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A  Reformed                              earer
Semi-Monthly
Magazine
                         I





                              I

                              /I/II11
                              I
                                          See "The Pressure is On"- p. 366

" 7 3 ,
May  X,1997


     CONTENTS:                                                                                                                             May  15,1997
I                                                                                                                                                                                           I
     Meditation  - Herman  Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                              j     `,     %,`C"     /      B;earer
            The Gentiles a Law Unto Themselves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
     Editorial  - Prof. David J.  Engelsma                                                                                                                                                        ISSN  0 3 6 2 - 4 6 9 2
            The Pressure is On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
     When Thou  Sittest in Thine House  - Rev.  Wilbur G. Bruinsma                                                                                                                                Semi-monthly, except  monthly during  June, July,  and August.
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Published  by the Reformed Free Publishing  Association,  Inc.,
            The Covenant of Marriage: 1) Its Mystery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368                                                                  4949 Ivanrest Ave., Grandville, MI 49418. Periodical Postage
     All Around Us - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370                                                  Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
     Go Ye Into All the World                                                                                                                                                                     Postmaster: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
            Current Home Mission Theory                                                                                                                                                           P.O.  Box  603,  Grandville,  MI  49466-0603.
                     and Practice, Rev. Thomas Miersma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372                                                      EDITORIAL  COMMIITEE
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Editor:   Prof.  David  J.  Engelsma
            "The Day of Small Things," Mr. Don Doezema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374                                                                              Secretary:  Prof.  Robert  D.  Decker
            Foreign Mission Committee News, Rev. A//en J. Bummel..........  377                                                                                                                   Managing  Editor:   Mr.  Don  Doezema
     Guest Article  - Rev. John Pedersen                                                                                                                                                          DEPARTMENT                 EDITORS
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Rev.  W.  Bruinsma,  Rev.  A.  Brummel,  Rev.  R.  Cammenga,
            Confessions of a Harsh,                                                                                                                                                               Prof.  R.  Decker,  Rev.  A.  denHartog,  Rev.  M.  Dick,  Prof.  H.
                     Intolerant, Judgmental One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378                                   Hanko,  Rev.  R.  Hanko,  Rev.  S.  Key,  Rev.  K.  Koole,  Rev.  J.
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Kortering,  Rev. D. H. Kuiper,   Mr. J. Lanting,  Mrs.  M. Lubbers,
     News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .382                                                                                Rev. T. Miersma,  Mr. G. Schipper, Rev. G. VanBaren,  Rev. R.
                                                                                                                                                                                                  VanOverloop,   Mr.  B.  Wigger,  Rev.  B.  Woudenberg.
I                                                                                                                                                                                           I
                                                                                                                                                                                                  EDITORIAL  OFFICE               CHURCH  NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                                                                                                                                  The  Standard Bearer            Mr.  Ben Wiooer
                                                                                                                                                                                                  4949  Ivanrest                  6597  40th  %e.
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Grandville,  Ml  49416          Hudsonville,  Ml  49426

                                                                                                                                                                                                  BUSINESS  OFFICE                NEW  ZEALAND  OFFICE
            Three  articles   deal  with  Protestant   Reformed   missions.   Home                                                                                                                The  Standard Bearer            The Standard Bearer
     missionary  Thomas  Miersma   writes  on  "Current   Home  Mission                                                                                                                           Don Doezema                     c/o B. VanHerk
                                                                                                                                                                                                  P.O. Box 603                    66 Fraser St.
     Theory   and  Practice." Rev.  Allen  Brummel,   secretary   of  the  For-                                                                                                                   Grandville,  Ml                 Wainuiomata,  New Zealand
                                                                                                                                                                                                       49468-0603
     eign  Mission  Committee,   informs   our  readers   of  the  activities  of                                                                                                                 PH:  (616)  531-1490            UNITED KINGDOM  OFFICE
                                                                                                                                                                                                              (6161538-1776       c/o  Mr. Jonathan McAulev
     this synodical  committee  (see "Foreign Mission  Committee  News").                                                                                                                         FAX:  `(616)  531-3033          164  Church Rd., Glenwh&y
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Ballymena,  Co. Antrim BT42 3EL
     The  secretary  of  the  Domestic   Mission  Committee,   Mr.  Don                                                                                                                                                           Northern  Ireland
                                                                                                                                                                                                  EDITORIAL  POLICY
     Doezema,   reports   on  the  work  of  this  committee.   In  his  report,                                                                                                                  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
     Mr.  Doezema   informs   us  that  the  Domestic   Mission  Committee   is                                                                                                                   articles. Contributions  of general interestfrom  our readersand
                                                                                                                                                                                                  questions  for  The  Reader  Asks  department   are  welcome.
     recommending   to  the  1997  synod  of  the  Protestant   Reformed                                                                                                                          Contributions   will be limited to approximately   300 words and
                                                                                                                                                                                                  must  be  neatly  written  or  typewritten,   and  must  be  signed.
     Churches   that  a  second  home  missionary  be  called.  His  "base"                                                                                                                       Copy  deadlines  are  the  first  and  fifteenth  of  the  month.   All
     would be Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania  (see "The Day of Small Things").                                                                                                                         communications  relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                                                                                                                                  editorial  office.
            The  contribution  by  Orthodox   Presbyterian  minister  John                                                                                                                        REPRINT  POLICY
     Pedersen   is  a  powerful   piece. Writing,  obviously,  out  of  his  own                                                                                                                  Permission is hereby grantedforthe  reprinting of articles in our
                                                                                                                                                                                                  magazine byotherpublications,  provided: a)thatsuch  reprinted
     experience,   Pedersen   explains   why  one  who  preaches   or  confesses                                                                                                                  articles are reproduced in full;  b) that proper acknowledgment
     the  gospel   of  salvation   by  grace  alone,  with  its  attendant   condem-                                                                                                              is made; c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
                                                                                                                                                                                                  appears is sent to our editorial office.
     nation   of  every  form  of  the  lie  of  salvation   by  man  himself,  is                                                                                                                SUBSCRIPTION  POLICY
     always  hated  and  reviled. Rev.  Pedersen  calls  on  others  to  "join                                                                                                                    Subscription  price:  $17.00   per  year  in  the  U.S.,   US$20.00
     me as one of the hated, intolerant ones, by God's grace" (see "Con-                                                                                                                          elsewhere.  Unless  a  definite  request  for  discontinuance   is
                                                                                                                                                                                                  received,   it  is  assumed   that   the  subscriber   wishes   the
     fessions of a Harsh,  Intolerant, Judgmental One").                                                                                                                                          subscription to continue, and he will be billed  for renewal. If you
                                                                                                                                                                                                  have a change of address, please notify the Business Office as
            Addressing  the family-life of  the Reformed  saints,  Rev. Wilbur                                                                                                                    early  as  possible  in  order  to  avoid  the  inconvenience   of
     Bruinsma   begins  a  series  on  "The  Covenant   of  Marriage."  This                                                                                                                      interrupted  delivery. Include your Zip  or Postal Code.
     first  installment  concerns   the  "mystery"  (see  the  rubric,  "When                                                                                                                     ADVERTISING  POLICY
                                                                                                                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial  advertising
     Thou  Sittest in Thine House" >.                                                                                                                                                             of  any  kind.  Announcements   of  church   and  school  events,
                                                                                                                                                                                                  anniversaries,   obituaries,  and  sympathy  resolutions  will  be
            As the reports by the secretaries  of the denominational mission                                                                                                                      placed for a $10.00 fee. These should  be sent to the Business
     committees   indicate,  the  stated,  annual   meeting   of  the  synod  of                                                                                                                  Officeandshouldbeaccompaniedbythe510.00fee.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Deadline
                                                                                                                                                                                                  for announcements  is at least one month  prior to publication
     the  Protestant  Reformed   Churches   is  at  hand.  In  the  next  issue  of                                                                                                               date.
     the SB, I will inform  our readers  of the matters that will be coming                                                                                                                       BOUND  VOLUMES
     up at synod.                                                                                                                                                                                 The  Business  Office  will  accept  standing  orders  for  bound
                                                                                                                                                                                                  copies of the current volume. Such orders are filled as soon as
                                                                                                                                                                          - DJE                   possible after completion of a volume year.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm microfiche, and
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     362/StandardBearer/Mayl5,1997


                              The Gentiles a Law
                                Unto Them

                                           other hand, he who lived from the         God, but the doers of the law shall
                                           principle of partisanship, that is, he    be justified."
    Fou when the Gentiles, which have      who used his position, place, and             But the question arises, how
not the law, do by nature the things       relation to God for himself, for his      then with respect to the Gentiles?
contained in the law, these, having not    own advancement, and, therefore,          They have no law. How can they
the law,  aYe a law unto themselves:       disobeyed the truth, will receive in-     know what is right or wrong? By
    Which show the work  of  the law       dignation and wrath. In the fol-          the law is the knowledge of sin.
written in their hearts, their con-        lowing verses the apostle elabo-          But if the Gentiles have no law,
science also bearing witness, and their    rates upon this verdict of God.           how can they know? The apostle
thoughts the  mean  while accusing  OY     Tribulations and anguish will be          has already said that as many as
else excusing one another.                 upon every soul of man who does           sin without law shall also perish
                     Romans  2:14,15       evil. But glory, honor, and peace         without law; and as many as sin in
T                                          will be to every man who worketh          the law shall be judged by the law.
      he thought in the immediate          good. This is the revelation of the       In other words, it is possible to sin
      context is that God shall            righteous judgment of God.                without law. For, and this is the
      judge every man according to             The apostle is addressing man.        connection, the Gentiles which
his works. The revelation of the           It is plain that he does not exclude      have not the law, have the work of
righteous judgment of God in the           the Gentiles. He is speaking to           the law written in their hearts.
day of Christ  L this is the theme         man in general, but yet to the indi-          The apostle explains this, in the"
of the immediate context. This             vidual. He is speaking to man, not        first place, by saying, that the Gen-
judgment shall be conducted ac-            excluding the Jew, and having in          tiles do the things of the law. They
cording to our works. That is, our         mind to apply it presently to the         do not do "the things contained in
works shall be the evidence in this        Jew in particular. For this reason        the law," as our English translation
judgment. According to our works,          the apostle emphasizes that the Jew       has it. This is not a translation but
our moral, ethical value will be           shall be first in that judgment. The      a commentary. The Gentiles do not
shown. Our value will be shown,            Jew shall be first, as always. But        do "the things contained in the
not to God but to us. It will be           also the Gentile shall be in that         law." But they do "the things of
shown in order that He may be jus-         judgment: the Jew first, but also         the law."
tified when He judges and that we          the Gentiles. For there is no ac-             In the second place, because
may be found to be liars.                  ceptance of persons with God.             they do the things of the law, they
    The apostle explains that the          There is only one thing to be             are a law unto themselves.
verdict will be such that they who         judged. This is whether man is                In the third place, that they are
sought for glory, honor, and im-           ethically worthy of eternal life.         a law unto themselves is evident
mortality, in the way of patient               But now a possible question           from two facts. First, even in the
continuance in well-doing, will be         arises in the mind of the apostle.        Gentile world the conscience wit-
rewarded with eternal life. On the         Some might say, "But we have the          nesses. Second, public opinion sets
                                           law." So the Jew reasoned. "God           its seal upon the fact that they are
                                           gave me the law, and that God             a law unto themselves.
                                           gave me the law is proof that I am
                                           righteous." The apostle takes this        What This Means
Herman Hoeksema was  .the   first  e&i-    excuse away and says: "Not the                The Gentiles are a law unto
tov  of the Standard Bearer.               hearers of the law are just before        themselves, the apostle says. The

                                                                                             May 15,1997/Standard  Bearer/363


question has been asked: what law         what is right and what is wrong.         all that is written in it. This is the
does the apostle have in mind?            When they declare what is the will       work of the law. This is written in
The question has been asked               of God concerning right and              the hearts of the Gentiles.
whether the apostle has in mind           wrong, they show that they have              They did not need the law to
merely the moral law, the law of          sufficient light to know that law        distinguish between good and evil.
the ten commandments, or whether          which they do not possess.               Why? They had the work of the
he has in mind the entire law of              If you ask how that is, the          law written in their hearts. There-
the Jews, the moral, ceremonial,          apostle explains that they have the      fore, they had no need of an exter-
and civil laws.                           work of the law written in their         nal law. There is a threefold work
    This question is entirely out of      hearts. Do not mistake this phrase.      of the law written in the heart of
place. This question should not be        That the Gentiles have the work of       every man.
asked. The apostle does not have          the law written in their hearts is
in mind any specific law. What the        by no means the same as having           The Effect in the Gentile World
apostle says is that the life of the      the law written in the heart. Scrip-         You might ask, how is the work
Gentiles, in the external sense, is       ture speaks of having the law writ-      of the law written in the hearts of
characterized by this, that they          ten in the heart. Scripture empha-       the Gentiles? The answer is, by
have no law. This is the difference       sizes that God's people have the         God Himself. God has written it
between the Jews and the Gentiles.        spiritual principle of the law of        in their hearts, externally, by His
    By law here is meant the exter-       God, which is love, written in the       revelation in nature and internally
nal code, the written law, not the        heart, so that they have no more         by the testimony of His Spirit in
spiritual essence of the law. The         need of an external code. The heart      their hearts. This testimony of the
apostle does not mean to say that         is the center of man's life, from a      law was not only in the hearts of
the Gentiles are not under the law        spiritual point of view. If God im-      the Gentiles, but also in the hearts
of God. This is just what he em-          plants the spiritual essence of the      of the Jews. This was not the dis-
phasizes. But he means to say that        law in the heart, this heart does        tinction between the Jews and the
the Gentiles have no written law,         what the law requires. But this is       Gentiles. The distinction was that
no external code of precepts. They        not the meaning here.                    the Jews had the written law, be-
have no written law telling them              The work of the law does not         sides having the work of the law
what is the will of God. There is         mean the work which the law re-          in their hearts, while the Gentiles
no such revelation to the Gentiles,       quires. Many interpret it this way.      had only the work of the law writ-
as there was to the Jews. God             Some say that although the Gen-          ten in their hearts.
spoke to the Jews in decalogue, in        tiles have not the law, they are in          What is the result? The result
the law of the ten commandments.          a position to do what the law re-        is that the Gentiles do by nature
These ten commandments were               quires and be saved. Others say          the things of the law. They do not
real; they were written in stone. In      that there is a general grace by         do "the things contained in the
that code, God came from without          which God has written the work           law," as our English version would
to the Jews and said: thou shalt,         of the law upon the hearts of the        lead us to believe. This is a com-
and thou shalt not. The entire way,       Gentiles, so that they do the things     mentary, not a translation of the
step by step, was externally              contained in the law. But this is        original. The things contained in
mapped out for the Jew. He could          not the meaning.                         the law are to love God above all
walk that way blindfolded. Israel             I call your attention to the fact    and the neighbor as ourselves. The
was bound, all along the way, by          that the text is an answer to the        things contained in the law are not
the external law. God said to the         question, "Can the Gentiles be           to have any other gods; not to have
Jew, from without: thou shalt, and,       marked as sinners and perish?"           any graven images; not to use the
thou shalt not. This, the Gentiles        Therefore, the apostle means that        name of God in vain; to keep the
did not have. The Gentiles are            the work which the law would oth-        sabbath; to honor your father and
without law, in this sense.               erwise do, this work the Gentiles        mother; not to kill; not to commit
    These Gentiles are a law unto         have written in their hearts.            adultery; not to steal; not to bear
themselves. They are their own                What is the work of the law?         false witness; not to covet. If the
law, in a certain sense. That the         The work of the law is, in the first     apostle had said that the Gentiles
Gentiles are their own law does not       place, to express what is the will       do the things contained in the law,
mean that they have the authority         of God and to distinguish between        he would have said that the Gen-
to declare what is right and wrong.       good and evil. In the second place,      tiles keep all of the ten command-
This is not the meaning. Rather,          the work of the law is to promise        ments. But the apostle says in the
there is in them a principle, a light,    life to them that keep it. In the        context that the Gentiles  perish
by which, to a certain extent, they       third place, the work of the law is      without the law. Therefore, we
are able to declare unto themselves       to curse them who do not abide in        must understand that the things of

