A Reformed
Semi-Monthfy
Magazine





                       See "The Gospel a Power of God"- p. 75

vo/.  73,  No.  4
November  15,  1996


CONTENTS:                                                                                                                                    November   15,  1996                                                                                    Fe
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Handard
Meditation - Herman Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Barer
           The Gospel a Power of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                                   ISSN 0362-4692
           A Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism
           11. A Spiritual Fulfillment of Isaiah 65:17ff. (concluded) . . . . . . . . . . . 77                                                                                                                        Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Ino.,
Ministering to the Saints - Mr. Gordon Schipper                                                                                                                                                                       4949  Ivan@ Ave., Grandville, MI 49418. Periodical Postage
           The Office of Deacon and Congregational Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80                                                                                                    Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                                                                                                            Postmaster: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      P.O. Box 603, Grandville, MI 49468-0603.
           John Calvin: Father of Calvinism (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82                                                                            EDITORIAL  COMMITTEE
Go Ye Into All the World - Rev. Richard G. Moore                                                                                                                                                                      Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
           Missions - The Ghana Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85                                                          Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Steven R. Key
           Totally Depraved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                     87    DEPARTMENT  EDITORS
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Rev. W.  Bruinsma. Rev. A..  Brummel, Rev.  R.  Cammenga,
Search the Scriptures - Rev. Mitchell C. Dick                                                                                                                                                                         Prof. R. Decker, Rev. A.  denHartog, Rev. M. Dick, Prof. H.
           "Come unto Me, and Drink!" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89                                                        Hanko, Rev. R. Hanko, Rev. S. Key, Rev. K.  Koole, Rev. J.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Kortering, Rev. D. H. Kuiper, Mr. J. Lanting. Mrs. M. Lubbers,
All Around Us - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren . . . . . . ..*........................................ 92                                                                                                                      Rev.T. Miersma, Mr. G. Schipper, Rev. G. VanBarer!, Rev. R.
Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      93    VanOverloop,  Mr. B. Wigger, Rev. B. Wqudenberg.
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wgger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94                                                                                                        EDITORIAL  OFFICE             CHURCH  NEWS  EDITOR
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The Standard Bearer           Mr. Ben Wigger
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           "Rome may be powerful, but it has never seen anything as powerful                                                                                                                                          EDITORIAL  POLICY
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
as this."                                                                                                                                                                                                             articles. Contributions ot general interest from our readers and
          This was Herman Hoeksema's conviction about the gospel, as it `was                                                                                                                                          questions for The Reader Asks department are welcome.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Contributions will be limited to approximately 300 words and
tKe apostle's before him. The conviction comes out in the sermon that                                                                                                                                                 must be neatly written or typewritten, and must be signed.
serves as the meditation in this issue, the second in the series on Ro-                                                                                                                                               Copy deadlines are the first and fifteenth of the month. All
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      communications relative to the contents should be sent to the
mans originally preached in the late 1930s and being published for the                                                                                                                                                editorial office.
first time.                                                                                                                                                                                                           REPRINT  POLICY
          This conviction explains Hoeksema's rejection of the notion, now                                                                                                                                            Penission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles in our
dominant in nominally Calvinistic churches as it has always been in the                                                                                                                                               magazinebyotherpublications, provided:  a)thatsuchraprintad
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      articles are reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgment
Roman Catholic and free willist Protestant churches, that the gospel is a                                                                                                                                             is made; c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
mere, well-intentioned, but ineffectual, offer.                                                                                                                                                                       appears Is sent to our editorial office.
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in the Christian schools. Should the family who cannot pay their tuition                                                                                                                                              BOUND  VOLUMES
seek help from the deacons, that is, the church? And should the church                                                                                                                                                The Business Office will accept standing orders for bound
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74/SfandardBearer/November 15,1996


                                   .:.
 `. The .G&pel a Power `of. God
          or
F I am not ashamed of the gos- saints in Rome, he also makes re- The answer is: because it is the
          pel of Christ: fey it is the power    quest that the Lord may open the         gospel of God.
          of God unto salvation to every        way for him to go to Rome. That              The gospel is glad tidings, a
one that believeth; to the  Jeti first,         is his desire.                           joyful message. That is the mean-
and also to the Greek.                              He explains this desire as hav-      ing of the word. It is a joyful mes-
     For therein is the righteousness           ing a twofold reason. In the first       sage from God. That is essential
of God revealed from faith to faith:            place, he wants to impart some           to the gospel. It is a glad message
as it is written, The just shall live by        spiritual gift unto them, or, as he      from God concerning God's Son.
faith.                                          explains it, "that I may be com-         The gospel is always that. It is a
                         Romans  1:16,17        forted together with you, by the         joyful message from God concern-
                                                mutual faith both of you and me."        ing God's Son. It is a joyful mes-
Intrdduction                                        In the second place, he would        sage from God concerning His Son
     The  word- of my text gives a              like to preach in Rome so that he        that chiefly contains two elements.
reason for something which the                  might have some fruit among              The first element is that the Son of
apostle had spoken of in the im-                them, even as elsewhere. But he          God. is, according to the flesh, of
mediate context. There the apostle              had been let hitherto, to come unto      the seed of David. The second el-
had said that all that is within him            them. The Lord had closed the            ement is that He is powerfully de-
is ready to preach the gospel to                way for him. But he longed to            clared to be the Son of God in the
them that are at Rome also. As                  come. For he is not ashamed to           resurrection. These two elements
the reason for that statement, or               preach the gospel in Rome.               must always be in the gospel. It
for something that lies at the basis                He explains why he is not            is a message from God to His
of that statement, the apostle says             ashamed. That gospel is a power.         people as they are in the darkness
that he is not ashamed to preach                It is not a word of man. It is not a     of this world. That is the gospel.
the gospel of Christ at Rome.                   philosophy. It is not an offer. But          In harmony with that, the
     He was not ashamed to preach               it is a power. If it were a philoso-     apostle in the text calls the gospel
to them at Rome, as perhaps it had              phy or an offer, one might be            the gospel of Christ. Christ is the
been slanderously said of him. To               ashamed of it. But the gospel is a       center of that gospel. The gospel
the contrary, he had long had the               power of God unto salvation. It is       has Christ for its contents. It is
desire to visit them. This desire               sure to have effect. That the gos-       the gospel of the whole Christ. It
may have been born from thi fact                pel of Christ is a power unto sal-       is the gospel of Christ as He was
that the Roman church was well                  vation has its reason in this, that      foreshadowed in the old dispen-
spoken of. Their.faith  was spoken              therein is the righteousness of God      sation. It is the gospel of Christ
of  throughour the whole world.                 revealed from faith to faith.            as He walked among us on earth
The reason was, perhaps, that they                                                       for thirty-three years. It is the gos-
had suffered persecution and had                A Power, What?                           pel of Christ as He interpreted
endured. However that may be,                       The apostle says that the gos-       Himself through the apostles. That
the apostle had written that he al-             pel of Christ is a power unto sal-       is the gospel. It is the gospel of
ways remembered them in his                     vation. We  niust, therefore, ask        Christ, because in that gospel
prayers. When he. prays for .the                three questions. In the first place,     Christ tells all about Himself  -
                                                what is that power? The answer           His incarnation, His walk here on
                                                is: the gospel of Christ. In the sec-    earth, His suffering and death, His
                                                ond place, unto what is the gospel       resurrection,  His  ascension.  Hav-
                                                of Christ a power? The answer is:        ing told all about Himself, He in-
Herman  Hoeksema  zuas the first edi-           unto salvation. In the third place,      terprets Himself through the
tor of the Standard  Bearer.                    why is the gospel such a power?          apostles. That is the gospel.

                                                                                             November 15,1996/StandardBearer/75
                                                            .


    That gospel, the apostle says,        gospel is a living, transforming         that message into your soul. Only
that message from God concern-            power which, if it touch your in-        when through the word the gos-
ing Christ, is a power. A power           most heart so that you are con-          pel is carried by God into the heart
is, in general, virtue to accomplish      nected with it, drives away your         as a power which God uses, it be-
something. Electricity is a power.        sin, your darkness, your death.          comes a power unto salvation.
Why? It accomplishes something.           The gospel does that.                    When God carries that gospel into
Wind is a power. Steam is a                   How is that possible? How            my heart, the effect is that I say, I
power. A power accomplishes               can it be maintained that the gos-       am a child of God, my sin is rolled
something; it has effect. That any-       pel is such a power?                     away, I am delivered from the
thing is a power must be seen by              You understand, this can never       power of death. Though my con-
its effect.                               be said of any word of man. The          science testifies against me, I know
    The question is, therefore,           Bible as such, which is the infal-       that I am righteous before God.
what does the gospel effect? The          lible revelation of the gospel, never
text says that the gospel effects sal-    transforms you. If I should preach       A Power, Why?
vation. It has the sure effect of         until midnight, my word would                Why is that gospel a power
salvation. The gospel of Christ is        never transform you. You might           unto salvation? The apostle says:
a power. It is a power unto salva-        judge it, you might agree with it        "therein is the righteousness of
tion.                                     or disagree with it, but my word         God revealed from faith to faith."
    Salvation from what?                  would never transform you. If I          This is not the reason why the gos-
    In general, salvation from this       should get down on my knees and          pel is a power, but why it is a
world and all that this world             beg you, my word would never             power unto salvation. In order
stands for. The gospel of Christ is       transform you. My word has no            that you may understand what this
a power to save from this world           power, beyond the power of per-          means, I call attention to the fol-
with its sin, with its corruption,        suasion. Persuasion will never           lowing truths. In the first place,
with its misery, with its death. It       change anyone from a state of            God is righteous, unchangeably
is a power to save from the world         unrighteousness to a state of righ-      righteous. The righteousness of
in which we live, in which we are         teousness, from a state of corrup-       God means that He always acts
born, in which we suffer, in which        tion to a state of holiness, from a      and thinks and wills in accordance
we die. It is a power to save from        state of death to a state of life.       with His holy being. God's righ-
the guilt of sin in which we are              For this reason the gospel can       teousness is an attribute. God is
born, from the corruption of sin          never be an offer. An offer is pow-      righteous.
from which we cannot deliver our-         erless. I offer you something, but           In the second place, that un-
selves, from the power of death           you shut your hand and refuse to         changeable righteousness of God
by which we are held. It is a sal-        receive what I offer. The power is       as an attribute of God means that
vation from this world and all that       gone. An offer has no power.             He can only love the righteous. He
this world stands for.                        But the apostle says that he is      cannot love the unrighteous, for
    Salvation unto what?                  not ashamed of the gospel of             He is righteous. God is angry with
    It is a salvation unto righteous-     Christ, because it is not a human        the unrighteous. He is angry with
ness, both in the legal and in the        word, but the power of God. That         the wicked every day. God can-
spiritual sense.                          is why he is not ashamed to preach       not love the unrighteous. I do not
    Therefore, when the apostle           that gospel, even in Rome. Rome          say that He cannot transform
says that the gospel is a power of        may be powerful, but it has never        them. That is just what we are
God unto salvation, he means that         seen anything as powerful as this.       talking about. But He cannot love
the gospel of Christ has the inher-       The gospel is a power. Why? Be-          the unrighteous. He hates all who
ent virtue to roll away your sin, to      cause it is the gospel of God.           are not in harmony with His be-
drive out your darkness, to cut the           What does this mean? In the          ing. He makes them the object of
shackles of death, and to translate       first place, it is the gospel of God     His wrath. Being the object of His
you into a state of righteousness,        because He is the author of it. In       wrath, they must perish.
of holiness, and of life. That trans-     the second place, it is the gospel           In the third place, righteous-
formation, which Scripture calls          of God because He realized it. In        ness, that is, the state in which we
salvation, is the effect of the gos-      the third place, it is the gospel of     are in harmony with Him and with
pel of Christ.                            God in the sense that He declared        His will according to His own
    Not, it may be.                       it. He declared it throughout the        judgment over us, is an indispens-
    Not, perhaps it will be, if you       history of the world.                    able requirement of salvation.
meet it half way, if you accept it.           But when now the apostle says        Only the righteous can live. Righ-
    No, it  is. The gospel is that        that the gospel is a power of God,       teousness is an indispensable re-
power. It surely transforms. The          he means that God also delivers          quirement of salvation.

