation, and
                                              was held on Saturday, September                        construction is now well on the
                                              21. Supporters of Adams were in-                       way towards completion.
                                              vited to come and enjoy compli-                             The Edgerton, MN PRC Mar-
     Mr. Wigger  is a member of the Prot-     mentary refreshments and special                       riage Conference Committee spon-
     estant Reformed Church  of  Hudson-      numbers.                                               sored an Old Fashioned Picnic
     ville, Michigan.                              The Junior High students from                     with a "picnic basket social" for

                                                                                                            November 1,  1996/Standard   Bearer/71


                                                                                                                                    PERIODICAL
                                                                                                                                    Postage Paid at
    P.O. Box 603                                                                                                                    Grandvilte, Michigan.
   Grandville, Ml 49468-0603


Labor Day, September 2. Plans                        for the marriage conference  sched-                        Foodfor  Itioqht
called for a volley ball tournament,                 uled for early next year.                                          "For wolves to devour the
ball games, and activities for all                                                                              sheep is no wonder; but for sheep
ages. Proceeds were designated                                                                                  to devour each other, is monstrous
                                                                                                                and astonishing." - Unknown  0



           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
     The Men's Society of Hope PRC extends                                                                              On October 26, 1996, our parents and
its sympathy to the family of                                                                                   grandparents,
                 THOMAS REITSMA,                                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                     MR. and MRS. HARRY KAISER,
who was taken to glory unexpectedly. May                  On November  11, 1996, the Lord willing,              celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.
our covenant God comfort them by His Word,           our parents and grandparents,                                      We are thankful to our heavenly Father
"For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that             MR. and MRS. HARVEY HOLSTEGE,                         for their God-centered marriage and our cov-
he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth"     will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.             enant upbringing. We pray that God may con-
(Job  19:25).                                        We give thanks to God for the Christian par-               tinue to guide and keep them in the years
                        Mr. Pete Petroelje, Pres.    ents that He has given us who have faithfully              ahead.
                       Mr. Rod Brunsting,  Secy.     dedicated their lives to guide and instruct us                     "Lord, thou hast been our dwellingplace
                                                     in the fear of the Lord as taught in Proverbs              in all generations" (Psalm  9O:l).
                                                     22:6,  "Train up a child in the way he should              <+      Bern and Linda Zandstra
                                                     go: and when he is old, he will not depart                            Benjamin, Meri Beth
           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                    from it."                                                  +        Dan and Julie Kaiser
     The Southwest PRC Young Adults' Bible                We pray that God will continue to bless                          Ross, Alex
Study Society express their Christian sympa-         them in the years to come. "As for me and                  +       Doug and Julie Kaiser
thy to Ed and Jill Reitsma in the death of his       my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua                  0       Tim and Joan Kaiser
father,                                              2495).                                                                Matthew, Joel, Jonathan
                 MR. TOM REITSMA.                    Q    Greg Holstege and special friend
      May they find joy and comfort from Rev-                                                                                                         Grand Rapids, Michigan
                                                                                        Rhonda Gritters
elation  21:7,  "He that overcometh shall inherit    Q    Mark and Brenda Zandstra
all things; and I will be his God, and he shall                Christina, Ryan, Chad
be my son."                                          0 Heidi Holstege
                       Rev.  R. Cammenga, Pres.                                                                              NoTICE OF BIBLE STUDY
                                                     + Mike Holstege
                           Lisa Langerak,  Secy.                                                                             AT DORDT COLLEGE!!!
                                                     0 Jeff Holstege                                                       A group of over 30 students, dedi-
                                                     8 Joel Holstege                                                  cated to the historic Reformed faith,
                                                                                              Grandville. MI          meets together Monday evenings at 7:00
           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                                     in the classroom building, room  Ciil,
                                                                         NOTICE!!!
     The Council of the Southwest PRC of                                                                              for  a  Bible study. The meetings are spon-
                                                           In October, 1996, our pastor,
Grandville, Ml expresses its heartfelt sympa-                                                                         sored  ,by the Protestant Reformed
                                                                  REV.  GISE VAN  BAREN,
thy to its fellow officebearer, Mr. Peter                                                                             churches in the area. We are studying
                                                     completed 40 years in the ministry in the Prot-
Feenstra, in the death of his father-in-law,                                                                          the book of Acts this year. The study is
                                                     estant Reformed Churches. For this, we praise
                 MR. CASE VELDMAN.                                                                                    in no way limited to Protestant Reformed
                                                     and thank our covenant God.
     "But the mercy of the Lord is from ever-                                                                         students; those outside the PRC are most
                                                          "And how shall they preach, except they
lasting to everlasting upon them that fear him,                                                                       welcome. If you know students at Dordt
                                                     be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are
and his righteousness unto children's children"                                                                       who may be interested, please encour-
                                                     the feet of them that preach the gospel of
(Psalm  103:17).                                                                                                      age them to attend. Any questions you
                                                     peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"
                       Rev. R. Cammenga, Pres.                                                                        have may be directed to Mr. Chester
                                                     (Romans  10:15).
                          Mr. Clare Kuiper, Clerk                                                                     Hunter, Jr. (712)  726-3381.
                                                                               Robert Brands, Clerk
                                                                                         Loveland PRC

7Z~tandard Bearer /November I, 1996