364ptandard Bearer/May 15.1997


the law are the things which the            conscience speaks  after the thing is         not mean that the Gentiles have
law did for Israel.                         done. For this reason the conscience          grace. The fact that man can dis-
    What did the law do. for Israel?        is sometimes called "the voice of             tinguish between good and evil,
It,divided  all of life into several de-    God."    The conscience always                that he condemns the murderer
partments. It gave Israel precepts          speaks after the thing is done. It            and the thief, does not mean that
and clearly marked out what Israel          condemns the wrong and approves               he does not steal. But it shows that
had to do: thou shalt have no other         of the good that is done.                     no man is excusable.
gods; thou shalt keep. the sabbath;             It is true that the conscience can            This is the theme of the apostle
thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not         become very sinful.         Sometimes         in this chapter. "Therefore thou art
covet. All the time, the law drew           man succeeds, to a certain extent,            inexcusable, 0 man, whosoever
lines before the consciousness of           to silence the. conscience. A man             thou art that judgest" (v. 1). Law
the people of Israel. This, the Gen-        can tell the conscience to keep still.        or no law, man is inexcusable. You
tiles did for themselves. Otherwise         If he says it often enough, he will           say that you have the law? It
they could not have made laws.              put the conscience to silence. But            makes no difference, you shall be
                                            the conscience never stops speak-             judged according to your works.
The Manifestation in the                    ing. In the judgment day the con-             You say that you have no law? It
Life of the Gentiles                        science will bear witness with the            makes no difference, you have the
    How did they do it? They had            law. This is what the Gentile does.           work of the law in your heart. God
the law not to kill, not to steal.          His conscience bears witness. Be-             judges man according to his works.
How did they do it? They had the            cause his conscience bears witness,           Every soul that is not righteous will
work of the law in their hearts.            it is a plain manifestation that there        receive indignation and wrath.
That this is true is plain from the         is the work of the law written in                 What then? Is there no hope?
conscience, the apostle says.               his heart.                                    There is no hope in religion, in go-
   ,What is the conscience? The                 In the second place, the work             ing to church, in being baptized,
word is a translation from the              of the law becomes manifest in                in partaking of the Lord's Supper.
Greek. The first part, "con," means         public opinion. There is a public             There is but one hope. This is the
"with." The second part, "science,"         opinion. You find it in your daily            righteousness of God in Christ
means "knowledge." Therefore,               papers. What you find in your                 Jesus which comes to them who
the word "conscience" is derived            daily papers is not a mere recita-            have sought glory, honor, and im-
from a word which means "to                 tion. What you find there is the              mortality, in the way of patient
know with." It means "to know               judgment of men concerning the                continuance in well-doing. The
something with another."                    things that are done. How do men              righteous shall live by faith. There-
    Let me illustrate. Someone              judge one another? They find lines            fore, as far as we are concerned in
commits a crime. Another is wit-            between what is good and evil.                the matter, we must learn to write
ness to that crime. He who com-             Thus, there was a public opinion              hell and damnation upon all that
mits the crime has knowledge of             among the Gentiles. There was a               is of us. Having come naked be-
it. The witness also has conscience         public opinion by which they ac-              fore the Judge, we must learn to
of it. That is, he has knowledge of         cused or else excused one another.            look at Him who is our righteous-
it, with the one who committed the              What does this mean? It does              ness and our redemption. - a
crime.
    In the second place, the word
"conscience" means "to have                                                     The !Portrait
knowledge with ourselves." It                                                 (before Luke 11: 13)
means that we have knowledge
with ourselves of the thing we have           Paint for me a picture,
done, after we have done it.                  Brush each stroke with care.            What is this, dear Artist?
    Let me illustrate once more. A            Paint of me a likeness,
man does something wrong. Be-                                                         Black is all there is
fore he does it, he knows that it is          Rivaling what's there.                  On this awful canvas  -
wrong. But, after he has done it,                                                     Chasm-dark abyss!
his own judgment condemns what                    I will paint a portrait,
he has done. This is his conscience.              Accurate and true.                      Aye, this is a painting
    It is sometimes said that we                  It will be most telling,                Of one who is not whole.
must not do anything against the                  All will know it's you.                 Without the Spirit's touch this is
conscience. But strictly speaking                                                         A picture of your soul.
we cannot  do anything against the                                                                       - Connie L. Meyer
conscience. The reason is that the

                                                                                                      May 15,1997/Standard  Bearer/365


                            The Pressure ,is On
                                          I                                                                                             /


                                                   The pressure is on.                         who die in unbelief perish everlast-
T                                                  The pressure is on, that the                ingly. Where there is still  opposi-
      he pressure that I have in               churches conform their  thinking  to            tion to the rejection of Jesus as the
      mind is the force of the un-             the world.                                      only name given under heaven by
      godly world upon the insti-                  Evangelical and Reformed                    which we must be saved, the  ap-
tuted church. The purpose of this              churches give up the biblical  doc-             pearance of this rejection is not met
pressure is that the church conform            trine of creation for the world's               by quick, decisive discipline.
her thinking, her message, and her             theory of evolution. Or they  toler-            Rather, the churches negotiate with
life to the thinking, the message,             ate the theory of evolution in the              the heretic and attempt an amicable
and the life of the world. At                  churches and in the Christian                   separation.
present, in the West at any rate,              schools with the inevitable result                  The explanation of this denial
the forms of the pressure are edu-             that in time it drives biblical  cre-           of the uniqueness of Jesus and His
cation; the mass media, especially             ation out.                                      work, particularly the cross, is the
television; public opinion; and the                This accommodation of the                   pressure upon the churches of the
example of the world's life. Be-               church's thinking on the  funda-                world's intense hatred of  discrimi-
fore long, there will be the oppres-           mental matter of origins betrays                nation and fervent love of equality
sion of overt persecution.                     another concession by the church                and sameness in the human race.
    The fact is not new.                       to the world: the authority  gov-                   The pressure is on, that the
    Scripture warns that conform-              erning the churches' beliefs is no              churches conform their  behavior  to
ing to the world's rebellious think-           longer Scripture, but science.                  the world.
ing and filthy life is the great temp-             Nominally evangelical and                       Adopting the world's agenda,
tation for the church in every age.            purportedly Reformed churches                   that every position held by men
Israel was always learning the                 tolerate, if they do not  autho-                     shall also be open to women,
ways of the heathen. The New Tes-              rize, the teaching that God              The              evangelical and Reformed
tament church is urgently called to            loves all humans without             pressure              churches have lately  ap-
come out of Babylon the great "that            exception with a love that          of the world            proved the opening of of-
ye be not partakers of her sins, and           desires their salvation in             is on,               fices in the church to
that ye receive not of her plagues"            the gospel of Jesus Christ.                                 women. With this  deci-
                                                                                     and the
(Rev.  l&4).                                   Some permit, if they do not                                 sion, the churches have
                                                                                    churches
    But the pressure increases in              approve, the doctrine that            cannot               necessarily rejected the
the last days. Churches are suc-               finally every person will be        withstand              headship  of the husband in
cumbing to the pressure. Churches              saved.    In any case, there             it.               marriage and family.  Al-
that once were faithful to Christ are          will be no everlasting hell.                              though these churches scour
succumbing to the pressure. Not                Thus, these churches cave in                        the Bible for a text or two,
the liberal churches, which long               to the world's avowed  universal-               Scripture was not the cause of their
ago deserted their rightful Lord for           ism and to the world's determined               decision. The world was.
the embrace of antichrist, but evan-           repudiation of the justice of the                   The pressure was on.
gelical, Reformed, and Presbyterian            God revealed in Scripture.                          These same churches now  ac-
churches yield now to the world's                  So powerful today is the                    knowledge the legitimacy before
pressure. They yield blatantly.                world's pressure that it becomes a              God of homosexual nature and  ac-
There is nothing subtle or doubt-              serious theological issue to be  de-            tivity. Or they permit the  advo-
ful about their accommodation of               bated, whether Jesus Christ is the              cacy of homosexuality, which must
themselves to the world, although,             only Savior. This is a problem for              result in ecclesiastical approval of
being churches, they still must try,           Reformed churches. They cannot                  homosexual nature and deed as
vainly, to put a good face on their            say that all outside the covenant               godly.
surrender.                                     with believers and their children                   Homosexuality!

366fitandard  Bearer/MaylS,  1997


     Women changing the natural                                 In this area-this fundamental              highlight what is, in fact,  happen-
use into that which is against na-                       area-of the Christian life, some                  ing all along the line of the  evan-
ture! Men, leaving the natural use                       churches and theologians are                      gelical  and Reformed surrender to
of the woman, burning in their lust                      crafty. Before the reading,  Chris-               the world. The Word of the  sover-
one toward another; men with men                         tian public, they argue for divorce               eign God is compelled to give way
working that which is unseemly!                          and remarriage on the ground of                   before the  ,words of autonomous
(Rom.  1:26,27)                                          adultery. Perhaps they add the                    man.
     Debated, then tolerated, and fi-                    ground of desertion, with  obvi-                      The churches are guilty. But
nally officially approved by evan-                       ously erroneous appeal to I                       the people do not escape  respon-
gelical and Reformed churches!                           Corinthians  7:15. The actual                             sibility. Many would have
      Why?                                               life of the congregations,                 The                it so. The world's thinking
     What heart-shrinking reality                        however, tolerates and  ap-           worn                    is preferable. The world's
explains this?                                           proves the divorce and  re-           of the                   ways are easier and more
      The pressure is on.                                marriage of the guilty              sovereign                  pleasant. Others  put. up
.    Even abortion finds defenders                       party, the man who  him-             God is                    with what ought to be  in-
i n   e v a n g e l i c a l   a n d   R e f o r m e d    self committed adultery,            compelled                  tolerable.
churches. Recently, a noted evan-                        or who himself deserted            to give way                         How then shall the
gelical theologian in one of the                         his wife.                             before                   true church glorify God
most prestigious and popular evan-                              The doors to divorce         the words                  and live under this  pres-
gelical seminaries in the world                          and remarriage now open                    of                  sure in these days of
published his sanction of the mur-                       widely  in the conservative       autonomous                  world-conformity?
der of millions of unborn in the ear-                    churches.      They open as           man.                      By bold,  uncompromis-
lier months of pregnancy. Re-                            widely in the conservative                                ing preaching of Holy Scrip-
cently, a Reformed college profes-                       churches as they open in the                         ture by her preachers; by ready,
sor published his refusal to con-                        godless world.       Virtually every              firm discipline by her elders; by
demn all abortions that are not                          book and article on the subject have              tough, biblical, confessional deci-
done to save the life of the mother.                     as their purpose to defend, and thus              sions by her assemblies; and by un-
If the churches  .involved  have not                     to  promote,  divorce and remarriage              ashamed, defiant confession by her
approved these lethal pronounce-                         among those who profess alle-                     members!
ments, neither have they disci-                          giance to the Christ who is truth                     Basic is the truth of the war-
plined those who made them.                              and faithfulness.                                 fare between the church and the
They are open to the approval of                                For one reason.                            world, rooted in God's eternal elec-
abortion.                                                       The Western world in which                 tion and reprobation. The church's
     Not a whit less serious is the                      we live is a world of sexual pro-                 thinking, message, and behavior,
churches' acceptance of divorce                          miscuity, rampant divorce, and                    drawn as they are from Scripture
and remarriage. Indeed, from the                         abounding remarriage.          Sexual             alone, are holy and wise, whereas
point of view both of the havoc                          pleasure is god.                                  the world's thinking, message, and
wreaked upon nation and church                                  The pressure of the world is on,           behavior, arising as they do from
and of the violence done to the rev-                     and the churches cannot withstand                 totally corrupt human nature, are
elation of the covenant of grace in                      it.                                               profane and foolish. The church's
the gospel, the acceptance of di-                               Such is the pressure that Scrip-           thinking, message, and behavior
vorce and remarriage, is the most                        ture itself is deliberately and sys-              end in life, whereas the world's
serious of all the ethical accommo-                      tematically re-worded to force the                thinking, message, and behavior
d a t i o n s   t o   t h e   w o r l d   b y   t h e    Word of God into the mold of the                  end in death.
churches.                                                world's thinking. In its issues of                    This warfare, our preachers
     Churches that once held the                         March 29 and April 19,1997,  World                must teach.
biblical position that divorce is per-                   magazine reported that those in                       This warfare, our people must
mitted only for fornication now al-                      charge of publishing the New In-                  believe.
low divorce, and a subsequent re-                        ternational Version (NIV) of Scrip-                   The pressure is on.
marriage, for many, if not all, rea-                     ture plan soon to publish the NIV                     Against it will stand only those
sons.                                                    in a gender-inclusive edition.                    who know and live the antithesis.
     Churches that once restricted                       Feminist aversion to masculine                                                             cl
the right of remarriage to the "in-                      pronouns will dictate to the inspir-                                                 - DJE
nocent party," that is, the husband                      ing Holy Ghost. The NIV is the
or wife whose mate committed for-                        Bible of choice in most evangelical
nication, now allow the guilty party                     and Reformed churches.
to remarry.                                                     This publishing event will only