76/StandardBearer/November 15,1996


    But we are unrighteous. We           realized it, by blotting out the sin    it is faith in that gospel. Because
are unrighteous in the sense that        of His people. He realized it in        the gospel reveals Christ, faith is
we have sinned. We are behind in         Christ, in the cross. That righ-        a certain knowledge of that gos-
our obligation. Our obligation is        teousness of God which He con-          pel. Because faith is a certain
to love God with all that we are         ceived of in His counsel, and           knowledge of the gospel of Christ,
and have, and at all times. Not          which He realizes in time in Christ     he that believeth says, "I am righ-
only are we behind in our obliga-        is declared in the gospel, in which     teous before God." For that rea-
tion, but we fall behind more and        the righteousness of God is set         son faith is a sure confidence, so
more. For we are corrupt. There-         forth.                                  that he that believes relies on that
fore, our state is such that we can          If that gospel is delivered into    gospel. For that same reason he
never become righteous. Every-           your heart, what do you do? You         lives from that gospel.
thing around you, even your daily        take hold of it. You believe. I do           The last clause of the text
newspapers, points its finger at         not say, you  must  believe. I do       might be read, according to the
you and tells you that you are           not persuade you to believe. When       original: "the just by faith, shall
damned. Everything within you            the almighty power of the gospel        live." That is, he that is righteous
and without you testifies that you       comes into contact with your soul,      by faith, shall live. But it can also
are unrighteous, corrupt, damned.        what do you do? You believe.            be read: "the righteous, by faith
In every sense of the word salva-        You surely believe. You absolutely      shall live." It is my conviction that
tion is impossible, because righ-        believe. You cannot help but be-        the apostle means both.          The
teousness is unattainable.               lieve. God works through the gos-       minute we look away from Christ,
  In the fourth place, the text          pel that faith in your soul.            it looks hopeless. Therefore, let
says that in the gospel of God a                                                 us clearly see the gospel of Christ.
righteousness, of God is revealed.       A Power, unto Whom?                     We must write death upon all our
That does not refer to the righ-             That is why the gospel of           own works. When I have thrown
teousness of God as an attribute,        Christ is a power to everyone that      away all my own works, then my
but it refers to a righteousness         believeth. Whatever the phrase          eye, by the faith of the gospel, is
which God has prepared and               "from faith to faith" may mean (for     fixed only upon the righteousness
which He will give to you. The           that is not so easy; in the original    of Christ.
text does not mean to say that God       it reads: "out of faith and into            In the second place, the apostle
is righteous. But it speaks of a         faith"), it surely means that the       means that the righteous out of
righteousness which God has pre-         gospel is a power out of faith and      faith shall live. Here there is so
pared and which He gives to His          unto faith. For faith is essentially    much that condemns us as unrigh-
people.                                  the tie that unites with Christ.        teous. But the time will come
    It is the righteousness of God       That faith, God gives through the       when God will cause us to become
because God conceived of it in His       gospel. Because faith is the spiri-     manifest, by a final justification, as
eternal counsel. It is the righteous-    tual connecting power with Christ,      perfectly righteous. The righteous
ness of God because in time He                                                   by faith shall live. Ll



                                       A Defen
            (Reformed) Amii nnialism
           11. A Spiritual Fulfillment of Isaiah 65:17ff. (concluded)

The postmillennial dream of editorial, "Those Glorious Eros- which more than any other is sup-
      a "Christianized" world in         pects in Old Testament Prophecy,"       posed to prove postmillennialism
      history rests finally on Old       in the Aug.  1,  1996  Standard         and refute amillennialism is Isaiah
Testament prophecy of a coming,          Bearer).                                65:17ff.:
glorious kingdom of Christ (see the          That Old Testament prophecy

                                                                                     November 15,1996/StandardBearer/77


 For, behold, I create new heavens         the Messianic kingdom) through-           earth: for the first heaven and the
 and a new earth . . . I create Jerusa-    out the present age between Pen-          first earth were passed away; and
 lem a rejoicing, and her people a         tecost and the Day of Christ. All         there was no more sea."
 joy.... There shall be no more            of this salvation, of course, has its         When He comes again in the
 thence an infant %f days, nor an          basis in the death and resurrection       body, at the end of history, Jesus
 old man that hath not filled his                                                    Christ will destroy the present
 days: for the child shall die an          of Jesus Christ for God's elect           form of the creation in order to
 hundred years old; but the sinner         world.
 being an hundred years old shall              That this is, in fact, the con-       re-create the heavens and earth
 be accursed.... The wolf and the          tent of Isaiah's prophecy is proved       that .God made in the beginning in
 lamb shall feed together, and the         from New Testament comment on             their new, glorious, final form.
 lion shall eat straw like the bul-        the passage. In II Peter  3:13,  the      The creation will share in the glo-
 lock.... They shall not hurt nor          apostle applies the prophecy of           rious liberty of the children of God
 destroy in all my holy mountain,          Isaiah 65:17  to God's work in Jesus      (Rom.  8:19-22).
 saith the LORD.                           Christ on the day of Christ's sec-            This new world will be the
                                           ond coming. In the context of the         dwellingplace  - the home  - of
   ~Postmillennialism,  which can          teaching that the present creation        the new human race in Christ, the
find no support in the New                 will be destroyed by fire, Peter          elect church from all nations, be-
Testament's massive teaching of            says, "Nevertheless we, according         lievers and their children (Is. 65~22,
apostasy from and persecution of           to his promise, look for new heav-        23). The new creation will be
the church in the last days, appeals       ens and a new earth, wherein              home to the saints because Jeho-
to Old Testament prophecy inas-            dwelleth righteousness."                  vah God will live with them there
much as postmillennialism insists              The apostle Paul, however, in-        in Jesus Christ in the fellowship of
on interpreting this prophecy lit-         structs us that there is also a ful-      the everlasting, covenant. The new
erally. On a literal interpretation        fillment of the prophecy through-         world that is coming will be "my
of Isaiah 65:17ff., there will be an       out the present age.           In II      holy mountain" (Is.  65:25).
earthly fulfillment of the prophecy:       Corinthians  5:17,  he tells us that          There will be no trouble and
an earthly kingdom of Christ with          "if any man be in Christ, he is a         no sorrow there, absolutely none
carnal delights, especially long           new creature:       old things are        - not one tear (Is. 65:19).  Revela-
physical life (see the editorial, "A       passed away; behold, all things are       tion  21:4, the New Testament light
Spiritual Interpretation of Isaiah         become new."                              on the prophecy, informs us that
65:17ff.,"  in the Sept. 15, 1996 SB;          The authoritative New Testa-          the reason is that there will be no
for the postmillennial interpreta-         ment explanation of the prophecy          death in the new world. Christ,
tion of the Isaiah passage, see the        is that God's saving work in Christ       mighty Messianic king, will have
editorial in the Aug. 1, 1996 SB,          will be a renewal of the creation         destroyed the last enemy for us (II
pp. 439,440).                              for the  benefit  of the  church, the     Cor. 15:26).
    In the editorials in the Septem-       "elect" of Isaiah 65:22,  at the sec-         As is typical of Old Testament
ber 15 and October 1, 1996 issues          ond coming  of. Jesus, which re-          prophecy, the prophet announced
of the SB, I demonstrated that             newal begins already now in the           this coming deathless world in
there neither may nor calz be a lit-       regeneration of each elect person-        figurative language: long, earthly
eral interpretation of Isaiah 65:17ff.     ally.                                     life (v. 20). No baby will die in
The  prophecy must be interpreted              There is nothing in the New           infancy; to die at 100 years of age
spiritually and has, accordingly, a        Testament reflection on the proph-        would be accounted mere child-
spiritual fulfillment.                     ecy that so much as hints at an           hood; all the inhabitants will fill
    What now is the spiritual in-          earthly kingdom in history consist-       their days. The reality is: no
terpretation and fulfillment of            ing of carnal benefits, physical do-       death! everlasting life in resur-
Isaiah 65:17ff.?                            minion, and worldly peace.                rected soul and body, because the
    Comprehensively, Isaiah 65:17-              Specifically, Isaiah  65:17ff. is     life of the people of God in the
25 prophesies the entire saving             the prophecy of the new world of          new world will be the immortal
work of God in Jesus Christ. As             heavens and earth that Jesus Christ       life of the risen Christ.
is customary with the prophets,             will create at His second coming.             The New Testament gives this
Isaiah sees this work as one, great         This is the plain teaching of Isaiah      explanation of this and similar,
event, much as one sees the dis-            65:17ff.  itself: "I create new heav-     figurative Old  : Testament prophe-
tant mountains as one, great range.         ens and a new earth." This is the         cies everywhere, e.g., John 5:25,26.
Included are both the perfection of         New Testament explanation both            Revelation  21:4, the authoritative
salvation (and of the Messianic             in II Peter  3:13, already quoted,        New Testament interpretation of
kingdom) in the Day of Christ and           and in Revelation  21:l: "And I           Isaiah  65:20, puts beyond any
the beginning of salvation (and of          saw a new heaven and a new                doubt that this is  ,what Isaiah

78/StandardBearer/November 15,1996


meant: "And God shall wipe away             All this fulfillment of Isaiah             holy work; of the `fellowship with
all tears from their eyes; and there    65:17ff. will be spiritual. The                 God; of the everlasting life, of
shall  be no more death."               prophecy holds before us, as it                Isaiah 65:17ff.  This shows itself in
    Cursed sinners will be ex-          held before the true Israelite in              his confession and behavior. It
cluded from the new world, exist-       Isaiah's day, a spiritual salvation;           brings down upon him the perse-
ing everlastingly under God's           spiritual blessings; spiritual life;            cution of those who hate the Mes-
curse in hell (Is.  65:2Ob; cf. Rev.    and, indeed, a spiritual world. For             siah and oppose His reign, the en-
2193).                                  the last Adam is spiritual, and we              emies of the new world.
    The lifting of the curse from       expect to live a spiritual life in our             This powerful beginning of the
God's beloved world on the basis        spiritual body in a spiritual cre-             new world in the life of the Chris-
of Christ's redeeming death and         ation (I Cor. 15:42ff.).                       tian here and now does not, how-
by the power of His renewing                The second specific fulfillment            ever, gradually bring about the
Spirit will extend to the animals.      of Isaiah 65:17ff.  is the spiritual life      culmination of the kingdom of
There will be animals in the new        in Christ by faith `of every regen-            Christ in creation. Regenerated
creation, just as there were animals    erated child of God in the time be-            saints do not realize postmillen-
in the original creation of Genesis     tween Pentecost and the second                 nialism's "golden age."
1 and 2. Christ's redemption will       coming. This is the authoritative                  As our present, earthly body
be enjoyed by them, so that they        explanation of the Isaiah prophecy             becomes the future, spiritual body
will live in peace with each other      by the apostle in II Corinthians               by the wonder of resurrection in
as they did in the original phase       5:17: "If any man be in Christ, he             the Day of Christ, so also does the
of creation before the transgression    is a new creature." He is a new                present, pitiful, earthly creation
of the first and unfaithful king        creature already, in fulfillment of            become the future, glorious, spiri-
(Gen.  1:29-31).  There will be no      the prophecy of Isaiah 65:17.                  tual creation by the wonder of re-
death in the world of animal and            The new world that is coming               creation in the Day of Christ.
plant.                                  in the Day of Christ already breaks                "Behold," says Jehovah by the
    The complete absence of death       into the present world by the gos-             prophet, "I create new heavens
in the new world will be due to         pel in the power of the Holy Spirit            and a new earth."
the perfect purging of sin from the     of Christ. It breaks into the heart                Man cannot accomplish it.
creation. Peter tells us this:  "...    of every elect child of God. It                    Redeemed  man cannot accom-
wherein dwelleth righteousness"         makes him a new creature. There                plish it.
(II Pet.  3:13).  Only righteousness    is in his life a beginning of the de-              Not even the postmillennialist.
will dwell there. No unrighteous-       liverance from sin, sorrow, and                                                       Ll
ness whatever will be found there.      death; of the joy; of the profitable,                                       - DJE
All ungodly men will have per-
ished under the judgment of God                                        Thankful Living
(v. 7).
    Is this not a wonderful salva-               I thank the Lord this morning
tion?                                               Before I rise from bed -
    Do not believers and their off-       Thank Him for sleep, and ask for strength
spring have a grand hope, abun-                       To face the day ahead.
dantly able to sustain them in all                        This noon I pause to thank Him
their present tribulations?                                  For leading me and giving
    Is not the everlasting kingship                       The gifts I need to do my work
and kingdom of Jesus the Messiah                            In ways of Christian living.
glorious?
    Will not His victory be mani-                                   At eventide again my thanks
fested as incomparable? All foes                                     Before His throne ascends.
destroyed, even death. All God's                                His blessings filled the busy hours;
people perfectly delivered from                                     My head before Him bends.
sorrow' and death unto the bliss of                                          And now as I retire, I see
fellowship with the triune God in                                          That - leaning on His grace,
His Face, Jesus the Christ. The cre-                                       Each challenge and each trial
ation itself transformed into a new                                         Was not my own to face -
world, whose goodness and splen-                                                     My Savior led me through this day
dor cause the old form of the                                                        And He will lead me all the way!
world to fade forever into                                                                                  Thelma Wes tra
forgottenness.

