                     The
                   Standard
A Reformed         Bearer
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                    PRC Synod 1997


Vol. 73, No. 18
July, 1997


CONTENTS:                                                                                            July, 1997                                                 The
                                                                                                                                                         Standard
Meditation -- Rev. James D. Slopsema
      Witnesses of Jesus ......................................................................................411                                           Bearer
Editorial -- Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                               ISSN 0362-4692
      PRC Synod 1997 ...........................................................................................414
                                                                                                                                  Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
Letters ...................................................................................................................418
                                                                                                                                  Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
Ministering to the Saints -- Prof. Robert D. Decker                                                                                4949 Ivanrest Ave., Grandville, MI  49418.  Periodical Postage
                                                                                                                                  Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
      Called to Rule the Officebearers ............................................................419
In His Fear -- Rev. Arie denHartog                                                                                                 Postmaster:  Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                                  P.O. Box 603, Grandville, MI  49468-0603.
      Seek Ye First the Kingdom of Heaven
                                                                                                                                  EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
             and Its Righteousness (2) ..................................................................421
                                                                                                                                  Editor:  Prof. David J. Engelsma (e-mail:  dje@iserv.net)
A Cloud of Witnesses -- Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                      Secretary:  Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                                  Managing Editor:  Mr. Don Doezema
      George Martin Ophoff:  Humble Servant of the Truth (3) .............424
All Around Us -- Rev. Gise J. VanBaren ......................................................... 426                               DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                                                  Rev. W. Bruinsma, Rev. A. Brummel, Rev. R. Cammenga,
Book Review.........................................................................................................428           Prof. R. Decker, Rev. A. denHartog, Rev. M. Dick, Prof. H.
Report of Classis East -- Mr. Jon J. Huisken ..................................................429                                 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 ....................................430                                              Rev. T. Miersma, Mr. G. Schipper, Rev. G. VanBaren, Rev. R.
                                                                                                                                  VanOverloop, Mr. B. Wigger, Rev. B. Woudenberg.
   In This Issue ...                                                                                                              EDITORIAL OFFICE              CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer           Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                                                                  4949 Ivanrest                 6597  40th Ave.
                                                                                                                                  Grandville, MI  49418         Hudsonville, MI  49426
      ...  is  a  report  of  the  1997  synod  of  the  Protestant  Reformed  Churches                                           BUSINESS OFFICE               NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
(PRC) in words and pictures.  Synod finished its business late in the after-                                                      The Standard Bearer           The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                                  Don Doezema                   c/o B. VanHerk
noon on Wednesday, June 18.  This broadest assembly of the PRC met for                                                            P.O. Box 603                  66 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                                  Grandville, MI                Wainuiomata, New Zealand
seven days.
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      The editorial gives some of the more important actions and decisions.                                                       PH:  (616) 531-1490           UNITED KINGDOM OFFICE
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The full account will appear in the printed "Acts."  Copies of the "Acts of                                                       FAX:  (616) 531-3033          164 Church Rd., Glenwherry
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Synod and Yearbook 1997 of the PRC in America" will be made available to
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all  members  of  the  churches  later  this  summer.    It  is  responsible  church                                              EDITORIAL POLICY
                                                                                                                                  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
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                                                                                                                                  articles.  Contributions of general interest from our readers and
others.  Order from the Office of the Stated Clerk, 4949 Ivanrest Ave. S.W.,                                                      questions for The Reader Asks department are welcome.
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      The meditation in this issue is a printed copy of the sermon preached at                                                    Copy deadlines are the first and fifteenth of the month.  All
the pre-synodical worship service the evening before the convening of synod.                                                      communications relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                                                                  editorial office.
As is the custom, the preacher was the president of the previous synod.
      Synod declared the three graduates of the Theological School of the PRC                                                     REPRINT POLICY
                                                                                                                                  Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles in our
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410/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


  Meditation                                                                                 Rev. James Slopsema