                                                                                                                       May 15,1997/?3andard Bearer/367


                              The Covenant of Marriage:
                                      1) Its Mystery
M                                          means are earthly, tangible means        marriage is an intimate bond which
            ow can a believer put into     which serve to direct our faith to-      closely reflects a believer's relation-
  .,        words the intimate love        ward Him and the sacrifice of            ship with God  (Eph.  5:31,  32). If a
           and communion he shares         Christ on the cross for us. From a       husband and wife in their marriage
with his God? He cannot! Yet,              negative point of view, God sends        consciously live in the knowledge
though it may be difficult for us to       us many trials and difficulties in       of God's grace, faithfulness, for-
express this relationship, neverthe-       this life. These serve as means to       giveness, and love, they will be
less God gives us to experience it         remind us how weak we are and            given by God in their relationship
in this life in a real and concrete        frail, how dependent we are upon         a foretaste of the joy and fulfill-
way. God has entered into a cov-           God and Jesus Christ in this life to     ment that is found in the presence
enant of friendship by which He            find any joy and peace. From a           of God. To understand this we
binds believers to Himself. As a           positive point of view, God pro-         must examine the mystery of mar-
result, God's people experience in         vides His church with the official       riage.
their joys as well as in their sor-        means of grace: the sacraments               The creation account in Genesis
rows the presence and favor of             and the preaching. When we use           2:18ff. clearly reveals to us that
their God. Likewise, there is noth-        these means in spirit and in truth,      marriage was given to believers as
ing that grieves the child of God          we enter into the very presence of       a means to experience and express
more than when, because of his sin,        God and experience in His house          their intimate fellowship with God.
God withholds from him the con-            blessed fellowship with God.             This is inherent in the very creation
scious assurance of His favor and              There is another positive means      of man and woman itself. On the
love. The psalmist expresses his           that God uses in the lives of many       sixth day of the creation week God
personal relationship with God             of His children by which they are        created man, male and female.
with these words in Psalm  73:25,          given a taste of that blessed fellow-    However, they were separate cre-
"Whom have I in heaven but thee?           ship with God. It is not an official     ations. God created the man first.
and there is none upon earth that I        means to be used in the church as        Later, on that sixth day, He cre-
desire beside thee!" What joy there        a sacrament. But it is a means that      ated the female. She had a special
is to be found in the covert of God's      we find in an earthly relationship       creation. God created man directly
wings  0%.  61:4)!                         to another. That means is the rela-      out of the dust of the ground and
        But how weak is our flesh!         tionship into which a believing          breathed into his nostrils the breath
        Oftentimes we like sheep wan-      man enters when he marries a be-         of life. The woman, on the other
der away from the fold of God's            lieving woman.                           hand, was created out of the rib of
care and fellowship. In the weak-              Marriage is a symbol of God's        the man. The reason for her spe-
ness of our sin, others deceive us,        intimate union with His church in        cial creation, we learn, was to re-
or we deceive ourselves, into think-.      Christ. But it is more than a sym-       veal that she was created a "help
ing that joy and happiness can be          bol. It is a God-ordained relation-      meet" (vv.  18-20) for the man.
found apart from God. It is for            ship by which two believers are              The term translated "meet" in
that reason that God has given us          able to experience in an earthly,        the King James Version teaches us
means to strengthen us in our de-          concrete way the blessed intimacy        that the man and woman were cre-
sire to fellowship with Him. These         they share with God and Christ!          ated in such a way that they were
                                           This is not to say that a person who     perfect complements of one an-
                                           is single is not able to experience      other. The woman was "meet," i.e.,
                                           to the same degree as a married          perfectly adapted for a life of
                                           person fellowship with God. He           blessed communion with the man.
Reti. Bruinsma is pastor  of  Kalamazoo    surely is able! We will address this     Though the woman was  home sapi-
Protestant Reformed Church in              in a future article. Nevertheless,       ens, she was created different from
Kalamazoo, Michigan.

36S/Standard  Bearer/MaylS,  7997


 the man, someone to be placed op-          woman were two separate indi-                 woman enter into marriage, God
 posite of him, and yet one who,            viduals.    By means of marriage,             joins them together. They do not
 when joined together with the man,         however, the two of them enter                join themselves together, but God
 formed a perfect counterpart to            into an unbreakable union of love             joins them. Just as a pair of oxen
 him. In other words, the  woman            and friendship by which they be-              are placed under one yoke by their
 was specially created by God to fill       come one flesh.                               master, so also God yokes together
 out, to enlarge, to enhance, to                The very character of marriage            a man and wife in marriage. What
 supplement the life of the man. No         itself, that which lies at the heart          God yokes together into one unit,
 other creature could enter into the        of every marriage, is a bond of fel-          Jesus says, let not man divide
 life of a man to fulfill that func-        lowship. That is the essence of               again., When the`apostle Paul uses
 tion. The woman was created by             marriage! When a man takes to                 the term "joined" in Ephesians
 God in a way that, when she and            himself a wife, he enters with her            5:31, he means by that term "glued
 the man were joined together, they         into a covenant by which he leaves            together." So close is the bond, so
 could become two parts of a whole.         father and mother and cleaves to              intimate  is  that covenant of mar-
     This was true first of all from a      his wife. The man leaves the inti-            riage, that two are yoked together
 sexual point of view. A woman              mate relationship of love that ex-            by God into one. They are glued,
 was created physiologically differ-        ists between parent and child, and            stuck to each other.
 ent from the man. Her human                replaces that relationship with one               They, in a very real and mi-
 anatomy was the man's opposite.            that is of a permanent nature: mar-           raculous way, become one flesh with
 Yet the woman was perfectly                riage. By means of marriage he                each other! When a man and
 adapted by God to fit the needs            "cleaves" to his wife.                        woman enter into the covenant of
 and desires of the man. We un-                 The term "cleave" used in Gen-            marriage with each other, immedi-
 derstand well that it takes a man          esis  2:24 and repeated by Jesus in           ately God takes two distinct indi-
 and a woman to produce offspring.          Matthew  19:5 explains just how               viduals and makes them into one.
 There is no changing that fact,            close the covenant of marriage is.            They do not do this to themselves.
 though wicked man attempts to. A           Literally it means "to cling to" or           God makes two into one. This is
 `-woman was also created psycho-           "to be attached to." It is used in            the one, fundamental fact of mar-
 logically different from a man, yet        Isaiah  41:7 to describe the act of           riage: man and wife, when they
 in such a way that her emotions,           soldering: "So the carpenter en-              speak their vows,' become physi-
 her desires, and her thinking could        couraged the goldsmith, and he                cally, psychologically, and spiritu-
 perfectly complement the man's.            that smootheth with the hammer                ally one flesh with each other!
     Unbelievers today attempt to           him that smote the anvil, saying, It          They are  able  to become one on the
 defy this clear demarcation which          is ready for the soldering: and he            basis of their creation, but they are
. God has created between the gen-          fastened it with nails, that it should        actually formed by God into one
 ders, but to no avail. The differ-         not be moved." The term "cleave"              flesh when they enter into mar-
 ences remain. Neither ought we             is also used in Deuteronomy  lo:20            riage.
 to forget why there are these dif-         in reference to the relationship one              Do you understand how inti-
 ferences: God  created the woman ca-       must have with God: "Thou shalt               mate the bond of marriage really
 pable  of  entering into the most inti-    fear the Lord thy God; him shalt              is? Does a married couple truly
 mate relationship  of  communion and       thou serve, and to him thou shalt             comprehend what happened to
 love with a man.  This was the very        cleave, and swear by his name"                them when they spoke their vows?
 purpose of God in creating the             (see also Deut.  11:22,23).                   Do young men and women under-
 woman as He did!                               The analogy is clear: a man               stand what they are entering into
     Having created the woman in            must cling to his wife just as a be-          when they seek to marry? Mar-
 this way, God then brought her to          liever cleaves to his God. This term          riage is a covenant bond of fellow-
 the man (Gen.  2:22) and the two of        allows for no doubt that the cov-             ship!
 them became one flesh. By this act         enant of marriage is so intimate,                 It is really rather silly then, is
 of God marriage was instituted.            so close, that by it a man and                it not, to raise such a fuss about
 Again, in the account of the cre-          woman become permanently at-                  divorce and remarriage? Theolo-
 ation of the woman we find an              tached to one another!                        gians have searched through dif-
 amazing truth. God not only cre-               This is emphasized as well                ferent passages in an attempt to
 ated man and woman capable of              when Christ declares concerning               justify divorce and remarriage.
 fellowship with each other, but            marriage in Matthew  19:6, "Where-            There is wrangling over this pas-
 God brings to every man the par-           fore they are no more twain, but              sage and that passage. How fool-
 ticular woman with whom that               one flesh. What therefore God hath            ish! Do we really wish to deny the
 man is to be bound for life. Up to         joined together, let not man put              blessed union God has created be-
 the point of marriage the man and          asunder."      W h e n   a   m a n   a n d    tween a husband and his wife? Do

                                                                                                    May75,1997,R%andardBearer/369


we really want to ignore the es-          bolizes His own marriage through        band and wife will in a concrete,
sence of marriage, that which             Christ to His church! In Ephesians      earthly way be given a taste of the
makes marriage marriage? Do not           5:32 Paul writes this about our         blessed relationship they share
men see that by destroying the un-        earthly marriages: "This is a great     with God and Jesus Christ!
breakable bond of marriage they           mystery: but I speak concerning             To  explain this further will re-
are in fact destroying a true un-         Christ and the church." Although        quire another article. But surely at
derstanding of God's covenant             everything we wrote so far applies      this point already it is plain to see
with His people in Christ? By un-         to every marriage, nevertheless         that the very creation of the man
doing the intimate ties of the mar-       from this passage here in Ephesians     and woman, as well as the institu-
riage relationship, one loosens as        5 it becomes obvious that only the      tion of marriage, were intended by
well his personal, experiential bond      believer is going to grasp and          God to bring a man and woman
with God in Christ.                       therefore experience the true de-       into the most intimate and  p'erma-
     This is true because marriage        sign of marriage. In the relation-      nent of earthly relationships. This
is a mystery by which God  sym-           ship which they share as heirs to-      is the covenant of marriage. 0
                                          gether of the grace of life, a  hus-



  /a!  &TrDlyllliid   iuJa

                                          defeated because many were con-          would have been necessary to pass
                                          vinced that the present questions        t h e   a m e n d m e n t .
n Salvation Through Christ                asked consistories and ministers            However, overture author Rev.
Alone? (Try Again!)                       essentially already incorporate this     Patrick Shetler of First Reformed
                                          idea.                                    Church in Grant discovered an er-
W                                                  The proposed question           ror in the paperwork sent to the
       e reported in the last article     would simply duplicate what al-          classes.
       that the Reformed Church in        ready existed.                              "The way it came about was,
America defeated at its classical             But now another opportunity          talking to [Rev.] Howard Moths
level the proposal to ask annually        will be given to the classes to vote     of the South Grand Rapids Classis;
of  every  consistory and minister        on the proposal. It appears that         he mentioned that some of the del-
the question: whether "the doc-           there was a typographical error in       egates at his classis did not want
trines of the gospel [are] preached       the proposal as presented. Two           to vote for it because salvation is
in your church in their purity in         words were  inadvertently omitted:       by grace," said Shetler. "That im-
                                                                                   mediately rang a beIl with me be-
conformity with.. .the truth that di-     "by grace." URNS (Darrell Todd           cause I remembered those words
vine  redemption from  sin is only        Maurina)  reports:                       were in."
by grace through faith in the per-                                                   When Shetler and General
fect work of the Lord Jesus Christ          (April 14, 1997) URNS - Based          Synod Operations Secretary Rev.
alone, the only mediator between            on the omission of two words, the      David Schreuder compared notes,
God and humankind." There were              Reformed Church in America's           they discovered that the RCA of-
23 classes that approved and 23             General Synod Council is recom-        fices had mailed out an erroneous
that voted the proposal down. Fi-          mending that the denomination's         text that would require RCA min-
                                           regional classes get a second
nal approval required a  2/3 `vote.                                                isters and churches to agree that
                                            chance to vote on a controversial      "divine redemption from sin is
Some claimed that this vote indi-           church order amendment that            only through faith in the perfect
cates the growing liberalism in the        would have required all ministers       work of the Lord Jesus Christ
Reformed Church in America in               and churches to annually reaffirm      alone, the only mediator between
that it allows for a teaching that         that Jesus Christ is the only means     God and humankind" rather than
there are other ways of salvation          of salvation.                           "by grace' through faith." The dif-
than through the cross of Christ             The amendment, prompted by            ference is that the erroneous vet-
and living faith in Him. Others in-        the views of Rev. Richard Rhem,         sion implies that salvation is
sist that probably the proposal was        pastor of Christ Community              man's work of faith rather than
                                           Church of Spring Lake, Michigan,        an act of God's grace, and was se-
                                           required a two-thirds majority of       rious enough that the General
                                           the 46 classes in the 313,000-mem-      Synod Council's April 8-10 meet-
                                           ber denomination but was deci-          ing in New Jersey voted to rec-
                                           sively defeated, having received        ommend that General Synod 1997,
Rev.  VanBaren  is pastor of the Prot-     23 affirmative and 23 negative          meeting this June in Milwaukee,
estant Reformed Church of Loveland,        votes in voting that ended April        resubmit the amendment to the
Colorado.                                  8. Thirty-one affirmative votes         c l a s s e s .