                                                                                           November 15,1996/Sfmdmd&wer/79


                      The Office of Deacon
                and Congregational Life
Illhe diaconate functions as an          collecting money for the poor! That     at the same level as when we were
 1 integral part of congrega- is their office. All the other col- children? Does our giving consist
      tional life. The deacons have      lections are secondary. Never for-      of mere pocket-change? We need
a visible part in every worship ser-     get this. Make sure that the chil-      to bring the amount of our benevo-
vice. The congregation interacts         dren understand the purpose of          lent-fund contributions up to date.
with the diaconate at every wor-         this collection.                        At present, the economy is pros-
ship service. The deacons regularly          Secondly, we should note that       perous in the west Michigan area.
visit appropriate members of the         giving to the poor is part of our       There is low unemployment. The
congregation. All in the congre-         worship on the Sabbath day.             calls for benevolent assistance are
gation know that they can seek the       Lord's Day 38 binds this upon us        not as numerous in such times.
assistance of Christ for their physi-    as part of keeping the Sabbath day      But the times will change. We will
cal needs. Each member should            holy. The Catechism notes that we       be seeing times when hours are cut
reflect on his calling to support the    keep the Sabbath day by support-        and jobs are lost. We will be see-
diaconate in its work, and on his        ing the ministry of the gospel          ing situations when people lose
calling to seek financial assistance     (general fund), and that we "dili-      their health insurance and incur
when he has true physical needs.         gently frequent the church of God       large medical bills. The ungodly
    The most common way we in-           to hear His word, to use the sac-       will increase their efforts to
teract with the diaconate is the col-    raments, publicly to call on the        squeeze God's people out of the
lection for benevolence that takes       Lord, and contribute to the relief      workplace. We are starting to see
place during the worship service.        of the poor, as becomes a Chris-        that our government is realizing
We should note that the collection       tian." The Catechism thus speci-        that it cannot afford to pay for as
for benevolence is more than one         fies that the contribution for the      many services through the Medi-
collection out of many. This col-        poor is an element of the worship       care program and that it needs to
lection is the primary collection in     service. Giving to the poor is wor-     shift more and more of the finan-
our worship service. It has greater      ship.                                   cial burden onto the elderly. We
spiritual significance than the gen-         This has an implication for the     hear talk of the possibility that
eral fund collection, even though        frequency of benevolent fund col-       Medicare will be bankrupt in a few
the general fund may amount to           lections. It may not be necessary       years. There are many factors that
more money. The general fund             to have a benevolent collection ev-     could combine to bring about dras-
should be viewed more as an obli-        ery worship service, but it seems       tic changes in our financial situa-
gation than a "freewill" offering.       appropriate to have one each            tion.
The other collections for kingdom        Lord's day. At the least we can             I believe that we will see a
causes are appropriate and wor-          say this, if the care of the poor is    trend toward more and more calls
thy of our support, but they are         not in the heart and mind of the        for benevolent assistance. I believe
not on a par with the collection         congregation on the Lord's day,         that the magnitude of the need will
for the benevolent fund. Remem-          our worship is not acceptable to        be greater than is commonly
ber that the deacons are not just        God. God loveth a cheerful giver        thought. There will be large fi-
money collectors who count the           (II Cor 9:7).                           nancial obligations to meet. There
monies and send a check to the               We need to reflect on our level     will be long-term financial obliga-
various institutions. Deacons are        of giving to the diaconate. How         tions to meet. We need to antici-
                                         has our giving changed over the         pate times when our benevolent
                                         years? Have we been giving at           contributions may have to increase
Mr. Schipper  is a member and former     nearly the same level for the last      tenfold!
deacon of Southwest Protestant Re-       10 or more years? Are we giving             This will be a very spiritual
formed Church in Grandville, MI.

SO/StandardBearer/November  15,1996


 time for the congregation. Mem-          poor is not unconnected with all        sion, and wait until they cannot
 bers in the congregation will re-        the other evils which marked the        put a meal on the table before they
 flect on how many material things        nation.    They had departed in         seek assistance? Certainly, this is
 they have and realize that they          many areas of doctrine and had          not the case. There will need to
 have much more than they need.           corrupted the true worship of God       be sanctified judgment exercised
 Households will discuss their pri-       with their false worship at Dan         by those in financial need, as well
 orities and consciously decide to        and Bethel. Because they had lost       as by the diaconate. In general,
 lower their standard of living in        sight of, the holiness of God, they     we may say that when a person or
 order to contribute to the deacons.      lost sight of their own spiritual       a family is living in an adequate
 All family members will partici-         poverty. Having no concern for          home, has used its savings, and
 pate in this. Fathers will be spiri-     their own spiritual poverty, they       does not have the means to meet
 tual leaders and stress the calling      disdained those who were physi-         legitimate financial obligations, it
 and privilege to care for the poor       cally poor.                             should seek financial assistance
 even when it means that some of              Right knowledge of God and          from the deacons. This situation
 the things we like to have or like       appreciation for our deliverance        assumes that the family already
 to do will have to be set aside. As      from spiritual poverty always           has sought help from other family
 each family member puts money            leads to a genuine concern for          members. One's family is the first
 in the collection plate, that collec-    those in physical need. We have         place to seek help. Scripture
 tion will have concrete meaning          freely been given spiritual riches      makes this very clear. I Timothy
 because the money represents             through the cross of Christ. It is a    5:8 instructs us that those who will
 something that the family is will-       small matter to give of our mate-       not provide for their own house
 ingly giving up in order to care         rial possessions. After all, what       deny the faith and are worse than
 for the poor. In such times, the         do we have that we have not re-         unbelievers. While the context in-
 office of deacon will be very            ceived? The doctrine of sovereign       dicates that the primary focus of
 prominent in the mind of the con-        grace impacts our attitude towards      this passage is the care of aged
 gregation.                               the poor. A heart that is truly         parents by their children, it is cer-
     While these circumstances will       thankful to God is a heart that is      tain that family members with
 draw our attention to the office of      truly compassionate towards his         more than sufficient means may
 deacon in special measure, there         fellow saints. Mercy and truth are      not refuse to help their own broth-
 is no principle difference between       met together.                           ers and sisters who do not have
 the time described above and a               Even as the congregation must       enough.
 time of relative prosperity. Our         have a heart for the care of the            One situation deserves special
 consciousness of the diaconate and       poor, we also must stress the need      attention in this connection. This
 our calling to provide the deacons       for the poor to come to the dea-        is the matter of Christian school
 with many good means to relieve          cons. This can be a problem. The        tuition. Because tuition is a large
 the poor should always be promi-         diaconate can be perceived as a         bill, it stands out as a big factor in
nent in our minds.                        last resort. For a number of rea-       the financial picture for any fam-
     Note with me the judgment of         sons, some of God's people wait         ily. Because our schools have been
 God upon the people that have lost       too long before seeking help from       more than reasonable in accommo-
 their concern for the poor. "They        the diaconate. It seems that some       dating late payments, tuition fre-
 sold the righteous for silver, and       consider it shameful to seek the        quently has been an item that
 the poor for a pair of shoes; that       mercies of Christ. Others don't         people do not pay on time when
 pant after the dust of the earth on      want to "burden" the church.            there is a financial pinch. In spite
 the head of the poor" (Amos 2:6,         When God directs the circum-            of the fact that we all have been
 7). At the same time, the rich were      stances of our lives such that we       told that church budget and tuition
 lying "upon beds of ivory, and           are poor, we need to avail our-         are the first two items in priority
 stretch(ing) themselves upon their       selves of the office of mercy in the    when we pay the bills, these pri-
 couches, and eat(ing)  the lambs out     church. When should we do this?         orities are not always followed.
 of the flock, and the calves out of      The position of Scripture is that if    And, when that happens, within a
 the midst of the stall" (Amos 6:4).      we. have food and raiment, we           short time the past-due tuition
 The cruel treatment of the poor in       must be content. Therefore it is        builds to a substantial amount and
 the land was one of many trans-          clear that we must seek financial       the family is in financial trouble.
 gressions which marked the  apos-        help from the deacons when we           Assuming that they have asked
 tate northern kingdom and made           do not have the means to provide        their family for help, they now face
them ripe for judgment.                   for the basic necessities of life.      the question of what to do. They
 Yet, we should note as well                  Does this mean that a family        realize that they ought not to be
 that the lack of concern for the         is obligated to sell every posses-      in this situation.

                                                                                      November 15,1996/S&ndardBearer/lsl


     The family is correct. They              Late tuition has been a major           a family seeking the help they
ought not to be in this situation.     problem in our schools. Boards                 need. Any family that finds itself
Tuition comes before every other       have had to adopt strict,  "hard-              unable to pay its bills, needs to go
financial obligation except our ob-    nosed" policies concerning late tu-            to the deacons. Don't wait. Even
ligation to the church. This is be-    ition payments. They have learned              if the reason is past-due tuition,
cause we consider Christian edu-       that leniency only caused families             go  to. the diaconate. Even if the
cation to be the means whereby we      to get into deeper financial trouble.          reason is gross financial misman-
fulfill our baptismal vows concern-    In many of these cases, it seemed              agement, inappropriate expendi-
ing the instruction of our covenant    that there was a great hesitancy, to           tures, or other matters that reveal
children. Paying our tuition on        seek help from the church. I have              poor stewardship, go to the
time is a matter of seeking "first     personal knowledge of the fact that            diaconate. The deacons have an
the kingdom of God" (Matt. 6:33).      at the same time that several of               obligation to be prudent in their
Secondly, we should note that our      .our schools in the west Michigan              distribution of the alms, but they
schools are parental schools. They     area had. large amounts of  past-              are not going to withhold assis-
are owned and operated by our          due tuition, there were diaconates             tance just because a sinful or un-
brothers and sisters in the church.    whose biggest problem was no re-               wise practice has caused the prob-
When we fail to pay tuition on         quests for financial.assistance.  The          lem. They will call for proper
time, we are unilaterally exacting     deacons had nothing to do, and the             stewardship and to living within
an interest-free loan from the rest    schools had tens of thousands of               means. They will call for biblical
of the parents. Also, we need to       dollars in past-due tuition. Breth-            priorities in paying bills. They
be aware that our schools do not       ren, these things ought not so to              will assist in getting a financial
operate with large cash reserves.      be.                                            situation under control. And they
When we fail to pay on time, we               In spite of the fact that a fam-        will be generous in the financial
create financial hardship for the      ily should not present themselves              assistance they give because they
schools. It is our brothers in the     to a diaconate with a past-due tu-             have many good means available.
church who need to meet extra          ition problem, it is not a rare situ-              Finally, they will open the
nights in order to deal with cash-     ation. I have heard it said that               Scriptures and bring a word of
flow issues. Lastly, past-due tu-      deacons should not pay tuition.                comfort. They will demonstrate
ition is unacceptable because we       This sentiment proceeds from the               that these circumstances have been
break the promise that we made         idea that tuition is supposed to be            ordained by God so that Christ
when we enrolled our children.         paid first, and therefore should               could manifest His mercy to them
We promised to pay the tuition on      never be the item that brings a                in a direct physical way. The as-
time. We are obligated to keep         family to the diaconate. I fear that           sistance is financial and material,
our word.                              this sentiment can be a barrier to             the blessings are spiritual. Cl



                            J o h n   C a l v i n :
                   Father of Calvinism (1)