                             Witnesses of Jesus

                                                  As we consider these words we          of those who bear witness, i.e., who
                                              must bear in mind several things.          bring  a  testimony  of  what  they
    But ye shall receive power, after
                                                  First,  these  words  apply  not       have seen or know to be true.  In
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:
                                              just to the apostles but to the whole      this sense we are forbidden in the
and ye shall be witnesses unto me both
                                              church.  Often in the New Testa-           9th  commandment  to  bear  false
in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
                                              ment  the  apostles  represent  the        witness against our neighbor.
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part
                                              church of the New Testament era.               Sometimes when we speak of
of the earth.
                                              This is the case also here.  Notice        witnesses  we  emphasize  both  of
                                 Acts 1:8
                                              that Jesus speaks of being His wit-        these ideas.  Think of a witness in
                                              nesses to the uttermost part of the        court.    He  has  seen  something.
                                              earth.  This is something that the         Now he must testify about what he
These words were spoken by
          Jesus  to  the  eleven  apostles
                                              apostles alone could not do.  It is        knows to be true.
          just before His ascension into
                                              the church of the New Testament                When  Jesus  identifies  the
heaven.
                                              that is His witnesses unto the ends        church  and  her  members  as  His
    Jesus  had  trained  these  men
                                              of the earth.                              witnesses,  He  means  that  the
during  his  brief  earthly  ministry.
                                                  Second,  Jesus  indicates  what        church is a witness in both senses.
Now it was time for Jesus to  de-
                                              the church is.  Through the power          She has  not only been witness to
part  from  them  into  heaven.    He
                                              of the Holy Spirit which she would         something;    she  also  has  a  testi-
had  offered  Himself  on  the  cross
                                              receive,  she  would  become  wit-         mony to bring.  But the emphasis
as the perfect sacrifice of sin to se-
                                              nesses of Jesus.  This implies a call-     is on the latter.
cure  the  salvation  of  the  church.
                                              ing for the church.  She must mani-            The  church  and  her  members
On  the  third  day  He  had  been
                                              fest  herself  to  be  what  Jesus  has    are certainly witnesses of Jesus in
raised  from  the  dead.    Now,  40
                                              made her to be through the Holy            that they have knowledge of Jesus
days later, it was time to depart to
                                              Spirit -- witnesses of Jesus.               and His works.
be exalted into heavenly glory and
                                                  Finally,  Synod  must  do  its
there continue His work as Media-
                                              work in the awareness of what the
tor of the church.
                                              church is and what her calling is.
    As He was about to depart (He
                                              The Protestant Reformed Churches
was  with  His  disciples  on  the
                                              are also witnesses of Jesus through
Mount  of  Olives),  Jesus  gave  the
                                              the power of the Spirit.  The Synod
eleven these final words of instruc-
                                              must make decisions that will pro-
tion.  The Holy Spirit would come
                                              mote this very important work of
upon them and they would receive
                                              our churches.
power.  In the power of the Holy
Spirit they would be witnesses of
                                                         * * * * * * * * * *
Him beginning in Jerusalem, then
                                                  What is a witness?
in Judea, into Samaria, and finally
                                                  The Bible speaks of witness in
unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the
                                              two different senses. Sometimes it
earth.
                                              speaks  of  those  who  witness  an
                                              event, see something happen with
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of First Prot-        their  own  eyes,  have  firsthand
estant    Reformed   Church  in  Grand        knowledge of something.   In  this
Rapids, Michigan.                             sense Timothy  made a  good  pro-
    This is the text of the pre-synodi-       fession  before  many  witnesses  (I
cal sermon preached on June 9, 1997.          Tim.  6:12).  The  Bible  speaks  also          Rev. Slopsema, Prof. Decker

                                                                                                    July, 1997/Standard Bearer/411


                                                                                      nesses  of  Jesus.    This  is  evident
                                                                                      from a quick perusal of the agenda
                                                                                      of synod.  The bulk of the agenda
                                                                                      for synod deals with our seminary,
                                                                                      our mission work, and our contact
                                                                                      with other churches.  These are all
                                                                                      directly  related  to  our  calling  as
                                                                                      church  to  be  witnesses  of  Jesus.
                                                                                      Our  mission  work  as  churches  is
             Examination of Seminarians VanderWal, Kleyn, and Laning                  an integral part of our witness as
                                                                                      churches.  Our seminary is vital for
    This was true of the apostles.         pel.  Also the members of the early        our  churches  to  bring  a  witness.
They  were  eyewitnesses  of  Jesus'       churches  bore  witness  to  Jesus.        Our  contact  with  other  churches
ministry,  His  death,  resurrection,      One  outstanding  example  is  the         serves  the  purpose  of  assisting
and  exaltation.    Peter  makes  that     members  of  the  church  of               other  churches  and  of  being  as-
clear to Cornelius, the Roman cen-         Thessalonica.  From them sounded           sisted in our calling to witness.
turion, in Acts 10:39-41, "And we          forth        (echoed)     throughout           There  are  several  other  items
are  witnesses  of  all  things  which     Macedonian and Achaia the word             that take less space in the agenda,
he did both in the land of the Jews,       of the Lord they had received from         but which are also directly related
and in Jerusalem...."                      Paul.  This was an essential element       to the calling of our churches to be
    In  a  certain  sense,  also  the      in the witness of the church.  With-       witnesses of Jesus.  This includes
church  of  today  is  a  witness  of      out this the church of the apostles        our catechism program, Psalter dis-
Jesus and His works of salvation.          would not have been effective wit-         tribution,  and  even  the  financial
Yes, the great works of Jesus took         nesses of Jesus.                           matters  relating  to  the  Emeritus
place  long  ago,  before  we  were            This witness of the church con-        Fund, Student Aid Fund, and sub-
ever born.  Nevertheless, all these        tinues to the end of time.                 sidy for needy churches.
works  have  been  infallibly  re-             The Lord left the church on the            Let  the  synod  do  its  work  in
corded for us by divine inspiration        earth to be witnesses of Him unto          the awareness of this so that deci-
in Holy Scripture.   The Scriptures        the uttermost part of the earth.  The      sions are made that will promote
are a complete and faithful record         church of the apostles was able to         the  great  work  given  to  our
of  all  that  Jesus  came  to  do  and    bring the witness of Jesus to only a       churches  of  being  witnesses  of
teach.  Those who know the Scrip-          small part of the earth.  It will take     Jesus.
tures are just as much witnesses of        the church until the end of time to
Jesus'  works  as  whose  who  saw         complete  this  work.    Hence,  the                  * * * * * * * * * *
and heard Him with their own eyes          church of every age, also this age,            Ye  shall  receive  power,  after
and ears.                                  has a great calling to be witnesses        that the Holy Spirit is come upon
    The  church  and  her  members         of Jesus.                                  you.
are witnesses of  Jesus also in the            This  great  work  involves  the
sense  that  they  bear  witness,  tell    whole church and all her members.
others of what they have come to           To be effective witnesses of Jesus
know of Jesus.                             requires that the church preach the
    This  was  true  of  the  church       truth of Scripture both in her own
during the apostolic era.  Immedi-         midst and on the mission field.  To
ately  after  Pentecost,  "with  great     be effective witnesses of Jesus also
power gave the apostles witness of         requires  that  the  members  of  the
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus"        church bring a clear testimony of
(Acts  4:33).    This  witness  of  the    the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.    They
apostles began in Jerusalem, spread        must do this in their homes to the
to  Judea,  then  Samaria  and  Gali-      covenant  children  God  gives  the
lee, and finally throughout the Ro-        church.  They must do this in the
man empire.                                community  in  which  God  places
    The  witness  of  the  apostolic       them.  Should the church fail in any
church was also the witness of her         aspect of this work, she fails in her
members.    It  was  not  just  the        calling as witness of Jesus.
apostles  that  had  knowledge  of             The work of synod is directly
Jesus and who bore witness of Him          related to the calling of the Protes-
in the official preaching of the gos-                                                   Rev. Koole, Missionary Miersma
                                           tant Reformed Churches to be wit-