379/Standard Bearer/May IS,7997


           Now we must wait to see what                           whether language should reflect            had attended the day care for a
     the Synod will decide-and  then                              differences between the sexes, but         year before it shut its doors March
     await another round of votes in the                          evangelicals  weren't worried              14.
     classes. That could prove interest-                          about it. As Larry Walker, one of            "I don't know of too many
     ing indeed.                                                  the 15 members of the CBT, who             people here who C~Q survive on
                                                                  has been involved with the NIV             one person's salary, especially if
                                                                  for 25 years,  remembers,  "Way            that salary is minimum wage,"
                                                                  back yonder when it first came up,         Alexander said . . . . "This is just
                                                                  no one was for [unisex language].          something that shouldn't have
     n The NIV is Going                                           Now at the present time,  almost           happened in this decade."
     "Gender Neutral"                                             everyone is for it," he says a little
     L                                                                                                         Board members of the church's
           ast summer several of those                            wistfully. "The language is Shift-         Corner Stone Day Care sent a let-
           who  .attended   tee  British Re-                      ing underneath our feet."                  ter February 14 to parents an-
     formed Fellowship conference vis-                                                                       nouncing  the church would close
     i t e d   a l s o   t h e   o f f i c e s   o f   t h e           One ought not to be very sur-         the center in the spring.
     Trinitarian Bible Society (strong                          prised. With the rule of "dynamic              The church said in a later letter
                                                                                                             it was sensitive to the challenges
     supporters of the  KJV) in London.                         equivalence," it was perhaps inevi-          of single parents but could not
     They were informed that the pub-                           table that the gender distinctions
/                                                                                                            keep the center open because it
     lishers of the NIV were planning                           in Scripture would also soon be              was encouraging mothers to be
     to put out a new edition of the NIV                        taken out. But then, what happens            employed outside the home.
     that would be "gender neutral."                            to divine inspiration? Was God               Families could get by on one sal-
     But this likely would not be done                          mistaken in presenting gender as             ary if they gave up "Big TVS, a
     in the States until after the year                         He did in Scripture. Now the wise            microwave, new clothes, eating
     2,000-because  the majority of the                         men of the CBT know better than              out and nice vacations," the letter
     churches using the  NIV  would not                         God and adjust His Word to con-              added.
                                                                                                               "God intended for the home to
     be ready for that yet.                                     form to the feminist movement?               be the center of a mother's world,"
          That report is confirmed by the                       What next? Would they change the             the church stated. "In Titus  2:5,
     Christian News, April  i, 1997. This                       wording also of Scripture to allow           women are instructed to be `dis-
     paper reports on an article appear-                        for the idea of other ways of salva-         creet, chaste, keepers at home,
     ing  in World of March 29,1997:                            tion  t-han  through the cross of Jesus      good and obedient to their own
                                                                Christ? That would, perhaps, sat-            husbands....`"
           "Femme fatale," the cover story                      isfy the Rev. Rhem of Muskegon,
       of the March 29  World  reports:                         MI.                                            That is a church which has
       "The feminist seduction of the                                                                      proper understanding of "family
       evangelical church: The New In-                                                                     values."       It must surely be diffi-
       ternational Version of the Bible -                                                                  cult to "buck the trend" of our day.
       the best-selling English version in                      n Baptist Church . . .                     Yet Scripture is clear on this score.
       the world - is quietly going `gen-
       der neutral.' "                                          Wants Women to Stay at Home
         . ..Susan Olasky writes . . . "Say                     Christian  News, April 14, 1997,
       goodbye to the generic  he, man,                                presents another interesting
       brothers,  or  mankind.  Make way                        and unique report from RNS:                n The  Reader's  Digest Report
       for  people, person, brother and sis-                                                               Have you noticed the report in
       ter,  and  hunzankind.  By the year                             A Baptist church in northwest                Reader's Digest,  April 1997,
       2000 or 2001, if the 15-member                            Arkansas has closed its day care          listing t-he top fifty places in the
       Committee for Biblical Translation                         center because the church board          United States which were consid-
       (CBT)  - the NIV's controlling                            believes God wants women to stay          ered the best places to raise a fam-
       body - has its way, the 35 per-                            at home.
       cent of American Bible buyers                                   The decision has left 27 parents    ily? Did you note that Ft.  Collins-
       who prefer the NIV will not be                            without day care and state offi-          Loveland was third from the top
       able to buy a new copy of the ver-                         cials are rapidly licensing another      of the list? And since  this was the
       sion they trust.                                          facility to take the place of the one     only one of the fifty that has a Prot-
          That may not happen - pub-                             at First Baptist Church of                estant Reformed Church and Chris-
     lisher Zondervan may still choose                           Berryville, the Associated Press          tian School, its ranking might be
       to put out two separate ver-                              reported.                                 considered to be even higher than
       sions.. . .                                                     "This is not `Happy Days' and       third place for Protestant- Reformed
          How have we arrived at this                            we are not living in the 195Os,"'         people!  R
       point?                                                    said Katrena Alexander, 44, who
          Twenty-five years. ago, mainline                       operates a manufacturing com-
       churches were debating  whether                           pany with her husband.
       women should be pastors and                                     Alexander's daughter  I<eanna

                                                                                                                      May IS, 1997/Standard  Bearer/371


  @@ yf@ llwi& ml @I@ v2kIml                                                           l&x& TlhlIil~~ lk!i!O!FB~3

      Cuwent'kme Mission Theory
                                         and. Practice

         ne of our principle con-             In the more recent past we           clusively on the local work he was
         cerns, as churches, over the     have called missionaries to labor on     doing, since his time in that place
         past few years, though a         a certain "field." Usually this in-      was limited.
happy concern, has been our mis-          volved a core group we were work-            This is not intended as a criti-
sion work. This has dominated our         ing with. Our work with that core        cism of the work that has been
synods and is reflected in our bud-       group came to the point that we          done in the past nor of the dedi-
gets  ,for both foreign and domestic      felt a missionary was warranted.         cated men who have labored as our
missions. This has been reflected         We would then designate this             missionaries. The Lord has blessed
also in past  Standard Bearer  ar-        group and its location as a "field"      and enriched us by this work and
ticles on such topics as a home mis-      of labor. In calling a missionary        also gathered His church.         The
sionary-at-large. As the mission          we would call him specifically to        point to be noted, however, is that
work of our churches will probably        work that "field."                       our mission work in the past had a
dominate this year's Synod also, it           This presented certain prob-         certain concept underlying it. This
may be profitable to reflect upon         lems. In the first place, if that la-    concept of a "field" involved a cer-
our current approach to mission           bor should prove unfruitful we           tain principle of evaluation  and-
work, specifically home mission           would be compelled to close the          shaped the labors of the mission-
work.                                     "field." But since the missionary        ary. While this approach had cer-
    Moreover, we have to. some ex-        was called to that specific "field"      tain advantages, in concentration
tent taken a new approach to home         he could not be simply moved to          on a specific mission project, it also
mission work in the past few years.       another location. The effect of this     lacked flexibility in its approach.
This change arises in part out of         was to focus the missionary's la-        It was difficult to move the mis-
the "New Mission Policy" adopted          bors upon one place with one             sionary. Moreover, it constantly
by our churches in 1965, but which        group. Evaluating our home mis-          raised the question whether we
had never been implemented.               sion work consisted of the question      would continue the work or close
While this policy in some respects        whether there was progress toward        a "field." This was not always
is dated (it predates the develop-        a church and growth on that              helpful in leading families to com-
ment of cassette tapes, video tapes,      "field." Involved in this was the        mit themselves by leaving their ex-
and computer technology), it is still     idea also that we would work for         isting church fellowship to join a
our official  synodical  policy and       a limited period of time in one lo-      developing work since that work
well worth. reading. Involved in          cation depending upon progress:          could soon be taken from them.
this new policy is a change in con-       Each year the "field" had to be              While our present approach
cept and approach to mission work         evaluated as to whether it war-          does not completely discard that
and its evaluation. It may also be        ranted continued work or whether         which was done in the past, cer-
called a return to a certain ap-          it should be closed. This had the        tain elements make it different in
proach to mission work which was          effect of holding over the mission       conception and approach. These
at one time more characteristic of        field the constant possibility that      elements change both how we con-
how our churches labored. This            in any given year we might with-         ceive of and evaluate what we are
may best be illustrated by compar-        draw and close the "field." It also      doing. In the first place, while the
ing our more recent past and its          tended to produce a time-oriented        home missionary has a "base" from
approach and the current one.             approach to our mission work,            which he works and a group which
                                          namely, so many years (two, three,       gives a local concentration to his
                                          five years) on a "field" and then        labors, we do not have a "field" in
                                          close it and move on. This ap-           the former sense of the word. The
Rev.  Miersma  is home missionary  of     proach also tended to focus the          home missionary's "field" is prop-
the Protestant Reformed Churches.         missionary's attention almost ex-        erly a geographic region. With one

37ZjStandard  Bearer/May 75,1997


 home missionary at present, that         ern part of the USA and Canada.                   In practical terms this means
 "field" in the broadest sense is,        Finally the work includes also new        that when there are contacts and
 properly speaking, North America.        field work in the whole of North          work locally at the "base" which
 This includes everything from            America, which is  why I have also        must be worked, these labors as-
 Vancouver, British Columbia to           been working in the  Pittsburgh-          sume priority and become the con-
 Newfoundland;  Alaska  to Florida;       Cincinnati area.                          centrated focus of the home mis-
 and the Northwest Territories to             This approach has a number of         sionary. However, when that lo-
 Texas. Moreover, the work of the         advantages and elements to it.            cal work is stable or slow in devel-
 home missionary also includes  EU-       First of all, it eliminates the prob-     oping for a time, he is free to pur-
 rope, Australia, and New Zealand.        lem of a missionary called to a spe-      sue also other contacts in an area
 This is the "field" of labor. We are     cific  "fikld" should it become nec-      and field work for the churches.
 no longer designating  one place as      essary  $I move the missionary.           This was not wholly lacking'in our
 a "field" and calling a missionary       This is the rather obvious benefit,       earlier approach, but our -present
 to work that specific "field" in the     but there is more to it than that. It     one gives this aspect more empha-
 former sense of the word.                means that the missionary's labors        sis.      The nature of the home
     Secondly, the home missionary        are directed by the work itself to        missionary's work can under these
 is "based" in a certain location,        where the Lord opens the doors for        circumstances take on the charac-
 which gives to his labors a local        work and where contacts develop.          ter of being somewhat of a circuit
 and geographic focus, though it          It means too  that we do not try to       rider.
 does not limit his work to one           decide beforehand where we will                   This approach requires careful
 place. A "base" is not the same          establish a church but let the Lord       and thorough supervision by both
 thing as a "field." The idea of a        direct the work, also locally in the      the calling church and the Mission
"base" from which the home mis-           region as contacts develop. It            Committee to make sure these vari-
 sionary works is that it is a start-     could well happen that a church is        ous activities are balanced accord-
 ing point from which the mission-        formed but not at the original start-     ing to the needs of the work. It is
 ary works outward in a certain re-       ing point nor necessarily at the base     obviously possible to be busy at
 gion. While it is desirable that         which initially was the focus of the      many things and yet accomplish
 there be a local core group with         labors. There is in this a flexibility    nothing well, so that the work be-
 which to work at this "base" of op-      which the conception of a "field"         comes fragmented. It is also pos-
 erations, and this is our present        did not have in the same way. De-         sible that work develop to the point
 practice, theoretically this is not      pending upon the current state of         where an additional home mission-
 necessary to the conception. The         the work in the area of local con-        ary may be considered necessary.
 purpose of the "base" as a starting      centration, it allows for the mis-                Where there is more than one
 point is that it be located in such a    sionary to be busy with broader           home missionary, this approach
 way as to facilitate working out         contacts and new field work. With         would allow for an additional flex-
 from it in harmony with the vari-        careful balancing of priorities it al-    ibility in having men based in dif-
 ous demands of our mission work.         lows for the development of more          ferent regions, east and west, north
     One may conceive of it as a se-      than one core group at a time.            or south, yet in such a way that
 ries of concentric circles with the          To draw a scriptural parallel         there could also be coordinated
 local work at the "base" as the cen-     we may say that this approach fol-        work in a shared area of labor. It
 ter, the immediate geographic re-        lows somewhat the pattern of              means also, with one or more mis-
 gion around it, and finally the          Paul's preaching in Corinth and           sionaries, that  when  there are con-
 broader area of North America.           working outward from there                tacts which could be profitably
 This involves a regional conception      throughout the whole region of            worked, they are not simply put
 of our mission work.                     Achaia. It can also take the form         on hold or left to wither until a
     To illustrate from my present        of Paul's preaching in the region         "field" is closed and a missionary
 work as home missionary, my              of Macedonia, which was not lim-          moved.
 "base" is the San Luis Valley in         ited to one place such as Philippi,               This current approach requires
 southern Colorado. This is the spe-      but included also preaching and la-       on the part of those involved, mis-
 cific area where we are working to       bor in  Bered and Thessalonica.           sionary, calling church, Mission
 form a church and is the area of         Moreover, this approach does not          Committee,. and the people with
 local concentration. Working from        exclude the possibility, particularly     whom we work, a somewhat dif-
 that base we are also working in         where there is much fruit, of con-        ferent conception as to the nature
 southwestern,Colorado  and north-        centrating almost exclusively in          of the work being done and as to
 ern New Mexico as a region. Be-          one place, much like we did in the        how it is conducted. It requires
 cause of its location in the west, a     past, when there is reason. to do         the group with- whom we work lo-
 yet broader area includes the west-      so, as Paul also did in Ephesus.          cally or at a distance to take more