                                                                                       nomenon, not to speak of present-
                                       Introduction                                    ing it adequately. What I receive
                                                                                       is only a thin little stream and
                                                      en Karl Barth was pre-           what I can then give out-again is
                                                    paring a series of  lec-            only. a yet thinner extract of this
                                       MT"
                                                    tures on John Calvin, he           little stream. I could gladly and
       ,                               wrote to a friend:                             ,-profitably set myself down and
i                                                                                      spend all the rest of my life just
Pk$  H&&o is  brtife&r   of  Church           Calvin is a cataract . . .               with Calvin.               . .
                                                                            I lack
History and New Testament in the         completely the mea+,  the suction
Protestant Reformed Seminary.            cups, even to assimilate this phe-               No one can possibly. question
82/StandtirdBearer/November 15,199s


the assertion that John Calvin is       decided matters of larger policy.           Almost from the start Calvin
the greatest reformer of all time.      In 1527 a Council of 200 was added      was destined for the clergy, and
More books have been written            which included the Little Council       in his 12th year he received part
about him and his theology than         and 175 others chosen by the Little     of the revenue from a chaplaincy
about any other figure in the his-      Council. It was especially this lat-    which supported him in his stud-
tory of the church. All those who       ter body which gave Calvin many         ies. His studies, while in various
in the last 450 years have cherished    of his problems.                        schools, were mainly in Paris. Per-
the doctrines of sovereign grace            The Reformation had come not        haps they all.can best be summed
have claimed Calvin as their spiri-     only to Germany, but had spread         up by the following description of
tual father. And all who confess a      also to other parts of Europe. In       his work in the College de
theology thoroughly biblical and        Switzerland Zwingli had done the        Montaigu,
embodied in all the great creeds        majority of the work, and in
of the 16th and 17th centuries call     Geneva the way for Calvin had             a famous school known for its
their theology Calvinism. Other         been prepared by the fiery and            stern discipline and its bad food.
than the sacred Scriptures them-        radical Reformer, William Farel.          Erasmus, who studied here a few
selves, there are few if any books          Berne,    to the north of             years before Calvin, later com-
that have exerted the influence on      NeQchatel, had joined the Refor-          plained of the spoiled eggs he was
                                                                                  forced to eat in the refectory.
subsequent centuries that Calvin's      mation in 1528 and sent ministers         Calvin's lifelong problems with
Institutes of the Christian Religion    into French Switzerland to preach         indigestion and insomnia prob-
has had down to the present.            the gospel there. Fare1 was the           ably derived from the rigid fare
    Yet, Calvin never, after he be-     leader, and a more powerful fig-          and his penchant for burning the
gan his  life's_ work, strayed far      ure could scarcely be found.              midnight oil at Montaigu. Later
from Geneva, a relatively small             Parel's  entire work was carried      legend has it that during these
city in French Switzerland. It was      on with struggle and in turmoil,          years, his fellow students
here he came on a stormy night; it      and in 1532 Fare1 was driven from         awarded Calvin the nickname of
was here he stayed, frightened by       the city. In 1534 he returned and         "the accusative case." While this
                                                                                  is not true, Beza, in his adoring
the threat of William Farel; it was     through disputations and preach-         biography, acknowledged that the
here he did all his work. But now       ing won a bit of breathing room           young scholar was indeed "a strict
his work has circled the globe. The     for the Protestants who were con-         censor of every thing vicious in
only explanation for it can be that     verted under his preaching. But          his companions." While his class-
God, through Calvin, brought ref-       in his favor was the fact that, be-       mates   were cavorting in the
ormation to His beleaguered             cause Geneva was so small, it was         streets or running off to wild par-
church.                                 technically under the rule of Basel,      ties, Calvin was busied with the
                                        and  Base1 supported the Reforma-         niceties of nominalist logic or the
                                                                                  quaesfiones of scholastic theology.
Background in Switzerland               tion. Gradually the priests, monks,
    The part of Switzerland which       and nuns began to leave the-city,
is of interest to us was called         and the Reformation was officially          All in all, Calvin received .one
French Switzerland because it bor-      established in 1535 and 1536. But       of the best educations in the  hu:
dered on France and the French          the city remained the heir of Ro-       manities available at that time and
language was spoken there. It was       man Catholicism: a place of fright-     emerged from his education a
composed of the cantons of              ening moral conditions.                 thorough-going humanist. He had
Geneva, Vaud, and NeQchatel. In                                                 made theology the object of his
the canton of Geneva was the city                                               studies, switched to law, and then
                                        Calvin's Youth
by the same name on the shore of            Calvin was born. on July  .lO,      returned to theology. In 1532, still
a lake also called Geneva.              1509 in Noyon, France, 26 years         seemingly untouched by grace, he
    The government of Geneva re-        after Luther's birth. While Luther      wrote a commentary on an essay
quires a brief explanation because      was born in a part of the church        by that old pagan Roman Seneca
it was to play a major role in the      where piety and religion were em-       entitled "On Mercy."
Reformation there. The citizens of      phasized, Calvin was born into a
the city met annually in the Gen-       part of the church which treasured      Calvin's Conversion
eral Assembly to  choose'four           education and culture. Little is        and Early Work
syndics and a treasurer. The citi-      known of Calvin's mother. His fa-           But God had begun His work
zens were in turn ruled by a Little     ther was apostolic secretary to the     in Calvin. Already the first influ-
Council. of 25 which included. the      bishop of Noyon, but fell into fi-      ences of any beneficial sort were
current syndics and those of, ,the      nancial difficulties, became an em-     from two professors,  ,one named
previous years. The Council of 60,      barrassment to the church, and          Cordier, who was later to become
appointed- by the Little Council,       was excommunicated.                     a Protestant, and the other Wolmar

                                                                                    November 15,1996/Sfmd~dI3earer/ls3


by name, a Lutheran in profession.        the Swiss Reformers.                    gospel. To accomplish this, Calvin
    Unlike Luther, Calvin was al-             These must have been years of       began teaching, convinced that in-
ways reticent about himself and           intense study in the Scriptures be-     struction in the truth was the only
his conversion. Beza tells us that        cause Calvin began his work on          road to reformation. He began ex-
Calvin's father persuaded him to          the Institutes during this time, the    pository lectures on Paul and the
study, theology because Calvin            first edition of which was pub-         New Testament, and a year later
"was naturally inclined [to theol-        lished in 1536.                         was ordained a pastor.
ogy]; because even at an early age,           But whether Calvin liked it or          Together Fare1 and Calvin
he was remarkably religious, and          not, Geneva was to be his home          drew up a confession of faith and
was also a strict censor of every-        for the remainder of his life. It all rules of discipline which were ap-
thing vicious in his companions."         started when Calvin, on his way         proved by the Council. In fact,
Calvin, in an autobiographical note       to Basel, was forced to detour          the Council supported all the ef-
found in his letter to Cardinal           through Geneva. In this city he         forts for reform in doctrine, lit-
Sadolet wrote:                            spent the night thinking that he        urgy, and morals.
                                          would come and go unobserved.              But that did not mean that the
    When, however, I had per-             But his presence was noted and          opposition had been persuaded.
  formed all these things (satisfac-      Fare1 was informed. Fare1 imme-         Gradually Calvin's enemies were
  tion for offenses and fleeing to the    diately visited Calvin and im-          able to marshal1 their forces. Their
  saints),   though I had some inter-.    plored him to stay in Geneva and        opposition was especially against
  vals of quiet, I was still far off
  from true peace of conscience; for,     help with the work of reformation.      the Catechism and the laws which
  whenever I descended within  my-        Calvin was adamant in his refusal.      had been passed against prevalent
  self, or raised my mind to thee,        Shy by nature and determined to         sins. As they gained strength, they
  extreme terror seized me  - ter-        devote his life to scholarship and      gained numbers on the Council
  ror which no expiations nor sat-        study, Calvin wanted no part of         and were able to moderate the ef-
  isfactions could cure.                  the turmoil which would result          forts towards reform.
                                          from efforts to make Geneva a city         Two issues especially brought
That sounds a lot like Luther.            devoted to the truth of Scripture.      things to a head. The Council of
    Calvin came to Paris at the           But after calling down from             200 decided to instruct the reform-
very time when Reformational              heaven curses upon Calvin should        ers to practice open communion so
ideas were altering the thinking of       he refuse, Fare1 persuaded Calvin       that no one could be barred from
many. In 1533 Nicholas Cop be-            that his place was indeed in the        the Lord's table. This was a death
came rector of the University in          city.                                   blow to Calvin's discipline. The
Paris and delivered a plea for ref-                                               second issue was a decision b,y the
ormation in his inaugural address,        First Stay in Geneva                    Council to make use of Bernese lit-
which some claim was prepared                 And so Calvin's work in this        urgy in the worship. Calvin did
by Calvin. Persecution broke out          city began. The date was Septem-        not object as such to the liturgy
when a paper, sharply critical of         ber 5, 1536.                            used in Berne, but he did object
the mass, was widely distributed              The city, with the effects of       strenuously to the right of the
in Paris and a copy was nailed to         many centuries under Roman Ca-          Council to decide such matters for
the palace door. Cop and Calvin           tholicism woven into the fabric of      the church. Neither would budge,
were forced to flee for their lives.      its life, was filled with every vice    and the result was that the Coun-
And so Calvin was brought to the          and required great labor to bring       cil passed a decision to expel Fare1
point where he repudiated the             its citizens under the yoke of the      and Calvin from the city. 0
church of Rome and wrote his first                                                                . . . to be continued.
theological work, a paper on, of
all things, soul sleep.
    For about three years Calvin
wandered as an evangelist in
Southern France, Switzerland, and
Italy. Part of the time he was un-
der the protection of Queen Mar-                                                                            _I
guerite of Navarre, sister of the
king of France; part of the time he
was in Ferrara of Italy in the court
of the Duchess of Renee; and part                                                                          ,.-
of the time he visited Base1 where                                                                                _,
he came into contact with some of

84/StandardBearer/November  15,1996


           Missions - The Ghana Field
We have been asked ques- many areas by some individuals gospel of Christ. In fact, the
           tions about our field in     or groups of people, but because         apostles did the very opposite, as
           Ghana, and about our         this is not direct revelation from       we read in Acts  19:18-20:  "And
reason for requesting of Synod that     God it is necessary that we inves-       many that believed came, and con-
we open this field in Ghana with-       tigate whether the request is made       fessed, and  shewed their deeds.
out a core group of believers be-       seriously and whether we are able        Many of them also which used cu-
ing in place on the field.              to help in the particular instance.      rious arts brought their books to-
    The latter really has to do with    It is through the process of inves-      gether, and burned them before all
the whole idea of how missions          tigation that we come to a convic-       men: and they counted the price
ought always to-be caried out. In       tion (and we believe that this is by     of them, and found it fifty thou-
answer to that question, we note        the Spirit's leading) as to whether      sand pieces of silver. So mightily
first of all that there are times       or not we should begin a mission         grew the word of God and pre-
when a group of believers in some       labor in a certain place and at a        vailed." In each area in which they
location requests our churches to       certain time.                            labored they brought the same gos-
labor in their area. The members            But it must be remembered            pel and established the same type
of this group may have come into        that, even in the direct  "Macedo-       of worship services, and ordained
contact with our churches and then      nian call" that Paul received, he        men with the same qualifications
desired to hear more of the truths      was sent not to a particular group       into the same offices. (In Jerusa-
which we hold precious and which        of believers or to a "core group,"       lem, see Acts; in Ephesus, see I
we proclaim in our churches as we       but to an area where God was             Timothy 3; in Crete, see Titus 1.)
preach the Word. When we re-            pleased that he preach the gospel        And all of this sets a pattern for
ceive such a request we must in-        promiscuously, and this, .unto the       our own labor, for the apostles,
vestigate as to whether we are able     gathering of believers and the es-       under the inspiration of the Spirit,
to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ     tablishment of congregations. Paul       gave us the scriptural record of the
to this area and preach the Word        preached the Word and God gave           worship and of the officebearers
there.,                                 the increase. He was not ashamed         and their labor in the places where
    In a sense, this request be-        of preaching the gospel of Christ        the gospel was preached.
comes a "Macedonian call." It is        (Rom.  1:14-16).                             We find that the apostle Paul
such because, through the request           It is in this same way that we       went first to the synagogues, if
from people interested in the truth     are called to labor on any field that    there were such in the cities where
as we proclaim it, the Spirit leads     we enter, whether there are in that      he labored. There he preached the
us to investigate and to bring the,     area some believers with whom we         antithetical Word of God, calling
Word to this area. However, it          may have contact, or whether we          those in the synagogue away from
differs from the apostle Paul's call    are laboring strictly in the midst       the old dispensational worship and
to Macedonia in this; that the          of unbelievers. It is necessary that     away from the apostate teachings
apostle, when he received the vi-       w'e preach the pure gospel of            of the Pharisees, to the gospel of
sion, knew without a doubt, be-         Christ, in strict adherence to Scrip-    Jesus Christ and Him crucified and
cause of direct revelation, that he     ture. And `God will give the in-         raised. He did not go to the syna-
was to go to Macedonia and              crease according to His good plea-       gogues to mix the gospel of Christ
preach the Word in this part of the     sure.                                    with their customs of worship, but
world. We have requests  fro'm              The apostle Paul (or the other       to call them unto the new dispen-
                                        apostles, for that matter) did not       sational church. The result was
                                        join himself to groups of believers      that he went from the synagogues
                                        who were already in a certain            to the streets of the cities to ad-
Rev. Moore is pastor of the Protes-     place, and then, in some sort of         dress the Word of God to such as
tant Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa.     joint venture, attempt to bring the      the Lord would lead to the preach-
                                                                                     November 15,1996/StandardBearer/ls5