412/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


    Jesus'  promise  that  the  Holy
Spirit  would  come  upon  the
apostles  and  church  must  be  un-
derstood  in  light  of  the  promise
God made to the church of the Old
Testament  to  pour  out  the  Spirit
upon all flesh (Joel 2:28, 29).
    In the Old Testament the Spirit
of God operated in the hearts and
lives of God's people to bring them
the salvation of God.  However, He
did so only in small measure.  And
He operated only in one small na-                               Grandville (MI) PRC, site of Synod 1997
tion -- Israel.  The reason for this
was  that  the  Christ  had  not  yet       speech  on  Pentecost  in  Acts  2  to     fearless in her work, not concerned
come  to  obtain  the  salvation  of        see how this was true.                     about  the  world's  opinion  and
God's people through the one great              Besides, the Spirit empowered          evaluation but about the approval
sacrifice  of  the  cross.    There  was    the church to bring a testimony of         of Jesus, who has commanded the
only the promise of these things.           Jesus  to  the  people.    The  Holy       church to be His witnesses.
    Nevertheless  God  promised             Spirit  guided the apostles in their
that  there  would  be  a  day  when        preaching  (I  Cor  2:4),  gave  them                 * * * * * * * * * *
the  Spirit  would  be  poured  out         great  zeal  to  speak  the  gospel  of
upon  all  flesh.    There  would  be       Christ (Acts 4:20), gave them great            The result of this witness of the
given the full measure of the Spirit        boldness to speak in the face of per-      church  is  the  gathering  in  of  the
to bestow the full measure of God's         secution (Acts 4:31), and gave them        church.
blessings  and  salvation.    This          what to say as they were hailed be-            God  has  eternally  chosen  a
would come not just to Israel but           fore rulers (Matt 10:18, 19).              church to Himself in Jesus Christ.
to the nations.                                 And the Holy Spirit so empow-          This  church  He  has  ordained  to
    Now, when Jesus speaks here             ers  the  church  today.    The  Spirit    eternal life.  In the Old Testament
to the apostles of the coming of the        works in the hearts and lives of ev-       this church was limited to the Jew-
Holy Spirit, He is referring the ful-       ery  true  member  of  the  church.        ish nation.  In the New Testament
fillment of that promise.  This ful-        Graciously  He  leads  them  to  un-       this church is found among the na-
fillment took place just 10 days af-        derstand  the  Scriptures.    He  also     tions.
ter this, on the Jewish day of Pen-         guides pastors in their preaching,             God will bring this elect num-
tecost (cf. Acts 2).                        works  great  zeal  in  all  the  mem-     ber to faith and salvation through
    According to Jesus the apostles         bers to speak the Word, and gives          the witness of His church on earth.
and church would receive power af-          boldness to speak in the face of op-       As we have seen, this witness cen-
ter that the Holy Spirit had come           position.                                  ters in the official preaching of the
upon them.                                      So the church must pray for the        gospel.  But this witness includes
    The idea is that the Holy Spirit        Holy Spirit that she may be faith-         the  godly,  daily  witness  of  her
that would come upon the church             ful and clear witnesses of Jesus.          members in the home and commu-
would empower her and her mem-                  The synod must also pray for           nity.
bers  to  be  faithful  witnesses  of       the  leading  of  the  Spirit  in  her         What a glorious privilege God
Jesus throughout the ages.                  work.    She  must  pray  for insight      has given to the church!
    We  see  from  the  New  Testa-         into the Word of God, which is the             The gathering of the church is
ment Scriptures how this was the            sole  guide  for  the  church  as  she     God's great work in history.
case for the church of the apostles.        bears witness of Jesus.  In that con-          God has seen fit to use our wit-
    First, the Spirit enlightened the       nection,  the  Spirit  has  given  the     ness of His Son, Jesus Christ, to ac-
church  to  be  witnesses  of  Jesus.       church  down  through  the  ages           complish this work.         Let  us  see
The  apostles  had  seen  the  works        much  insight  into  God's  Word.          the  great  distinction  that  is  ours
of Jesus and heard His teachings.           The fruit of this is found in the Re-      and be busy in this glorious work
But they did not understand.  They          formed creeds and Church Order.            both as churches and as synod.   u
did not even understand the pur-            The  synod  must  be  careful  to  do
pose of Jesus' death and resurrec-          her work in the framework of that
tion.    But  when  the  Spirit  was        wisdom and insight.  Finally, the
poured out on Pentecost, suddenly           synod must pray for the power of
all  is  made  plain.    Read  Peter's      the Spirit to be zealous, bold, and