                                                                                               May 15,1997/Standard  Bearer/373


responsibility for their own devel-           of development. The question is           graphical location, population to be
opment, since the missionary may              no `longer simply one of whether          worked with in the region, and
not be present every Lord's Day as            w,e have worked a certain number          broader concerns than simply
a pastor would be in a local  con:            of years in such and such a "field"       whether there is an interested core
gregation. It require& this same              and "Is there fruit?" There is,           group. If we may' conceive of the
connection a greater use of read-             properly speaking, "no "field:' in        present approach as somewhat
ing sermons, cassette tapes, and              this former sense to consider or to       along the lines of  a. circuit rider,
video tapes of services. It allows            close. A decision respecting the          an older form of a  missionary-at-
us at the same time as churches to            moving of a missionary's "base"           large, then the criteria for a home
care for more mission needs with              would undoubtedly take into con-          "base" take on a very different
fewer men and minimizes or re-                sideration what fruit and develop-        character than the approach of
duces pulling pastors out of their            ment there is and has been locally.       opening and closing "fields."
own congregations for pulpit sup-             But it is more than that. It involves     Much of this depends on the na-
ply on the mission field. Moreover,           an examination of the number and          ture of the work we are doing gen-
with careful planning it is possible          nature of the missionary's absences       erally, whether we have several
to do such labor without disrupt-             from that "base" and their effect         groups we are working with, all of
ing catechism classes and Bible               locally. It includes also a clear         which could be a "base," or only a
study on the mission field. The cat-          need to move because the press of         limited number of scattered indi-
echism' classes, both in number of            work elsewhere requires it. It in-        viduals with maybe one predomi-
classes and size, are usually smaller         cludes too a removal to a new             nate group which would form a vi-
on the mission field and therefore            "base" which, in the light of the         able "base."
more flexible as to when they meet            development and nature of the cur-             As we have only begun in the
during'the  week than would be the            rent work, is best suited to this pur-    past few years to implement this
case in a large congregation.                 pose as a "base." This requires that      somewhat different approach,
    This method of doing mission              the demands of the work itself, the       there are many questions which we
work requires also a different ap-            press of contacts in the area or re-      have yet to answer as we develop
proach to evaluating our mission              gion, the potential work involved         our present approach to mission
work. For one thing, this broader             be such, to some degree, as to com-       work.
approach to our mission work with             pel such a relocation. It means that           One of the blessings the Lord
varying absences from home base               the new "base" is sufficiently cen-       has given us as churches at present
means that some of our mission                tral to form a new starting point to      is that we have much work to do
work will  progres,s more slowly              work outward in an area, while            in missions, both foreign and do-
than it might otherwise. We may               also being able to support any            mestic. The field is indeed white
well be engaged'in more than one              other ongoing work.                       for harvest and the laborers few.
labor at a time in varying degrees                  The criteria for determining a                                                      cl
                                              "base" involve questions of geo-


             "The Day of.Small Thin@P
                                                                                                        Mr.  Don  Doezema


"Yes! Send us a  pzissionary!"                termine interest in "a second mis-        there was this related advice: "As
T                                             sionary from the Protestant Re-           I see it their vigorous defense of
       hose words constituted the             formed Churches of the USA, in the        the Reformed faith in this apostate
       headline of a June 1996 "BRF           light of the successful labors of that    a g e   m a k e s   t h e   P R C   t h e   b e s t
       News Alert" which gave the             denomination in Northern Ire-             churches to be in communion
results of a survey conducted to de-          land." The Committee of the Brit-         w i t h . "
                                              ish Reformed Fellowship reported               Can you imagine anything
                                              a decidedly positive reception of         more gratifying  - to the Mission
                                              the  idea'among  the readers of their     Committee, to Hudsonville (the
Mr.  Do,ezema   is.  secr&$y   of  the Do-    j o u r n a l   '                         calling church), and to the mission-
mestic Mission  Cpmrriittee.                   In a recent. letter to the BRF           ary?                 y,
374/StandardBearer/May15,1997


    In a day of televangelism,            Numerical growth of the SanLuis                              sense that Rev. Miersma is. Rev.
megachurches, and giant crusades          Valley Mission,. where Rev.                                  Hanko was called to be our mis-
for Christ, the labors of a little de-    Miersma is currently concentrating                           sionary to Northern Ireland, with
nomination through an eighteen            his labors, is slow in coming. And                           the understanding that he be lo-
member Council and a ten-mem-             his work in the' eastern part of our                         cated  in  the Larne/Ballymena area,
ber Mission Committee, and by a           country which arose out of contacts                          but with the added responsibility
single missionary among a hand-           developed by South Holland in-                               of  "pursu(ing) other contacts in the
ful of believers, when measured by        volves again a small group of be-                            British Isles" (Acts 1990, Art. 46).
the standard of men, amounts to           l i e v e r s .   J u s t   a   f e w   f a m i l i e s .    That's the scope of his work  - the
nothing. But the Lord has crowned         Enough, however, to have war-                                British Isles. If correspondence,
that effort with the organization of      ranted our making arrangements                               therefore, would arise from some-
a truly Reformed congregation in          for several of our ministers, besides                        one in, say, Malta, we would not
Northern Ireland, and has led oth-        Rev. Miersma, to spend a few days                            direct that to Rev. Hanko's atten-
ers in the UK to covet the same           in Pittsburgh, preaching and teach-                          tion.
preaching and teaching for them-          ing for a group of families which,                               Rev. Miersma was called to la-
selves  2 attracted not by number,        in the words of one of our minis-                            bor in the SanLuis Valley. But not
not by prestigious connections in         ters who was there, "loves the                               only there. The idea here is that,
the ecclesiastical world, not by          truth"; "loves the Protestant Re-                            "with the missionary not limited to
hope of financial gain, but only by       formed truth"; "has grown in the                             one small area but available to
a love of the truth.                      truth"; shows "commitment to the                             work. elsewhere for longer or
    A work of the Lord that is!           cause of a PR work in the area . . .                         shorter periods of time, the Mis-
Profs. Engelsma and Hanko no              also by their financial giving"; and                         sion Committee can best cultivate
doubt delivered stirring lectures at      is "very willing to hear our advice                          and develop many contacts in dif-
the biannual family conferences           on any matter." At the end of a                              ferent areas of home missions"
sponsored by the British Reformed         six-month trial period, therefore,                           (Synod 1990, Art. 15). The scope
Fellowship in various places in the       the Mission Committee decided to                             of Rev. Miersma's responsibility,
UK, as has also Rev. Ron Hanko at         extend the supply of preaching (by                           then, is as broad as "domestic" mis-
the half-day conferences held peri-       Rev. Miersma and, again, other of                            sions.
odically throughout the year. But         our ministers) for another six                                   That's not just the U.S. . . . or
it isn't eloquence that decides re-       months  - one Sunday per month.                              the U.S. and Canada. It includes
ception of the proclamation of the              Meanwhile, there is other work                         other "foreign" countries as well.
truth. Nor, for that matter, is it        which beckons, as far as our home                            The truth is that the distinction be-
intellectual or spiritual superiority     missionary is concerned. There are                           tween "foreign" and "domestic"
which accounts for the preserva-          contacts with individuals or little                          missions, in our churches, has
tion of the truth in the PRC in "this     groups in North Carolina in the                              never been a matter of simple ge-
apostate age." A work of God it           East, and in southwestern Colo-                              ography.  It was based more on the
is, from beginning to end, and one        rado, eastern Washington, Alberta                            nature of the work  required. Work
for which we can only be humbly           CN, and Texas in the West. All of                            among those who in their genera-
thankful.                                 which has led our home mission-                              tions belonged to the covenant
    Thankful we are especially, as        ary and the Domestic Mission                                 would be  different  from work
Mission Committee, for the oppor-         Committee to conclude that there's                           among those in heathen cultures.
tunities which we have been given         more work at home than one man                               The former was designated as (`do-
to proclaim the truth among those         can do.                                                      mestic missions" and the latter as
who find it is no longer sounded                That's even more evident, per-                         "foreign." Applying that distinc-
forth from the pulpits in churches        haps, when one considers what "at                            tion to a work in Northern Ireland
around them. And we're not think-         home" means with respect to the                              was easy, of course  - it would be
ing only of places in the British         labors of  ,Rev. Miersma. It's a                             "domestic missions." In other in-
Isles. The apostasy lamented in the       pretty big area.' Terms, here, may                           stances, however, the lines were
above letter to the BRF character-        be a bit confusing. There are two                            blurred.      Synod 1993 therefore
izes the churches of our own land         missionaries which report regularly                          adopted an overture from the For-
as well. We labor, says home mis-         to the "Domestic" Mission Com-                               eign Mission Committee that
sionary Rev. Miersma, "with a rem-        mittee. Under the division of la-                            would assign various regions of the
nant, and seeking to call out a rem-      bors as it stands in our churches                            world to the FMC and other re-
nant, in a post-Christian society."       today, Rev. Hanko's "field" is                               gions to the DMC. In an attempt
That's the nature of our missionar-       within the domain of domestic mis-                           to maintain  th,e essence of the ex-
ies' labors, here and abroad.             sions.        He is not, however, a                          isting distinction between the two
   And it's reflected in numbers.         "home" missionary in the same                                domains  (i.e.,`whether  or not the

                                                                                                                 May 15,1997fitandard Bearer/375


peoples of the various countries be-      vide the kind of effort in a new         determined effort to develop the
longed in their generations to the        field which the developing contacts      contacts we already have in the
covenant), Synod 1993 assigned to         in Pittsburgh seem to require. Rev.      UK, with a view to establishing
the DMC the U.S. and Canada,              Hanko is missionary pastor of the        such a base, which, if it material-
Australia and New Zealand, and            newly-organized Covenant Protes-         ized, could be sufficient reason to
Europe, including Russia. It's in         tant Reformed Church in Northern         call a second missionary to the UK
keeping with that division of labors      Ireland,`and  is trying at the same      in 1998.
that the DMC recently turned over         time to develop contacts in other            With respect to the contacts in
to  .Rev. Miersma some correspon-         places in the British Isles. And         Pittsburgh, we believe that. this
dence received from a leader of a         both he and the BRF have con-            work already warrants the calling
church in . . . Malta.                    cluded that one man cannot do jus-       of a second home missionary.
    That's an exception, of course.       tice to both aspects of that labor.      There is in place a group of fami-
Almost all of our home mission---             That is, one man-cannot do jus-      lies with which work can begin.
ary's work outside the SanLuis Val-       tice to both tasks when a second         Pittsburgh itself is a large metro-
ley involves contacts in the U.S.         location develops beyond the in-         politan area in which to work. And
and Canada. But the point is that,        vestigative stage. Once it becomes       the city is geographically situated
given the fact that Rev. Miersma is       apparent that another area de-           such that it can serve as a base for
not tied to a particular "field" (see     mands more serious attention, we         broader work in the east  - that is,
his article in this issue), he is re-     cannot content ourselves with            to follow up on contacts which we
sponsible for exploring opportuni-        sending letters or tapes, and mak-       already have in Ohio, North Caro-
ties as they arise elsewhere  - and       ing periodic visits. That's not seri-    lina, Virginia, Kentucky, and else-
that "elsewhere" includes a whole         ous mission work. The DMC is             where in Pennsylvania.
lot of territory.                         convinced that both opportunities
    Of possible "open doors" with         (working with the BRF in the UK,                     **** **:e+ ***a
which we are faced at this time,          and preaching the gospel in the              Sometimes work on denomina-
Rev: Miersma is convinced that the        Pittsburgh area) deserve serious at-     tional committees can be almost a
Pittsburgh area holds the most po-        tention from us.                         burden  - especially for men who
tential. So much do a couple of               Are we able to give it that? It's    have other obligations which press
the families in that small group          gratifying to us that, at a time when    constantly on their time. That's
want the truth as it is proclaimed        the Lord is opening doors to us in       true of the DMC too. But these are
by the PRC that, if necessary, they       marvelous ways, we also as a de-         exciting times. We are being given
have expressed a willingness to           nomination have sufficient re-           much to do, and the means with
move in order to get it for them-         sources to be able to respond. With      which to do it.
selves and for their children. But        respect to manpower, we have but             The work we've done, and our
they believe they have a responsi-        two vacant churches, plus a call for     vision for the future, would in a
bility yet with respect to others in      a missionary to Ghana, and we            large denomination warrant prob-
their area. One of them writes,           will, D.V., have four men eligible       ably little more than a footnote.
"We don't know the Lord's will in         for a call soon after Synod 1997.        The families in the CPRC NI can
our lives as of yet, but I try to keep    And with respect to finances, it's       be counted on the fingers of two
in mind that it is His will that is       clear that, though there are indeed      hands. And it's only little groups
best. He has certainly given us a         families who struggle to make ends       that are scattered throughout the
strong desire for a church here in        meet, as a denomination we could         UK. The SLV Mission grew in one
the Pittsburgh area."                     not declare before the face of God       year by one family. And the group
    so . . . what to do  - that is the    in 1997 that we lack the financial       in Pittsburgh can fit in a large liv-
question, also for us. For the DMC        resources to do more in missions         ing room. And yet, as we reflect
the question is made even more            than what we are already doing.          on it all, we see out there a genu-
difficult because of the fact that            The DMC plans therefore to           ine love for the Lord and for His
both of our missionaries, in their        propose to Synod 1997 that we do         truth, which can only be  Spirit-
energetic pursuing of other leads,        something in response to both op-        wrought. May the Lord grant that
have concluded that there is a need       portunities.                             we never need the admonition of
for more manpower. The work in                The work in the UK is at this        Zechariah  4:lO  - "For who hath
the SanLuis Valley, while not bear-       time scattered  - that is, there is      despised the day of small things?"
ing fruit in significant numerical        no concentration of contacts in any      The work is, after all, His. We toil
growth, requires more work on our         one area which could serve as a          not in vain when, in our faithful
part.    And Rev. Miersma can             base of operations (a virtual neces-     use of His resources, He gives the
hardly do justice to the work in the      sity for any minister with a fam-        increase.  0
Valley and at the same time  pro-         ily). We plan therefore to make a