ing of the Word. Then, in strict          whether the epistle was addressed        nal life. The congregation(s) that
accordance with the Word, congre-         to the Ephesians, who for the larg-      will be gathered will then love the
gations would be established, and         est part served idols in their his-      same truth that we love. The con-
officebearers would be ordained.          tory, or to Rome, where mythical         gregation will live under the same
This is the testimony of sacred his-      gods were served in their history,       yoke of Christ that we live under.
tory' again and again as recorded         or to the Hebrews, where Judaism         The congregation will have the
in the book of Acts.                      was followed in their history.           same offices as the congregations
    Again I say, this is the way that         In the church the elders and         did in the days of the apostles;
our missions ought always to be           deacons had the same require-            they shall love the same confes-
carried out. The missionary on the        ments for office; the preaching of       sions which set forth faithfully the
field is to bring the pure gospel of      the Word was to be the same; the         truth of the Scripture; they shall
Christ, and the goal is to establish      life of the people was to be such' have the same sacraments admin-
a congregation that is founded in         that they cast off the old ways of       istered according to the Word as
every part upon the regulations of        unbelief and customs to serve the        we do; they shall have the same
Scripture and in accordance to all        living God faithfully according to       love for God, the same apprecia-
the principles of Scripture.     It is    His Word.                                tion for the covenant that God sov-
necessary that we preach only the             Now, to accomplish this .on the      ereignly establishes with us and
gospel, which is the power of God         mission field, whether in the' States    our seed; they will be husband of
unto salvation, and that we also          or in Ghana, we ought not to be          one wife, wife of one husband, in
then oppose those that cause divi-        affected by the customs of the par-      their life on earth; they will wor-
sions and offenses contrary to the        ticular area in which we are work-       ship together as families, etc. For
doctrine of Scripture (cf. Rom.           ing. Especially is this so on the        we with others of the elect in this
16:17-18).  When we fail to do this,      foreign field,. where the back-          world have one Lord, and the one
our mission labor either fails or is      ground and culture of most of the        Spirit works in the hearts of the
at best very weak, and the result         people are based upon pagan wor-         one body of Christ. To begin work
is that God's Name and honor are          ship and heathendom. But this is         with a group that already has in
not maintained as they ought to           often'the case elsewhere too, when       place its own way of worship, with
be, and then God's children are not       we are called to work with those         all of the errors that may be a part
blessed as they should be. This           who are nominally Christian,             of that worship, would mean that
means, for the Protestant Re-             whose traditions of worship, of          the preaching at the outset is com-
formed mission labor, that the            songs for worship, and of order          promised. (Of course, if they have
Protestant Reformed distinctives          for worship ,are based upon their        not the errors, then we need not
must be maintained throughout             free-will theology, or their Pente-      labor there, for God would already
the labor and work. They ought            costalism, or their independentism,      be worshiped there in spirit and
never to be compromised. This is          or whatever.                             in truth.) Wherever we go to bring
so in the areas of doctrine and of            Dear readers, if we believe that     the gospel as Protestant Reformed
life, in the areas of worship and of      our churches are founded, rooted,        Churches, we must go with a view
order. Thus we read in Colossians         and grounded in the truth, and           to setting up a Protestant Re-
3: 16-17: "Let the word of Christ         that we hold the truth steadfastly,      formed mission - not because of
dwell in you richly in all wisdom;        and that we are blessed by this          OUY name, for of ourselves we are
teaching and admonishing one an-          faithfulness to the Scriptures in all    nothing, but because it has pleased
other in psalms and hymns and             of`our worship and life, is this not     our God to keep us faithful to the
spiritual songs, singing with grace       what our desire should be for all        truth and to preserve in our midst
in your hearts to the Lord. And           those to whom we have the op-            a pure worship. He has blessed
whatsoever ye do in word or deed,         portunity to bring the gospel?           us tremendously. It is our desire
do all in the name of the Lord                It is exactly for this reason,       that all of God's children may have
Jesus, giving thanks to God and           that we do not begin in Ghana with       this blessing.
the Father by him."                       a group that is already there. We            Our intention is to preach the
    It did not'matter to the apostle      surely could have a group that           gospel in Ghana from the very be-
Paul or the other apostles what the       would want us to work with them,         ginning twice on the Sabbath, once
culture was in the area in which          but then we would not be follow-         on the basis of the Heidelberg Cat-
they worked.. They brought the            ing the scriptural example of the        echism. We shall sing the songs
gospel in the same way, and es-           apostles. If we are going to labor       of Zion from the Psalms, in  En-
tablished the same structured con-        on the mission field, then we must       giish from the Psalter, and in the'
gregations. From their epistles we' labor by the.pure preaching of the             native language  fro-m the Psalms
receive instruction for our church        Word, and Christ shall gather            written in that language. Weshall
structure and worship, no matter          those that are ordained unto eter-       have a distinctively Protestant  Re-

86)StandardBearer/November 15.1996


                                                                                                             c


formed church worship, with all         trust that our God will bless this       shall our churches be blessed. tl
the reverence that is God glorify-      labor. When our Lord brings to our
ing. This will probably mean that       mission His saints, they will be one             Notice: Those of our readers
we will begin with a relatively         with us in faith and blessing. May       who are on the Internet, and who
small group of worshipers, but it       God grant that it be so. And may         wish to obtain up-to-date informa-
is the preaching of the gospel that     we wholeheartedly support this           tion about the PRC field in Ghana,
brings to the activity of faith. We     work as churches, with prayers,          are invited to check out Rev.
will begin to hold Bible studies in     gifts, letters, visits, etc. Then not    Moore's homepage. His address
addition to the Sunday worship,         only shall those that Christ gath-       is:       http://www.mtcnet.net/
for those interested. And we will       ers in Ghana be blessed, but so          -revmo/




                            Totally Depraved
Because of the legal relation- tionship as it were, with Adam and will, and impure in his affec-
      ship between Adam and the         and Eve. And just as our own chil-       tions."
      whole human race, Adam's          dren bear our natures, so we also                In other words, his whole na-
fall brought us all under condem-       bear the nature of our parents, all      ture became corrupt.
nation. As we learn in Romans           the way back to Adam. and Eve.                   That corruption was not only
5:12-18,  God established such a le-    Adam's human nature is imparted          Adam's.         It has become ours.
gal relationship for His own good       by conception and birth to the           Adam, as the father of the human
pleasure. He did so in wisdom.          whole human race.                        race, carried with him into that
It was His purpose from eternity                                                 abyss of corruption and death ev-
to save to Himself a people in          The  Consequence of  Adam's Fall         ery  Adamite that would ever be
Christ (Eph. 1). Decreeing even             The consequence, of course, is       born. In Adam our nature became
the fall to serve that purpose, the     this:      Because Adam's guilt          so corrupt that we are conceived
sovereign God would redeem from         brought upon him the curse of            and born in sin (Ps. 51:5).
that fallen human race in Adam .a       death and the pollution of sin as                Dead in trespasses and sins-
people who would stand in a simi-       its punishment, the same corrup-         that is what we mean by "total de-
lar legal relationship to their Re-.    tion is passed from generation to        pravity."
deemer,  who is Christ, the last        generation.                                      Spiritually dead! That is what
Adam and the Lord from heaven.              Our sin, therefore, is not           we are as the children of Adam.
    But if we are fully to under-       merely in the act. It is a funda-        And when you think of total de-
stand the effects of Adam's fall        mental corruption of our whole           pravity as death, it is not sufficient
upon the whole human race, we           nature!                                  merely to liken the natural man to
must also realize that Adam stands          From the moment Adam                 a corpse that hasbeen  buried. Af-
not pnly in a legal relationship to     sinned, death was inflicted upon         ter all, we do remain active. A
those who would follow him, but         him.                                     more accurate illustration would
also in an  organic  relationship as        And that death, the punish-          be that of a corpse that is lying
the first father of all mankind.        ment of his guilt, is rightly de-        out in the open under the heat of
    If it were possible, we could       scribed in our Reformed confes-          the sun, and that is rotting and
all trace our genealogies back to       sions. In the first article of the       casting off a putrid stink! A vivid
Adam and Eve. We stand in an            Third. and Fourth Heads of- Doc-         illustration, indeed! And `disgust-
organic relationship, a family rela-    trine in the Canons of Dordt, the        ing! But no more disgusting than
                                        corruption of fallen man is de-          you and I are in the sight of God
                                        scribed. He brought upon himself         as those fallen in Adam!
              .                         "blindness of mind, horrible. dark-             -Bear in- mind, this is part of
Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant    ness, vanity and  yperverseness  of      the necessary knowledge that we
Reformed Chul;ch of Randolph, Wis-      judgment"; he "became wicked,            must have, if ever we are to see
consin.       .3                        rebellious, and obdurate in heart        our need for Christ.
                                                                                         November 15,l996/Sr;lndardl&rer/87


The Extent of Our Corruption             vealed in the Scripture we must         pate in all sorts of ungodly activi-
    Not only must we  know. our-         learn to agree, discovering first of    ties and to find fellowship with un-
selves as sinners, but we must also      all that which is applicable to our     believers.
understand the extent of. our sin-       own heart and mind and life: God            After all, if it is' true that the
fulness and the horror of our sin-       searches not only our outward life,     ungodly can do much good, then
ful nature.                              but the deepest recesses of our         there is a measure of good to be
    Scripture is very graphic in its     hearts and minds. I say again, sin      found in  every aspect of society.
portrayal of the extent of this sin      is not merely in the act. It is a       Then even the most perverse mov-
in the human race and in every           fundamental corruption of our           ies and television programs can be
individual of the human race.            whole nature!                           enjoyed by Christians and can be
Psalm  14:2,3 and Psalm  53:2,3:                                                 reviewed by religious magazines,
"The  LORD  looked down from             The Appearance of Goodness              for, after all, "there is at least a
heaven upon the children of men,         in Man                                  measure of good in all these
to see if there were any that did           We realize that this clear teach-    things. "
understand, and seek God. They           ing of Scripture concerning man's           But when we face the question,
are all gone aside, they are all to-     total depravity presents us with an     "What about this outward appear-
gether t%ome  filthy: there is none      apparent problem. It is true that       ance of good in the natural man,"
that doeth good, no, not one."           the natural eye observes many ac-       common grace is not the answer
    In Romans 3:9-18 we are given        tions of men that appear to be          - because common grace is not
another graphic display of the hu-       good and commendable. In times          to be found in the Bible, but only
man race as it appears before the        of disaster, for example, we see        in the imaginations of men.
Holy God. I quote only part of           unbelievers reaching out to help            Christ Himself says (Matt.
that passage. "AS it is written,         their neighbors. We see acts of         7:16-18),  "Do men gather grapes
There is none righteous, no, not         kindness, acts that are commend-        of thorns, or figs of thistles?" The
one: There is none that  under-          able and helpful to fellow men.         answer is obvious. Of course not!
standeth, there is none that seeketh         How are we to harmonize this        "Even so every good tree bringeth
after God. They are all gone out         apparent good in the natural man,       forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree
of the way, they are together be-        at least in some who are unbeliev-      bringeth forth evil fruit. A good
come unprofitable; there is none         ers, with the clear teaching of         tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
that doeth good, no, not one....         God's Word that man is totally de-      neither can a corrupt tree bring
There is no fear of God before their     praved and that none does good?         forth good fruit."        .
eyes."                                      That is one of many apparent             So what about this problem of
    That is a judgment that falls        problems that should compel us to       what we see?
upon all without exception,. Jew         search the Scriptures.                      The problem is with our per-
and Gentile alike, church man and            One of the many solutions to        ception of things. What we may
heathen. "They are all under sin!"       that problem has been presented         call good is not necessarily what
Such is the dreadful and damnable        in the theory of common grace.          God calls good.
corruption of man.                       One side of that many-sided                 Scripture speaks only one lan-
    The question immediately             theory says that God's grace is at      guage when it comes to the  so-
arises, and it is expressed as a         work in the heart of the ungodly,       called good of the natural man.
teaching tool in our Heidelberg          so that even though  inwardly the       God expresses one judgment, and
Catechism, Lord's Day 3: "Are we         sinner remains full of darkness and     that is that there is no good. We
then so corrupt that we are wholly       corruption, outwardly  he does          may refer to Romans 14:23 as one
incapable of doing any good, and         much good in God's sight. Though        example. "For whatsoever is not
inclined to all wickedness?" Is the      an evil tree, a man is able to bear     of faith is sin." Whatever work or
situation  that bad?!  The authors of    good fruits. So says the theory of      whatever thought that does not
the Catechism stood before Scrip-        common grace.                           have its root  in Christ  is forever
ture and gave answer: "Indeed we            That theory, from a practical        rotten in God's sight, corrupt
are, except we are regenerated by        point of view, has devastating con-     through and through. .
the Spirit of God."                      sequences. Ultimately it causes             That is fundamental to our
    We are dead,  totally  depraved,     (and has caused) the lines between      own life, to our own faith. We
corrupt through and through  -           the church and the world to be to-      must understand that outward ac-
unless by the Spirit of grace God        tally obliterated. To our grief we      tions mean nothing in God's sight,
regenerates us, gives us the new         have seen the theory of common          except they are rooted by faith in
birth by which we are united with        grace used as the ground for those      Christ. Our only hope is Christ,
Christ by the bond of faith.             who called themselves Christians        nothing in ourselves, absolutely
    With this judgment of God re-        to surge into the world to partici-     nothing.