                                                                                                  July, 1997/Standard Bearer/413


  Editorial


                                  PRC Synod 1997

The spacious, comfortable ters on the agenda was the oral ex-
          church  building  of  the         amination  of  senior  seminarians
          Grandville  Protestant  Re-       Daniel  Kleyn,  James  Laning,  and
formed  Church in Grandville, MI            Martin  Vander  Wal.    The  three
was the site of the 1997 synod of           preached before synod on Tuesday
the Protestant Reformed Churches            of the first week of synod on texts
(PRC).    Synod  lasted  seven  days,       assigned them earlier.  The whole
from  Tuesday,  June  10,  through          of Wednesday was taken up with
Wednesday, June 18.  Three days             examination  in  dogmatics.    On
were devoted to the oral examina-           Thursday, they were examined in
tion of three graduating seniors of         church history; church polity; New
the Theological School of the PRC.          Testament history; Old Testament
The  20  delegates  from  the  two          history; and matters of their own
classes  of  the  denomination  fin-        life  and  calling.    In  addition,  the
ished all the other business of the         seminarians turned in written ex-
100-page agenda in four days.               egesis  on  assigned  Hebrew  and                      Rev. Dale Kuiper
    In  the  pre-synodical  worship         Greek passages of Scripture.                      chairs graduation program
service  on  Monday  evening,  Rev.             Synod approved the examina-
James Slopsema preached on Acts             tion  and  declared  the  three  men         of the Southwest PRC.  Prof. Rob-
1:8, "... and ye shall be witnesses           candidates for the ministry of the           ert Decker gave a stirring address
unto me...."                                  Word and Sacraments in the PRC.              on the topic, "The Reformed Pas-
    The officers of synod were Rev.         They are eligible for a call on July         tor:  A Biblical Profile."  In addi-
Kenneth  Koole,  president;  Rev.           12, 1997.                                    tion to the three who aspire to the
Ronald  Van  Overloop,  vice-presi-             Graduation  exercises,  under            ministry in the PRC, Darren Thole
dent;  Rev.  Barrett  Gritters,  first      the  auspices  of  the  Theological          graduated.    Mr.  Thole  intends  to
clerk; and Rev. Steven Key, second          School Committee of the PRC, were            enter the ministry in the Orthodox
clerk.                                      held on Monday evening, June 16.             Presbyterian Church.
                                            The  families  and  friends  of  the             Other decisions regarding the
Seminary                                    graduates and many supporters of             Theological  School  included
    One of the most important mat-          the seminary filled the auditorium           synod's approval of the admission
                                                                                                      of three men in the fall
                                                                                                      of  1997.    Two  come
                                                                                                      from Covenant Protes-
                                                                                                      tant Reformed Church
                                                                                                      in  Northern  Ireland;
                                                                                                      the  other,  from  the
                                                                                                      Evangelical  Presbyte-
                                                                                                      rian Church of Austra-
                                                                                                      lia.  A fourth, from the
                                                                                                      "Bond "  of  the  Her-
                                                                                                      vormde  Kerk   in  the
                                                                                                      Netherlands, had been
                                                                                                      admitted to the semi-
                                                                                                      nary in the 1997 school
                                                                                                      year by decision of the
                                                                                                      synod  of  1996.    A
                                          Dogmatics exam