376/Standard Bearer/May 15,7997


              Foreign Mission Committee
                                                                     News
                                                                                                                 Rev. Allen Brwmmel
Ghana, West Africa                                       Bekkering, Ron  VanOverloop, and
Thispast year has been a signifi- Tom Miersma. By the time of this vious contacts continues. We were
     cant year for the Foreign Mis-                      publication another missionary will        informed this past year that Mr.
sion Committee (FMC). We have                            have been called from the trio of          Gabriel Anyigba, a long-time con-
been busy implementing the deci-                         Revs. Ken Koole, Jai Mahtani, and          tact, successfully passed his exami-
sion of Synod 1996 regarding the                         Audred Spriensma.                          nations and was ordained as a min-
establishment of a mission field in                          The FMC and HPRC believe               ister in the Evangelical Presbyte-
Accra, Ghana, West Africa. This                          that we must be faithful to our call-      rian Church of Ghana. Correspon-
has involved working closely with                        ing as churches to minister to the         dence with Rev. Banahene has led
the council of Hull Protestant Re-                       needs of God's people wherever             to his offer to obtain some song
formed Church (HPRC), the call-                          the Lord leads us, and specifically        books in the Twi and English lan-
ing church for this field.                               we believe that we have the op-            guages for us. We hope to find
     It has been almost 18 years                         portunity to labor with God's              several  versifications  of the Psalms
since we last occupied ourselves                         people in Ghana. If it is God's will       in these hymnals so that we can
with calling a missionary to a for-                      to begin this work in Ghana, He            begin to put together some Ewe,
eign field. In August of 1979  Doon                      will in His good pleasure direct us        Twi, and English Psalms for use in
Protestant Reformed Church called                        to send the call to the man He wills       our worship services in Ghana.
Rev. Arie denHartog,  who accepted                       to labor there. In this faith the call-
the call to labor as missionary in                       ing church continues to make trios         The Philippines
Singapore. God blessed that labor,                       and send forth calls. Among those
the fruit of it being the establish-                     men who have been called, there            Steady correspondence has con-
                                                                                                        tinued with a growing number
ment of the Evangelical Reformed                         has been a conviction that we do           of Filipino pastors. Contacts in-
Churches of Singapore, which cur-                        need to work this field; however,          clude  Allan Bautista and Pastors
rently consist of two congregations,                     .there  were various reasons for           Val Tanierla, Romegio Lapiz,
with extensive mission work in                           which they believed God was call-          Ronald Jacutin, Leonardo Miguel,
Myanmar.                                                 ing them to remain in their present        Bowie Simbajon, Albert Montero,
     Already in 1979, at the time we                     charges.                                   Ebenezer Nombre, and Baltzar
called the missionary to Singapore,                          In related labors, the FMC             Niangar. Many of the pastors are
seeds were being sown through                            worked in conjunction with the             from Baptist backgrounds and are
correspondence for a work in                             consistory of HPRC to draft a let-         coming to know and appreciate the
Ghana, West Africa. Our fervent                          ter of calling which contains the fi-      Reformed truths of predestination
prayer is that God will provide a                        nancial provisions made by synod,          and the covenant.                 Pamphlets,
b l e s s i n g   s i m i l a r   t o   t h a t   o f    a statement of duties expected in          books, and instruction are being
Singapore upon the field in Ghana,                       the field of labor, and provisions         given to these men through corre-
West Africa by giving us a faithful                      for vacations or leaves (see the           spondence. Although some ap-
missionary to labor with His saints.                     FMC constitution VI,  C). The FMC          peals are made for physical needs,
     In accordance with our consti-                      has also obtained a list of willing,       overall these men desire solid bib-
tution (VI,  B) the FMC presented                        qualified volunteers who are cur-          lical instruction as well as our pres-
HPRC with a "list of suitable can-                       rently available. When we obtain           ence.
didates from which a nomination                          a missionary we will set up a                   Rev. and Mrs. Kortering of-
might be made and a missionary                           schedule for an individual(s) or           fered to stop by the Philippines on
called." Four men have felt moved                        family to assist  the. missionary,         their way back from Singapore to
by God to decline our call: the                          each for six months or longer at a         the United States for furlough.
Revs. Arie  denHartog,  Wayne                            time. Much legal and practical in-         Rev. Kortering desired to visit with
                                                         formation concerning our work in           some of the men in order to see if
                                                         Ghana has been obtained in order           they would be qualified and able
Rev. Brummel  is pastor of the Protes-                   to answer questions which the min-         t o   b e   s p o n s o r e d   t o   s t u d y   i n
tant Reformed Church in Edgerton,                        isters who consider our call and the       Singapore at the Evangelical Re-
Minnesota and secretary of the For-                      volunteers might raise.                    formed Bible School. Due to the
eign Mission Committee.                                      Correspondence with our  pre-          interest of the Foreign Mission

                                                                                                               May75,7997/StandardBearer/377


Committee in this field, we ap-                               The trip is being planned for April      sibility of visiting the saints. For
proved their offer, and asked them                            28 through May 5.                        the past couple of years no funds
to visit three of our main contacts:                                                                   have been allocated to the FMC for
P a s t o r   V a l   T a n i e r l a ,   P a s t o r         New Fields                               the investigation of new fields.
Romegio Lapiz, and Elder Ronald                               We would like to encourage This has been due in part to syn-
Jacutin, in order to help the FMC                                   evangelism committees, local       odical budget constraints.          The
make determinations as to the pos-                            congregations, and individuals           FMC desires that this year's synod
sibility of future work. Rev. and                             who have ongoing contacts in a           will designate some funds for this
Mrs. Kortering plan to visit in                               certain country to contact the FMC.      important aspect of our work.
Davao City with Elder Jacutin and                             We would very much like to work              We covet the prayers of our
his family and co-workers for two                             with you in helping to evaluate the      people that the  Lord.of His church
days; next they intend to visit in                            contacts and establishing a more         may be pleased to direct us to the
Cayagan de Oro City with Pastor                               permanent work if God wills. We          man of His choosing to labor in
Lapiz and his family for about                                are grateful for the evangelism          Ghana. We also pray that the Lord
three days; and finally they will                             committees who are presently             of the church will continue to pro-
travel to the Bicol area to visit with                        working with us.                         vide laborers for the work of for-
Pastor Tanierla and family and to                                 Due to the length of time nec-       eign missions. It is our desire that
preach in Pastor Tanierla's congre-                           essary to develop foreign fields, the    He might raise up men in our
gation on Sunday. Speaking en-                                FMC is constantly trying to culti-       churches who have a heart for and
gagements are being planned by                                vate contacts in other areas and         are willing to sacrifice their lives
the local pastors in each of the lo-                          countries. We find that there are        for this important work. The fields
cations. The pastors in the Philip-                           many in the world who desire the         are ripe and ready for harvest.
pines are overjoyed at this oppor-                            spiritual help of our churches. We       Where are the laborers? May God
tunity to meet one of our minis-                              have learned from past experience        give us wisdom and grace to labor
ters, and we are eagerly anticipat-                           how difficult it is to maintain and      rightly and to determine His will
ing the report of Rev. Kortering.                             cultivate contact without the pos-       for our churches.  Cl




                         Confessions of a Harsh,
                Intolerant, Judgmental One
                                                         I           _____~

         or many in the tolerant, cul-
F                                                             people who have learned not to put       intolerant pill that I am, is this: I
        tured world of evangelical re                         God in the kind of box that can be       am afraid of being judgmental  -
        ligion, there is no scum more                         shaken, opened, and checked.             toward God.
vile than a harsh, judgmental, pon-                              The question is, why are such             Faced with the prospect of be-
tificating buffoon who goes about                             lumps a part of the landscape?           ing judgmental toward a man's
judging whether others are "true                              What keeps them going? Since no          words and being judgmental to-
Christians."                                                  one likes them and they have the         ward the Word of God, I choose
      Such a one is seen as patently                          cuddliness of a sore porcupine,          the former, and run from the lat-
bad, and leaves a sour taste and a                            who feeds them?                          ter, although I would have many,
sick stomach in his preachy wake,                                As I am such a "judgmental"           many more friends if I did not do
cutting a smelly swath through                                one, so called by more gentle, tol-      this.
                                                              erant "Christians" than I can count          Perhaps I would even have
                                                              ("See -he puts `Christians' in quo-      you, dear reader, for a friend. As
                                                              tation marks!"), I would like to         it is, your initial reaction to the title
The Rev. John  Pedersen  is a minister                        venture an answer, warning the           of this essay may have been to take
of  the gospel in the Orthodox Presby-                        reader first to make sure he or she      it and read it so as to recognize
t e r i a n   C h u r c h .    He lives in                    is sitting down, with some smell-        better and avoid people like me,
Gettysburg, PA. This copyrighted ar-                          ing salts handy.                         as if we were not easy enough to
ticle is printed here by permission.                             What keeps me going, harsh,           spot already. But you just can't be

37&Standard  Bearer/Mai  75.7997


too careful when it comes to know-                         overly critical" toward such per-             speaks of sin  - as the breaking of
ing the modus operandi of a religious                      sons.                                         God's perfect law, rendering us
psychopath, so you read on.                                         May I explain myself?                spiritually dead and justly under
     Let me explain. Suppose a                                      No one is looking. Go ahead.         the sentence of God's eternal wrath
clean living, sincere, Bible reading,                      Read on.                                      - and so denies grace and the for-
church going, choir singing, enthu-                                 The reason is simple. The Bible      giveness of sin in the way the Bible
siastic person indicated he was a                          teaches that salvation and forgive-           speaks about forgiveness as wholly
Christian, having believed and "ac-                        ness come from God.                As the     a work of God in which He raises
cepted Jesus Christ as my personal                         prophet Jonah cried from the belly            spiritually dead, helpless sinners to
Savior."                                                   of the great fish, "Salvation is of           life.
     Now let us further suppose                            the LORD!" (Jonah  2:9).                               Allow me to give you some ex-
t h a t   t h i s   S c r i p t u r e   q u o t i n g ,             It further says that this is be-     amples of viewpoints of salvation
"Amen!" shouting, fervent praying                          cause people, in and of themselves,           that ground salvation in something
individual also indicated that he                          cannot possibly be the reason for             we do, and actually.deny sin in the
was not  conce.rned  with "who                             their salvation. Without God's                way the Bible speaks of sin, thus
chose whom" where salvation is                             work of salvation all people are              believing that man is the ultimate
concerned, so long as one sincerely                        hopelessly dead in their sins (Ezek.          source of his salvation. Since you
believes "the Bible, the blood, and                        37:lff.,  Eph. 2:lff.).                       have read this far, what do you
the blessed hope."                                                  So, if I believe I am a sinner in    have to lose but a little more time?
      Let us also say this person pro-                     the way the Bible talks about sin, I                   l.The viewpoint that teaches
fessed to believe in "free will," and                      can never account for my salvation            that man is not totally depraved in
said that biblical teaching of pre-                        from sin by pointing a finger to              his sin and unable to save himself.
destination and election belonged                          myself as the ultimate reason for             This viewpoint teaches that there
to the  non-essential  doctrines of                        it.                                           is still some good in man, and some
Scripture that theologians have de-                                 The "free will" understanding        versions of this viewpoint speak of
bated for centuries, indicating he                         of salvation teaches that man is the          this goodness as the divine, gift of
has no desire to "quibble about the                        ultimate reason for his forgiveness.          "prevenient grace." (Prevenient
finer points," as there are souls to                       According to the "free will" under-           grace means grace that is given in
be won for Christ, and "no one                             standing of Christianity, God has             a non-discriminating way to all
ever did great things for God by                           done all that is necessary for ev-            people, enabling all to choose
trying to see how many angels                              eryone who ever lived to be saved.            freely between good and evil, and
could dance on the head of a pin."                         God loves everybody, and Jesus                thereby allowing. them to exercise
     Most people would not ques-                           has died for everybody, according             free will in the choosing or reject-
tion whether such a person was a                           to the "free will" version. In addi-          ing of Christ.)
true Christian, on his way to                              tion, the "free will" understanding                    Since man is. not totally de-
heaven, and very properly con-                             of salvation acknowledges that not            praved, this view reasons, he can
cerned about winning souls at that,                        all will be saved. Why, then, are             still be meaningfully responsible
even if he could use a book or two                         some saved, and others not?                   for his rejection of Christ should
to help him get polished up on the                                  Because some choose Jesus            he do so, because he has the  God-
deeper things.                                             Christ, and others refuse Him. In             given ability to choose Christ and
      They would not hesitate to                           other words, because of something             be saved. In other  words,.the  ulti-
judge that such a person knew                              we do. Contrast this with the fol-            mate source of salvation lies  .in
God's grace, and while possessed                           lowing statement from the Bible:              man, not God, because if it  were
of a practical disposition that made                                                                     not for man choosing God by his
him perhaps a bit shallow on fod-                                   For it is by grace you have been     own free will, God could do noth-
der for  deep  theplogical  discussion,                           saved, through faith - and this        ing. Like the famous picture of
such a person was most certainly a                                not from yourselves, it is the gift    Christ in the Garden knocking on
genuine, biblical saint.                                          of God - not by works, so that         the door  - He  caqnot  come into
      But not I. I, knit-picky,  gnat-                            no one can boast" (Eph. 2%).           your life unless you open the door,
straining, Procrustean pithecan-                                    No one who believes that he is       because the handle to the door is
thropine that I am, would be more                          a Christian because of something              on the inside. Contrast this with
inclined to think that such a per-                         that came from him is a Christian             the following statement from the
son is  not  a true biblical Christian.                    in the biblical sense. He may ac-             Bible:
      Bet you knew I would say that.                       knowledge the Bible to be true. He
      And so I would attract, prop-                        may say that he sincerely believes.                    As it is written: There is no one
erly, you might say, the charge that                                                                       righteous, not even one; there is
                                                           If he grounds his faith in himself,
I am being "judgmental, harsh, and                                                                         no one who understands, no one
                                                           he denies sin the way the Bible
                                                                                                                      May 15,1997/Standard  Bearer/379