88/StandardBearer/November 15,1996


    If you want to talk about out-       in repentance and prayer. They           wholly incapable of doing any
wardly good works, there is a pas-       didn't know Him as the One who           good, and inclined to all wicked-
sage in Matthew 7 that is abso-          alone could save them.                   ness-except we are regenerated
lutely devastating. That is Mat-             And Jesus says, "Depart from         by the Spirit of God.
thew 7:21-23.                            me, ye that work iniquity." Amaz-            And here is our comfort too.
    There Jesus refers to those who      ing! Though they did all these           For when we confess this from the
confess the name of the Lord.            things that society marks as out-        heart, when we recognize that "we
They belong outwardly to the             standing works of good, the judg-        are all as an unclean thing, and all
church. He speaks of those whom          ment of Christ is that they are          our righteousnesses are as filthy
we would view as exemplary citi-         nothing but "workers of  iniquity"!      rags; and we all do fade as a leaf;
zens. They are those who do all          Their works, which were judged           and our iniquities, like the wind,
kinds of good outwardly. They            so good by man, are condemned            have taken us away" (Is.  64:6),
even prophesy in Christ's name!          by God, because they had not faith.      then we may also make this
Among these people are preachers,            That is a devastating text to the    humble confession: we have fallen
mind you! There are those who            sinner who is not yet regenerated        upon Christ, and Christ paid for
even cast out devils in the name         by the Spirit of God. For except         our guilt. And He renews us by
of the Lord. Let's apply that.           we are born again, we cannot see         His Holy Spirit, and assures us of
They cast out the devils of drunk-       the kingdom of God. We are dead          eternal life and glory.
enness and drug abuse, adultery          in sin, wholly incapable of doing            "And you hath he quickened,
and fornication. They help others        any good, and inclined to all wick-      who were dead in trespasses and
clean up their lives.                    edness.                                  sins.... For by grace are ye saved
    These are wonderful people!             The extent of our corruption          through faith; and that not of your-
They are - from an outward point         therefore is such that there is no       selves: it is the gift of God: Not
of view.                                 room for salvation apart from the        of works, lest any man should
    But Jesus says, "I never knew        sovereign, irresistible grace of God     boast. For we are his workman-
you." And that means that they           and the efficacious, particular          ship, created in Christ Jesus unto
never knew Him. They didn't              atonement of Christ.                     good works, which God hath be-
know Him by faith. They didn't              Our Heidelberg Catechism              fore ordained that we should walk
know Him as the Majestic God, be-        speaks clear language that is bibli-     in them" (Eph. 2:1, S-10).
fore whom we must bow the knee           cally accurate and true. We are              That alone is our salvation. Cl




        Wouie unto Me, and Drink!"
                                               John 7:37-53

It is the last day, that great day thought He had a devil. The believe that this One is the Christ,
   of the feast of tabernacles.          Pharisees and chief priests had          the Son of the living God.
   Jesus has been teaching of Him-       sent officers-to take Him. Certain           Jesus stands and cries out: "If
self and His gospel. The Jews had        it was that, whatever and whoever        any man thirst, let him come unto
marveled that such an unlearned          He was, this Jesus was causing           me, and drink, He that believeth
man could speak with such wis-           quite a commotion!                       on me, as the scripture hath said,
dom and authority. Some believed            And now Jesus has one more            out of his belly shall flow rivers of
this Jesus was the Christ. Some          word to say at this feast. This          living water" (vv. 37, 38).
                                         word will do nothing to stop, and            What does this mean? What
                                         everything to promote, the com-          does it mean that any who thirst
Rev. Dick is  pastor of Grace Protes-    motion. It will cause a division         are to come to Jesus and drink?
tant Reformed Church in Standale,        among the people (v. 43). His            And then, how can it be that those
Michigan.                                word will even stir up hearts to         who so drink of Jesus shall have

                                                                                      November 15,1996/SfandardBearer/89


flowing, out of their own bellies, riv-      On the seven davs of the Feast, a          along with the daily drink-offer-
ers of living water?                         golden flagon was filled with wa-          ing (of wine). The wine and the
    In order to understand the sig-          ter from the pool of  Siloam  and          water were poured into their re-
nificance of Jesus' words, one must          was carried in a procession led            spective silver bowls, and then
b.e aware of certain "water rites"           by the High Priest `back to the            poured out before the  LORD.
which were performed by the Jews             temple. As the procession ap-              Moreover, these ceremonies of the
                                             proached the Watergate on the              Feast of Tabernacles were related
at that time at the feast of taber-          south side of the inner court three        in Jewish thought both to the
nacles at which Jesus was speak-             blasts from the Shophar  - a               LORD'S provision of water in the
ing. The reader may want `to in-             trumpet connected with joyful oc-          desert and to the LORD'S pouring
vestigate the other ordinances and           casions  - were sounded. While             out of the Spirit in the last days.
purposes of this feast (cf., for ex-         the pilgrims watched, the priests          Pouring at the Feast of Taber-
ample, Ex. 23:16;  34:22;  Lev. 23:39,       processed around the altar with            nacles refers symbolically to the
40-43; Deut.  16:13, 15, and any             the flagon, the temple choir sing-         messianic age in which a stream
good Bible dictionary). But we               ing the Hallel (Psalms 113-118).           from the sacred rock would flow
want to focus on those "water                When the choir reached Psalm               over the whole earth (The Gospel
                                             118, every male pilgrim shook .a
rites."    These were not com-                                                          According to John,  pp.  321,322).
                                             lulav (willow and myrtle twigs
manded by Scripture. But they                tied with palm) in his right hand,           Jesus, at this time, perhaps at
had become the Jewish custom al-             while his left raised a piece of cit-    the very moment when the water
ready many years before Christ.              rus fruit (a sign of the in-gath-        ceremonies were being performed,
    About these "water rites" D.A.           ered harvest), and all cried "give       declares: "Come unto me, and
Carson writes:                               thanks to the LORD!" three times.
                                             The water was offered to God at          drink!"
                                             the time of the morning sacrifice,





Jesus is the Christ,                       ness to Jesus the Christ (cf. I Pet.       37). What is it to "thirst" after
the Son of God                             l:lO-12).                                  Christ and the water He has to
* In His word of John 7:37 Jesus                                                      give? Are these thirsty ones the
declares Himself to be (or at least        e The reaction of many of the              same as the "weary and heavy
to  have)  the  water  of life. Com-       people to Jesus' words on this last        laden," those who have no money,
pare this statement with what              day of the feast was to declare            and the sinners - all of whom the
Jesus says to the Samaritan woman          Him to be the Prophet. Others              Savior God calls to Himself (cf.
at Jacob's well (John 4:lOff.).  Com-      said, "This is the Christ" (vv. 40,        Matt. 11:28-30;  Is. 55:l; Luke 5:32)?
pare this also with what Jesus says        41). What is "the Prophet" to              What do these descriptions say of
in John  6:35, 48ff. Compare also          which the people were alluding?            those whom Jesus thus calls? Do
Isaiah  12:3;  55:1,  2; I Corinthians     Where is this Prophet prophesied,          children of God still thirst? Com-
10:4; Revelation  21:6;   22:17.  How      what would He be like, and what            pare Psalm  42:2;  143:6 with John
is Jesus this fount of water?              would He do? Were the people               4114.
                                           making a distinction between the
* It ought not surprise us that            Prophet and the Christ? How is             * Implied in Jesus' call to thirsty
Jesus would explain the ceremo-            Jesus the Prophet in fulfilling His        ones -is that some, perhaps many,
nies of an Old Testament feast as          office as the Christ? The officers         there are who do not thirst. Why
having their significance and ful-         were to apprehend Jesus for the            does not everyone thirst for the
fillment in Him. For Jesus had al-         chief priests and Pharisees. But           water Jesus has? What do they
ready declared that the Scriptures         they did not. And the only reason          thirst for instead? Does the call of
"testified" of Himself (John 5:39).        they could give for not fulfilling         Revelation 22:17:  Whosoever will,
Are there other ceremonies con-            their duty was "Never man spake            let him take of the water of life
nected with the feast of tabernacles       like this man" (v. 46). So true!           freely," imply a potential in all
which point to Jesus? Give ex-             How?                                       men, a willing potential, a free will
amples from Scripture: the law,                                                       to choose for (thirst for) Christ?
the types and shadows, the proph-          That Ye Might Believe!
ets, the promises, to show that the        * Jesus calls any who are thirsty          * The call of Jesus to His people
entire Old Testament was/is a wit-         to come unto Him and drink (v.             is accompanied with grace and the

SO)StandardBearer/November  15,1996


Holy Spirit. The result is that His         Show from their answer (vv. 47-           speaking of the Spirit when He
people are converted to Him.                49) the Pharisees' popish preten-         spoke of this "living water" (v. 39).
Through the Savior's calling His            sion. How can we guard against            At least one commentator (W.
own become, in reality,. "the               such hierarchy and proud preten-          Hendriksen) sees this language as
called" (for example, Rom.  8:28,           sion in the church?                       describing Zion, the people of God,
30; I Pet.  `2:9). Prove from Scrip-                                                  as being a blessing to. others: the
ture that when God's people hear            ct Nicodemus, who had come                water, that is, the Spirit, flows
this call of the Savior they indeed         earlier to Jesus by night (John 3),       from them to others, as they wit-
come,to  Jesus and drink (cf. John          questions the justice of the Jewish       ness (Prov. 11:25;  18:4; Ezek. 47:1-
1027).                                      leaders' condemnation of Jesus (v.        12;  Zech.  8:14).  Another interpre-
                                            51). Verse 50 says that Nicodemus         tation is that in this passage Jesus
m There is also a "general," non-           was "one of them." Does this re-          is referring to the abundance of
saving call of the gospel. This call        fer to his being one of the disciples,    blessing believers enjoy in drink-
comes to all who hear the gospel.           or one of the leaders in Israel? Is       ing of Him  - so great is their
The Bible teaches that "many be             Nicodemus being bold, or cow-             blessing that they "overflow" with
called but few chosen" (Matt.               ardly, at this time? What would           it! (Cf. John  1:16; Prov.  4:23;  IS.
20:16).  Is this "general call" of the      you have said to the Jewish lead-         12:3; 44:3;  Ezek. 36:25-27;  Eph. 1:3.)
gospel an evidence of a general             ers?                                      Think on the abundance of bless-
love of God for all men? .Does it                                                     ing we have in Christ! How do
show a desire on God's part to              Having Life Through His Name!             we show this Spirit-water flowing
save all who hear the gospel?               CC Jesus calls Himself the bread          out of ourselves?
What is the explanation of the fact         of life (John 6:48),  and here in John
that many reject this general, ex-          7:37ff., the One who has the water        * What Scripture "hath said" (v.
ternal call? What is the church's           of life. Bold claims indeed  - es-        38) that out of his belly shall flow
calling - should she preach to all,         pecially since they were made in a        rivers of living water? Are we to
or only to the thirsty ones? In             desert region where such staples          look for one passage, or several
studying these questions, consider          as bread and water were regularly         combined (cf. John 20:9)?
what Scripture teaches concerning           scarce! What do these claims of
the sovereignty of God (Ps. 115:3;          Jesus tell us about His spiritual         * Verse 39 states clearly that the
Dan.  4:35), the eternal counsel of         provision for us.7  What does His         "living water" of verse 38 is the
God (Is.  47:9-l!;  Rom. 9; Eph.  l),       water do for us and in us? Is for         Spirit which they that believe on
the immutability of God (Mal.  3:6;         you to live Christ (Phil.  1:21)?         Jesus should receive. Then there
Job 23:13), the delight of the Sav-         How do we show this in our liv-           is the remarkable statement that
ior `(Matt.. 11:25ff.; Heb.. 10:7),  the    ing, and in our dying? Think on           the Holy Ghost "was not yet," be-
nature of God's love (Jer.  31:3;           and discuss this proposition: the         cause Jesus was not yet glorified.
John  3:16;  Rom.  8:39), the extent        world in which we live is a spiri-        Does this mean there was no Holy
of the atonement (John  10:15),  and        tual desert.                              Ghost in the church and in believ-
the great commission (Matt.  28:18-                                                   ers before Pentecost? What advan-
20). One should consider also the           * In verse 38 Jesus declares that         tages does the New Testament
creedal statements concerning               whoever believes on Him will have         church have over the Old Testa-
these questions: for example, Can-          rivers of living water flowing out        ment people of God (cf. Matt.
ons I; II, Article 5; III/IV, A, Ar-        of his belly. Then there is the di-       11:ll; John  1O:lO;  16:13;  Acts 2;
ticles 8-11;  II/IV, B, Articles 5-7.       vine commentary that Jesus was            Gal.  3,4; Heb.  S)?  Cl

(* In verses 41ff. we meet some
heretics and popes. The heretics
did not believe Jesus is the Christ.
They even cited Scripture: vv. 42,
52. This is something true of all
heretics: they always come with
their Scriptures seeking to `prove
their point. hand they always deny
Christ. Dangerous, devilish de-
niers! The popes (also heretics, as
all popes are) are the Pharisees.
The Pharisees rebuked the officers
who did not bring Jesus to them.