414/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


                                                                                      port  a  minister  that  the  PRCNZ
                                                                                      might call.  Out of concern for the
                                                                                      spiritual welfare of the saints in the
                                                                                      New  Zealand  church,  synod  ad-
                                                                                      vised the New Zealand congrega-
                                                                                      tion seriously to consider disband-
                                                                                      ing.  A main ground was the very
                                                                                      small size of the church.
                                                                                          Following the recommendation
                                                                                      of the CC, synod extended the term
                                                                                      of Rev. Jay Kortering as minister-
                                                                                      on-loan  to  the  Evangelical  Re-
                                                                                      formed  Churches  of  Singapore
                     Prof. Engelsma presents the graduates                            (ERCS) for five years.  The ERCS
                                                                                      have  requested  this,  and  Rev.
                                                                                      Kortering is willing.  Both the ERCS
number of men from the Heritage            eternal justification."  A major bar-      and Rev. Kortering are convinced
Netherlands Reformed denomina-             rier  to  ecumenical  relationship  is     that there is much work for him in
tion will again take several courses       the position of the EPCA that "pu-         Singapore  and  environs.    Specifi-
at the seminary this coming year.          rity  of  worship"  condemns  such         cally, he will work at "the contin-
    In  response  to  information  in      practices of the PRC as the use of         ued  development  of  the  ERCS  as
the rector's report that no one from       instrumental  accompaniment  of            Reformed  churches;  theological
the PRC  is entering the seminary          congregational singing, observance         training of future ministers for the
this fall, synod urged consistories        of Christmas, and the presence of          ERCS  as  well  as  other  churches;
to bring the need for men for the          crosses in and on the church build-        and assisting the ERCS in their mis-
ministry  to  the  attention  of  their    ings as sin against the second com-        sion work."
congregations.  There will be three        mandment.  For this reason, synod              Synod authorized collections in
men  from  the  PRC  in  the  school       authorized  the  CC  to  set  up  an-      the PRC for the support of foreign
this coming year, one in each of the       other conference with the EPCA on          students (from Myanmar, the Phil-
last three years of training.              the subject of biblically regulated        ippines, and other places) who will
                                           worship.                                   study in the Bible School that is be-
Contact with Other Churches                    The EPCA will be sending an-           ing  set  up  by  the  ERCS  in
    Synod  heard  an  encouraging          other man to the PR Seminary for           Singapore.  A  minister or profes-
report from its Committee for Con-         training  in  a  three-year  program.      sor  from  the  PRC  will  visit
tact with Other Churches (CC) con-         The PRC will help in the financial         Singapore this fall to help with the
cerning  a  conference  with  the          support of this man in the amount          work.
Evangelical Presbyterian Church of         of $6,000 per year.                            Again  in  1997,  the  PRC  will
Australia (EPCA).  The conference              In response to information con-        send  observers  to  the  meeting  of
was held in Launceston, Tasmania           cerning the condition of the Prot-         NAPARC (North American Presby-
in January, 1997.  Synod expressed         estant  Reformed  Church  of  New          terian and Reformed Council).  The
its desire to continue to seek closer      Zealand (PRCNZ), synod discour-            meeting will be in Atlanta, GA.
fellowship with the EPCA because           aged  this  sister  church  from  call-
of  the  agreement  in  doctrine  and      ing  a  minister.    The  PRC  in          Missions
life  between  the  two  denomina-         America  will  not  financially  sup-          The Foreign Mission Commit-
tions,  particularly  as  regards  the
gospel  of  salvation  by  sovereign,
particular  grace.    Nevertheless,
synod rejected the advice of the CC
to  establish  "a  less  complete  fra-
ternal relationship" with the EPCA
under the constitution of the CC.
The ground was that there are "sig-
nificant  doctrinal  differences  be-
tween us, particularly ... the mat-
ters of marriage, divorce, and re-
marriage; the EPC's interpretation
of  the  regulative  principle;  and                                  Advisory committee at work