  who seeks God. All have turned           to save the world through him          sion to reject it. This view teaches
  away, they have together become          (John 3:16,  17).                      that God cannot keep a person in
  worthless; there is no one who                                                  the estate of salvation, of the Chris-
  does good, not even one (Rom.              4.The  viewpoint that teaches        tian life, without man's ongoing
  3:10-12).                              that God's grace of salvation can        "permission" to allow Him to do
                                         be resisted, that man can refuse the     such, thus revealing the conviction
    2.The  viewpoint that teaches        grace of God that brings life to         that salvation depends on some-
that election in the Bible is condi-     dead sinners. This viewpoint de-         thing in man, not God. The Bible,
tional upon the foreseen faith of the    nies the teaching of the Bible that      by contrast, says:
one elected. In other words, this        man is unable to "cooperate" with
viewpoint teaches that God looks         his own rescue, and the teaching             They went out from us, but they
ahead in time to find out who will       of the Bible that people are really        did not really belong to us. For if
choose Him. Then, on the basis of        spiritually dead apart from this           they had belonged to us, they
that foreseen choice, God deter-         grace.                                     would no doubt have remained
mines to choose man. Thus, the ul-           If a sinner can resist the grace       with us; but their going showed
timate choice is man's, and God's        of God that brings salvation and           that none of them belonged to us
choice of man depends on some-           frustrate God's purpose for him,           (I John 2:19).
thing good in man, i.e., his desire      his will to resist is more powerful
to choose God. So this viewpoint                                                      Dear reader, let me ask you: Is
                                         than God's will to save, making
teaches that some work of man is                                                  it being judgmental to hold from
                                         him more powerful than God at the
responsible for God's election of                                                 saying that persons with any of the
                                         most crucial point of salvation.
man, and man is the ultimate                                                      viewpoints above, which are the
                                         This viewpoint teaches that man's
source of salvation, not God. The                                                 opposite of the Bible, are true
                                         non-resisting "cooperation" with
Bible, however, teaches something                                                 Christians?
                                         grace is the practical, real reason
entirely different:                                                                   Consider for a moment what it
                                         why a person experiences grace.          means to judge that such people
                                         So this viewpoint teaches that sal-
    He saved  us, not because of                                                  aye true Christians. It is a judg-
                                         vation depends on something in
  righteous things we had done, but                                               ment on God. Let me explain.
  because of his mercy (Tit. 3:5).       man, not God. Consider the oppo-             All language, all speech, is
                                         site point made by Jesus:                judgmental. Meaning depends on
    3.The  viewpoint that teaches                                                 discrimination, and discrimination
that Christ died for everybody who           All that the Father gives me will
                                           come to me, and whoever comes          implies judgment. For example, to
ever lived, and that He paid the           to me I will never drive away. For     convey a certain meaning with my
price for the sins of all men in the       I have come down from heaven           words, like the words of this es-
statistical universal, as opposed to       not to do my will, but to do the       say, I have to choose certain words
the categorical universal, sense.          will of him who sent me. And           and leave other words out. I must
This viewpoint teaches that when           this is the will of him who sent       separate other meanings from the
Jesus died on the cross, He did not        me, that I shall lose none of all      meaning I want to communicate,
actually save a single person.             that he has given me, but raise        or else my communication is not
Rather He made salvation a possi-          them up at the last day.... No one     communication at all, but mere
bility for everybody who ever              can come to me unless the Father
                                           who has sent me draws him, and         nonsense.
lived, providing all men with the          I will raise him up at the last day        If I say, "The sky is blue," I
chance to make their salvation real        (John 6:37-39,44).                     make a positive statement which
by accepting it through an act of                                                 implies a negative distinction,
their own free will, making the              5. The viewpoint that teaches        namely, that the sky is not black,
death of Christ ineffective, null,       that man can fall away from true         or purple, or grey. It is a judg-
and void without their "accep-           faith and be lost, after having truly    ment about the "blueness'! of the
tance," and thus teaching that sal-      been saved. According to this un-        sky. If all "color" were blue, the
vation depends on something in           derstanding, if man chooses not to       word "blue" would mean nothing.
man, not God. By contrast, con-          continue to believe, the condition       It would be nonsense.
sider the following:                     of his salvation is nullified, and he        When a person claims to be a
                                         becomes a non-Christian. This            Christian, and he supports his
    For God so loved the world that      view assumes that man is kept in         claim with the explanation that his
  he gave his one and only Son, that     salvation by a choice and a faith        faith depends on his own free will,
  whoever believes in him shall not                                               or that his relationship to God de-
  perish but have eternal life. For      that comes from man. God's faith-
  God did not send his Son into the      fulness can be nullified by man's        pends on the fact that God saw that
  world to condemn the world, but        refusal to believe, and God's sal-       he would believe in Him and there-
                                         vation can be lost by man's  deci-       fore chose Him because of  some-
3SO/Standard Rearer/May 15,1997


thing in him, he is making a judg-          longer by works; if it were, grace         The reason is this: I, and oth-
ment about the meaning that he              would no longer be grace.              ers like me who confess God's
conveys. He is making  distinctio~zs                                               grace, am seen as a mean, judg-
so that it is more or less clear to           I am saying that such an insis-      mental person by  those zuho show a
him and his hearers that he is the        tence, found in the Bible, is overly     hatred for God's grace by tolerating
source and the reason for the grace       harsh and unyielding, overly             what is not grace.
and the god that he confesses.            straight and narrow, overly  one-            How could I, and people like
    If I accept such a confession,        sided and "black and white."             me, be seen any other way? Those
which makes such distinctions, on             So, I am being judgmental            who love God's grace, and the
its "face value," I allow that it is      about God, and judgmental toward         truth of it, are always hated and
true. I endorse it as proper. I  judge    God. I am saying that I think that       vilified by those who do not.
it is acceptable. If I endorse a con-     God should "lighten up" with His             Those who hate God's grace
fession indicating agreement with         grace, and not be so "bent out of        see God's discrimination in the way
any of the viewpoints listed above,       shape" over interpreting and ap-         He gives grace to some and not to
I may have qualified agreement (an        plying His grace, as though it were      others as an expression of mean-
example of "qualified" agreement          His alone to do with as He wished,       ness towards those who are ex-
is, "I may not say it in just the way     and we could not make a signifi-         cluded from it rather than an ex-
you do, but I think you are correct,      cant contribution to it by helping       pression of mercy toward those it
and I accept what you are saying          it along in making its edges a little    includes in the salvation of God.
as true"), but I am nevertheless          softer and its distinguishing fea-           Are you one of them?
communicating agreement. I am             tures a little more fuzzy so as to           What is your fear?
joining the person in the positive        accommodate it to a greater num-             Are you afraid to offend men,
judgment that he is confessing the        ber of people who did not all see it     or are you afraid to offend God?
true, Christian faith.                    just the same way.                           Do you desire to please men,
    I am therefore saying that the            In tolerating what is not al-        or do you live for the pleasure of
issue of whether he thinks that he        lowed in the confession of God's         God?
is the reason for his faith, and his      Word, I am showing intolerance to-           Would you rather be accused
own moral disposition is the rea-         ward God, and His Word. I am             of being judgmental of men than
son for God's interest  does not mat-     passing judgment on God, and             be exposed as judgmental of God?
ter where my "endorsement" of his         showing the ultimate in prideful             Is God's love expressed in tol-
confession is concerned. These            self-righteousness.                      erance of sin, or is God's love ex-
things are  irrelevant  to the point.          I would rather show intoler-        pressed in intolerant hatred of sin?
    But what if God's Word says           ance toward a confession of salva-           On the cross, God displayed
that giving God all the glory, and        tion that qualified grace and added      His supreme intolerance and judg-
taking no credit for myself, and de-      human work to grace, than show           mental nature  - toward sin. To
pending entirely on the work of           intolerance toward the teaching of       secure acceptance and forgiveness
God in Christ, and depending not          God's Word, which allows for no          for those whom He chose to save
at all in any work or choice or will      such addition of human work.             from sin, God did not tolerate sin.
on me, is the point where true faith          Therefore, I conclude that in-       Rather, He showed intolerant ha-
is concerned?                             tolerance toward a sinful confes-        tred for sin by pouring out His
    Then my positive endorsement          sion is a virtue. It is right to be      righteous anger on the One who
of .a confession that qualifies           intolerant toward a confession of        was "made sin for us, so that we
"grace" in terms of human faith,          faith that does not really confess       might become the righteousness of
"free will," or sincerity is a judg-      true faith at all, but rather con-       God in him" (II Cor.  5:21).
ment on the Word of God, and thus         fesses the proud assumption that I           God is no less intolerant of sin
is a judgment on God Himself!             am the reason for my own salva-          now than He was then. When we
    By saying "yes" to a confession       tion. On the other hand, intoler-        cite the cross as the reason why we
that qualifies grace, I  am making a      ance toward the confession of            are tolerant of sin, we deny the
judgment  about the Bible's insis-        God's Word is a great evil, and is       cross and show ourselves to be en-
tence that grace cannot be quali-         from the devil.                          emies of the cross. Our denial is
fied with human work and still be             So, why are people like me           an affirming denial, the worst de-
grace, as, for example, in Romans         seen as so onerous, so mean?             nial of all. And so our judgment
11:5, 6:                                     Why are people like me, who           will be the worst judgment of all.
                                          are afraid to say anything against           Does your God  tolerate  sin, and
    So too, at the present time there     God's grace, seen as the lowest          sinful confessions, because of Jesus
  is a remnant chosen by grace.           scum of the earth, as people who         "covering" that sin, and those sin-
  And if by grace, then it is no          use the Bible as a meat cleaver?         ful confessions?

                                                                                           May 15,1997/Standard  Bearer/38  1


    Or does your God  hate  sin, and       blood of His Son to secure the reso-     slighting disdain, I urge you to see
sinful confessions, because of Jesus       lution of these "points" in the lives    it for what it is and change your
resolving that sin, and those sinful       of His people. I remind you that         mind about what it is you tolerate,
confessions, by His `own precious          your  judgment  is serious, proud,       and the God you think tolerates you
blood, so that those who hold on           and self-righteous.                      in your tolerance. I urge you to be
to Jesus would turn away from and              If there is one thing that dark-     intolerant about your tolerance of
hate sin, and not tolerate and ex-         ness hates, it is light. If there is     sincere religious affirmations of
cuse sin?                                  one thing that self-righteousness        grace which are nothing more than
    Does your God allow you to             hates, it is the exposure of such        expressions of pride. Your pride.
see the grace of the Lord Jesus            self-righteousness as evil by com-           I urge you to look to the true
Christ as a covering, a cloak, for         parison to the perfect holiness of       Christ, whose intolerance of sin,
immorality, even the immorality of         God. If there is one thing that a        and sacrifice for sin, is the reason
a confession of faith which is re-         tolerant, "non-judgmental" person        why all who renounce their toler-
ally a confession of ultimate pride,       hates, it is the reminder that his       ance of sin find refuge, comfort,
confessing one's self as the reason        "tolerance" toward the "sinfully         and righteousness, in Him.
for his own salvation?                     flawed" confessions of men (such             And I urge you to join me, and
    Then we know why you see me            as those listed above) is really an      suffer reproach with me, as one
as so harsh, and so distasteful.           expression of intolerant hatred to-      who would rather  .express a nega-
    You and I have a different God.        ward the righteous confession of         tive judgment about a sinful con-
    No wonder you fancy me to be           God's Word, his love for the world       fession than about the God who
so judgmental, so harsh, so intol-         is hatred for God, his charity to-       gives true confessions at the price
erant! No wonder you see me as             ward the lie is really love for the      of His own blood. Be willing, my
so  picky  about things that don't         lie and hatred of the truth and of       friend, that men should tag you as
matter, about minor points!                the one who tells the truth.             a mean-spirited, harsh, judgmental
    Because to you, these points               That is why the greatest slan-       person rather than show disrespect
about "who chooses whom" and               der, and the highest disdain, is re-     for the sacrifice of Jesus, whereby
"election and predestination" and          served not for ax-murderers,  wife-      He was exposed to harsh, intoler-
"free will" really do  not  matter!        beaters, genocidal maniacs, or child     ant, consuming judgment for the
They really  are  minor points!            molesters. The most refined ex-          sins of His people.
    They do not matter to you, and         pressions of contempt are reserved           Give up your false god, the god
they are minor points for you, be-         for the "judgmental ones," who           who tolerates and "grades" grace
cause you have made a  judgment            fear slighting God's grace and the       on a curve delimited by the reli-
that they do not matter! You have          cross of His dear Son Jesus, and,        gious sincerity and good intentions
made a:- judgment about God, for           by this slighting, `to  pass judgment    of men.
whom these "@on-&s,"  as they speak        on God.                                      And join me as one of the
of sinful pride and self-reliance,             If you, my friend, have this         hated, intolerant ones, by God's
matter enough to demand the                                                         grace. Cl