                                                                                          November 15,1996/Sfam'ard6emr~91


                                                the concept of guarding children              The implications of all of this
                                                                                           for the church are staggering. The
 n "What's Happening to                         from their parents is one of the
                                                major themes drummed by the                new global values are in opposi-
Education?"                                     educational establishment. Take,           tion to much of what Christianity
I                                               for example, the words of Kathy            teaches. Since the global values
     t is becoming ever clearer that            Collins, a former legal counsel to         are now being adopted by law
     the education of children in our           the Iowa Department of Educa-              and curricula, it is an easy jump
     country has fallen on bad times.           tion: "Children . . . are not `owned'      to see where the state can just as
One hears much about what ought                 by their parents.... The Christian         easily declare the teaching of cer-
to be done about this. In an ar-                fundamentalists who want the               tam forms of politically incorrect
                                                                                           religion to be a psychological dis-
ticle on "Outcome Based Educa-                  freedom to indoctrinate their chil-        order. If parents then manifest
tion," some serious proposals of a              dren with religious education do
                                                not understand [that] the law that         this "disorder" by teaching it to
disturbing nature are treated. The              prevents them from legally teach-          their children, this would consti-
article claims that the state is at-            ing their kids prevents someone            tute child abuse and at that point
tempting nothing less than to con-              else from abusing theirs."                 the state, in the "best interests of
trol the training of our children                                                          the children," would step in and
from cradle to the grave. Refer-                  There is a proposition on the            remove them from their parents
ence is made to certain proposals             ballot in the State of Colorado              to prevent further "abuse." In the
introduced by legislators in Colo-                                                         United States it would be ludi-
                                              which is supposed to guarantee               crous to consider this if it weren't
rado.                                         parents' rights  - something the             already happening.
                                              legislature has thus  far refused to            This is important that the reader
     Recently, the State of Colorado          do. That issue will have been de-            understand: The radical changes
  has been attempting to entirely re-         cided in the November 5 elections.           in education, which will totally
  write its children's code. As a             There has been much "scare" ad-              transform this culture, are under
  part of the proposed changes, lan-                                                       way; they are not part of some
  guage was introduced by  pro-               vertising about the "terrible" con-          future possibility. The shift to
  family legislators to protect par-          sequences of the passage of this             relative values affects how people
  ents' rights and prevent unwar-             proposition.                                 will view "freedoms" and "rights"
  ranted state intrusion into family              The same article quoted above            as well as how Christianity will
  life. This legislation was killed           states more about the goals of edu-          be viewed in just a few years.
  in the Senate Judiciary Commit-             cators in this country. After point-         Consider what it will be like for
  tee. In undoing the provision,              ing out that private school and              you to live in a culture which
  state Senator  Dottie Wham, chair-          home-schooled students score well            doesn't believe in absolute values,
  person of that committee, stated            above the average on SAT scores,             where all rights are based on the
  that the Colorado Children's Code                                                        feeling of the moment and what
  was no place for parental rights;           the article states:                          seems right, which deems toler-
  the Children's Code was there to                                                         ance as the ultimate good but
  protect children and it needed to               This creates a problem for the           which is mercilessly intolerant .of
  remain for and about children.                educrats, because their dream of           things it deems in opposition to
     Who owns the children? In                  socialism is all-encompassing. As          itself.
  Senator Wham`s view, parents do               a result, there will be incessant            In other places and times, the
  not have the best interests of their          increasing legal pressure to force         church called this persecution.
  children at heart and the state has           home schoolers and private
  a better idea of how children                 schools to conform. The most sa-             That presents a serious picture
  should be raised, even if that                lient of these will be through the
  means defending children from                 CIM (Certificate of Initial Mas-         of what the future holds for the
  their own parents. If Senator                 tery), mentioned above. If plans         church and for Christian parents.
  Wham's views were unique, it                  go on schedule, and they are to          Surely it is the calling of the Chris-
  might raise a few eyebrows, but               date, it will be impossible to ob-       tian to show opposition to the at-
  in reality it represents what is a            tain a job without a CIM. A stu-         tempts of many to take away "pa-
  major philosophical contender for             dent will not be able to obtain a        rental rights." That must be done
  raising the minds and hearts of               CIM until he or she meets the out-       by way of the vote, as in Colorado
  children in this country. Indeed,            come standards required by the
                                                state. As a result, home and pri-        on November 5, but also by way
                                               vate schoolers will be forced into        of informing those legislators who
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Prot-           the system because they will have         represent us of our opposition to
estant Reformed          C h u r c h   o f     to "teach to the tests" to achieve        these attempts of the state to con-
Loveland, Colorado.                            the acceptable outcomes.                  trol our children.

92/StandardBearer/Movember  l&l996


H Developments in the CRC                 The report stated:                         wearing braided hair, pearls,
    Darrell Todd Maurina reports                                                     gold, and fine clothes, or teach-
on the first two women ordained               For Classis Grand Rapids East,         ing and having authority over
into office in the Christian Re-           as well as for the Christian Re-          men were not.
formed Church. The first was               formed denomination at large,
Ruth Hofman, a minister in the             Antonides' successful passage of            The repercussions to the deci-
First Toronto CRC on August 24.            ordination exams in' a classis that     sion of Synod on "women in of-
                                           has led the way in advocating the
The report stated:                                                                 fice" continue to be felt through
                                           ordination of women marks the           the denomination. Bethany Chris-
                                           successful completion of years of
    Hofman's evening ordination                                                    tian Reformed Church in South
                                           struggle. Antonides' successful
 service lasted over two hours and                                                 Holland, Illinois has voted to se-
                                           exam means that her scheduled
 included messages from Joan               September 29 ordination will            cede from the denomination.
 Flikkema, former head of the              make her the second ordained            There were only 14 of over a hun-
 Committee for Women in the                woman in the 292,000-member  de-        dred votes cast opposing the sepa-
 CRC, Rev. Gordon Pals, reporter           nomination since its synod legal-       ration.
 for the 1992 synodical advisory           ized the ordination of women to             In another vote, the Franklin
  committee whose recommenda-               all offices of the church....          Lakes CRC in New Jersey also de-
 tion that women be allowed to                Later in the exam, Rev. Morris       cided to sever relations with the
  "expound" paved the way for               Greidanus of Grand Rapids First
  Hofman's call to First Toronto,                                                  CRC. This small congregation was
                                            CRC  recounted the story of a
  and Hofman's father, Rev. John           woman who had remarried after           concerned not only with the issue
  Hofman, retired pastor of Ideal           a divorce produced by spousal          of "women in office," but also with
  Park CRC in Grand Rapids.                 abuse but continued to be              the question of the authority of.
    . . . Other themes raised in the        troubled by Scriptural injunctions     Scripture which, they believed,
  ordination service pointed to             in Matthew 19 specifying that di-      was being eroded in the practices
  more difficult times ahead. Mary          vorce could occur only on the          of the church.
  Antonides, pastor-elect of Eastern        grounds of adultery. Greidanus             In another development,
  Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids,               asked Antonides how she would          Classis Hudson, on September 25,
  noted that Hofman had been a              interpret another passage: I Timo-
  role model with whom she had                                                     decided to refuse to seat        Rev.
                                            thy 2:12's specification that "I do
  discussed how to handle difficult        not permit a woman to teach or          Casey Freswick of Newton because
  church problems. Pols' message            have authority over a man; she         of "schismatic activities and state-
  noted the difficulty of dealing           must be silent."                       ments." The classis  minutes noted
  with false doctrine. Hofman's               "Do you wake up at night and         that "a document is quoted in
  own Sunday sermon on Jeremiah            hear Timothy saying to you,             which Rev. Freswick calls for his
  29:1-14 noted the difficulty of           `Woman, be silent'?" asked             church to leave the denomination."
  false prophets confronting the Is-        Greidanus.          Upon hearing       All of this took place without any
  raelites. At least one of those dif-      Antonides' "no," Greidanus com-        sort of "trial." The action of the
  ficult problems will include the          mented that "you probably
  issue of homosexuality, an issue                                                 classis made it likely that the con-
                                            wouldn't listen to him anyway"
  at First Toronto CRC that long            - eliciting loud laughter form the     gregation of Newton will also se-
  predates Hofman's arrival at the          audience. Antonides then ex-           cede from the denomination.
  church.. . .                              plained her view that the under-           So the sad consequences of
                                            lying principles of the text such      synodical decisions taken in viola-
    The second woman ordained               as modesty in dress and propri-        tion of Scripture and its own
into the office of ministry was             ety in worship were still binding      church order are evident in
Mary Antonides at Eastern Avenue            on Christians today, even though       churches and individuals who con-
Christian Reformed Church. Her              its specific prohibitions on women     tinue to leave that denomination.
ordination was on September 29.                                                                                           0



The Mormon Missionaries: An                   Janis Hutchinson devoted             know the missionary mind-set, sin-
     Inside Look at Their Real            thirty-four years of her life to ac-     cerity, and dedication. As a  re-
Message and Methods,  by  Janis           tivity in the Mormon Church dur-         sult, I may be guilty of rendering
Hutchinson. Grand Rapids, MI:             ing which time she filled two stake      too sympathetic a portrayal of the
Kregel Publications, 1995. 272 pp.        missions, mar.ried  a returned mis-      two Mormon missionaries in this
$9.99 (softcover). [Reviewed by           sionary, and sent a daughter on a        book."
Agatha Lubbers.]                          full-time mission. She writes, "I            The subjects covered in this

                                                                                       November 15,1996/StandardBearer/93


book are the same as the major                carry their canned message. The          comes particularly obvious in this
topics included in the six lesson             dialogue of the characters in this       chapter.
books used by the missionaries.               story and the Bible college setting              In one of the episodes in chap-
These major topics are: 1/ Exam-              is based on the actual experience        ter seven the following dialogue
ining the "heavenly Father's plan,"           of Janis Hutchinson, but the char-       occurs. One of the students in the
2/ The Book of Mormon as another              acters are purely fictional and any      class asks, "After Smith died did
testament of Christ, 3/ The `great            resemblance to persons living or         succeeding presidents continue in
apostasy and the gates of hell, 4/            dead is coincidental.                    occult practices?"          Professor
Eternal progression and its desti-                The reader will discover star-       Hutchinson answers, I'... Brigham
nation.                                       tling facts surrounding Mormon-          Young used Oliver Cowdery's di-
    The first chap'ter  entitled "Sur-        ism's beginnings, is promised an         vining rod to decide where the Salt
prise on Campus" tells about the              eye-opener concerning the source         Lake Temple should be built. In
initial encounter by students at an           of Joseph Smith's doctrines, and         addition when Young and Taylor
anonymous Bible college in San                will learn the shocking motive be-       (second and third presidents) su-
Antonio, Texas, with Mormon mis-              hind Mormon missionary work.             pervised the making of a woodcut
sionaries. The book begins with               The author indicates that the            seal for the twelve apostles, they
the following episode: "Come                  reader's "own testimony will be          copied occult symbols from Jacob
quick" a student yelled, bursting             strengthened as to the falseness of      Boehm's  Theosophical Works  -  a
thr-ough the door of the empty                Mormonism - just in case those           book used for two hundred years
classroom where I was correcting              television commercials are getting       by Christian Kabbalists and
papers.... Dashing outside the                to you."                                 Rosicrucians."
small wood-framed bungalow                        The Scripture verses used in                 The book is a polemic against
where I served as teacher of the              the text are taken from the King         the adherents of this false religion
cults class at a small Texas Bible            James Version because Mormons            that now number more than nine
college, I suddenly stopped short.            recognize no other version except        million. Those reading this book
I couldn't believe my eyes! There             parts of the "inspired translation"      will find that the false doctrines
they were! Two Mormon mission-                of the KJV by Joseph Smith (1833).       of Mormonism are well-docu-
aries! And - of all places - at a                 In my opinion the most valu-         mented and instruction concerning
Bible college!"                               able aspect of the book was the          the heresies of this religion are wo-
    Using the classroom as the en-            chapter entitled "Magic and Ma-          ven through the episodes and dia-
velope     o f   t h e   s t o r y , Janis    sonry: How Joseph Smith put it           logue of the story. The book is
Hutchinson employs the dialogue               all together." The impact of Magic       recommended for your enjoyment
of,the-characters  to tell about the          and Masonic ideas. on the ideol-         and instruction and is  recom'-
doctrines of Mormonism and to re-             ogy of the Mormon church be-             mended for church and school li-
late how Mormon missionaries                                                           braries. Cl
                                                                                -.