                                                                                                  July, 1997/Standard Bearer/415


tee (FMC) reported that the Hull,                                                  another missionary from the PRC
IA PRC continues to call a mission-                                                in  the  United  Kingdom.    Follow-
ary to Ghana, Africa.                                                              ing the advice of the DMC, synod
    Synod heard a positive report                                                  decided against this for the present.
from  Rev.  Jay  Kortering  concern-                                               It  instructed  the  DMC  to  pursue
ing  contacts  in  the  Philippines.                                               contacts in other ways and periodi-
Rev.  and  Mrs.  Kortering  spent  a                                               cally to send a man to the British
week in the Philippines at the end                                                 Isles to help in the work.
of April and the beginning of May,                                                        The PRC are committed to help
1997  at  the  request  of  the  FMC.                                              in the financial support of the two
Rev.  Kortering  concluded  his  re-                                               students  from  the  CPRCNI  who
port to the FMC with the words, "I                                                 will study  at  the  PR  Seminary  in
trust  that  God  will  inspire  your                                              the amount of $21,000 per year.
committee and the PRC to take up                                                          Synod  received  a  warm  letter
this work in the Philippines."  The                                                of greeting from the CPRCNI over
FMC  spoke  of  a  "great  opportu-                                                the signature of clerk John Clarke:
nity" in the Philippines.  Synod ap-
proved sending a committee to the                                                       We rejoice that since the last meet-
Philippines before June, 1998.  This                                                    ing  of  Synod  we  have  been
visit will include a conference with                                                    organised as a true church of Jesus
several pastors and church leaders.                                                     Christ  on  earth.    Since  our
    The Domestic Mission Commit-                                                        organisation  we  have  been  con-
                                                                                        scious of God's blessing upon us
tee (DMC) recommended calling a                                                         and are enjoying the benefits that
second home missionary, to work                                                         church  membership  brings.    The
in the eastern United States.  Synod                                                    preaching  and  teaching  of  Rev.
rejected  this  recommendation.    It                                                   Hanko  is  highly  esteemed  by  us
instructed  the  DMC  to  use  the                                                      all, as is the support and encour-
present home missionary for work                                                        agement  given  by  his  wife  and
that needs to be done in the east-             Rev. Kenneth Koole presides              family.   It is a privilege to have
ern United States.  It recalled the                                                     them live amongst us.  We would
decision of the synod of 1994, that                                                     again like to express our gratitude
                                           nation honors the principle of unity         to  the  PRC  and  in  particular
the home missionary is not to work         that is embodied in the federation.          Hudsonville PRC and the Mission
only in Colorado but also in other             There  are  many  contacts  and          Committee  for  all  their  faithful
areas.  The report of the DMC con-         opportunities  for  preaching                labours.  So much of what we seek
cerning work in the San Luis Val-          throughout the British Isles.  Mis-          to do by means of outreach would
ley  in  Colorado  informed  synod         sionary Ronald Hanko is energeti-            not be possible without your help.
that  "numerical  growth  has  been                                                     We  desire  the  closest  possible
                                           cally  developing  these  contacts.
minimal."                                                                               bond  between  our  church  and
                                           The British Reformed  Fellowship,
    The  PRC  learned  from  their                                                      your  churches  and  hope  that
                                           an organized group in the United
DMC that there was fruit on their                                                       Synod  will  accept  the  proposals
                                           Kingdom, have asked the DMC for              for  future  relationships  that  we
missions  in  Northern  Ireland  in
that a church was organized.  The
congregation is the Covenant Prot-
estant Reformed Church in North-
ern Ireland (CPRCNI).  The date of
organization  was  July  24,  1996.
Synod  disapproved  the  proposal
that the CPRCNI enter into an "in-
terim  relationship"  with  the
Hudsonville, MI PRC.  Rather, the
recommendation of synod was that
the CPRCNI work toward the es-
tablishment  of  sister-church  rela-
tionship  with  the  PRC.    A  sister-
church  relationship  expresses  the
unity of the church.  Such a rela-
tionship with the entire PR denomi-                                     Coffee break

416/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


  have  submitted.    Our  prayer  is          annually  to  the
  that God will bless you in all your          Emeritus Fund of
  labours and give you much wis-               the  churches  an
  dom  in  the  decisions  that  you           amount  equal  to
  make.                                        what  otherwise
                                               would be paid in
Emeritation                                    FICA  taxes  (the
    Significant  decisions  were               employer's  por-
taken  regarding  the  churches'  fi-          tion).
nancial support of "retired" minis-
ters (emeritation).  Synod decided           This  decision  indi-
that the net assets of emeriti min-          cates that the occa-
isters or their widows be used to            sion  for  the  recent
determine  their  income  and  be            synodical  concern
used  for  their  support.   The  por-       over money to fund
tion of the assets to be used will be        emeritation  is  the
determined  by  the  supervising             fact that many min-
consistory and the Emeritus Com-             isters do not partici-
mittee.    Synod  rejected  the  over-       pate  in  the  Social
ture  of  the  council  of  the  South-      Security program.
                                                                                       Revs. Gritters, Key, and Terpstra
west PRC, to rescind the decision                That part of the
in Article 70, B. 2 of the "Acts of          overture  of  South-
                                                             west  that  asked  for          anniversary of the churches in A.D.
                                                             a synodical commit-             2000,  the  Lord  willing.    The  cel-
                                                             tee "to study the ad-           ebration will be held at Calvin Col-
                                                             visability  of  invest-         lege, June 19 - 23, 2000.   The theme
                                                             ing a portion of the            will be, "Living Out of Our Heri-
                                                             Emeritation Fund in             tage."
                                                             mutual  funds"  was                 The  budget  for  1998  will  be
                                                             adopted.  Synod ap-             $665 per family.  This is an increase
                                                             pointed yet another             over 1997 of $15.
                                                             committee  to  study                Hope  PRC,  Walker,  MI  is  the
                                                             the entire matter of            calling  church  for  the  synod  of
                                                             support  of  emeriti            1998.
                                                             ministers.                          May the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
                                                                    G r a t e f u l l y ,    who  guided  the  synod  according
                                                             synod  accepted  a              to Christ's promise and in answer
             Elders L. Lubbers, F. Tolsma                    gift of $40,000 from            to our prayers, make the decisions
                                                             the  estate  of  Mr.            fruitful  unto  the  gathering  and
                                                             Henry  Koster.    The           preservation of Christ's church.   u
Synod, 1995."  This decision urged           money  was  depos-                                                              -- DJE
all  the  churches  "to  insure  that        ited in the Emeritus
their pastors have a retirement pro-         Fund.
gram."  The ground for the rejec-
tion of the overture was that "the           Other Decisions
decision of 1995, Art. 70, B. 2, calls           Synod  approved
the churches to face the calling of          a  number  of  correc-
the churches to exercise legitimate          tions,  mostly  capi-
stewardship and foresight in the is-         talization and punc-
sues of the retirement of our pas-           tuation, in the forms
tors."  Synod 1997 went on to                in  the  back  of  The
                                             Psalter .    These  are
  instruct those churches whose pas-         made with a view to
  tors are not in the Social Security        reprinting         The
  system and who are not contrib-            Psalter.
  uting  a  reasonable  amount  (at              There  will  be  a
  least $2,000) to a retirement pro-         denominational  cel-
  gram for their pastors, to forward         ebration  of  the  75th                 Elder Ondersma, Rev. VanOverloop