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L                                                                                        lm?, IrEimlflmml'im  wJ@JgTF
Evangelism Activities                          The Evangelism Committee of          IL PRC. You may also be inter-
The Evangelism Committee of the Grandville, MI PRC planned a ested to know that he decided to
    the Randolph, WI PRC recently          special service on Easter Sunday         retire from that post on March 1 of
sponsored their church's annual            morning to promote their church          this year. He felt that at his age
Spring Lecture.. This year Rev. R.         in the Grandville area. They en-         (77) he should cease his involve-
Cammenga, pastor of the South-             couraged their congregation to in-       ment on the committee so that,
west PRC in Grandville, MI, was            vite family, friends, and acquain-       should ill health or anything else
the guest speaker. His speech, en-         tances to join them in worship.          become a factor, he wouldn't have
titled "Angels Unawares: What the          Rev. A. Spriensma, pastor at             to leave the work with projects half
Bible Teaches About Angels," was           Grandville, preached from Mat-           done and the committee not aware
given on April 17 `in Randolph's           thew  28:6-8,  under the theme "Go       of where he was in processing
sanctuary.                                 and Tell."                               them.
                                               Many of you no doubt know               Those of you who are "new-
                                           about the nearly full-time volun-        comers" to our denomination may
Mr.  Wigger is an  elder in the Protes-    teer work Mr. Edward Stouwie has         have obtained much of our PR lit-
tant Reformed Church  of  Hudson-          done as part of the Evangelism           erature through the South Holland
ville, Michigan.                           Committee of our South Holland,          church, always accompanied by a
3SZ/Standard Bearer/May 75,7997


     gracious, handwritten note from                                         $10,000 of the total funds needed.                        The Hope School Foundation of
     Mr. Stouwie. The long-term results                                      They wait patiently on the Lord to                   the Hope PR Christian School in
     of his labors will not be known un-                                     provide them their needs accord-                     Grand Rapids, MI recently spon-
     til the full heavenly roll call. Per-                                   ing to His will.                                     sored an evening of ice-skating and
     haps the fact that Mr. Stouwie him-                                             The Choir of the Lynden, WA                  organized hockey at Belknap Ice
     self changed his denominational af-                                     PRC gave their Spring Concert on                     Arena in Grand Rapids.
     filiation to the PRC in the 1970s                                       Sunday evening, March 23. They
     had a lot to do with his zeal in let-                                   encouraged their congregation to                     Minister Activities
     ting others know what a precious                                        join with them for an evening of                     Rev. Doug Kuiper, pastor of the
     heritage we have.                                                       song as they commemorated the                               Byron Center, MI PRC, and
                                                                             death and resurrection of our Lord                   Teresa Brands were united in mar-
     Congregational Activities
     T                                                                       and Savior, Jesus Christ. The au-                    riage on April 10 in our Loveland,
           he Adult Bible Study of the                                       dience was also invited to partici-                  CO PRC. We take this opportu-
           Grandville, MI PRC invited                                        pate in several of the songs.                        nity to wish them the Lord's rich-
     their entire congregation to join                                               This year's Ladies' Spring                   est blessing in their marriage as
     them at their March  25th meeting                                       League meeting was hosted by the                     they begin their life together and
     to hear Prof. D. Engelsma, profes-                                      E d g e r t o n ,   M N   P R C .   R e v .   A .    build a Christ-centered home.
     sor in our Seminary, speak to them                                      Brummel, pastor at Edgerton,                              The Hope PRC in Walker, MI
     on "The Tolerance of Polygamy in                                        spoke on Titus 2:3-5, with a theme                   has extended a call to Rev. C.
     the Old Testament."                                                     of "The Official Work of Women                       Haak, presently pastor of the
           The Adult Bible Study of the                                      in the Church of Jesus Christ."                      Bethel PRC in Itasca, IL.
     Peace PRC in Lynwood, IL spon-                                                    The Adult Societies of the                      The South Holland, IL PRC also
     sored a combined Bible study for                                        Grandville, MI PRC acted as hosts                    extended a call to Rev. C. Haak to
     their members, along with the Bible                                     for this year's combined Mr. and                     serve as their pastor.
     Studies of the Bethel PRC in Itasca,                                    Mrs., Adult,. and Junior Societies'                       Since Rev. T. Miersma, our
     IL and the South Holland, IL PRC.                                       League Mass Meeting. Prof. R.                        churches' home missionary in
     Bible discussion was on the sub-                                        Dykstra, professor in our Seminary,                  Alamosa, CO, declined the call to
     ject of "Communication in Mar-                                          spoke on the subject, "The Great                     serve as missionary to Ghana, the
     riage and the Family."                                                  Value of PR Bible Societies."                        Hull, IA PRC has made a new trio
           The Council of the Bethel PRC                                                                                          consisting of the Revs. K. Koole, J.
     recently reported that they are now                                     School Activities                                    Mahtani, and A. Spriensma.
     within $70,000 of the goal needed                                       Rev. R. VanOverloop, pastor of
     before construction can begin on                                                  the Georgetown PRC in  Hud-
     their new church home. When they                                        sonville, MI, spoke in late March                         "I have had,m,any  things in my
     are within $20,000 of this goal, they                                   for Heritage Christian School's                      hands, and I have lost them all.
     plan to hire an architect for de-                                       PTA Meeting. He considered the                       But whatever I have been able to
     tailed drawings, and to begin con-                                      theme, "Current Threats to Raising                   place in God's I still possess."
     struction when they are within                                          God's Children."                                                        - Martin Luther Cl
I
                                                             -  -  ,'  -;,j=,,,   `t-r<r   h5-c
                                         ~@@@a  @$gll  ,~J,!&?@g
                                                   ._  __  _J                                                                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                                                                                       The council and congregation of the
                                                                                                                                  Southwest PRC of Grandville, Ml wishes to ex-
                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                                            press its heartfelt sympathy to our fellow mem-
           On May  23,1997,  our parents and grand-                                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                   bers Mr. and Mrs. James Schipper and Mr.
     parents,                                                                        The Young People's Society of South Hol-     and Mrs. Kenneth Schipper in the passing to
          MR. and MRS. ANTHONY DE YOUNG,                                     land PRC experienced the loss of one of their        glory of their beloved mother,
     will celebrate, D.V., their  50th wedding anniver-                      members and wish to express their sincere                      MRS. HELEN SCHIPPER,
     sary. We thank the Lord for the years He has                            Christian sympathy to his family, Rich and Julie     who had just celebrated her  89rh birthday. Mrs.
     given them together and for the blessing they                           Wories, along with their son Joel, in the death      Schipper lived many years in PR parsonages
     have been to us. May the Lord continue to                               of their son and brother,                            as the faithful helpmeet  of the late Rev. Marinus
     bless them in their life together.                                                            MICHAEL  WORIES.               Schipper. May the family be comforted with
     %     Joszef and Anna Mae  Postma                                               May they find comfort in the words of Job    the apostle's words in Revelation  14:13,
                 Phillip, David, Daniel, Steven                              1:21: "Naked came I out of my mother's womb,         "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord
     d     Rev. Meindert and Beverly Joostens                                and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave,     form henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
                 Dan and Faith Bult,                                         and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the         may rest from their labors; and their works do
                 Timothy, Steven, Joy, Paul                                  name of the LORD."                                   follow them."
                                               South Holland, Illinois                                                                                Rev. Ron Cammenga, Pres.
                                                                                                                                                            Jay Boone, Vice-pres.
                                                                                                                                                                    #

                                                                                                                                            May 15,1997)Standard  Bearer/383


       /B&gp@p                                                                                                                                               PERIODICAL
                                                                                                                                                             Postage Paid at
        P.O. Box 603                                                                                                                                             Grandville,
        Grandville, MI 49468-0603                                                                                                                            Michigan
I

               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
          On May 31, 1997, D.V., our parents,                            On June 2, 1997 our parents,                                   The children of
          MR. and MRS. EGBERT GRITTERS,                                 MR. and MRS. CORNELIUS JONKER,                                CHARLES and DOROTHEA KALSBEEK
will celebrate their  40th wedding anniversary. We               observe their  50th wedding anniversary, D.V.                 thank God that in His great providence He has given
congratulate them and mark this milestone with                          We, their children, grandchildren, and  great-         our parents 30 years of marriage this May 19, 1997.
thanksgiving to God that we can share in His bless-              grandchildren, are thankful to God for the years He           God has seen fit to use their faithful labors as cov-
ings as they are experienced in faithful parents.                has given them together. We are also thankful to              enant parents in such a way that another genera-
          "And I will establish my covenant with thee,           our heavenly Father for giving us God-fearing par-            tion may come to know and love the rich Reformed
and thou shalt know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel                 ents who brought us up in the fear of His holy name.          truths found in Scripture "that they might set their
16:62).                                                          It is our prayer that the Lord will continue to bless         hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but
22:       Brian  and Denise Gritters                             them and keep them in His care.                               keep his commandments" (Psalm  78:7).
%         Rick and Roxanne Terpstra                                      "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting        Ee:      Harlan and Lenora Hoekstra
$         Jim and Brenda Regnerus                                to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righ-                     Charles, Emma, and Tess
Fz:       Loren and Nancy Gritters                               teousness unto children's children" (Psalm  103:17).          %        Jeffrey and Mary Kalsbeek
Ez:       Marvin and Marcia Gritters                             %       Don and  Jacque  Jonker                                           Michael, David, and  Bethany
22:       Rhonda Gritters and Greg Holstege                      *       Phil and Linda Jonker                                 Sz: Becky Kalsbeek
                                                                 3       John and Darlene Graeser
%         David and Susan King                                                                                                 %  John Kalsbeek
                                                                 *       Eric and Marilyn Ophoff
$         Joel and Valerie Minderhoud                                                                                          %  Dort Kalsbeek
d Sharla Gritters                                                Ez:     Bernie and Laurie Kamps                               Sz:  A n n e   K a l s b e e k
                                                                 .%      Eugene and Sharon Kamps
             21 grandchildren                                                                                                                                         Grand Rapids, Michigan
                                                                           23 grandchildren
                                                   Hull. Iowa              2 great-grandchildren                                                   TEACHERNEEDED
                                                                                                     Grand Rapids, Michigan             Hope Christian School (Redlands) is seeking
                                                                                                                               a teacher for the 1997-1998 school year. The open-
             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                                            ing is for the middle grades  (3-5), but grade assign-
          The Martha Society of the Hull Protestant Re-                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                             ments are negotiable. Interested persons please
formed Church express their sympathy to Mrs. Judy                        The Adult Bible Society of South Holland Prot-        call the school at (909) 793-4584, Mr. Doug Pastoor
                                                                                                                               at (909) 792-9392, or Mr. Glenn Feenstra at (909)
Brummel in the loss of her father,                               estant Reformed Church wish to express their heart-
                                                                                                                               794-5859.
            MR. THOMAS  VANDEN  BOSCH.                           felt Christian sympathy to our members Rich and
                                                                 Julie Wories, along with their son Joel, in the death
          May she and her family find comfort in these
words from Job  19:25: "For I know that my re-                   of their son and brother,                                                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
deemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter                              MICHAEL WORIES.                                       On May 27, 1997, our dear parents and grand-
day upon the earth."                                                     May they find comfort in the beautiful words of       parents,
                            Rev. Richard Moore, Pres.            Philippians  1~21: "For me to live is Christ, and to                      CHARLES and LOIS KREGEL,
                                                                 die is gain."
                            Mrs.  Jannet  Moore,  Secy.                                                                        will celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary. We
                                                                                                                               are grateful that our covenant God has preserved
                                                                                                                               them for each other and for us. We know He will
                                                                                  CALL TO SYNOD!!                              continue to be with them in the future as He has in
                          NOTICE!!                                       Synod 1996 appointed Grandville Protestant            the past. Their instruction and godly walk is a con-
          The Board of Covenant Christian High School,           Reformed Church, Grandville, Ml the calling church            tinuing blessing to us.
     on behalf of the Society it represents, extends its         for the 1997 Synod.                                                    Psalm  100:5, "For  the  &RD   is,good;  his mercy
thanks and congratulations to Miss Agatha Lubbers,                       The Consistory hereby notifies our churches           is everlasting; and his truth  endureth  to all genera-
teacher and administrator, on 45 years of faithful               that the 1997 Synod of the Protestant Reformed                tions."                     ' .
service directed at the molding, instructing, and di-            Churches in America will convene, the Lord willing,           Sz:      Kenneth and Mary Velthouse
     recting of our covenant children in the ways of our         on Tuesday, June  10, 1997 at 9:00  A.M.  in the
     Sovereign Lord.                                                                                                                       Mike and Kathy, Kris,  Matt, Marc
                                                                 Grandville Protestant Reformed Church, Grandville,
           In response to Miss Lubbers' desire to retire                                                                       Sz:      Joel and Ellen Bruinooge
                                                                 Michigan.
     from active involvement in teaching and adminis-                                                                                      Heather, Derek, Kyle
                                                                         The Pre-Synodical Service will be held on
trating at the close of this school year, a day of               Monday evening, June 9, at  7:30                              %  Charles Kregel, Jr.
                                                                                                         P.M.  Rev. James
     recognition is being planned, D.V., May 30, which           Slopsema, president of the 1996 Synod, will preach            %        David and Mary Kregel
will include among other activities, an open house               the sermon.  Synodical  delegates are requested to                        Bradley (in glory), Lisa, Brent, Jason,
     at the high school starting at 4:00 which will culmi-       meet with the Consistory before the service.                                                                 Ryan, Emily
     nate with a special program beginning at 7:O0.                      Delegates in need of lodging should contact           Sz:      Andrew and Laura  Nickle
          Our prayer for Miss Lubbers as she concludes           Mr. Cornelius Jonker, 4639 Ju-Le-On Dr. SW.,
     her labors at the high school is found in Ruth  2:12:                                                                                 Drew
                                                                 Grand Rapids, MI. Phone: (616) 453-1247.
     "The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward                                                                                                                  Byron Center. Michigan
                                                                                                           Consistory of
     be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose                                                                               There will be an Open House Saturday, May
wingsthou art come to trust."                                                                  Grandville PR Church            31, 1997, from 2-4  P.M.  at the home of David and
                                             Walker, Michigan                           Mr. Cornelius Jonker. Clerk.           Mary Kregel.


     384/Standard Bearer/May 15,1997