                                              a new monthly feature entitled,          vited to take part in First's Second
Congregational Activities                     "Light unto my Path." Each               Annual Traverse City Fall Color
From the September "Across the month they will present a Bible Tour. This event was held the first
   Aisle," the newsletter of the              passage in large type (on an 8%" x       Friday and Saturday in October -
FirstPRC in Grand Rapids, MI, we              11" page) so that it can be easily       a beautiful weekend here in Michi-
find and pass on to you the fol-              seen `when displayed on a refrig-        gan. Plans called for canoeing on
lowing good idea. The staff of                erator, mirror, table, etc. They         Friday, followed by games and
"Across the Aisle" is trying to en-           plan on taking 12 issues to cover        swimming Friday night at a Day's
courage everyone in their congre-             Luke 12, where Jesus teaches on a        Inn in Traverse City, MI, with a
gation to memorize and study                  variety of subjects. The first group     color tour to the Mission Penin-
Scripture regularly. In an attempt            of verses, Luke 12:`1-3, is entitled,    sula Lighthouse on Saturday morn-
to do this this year they introduced          "Beware of Hypocrisy," followed          ing.                             1
                                              by such themes as Fear of God,                   At their annual congregational
                                              Do not Worry, and the Faithful           meeting held in late September, the
                                              and Evil Servant.                        congregation of the Grace PRC in
Mr. Wigger  is a member of the Prot-              Also concerning our First con-       Standale, MI did more than elect
estalzt Reformed         C h u r c h   o f    gregation, we note that all of           new officebearers and adopt the
Hudsonville, Michigan.                        First's married couples were in-         yearly budget. They also  ap-

94/StandardBearer/November 15,1996


proved a proposal to hire an ar-                   intended to lay out some of the                         The Men's and Ladies' Societ-
chitect to draw up plans for their                 biblical directives leading to a                   ies of the Southeast PRC hosted
new church home, along with a                      stable and God-glorifying family                   this year's annual Eastern Men's
proposal to accept the offer of                    life.                                              and Ladies' League Meeting on
Feenstra and Associates to draft a                          On Friday, September 27, Rev.             September 24. Qrof. R. Dykstra
site plan at cost, and a proposal to               C. Terpstra, pastor of the South                   spoke on the topic, "The Great
hold a financial drive for funds to                Holland, IL PRC, gave a speech                     Value of Protestant Reformed Bible
cover these costs.                                 entitled, "The Individual's Respon-                Studies."
     With summer now a distant                     sibility in the Church's Work of
memory, we include here one last                   Evangelism" at the Byron Center,                   Minister Activities
summer activity of two of our                      MI PRC. This speech, sponsored                          Rev. B. Woudenberg, pastor in
churches in west Michigan. Both                    by the Evangelism Committee of                     our churches for 40 years, the last
the Southeast PRC in,Grand Rap-                    Byron Center, served as a spring-                  twenty at the Kalamazoo, MI PRC,
ids and the Faith congregation in                  board for the fall meeting of the                  conducted his last service as an ac-
Jenison, MI held breakfast on the                  P.R.E.P. (Protestant Reformed                      tive minister of the Word on Sep-
beach in August. Everyone in                       Evangelism Planning) meeting                       tember 20. We thank `the Lord for
these congregations was invited to                 hosted by Byron Center the next                    his years of faithful service.
share a good breakfast with good                   morning. This meeting allowed                           Our Hope PRC in Walker, MI
fellowship on the shore of beauti-                 area congregations to share their                  has extended a call to Rev. S. Key,
ful Lake Michigan. What a nice                     information concerning recent suc-                 pastor of the Randolph, WI PRC,
way to spend a Saturday morning!                   cesses or non-successes in various                 to serve as their next pastor.
                                                   areas of evangelism.                                    Since the decline of Rev. A.
Evangelism Activities                                                                                 denHartog  of the Hope PRC in
     The Evangelism Committee of                   Denominatiqnal Activities                          Redlands, `CA, to serve as foreign
the Randolph, WI PRC sponsored                              Perhaps not coincidentally the            missionary to Ghana, the Hull, IA
a lecture on September 30. Rev.                    annual meeting of the REPA (Re-                    PRC made a new trio for calling a
Carl Haak, pastor of the Bethel                    formed Free Publishing Associa-                    missionary: Revs. W. Bekkering,
PRC in Itasca, IL, was the guest                   tion) was held at the Grandville,                  R. Moore, and R. VanOverloop.
speaker that night. He spoke on                    MI PRC on September 26. Since
the subject, "The Building of a                    Rev. Terpstra was in town for that
Christian Family." The speech was                  evangelism meeting on the  27th,                                    FoodFor  Thought
held in the gym at Central Wis-                    he was able to address the asso-                        "Prayer is not overcoming
consin Christian `High School.                     ciation. He spoke, on the topic,                   God's reluctance, but laying hold
Considering some of the problems                   "The RFPA, Stimulator of Sound                     of His willingness."
we all face as families, Rev. Haak                 Knowledge in  an",Age  of Igno-                    - Martin Luther  Cl
                                                   rance."



                   NOTICE!!
     Classis East will meet in regular session                                                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
on Wednesday, January 8, 1997, at Faith Prot-                                                              The  Consistory  and congregation of
estant Reformed Church, Jenison, Ml. Mate-                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                  Trinity PRC (Houston, Texas), express
rial for this session must be in the hands of               The members of the Adult Bible Study      their heartfelt sympathy to Eleanore Bol
the Stated Clerk by December 9, 1996.              Society of the First PR Church of Grand Rap-       in the loss of her dear husband,
                   Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk    ids express their deepest Christian sympathy                         GERRIT BOL.
                                                   to our fellow member, Eleanore Bol, in the              .May  she and the entire family find
        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                     recent death of her husband,
     The consistory of the Randolph Protes-                           GERRIT BOL.                     great joy in the Word of God recorded in
tant Reformed Church expresses its Christian                "For if we believe that Jesus died and    Psalm  116:15:  "Precious in the sight of
sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Steve Oosterhouse         rose again, even so them also which sleep in       the Lord is the death of his saints."
and family in the loss of Steve's father,          Jesus will God bring with him. Wherefore com-          Although Gary was not a member of
      MR. HARRY F. OOSTERHOUSE,                    fort one another with these words"  (I             our congregation, he was a great encour-
on September 26, 1996.                             Thessalonians  4:14, 18).                          agement to us as one of our faithful win-
     "But the mercy of the Lord is from ever-                      Prof. David J. Engelsma, Leader    ter visitors.
lasting to everlasting upon them that fear him"                                                                        Pastor Jai Mahtani, President
(Psalm 103:17).                                                                                                              Mr. Ben Hopkins, Clerk
                        Rev. Steven Key, Pres.
                       Berwyn Huizenga, Clerk

                                                                                                           November 15,1996/ShndafdBearefl95


                                                                                                                                                    PERIODICAL
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 P.O. Box 663                                                                                                                                        GrandvRle,
                                                                                                                                                    Michigan
 GrandvIle,   MI 49468-0603


       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
     On October 17, 1996, our parents and
grandparents,                                                                                 From the RFPA:
     MR. and MRS. JOHN BODBYL,                                    ~^?&j  @m&.&
celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
We, together with them, rejoice in the                                                                          *   A t t e n t i o n   E v a n g e l i s m   C o m m i t -
                                                                  gg#3arer
faithfulness of our God to His covenant                                        ,-+ .- -;__I-----~ /             tees: Copies of. our October 15
                                                                    PpPdsl
with us. "For this God is our God for ever                        Ralmmliim              !                      issue of the  SB,  the Special Issue
                                                                     I%"B                                  e
and ever: even unto death" (Psalm  48:14).                              lM3EWdi0"                               on the "Reformation of 1953," are
                                                                              0, ,053
+ George and MaryLynn  Postmus                                    >""b2"-"---.*                                 available from the Business Office
                                                                   - ".s.-__,
                                                                  p"~"---*--"
                                                                  eTw-**"A------l
       John, Nathan, Cathy                                        -~~:~~~~.,  :                                 at 508 each, plus postage, while
                                                                  --._"--.
                                                                   l.."m".~-p,.-
                                                                  _"-""-              -
                                                                   .--.".*.-_
                                                                  "wI1.-/^".y  
                                                                                  . _ ._I
0 George and Jayne Bodbyl                                                                "    ~~"".onrm         our supply of extra copies lasts.
                                                                  ;n_lYYr>Lb-  L~.~~~_i/
       George, Marcella, Monica, Emily                            -111om
+Z* John and Jane Bodbyl
       Craig and Jennifer Coleman, John,                 *   S u g g e s t i o n   f o r   Christmas-giv-
                    Jason, Jeremy, Jim, Julia            ing: How about a gift-subscription
l :+ Tom and Gretine Bodbyl                              to the  Standard Bearer? . . .  or a
       Maria, Larissa, Joel, Nate, Eric, Stefan          gift certificate enabling the  recipi-  *
9 John and Joan Mulder                                   ent to obtain an RFPA book or two
       Elizabeth, Lynnella, Jodi                         of his choice? For information, call
+ Dan and Anna Mae Bodbyl                                the Business Office at (616)  531-
       Amanda, Tina, Rosanne, Seth                       1490.
                                Hudsonville, Michigan

                                                                                                                *   N e w e s t   o f   t h e   R F P A   p u b l i c a -
                                                                                                                t i o n s :   S t u d y   g u i d e ,   " S t u d i e s   i n
       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                                      J a m e s "   ( 6 4   p a g e s ) ,   b y   R e v .
     On November 22, 1996, our parents,                                                                         Cornelius Hanko, is now available,
grandparents, and great grandparents,                                                                           a t   $ 4 . 7 5 .   ( B o o k   C l u b   m e m b e r s
 MR. and MRS.  MENNO POORTENGA,                                                                                 may order this book if they wish,
celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.                                                                       at their usual 35% discount; but,
We give thanks to God for their biblical                                                                        a s   d e c i d e d   e a r l i e r   b y   t h e   R F P A
instruction and godly example. We pray                                                                          Board, study guides will not be sent
that the Lord will continue to bless them                                                                       automatically to members.) Send
in the years to come. It is a great com-                                                                        order to:
fort to us and them to "Know therefore                                                                                                    RFPA
that the Lord thy God, he is God, the                                                                                         4949 lvanrest Ave.
faithful God, which keepeth covenant and                                                                                    Grandville,  MI 49418.
mercy with them that love him and keep
his commandment to a thousand genera-
tions" (Deuteronomy  7:9).
0    Don and Sally Poortenga                             *  B o o k   C l u b   m e m b e r s h i p :   A r e
Q Terry and Anita Poortenga                              you a member of the RFPA Book
0 Tim and Bonnie Poortenga                               Club? If not, we remind you of the
l :+ Don and Jann Bruinsma                               easy way to join by returning the
+ Wes and Cindy Poortenga                                card inserted in the September  1
Q Ron and Bev Bultema                                    issue of the  SB  -  and obtaining a
       24 grand children                                 free book of your selection for do-
       2 great grandchildren                             ing so!
                                          Lansing, IL



96/SUndardSearer/November l&l996