                                                                                                        July, 1997/Standard Bearer/417


               1997 Candidates





                                                                                     James Allen Laning
                                                         Age:   34
                                                         Wife's Name:  Margaret
                                                         Children:  Benjamin, Heather, Peter, Amy, Michael
                                                         Membership:  Hope PRC, Walker, MI
                                                         Internship:  Southwest PRC, Grandville, MI
                                                         College:  University of Illinois, Champaign, IL
                                                         Contact:
                                                              709 Burns S.W.
                                                              Grand Rapids, MI  49509
                                                              (616) 246-6489
                 Daniel Kleyn
Age:   30
Wife's Name:  Sharon Kay
Membership:  Hope PRC, Walker, MI
                                                                                                              Martin L. VanderWal
Internship:  South Holland PRC,
                                                                                                            Age:   32
                            South Holland, IL
                                                                                                            Wife's Name:  Tricia
Colleges:
                                                                                                            Daughter:  Catherine Joy
         University of Tasmania,
                                                                                                            Membership:  Southwest
                Hobart,Tasmania, Australia
                                                                                                                  PRC, Grandville, MI
         Grand Valley State University,
                                                                                                            Internship:  First PRC,
                           Allendale, MI, USA
                                                                                                                             Holland, MI
Contact:
                                                                                                            College:  Calvin College,
         3818 Michael S.W.
                                                                                                                           Grand Rapids.
         Wyoming, MI  49509
                                                                                                            Contact:
         (616) 538-8992
                                                                                                                 113 W. Central
or:
                                                                                                                 Zeeland, MI  49464
         7 Lislunnan Road
         Kells, Ballymena, Co. Antrim                                                                            (616) 748-9447
         BT42 3NR, Northern Ireland
         011-441-266-891-851



  Letters

s Seeing the Errors
in Dispensationalism
                                                   cent issues of the Standard Bearer.       Would  you  send  the  Standard
I am  a  premillennial  dispensa- I learned a lot of truths from the Bearer also to these pastors...?
         tionalist.    I  studied  in  a  Bible    articles.  And now I am beginning                           (Pastor) P.B. Tanierla
school that upholds it.  I thank God               to  see  a  number  of  errors  in                               Camarines Norte
for  the  editorials,  "A  Defense  of             dispensationalism.  Please continue                                   The Philippines
(Reformed) Amillennialism," in re-                 sending  the  Standard  Bearer.

418/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


  Ministering to the Saints                                                                     Prof. Robert Decker





 Called to Rule the Officebearers

Not only are the elders of 3.Does he regularly conduct the the minister as regards the duties
         God's church called to rule          catechism  classes,  visit  the  sick      of  his office.
         the congregation, they are           faithfully,  and does he  take part            The elders are to see to it that
also called to rule the officebearers         in family visitation?                      the minister preaches and admin-
of the congregation.  This is clearly         4.Does the minister reveal himself
                                              as a worthy example?                       isters the sacraments faithfully ac-
stipulated by  The Church Order  of           5.Is he devoted as much as pos-            cording to Scripture and the con-
the  Protestant  Reformed  Churches.          sible to the exercise of his office?1      fessions and the Church Order.  Be-
Article 23 reads, "The office of the                                                     cause catechetical instruction is an
elders, in addition to what was said            There are also in these "Ques-           aspect  of  the  preaching  of  the
in  Article  16  to  be  their  duty  in    tions" several which are put to the          Word,  also  this  aspect  of  the
common  with  the  minister  of  the        minister and elders concerning the           minister's work must be supervised
Word, is to take heed that the min-         work of the deacons,                         by the elders.  If the elders are to
isters,  together  with  their  fellow-                                                  do this they must regularly visit the
elders and the deacons, faithfully            1.Do the deacons attend regularly          catechism  classes.    One  visit  per
discharge their office...."  And Ar-            the services for divine worship as         catechism  season  is not  sufficient
ticle 81 of the Church Order states           well  as  the  consistory  meetings;       to determine if the minister is faith-
that  "The  ministers  of  the  Word,         and  in  case  such  meetings  are         fully carrying out this part of his
elders, and deacons shall before the          held, do they attend the deacons'          office.    The  elders  ought  to  visit
celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper          meetings?
                                              2.Are they diligent in the collect-        each  class  at  least  three  or  four
exercise  Christian  censure  among           ing of the alms and do they faith-         times during the course of the sea-
themselves, and in a friendly spirit          fully  realize  their  calling  in  the    son.  They ought to encourage the
admonish one another with regard              care and comfort of the poor and           minister in this work.  If the minis-
to  the  discharge  of  their  office."       oppressed?                                 ter is unfaithful in this work, the
Among the "Questions for Church               3.Are  the  collections  counted  in       elders must admonish him.  Regu-
Visitation"  are  several  which  are         the presence of the minister or one        lar visiting of the classes, we might
directed  to  the  elders  and  which         or more of the elders?                     add,  enables  the  elders  to  deter-
cover all aspects of the minister's           4.Do they administer the finances          mine  whether  the  children  are
office.  The elders are asked,                wisely,  in  consultation  with  the
                                              minister and the consistory?               learning  their  lessons  and  behav-
  1.Does the minister in the preach-          5.Do they, in their family and out-        ing in class.
  ing  and  in  the  administration  of       ward life and walk, reveal them-               The elders must make sure that
  the sacraments do his work faith-           selves as exemplary Christians?2           no heresy is preached or taught in
  fully  according  to  the  Word  of                                                    the  church.    They  must  see  to  it
  God, the Forms of Unity, and the              The elders, therefore, are called
  Church Order?                                                                          that  the  minister  diligently  and
  2.Does the minister faithfully ex-        to  take  oversight  of  the  minister.      faithfully  expounds  the  sacred
  plain God's Word so that the con-         The  minister  is  a  member  of  the        Scriptures as it applies to the lives
  gregation is built up through his         congregation, and his life and walk          and  needs  of  God's  people.
  preaching?                                are subject to the rule of the elders.       Preaching must edify, i.e., build up
                                            The elders "have the rule over" the          the  people  of  God.      If  this  is  to
                                            minister just as they "have the rule         happen, the congregation must be
                                            over" any other member of the con-           warned against the false doctrines
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical      gregation (Heb. 13:7, 17).  But, as          which  abound  in  our  day.    They
Theology in the Protestant Reformed         is obvious from the Church Order,            must be instructed in the truth of
Seminary.                                   the elders also "have the rule over"         Scripture, so that, growing in the

                                                                                                     July, 1997/Standard Bearer/419


knowledge of the truth, they grow            the visiting of the sick and taking          churches will be blessed, the truth
in  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus         part in the family visiting.  In the         of the gospel will be faithfully pro-
Christ.   God's people must be ex-           larger  congregations  these  duties         claimed, the cause of God's king-
horted  to  holiness  so  that  they         can  consume  large  amounts  of             dom will be advanced, and God's
grow in sanctification to the glory          time.  Elders must be sensitive to           name will be praised.
of God.  To all of these the elders          this and assist the minister in these            Samuel Miller points to a prac-
must give their attention.                   labors so that he has sufficient time        tice that obtained in the past in vir-
    This means that there ought to           to prepare for the pulpit and cat-           tually all Reformed and Presbyte-
be ongoing discussion among the              echism classes.  These latter must           rian churches.  Whether the prac-
minister and the elders concerning           have priority.                               tice ought to be reinstated in our
the minister's preaching and teach-              Finally, the elders must be cer-         churches is a question we leave to
ing  in  the  congregation.    There         tain that the minister is, in his daily      the reader to ponder.  The practice
must not merely be negative criti-           living,  revealing  himself  to  be  a       is this,
cism  of  the  minister's  preaching,        "worthy example" to the people of
though there has to be this when             God.  The minister will be a wor-              ... that there seems to be a pecu-
necessary.    Rather  there  must  be        thy  example  if  he  is  devoted  as          liar propriety in the Ruling Elders
on the part of the elders positive,          much as possible to the exercise of            ...  having  a  seat  assigned  them,
constructive  criticism,  or,  better,       his office.                                    for sitting together, in a conspicu-
                                                                                            ous part of the Church, near the
critique of the minister's preaching.            The elders are called to rule the          Pulpit, during the public service,
Elders ought to encourage the min-           deacons.    They  must  ascertain              where  they  can  overlook  the
ister in this work which is so cru-          whether the deacons faithfully at-             whole worshipping assembly, and
cial to  the  well-being,  indeed  the       tend the worship services, and the             be seen by all.  The considerations
very life, of the church.  The elders        council  and  deacons'  meetings.              which  recommend  this,  are  nu-
must speak to the minister concern-          The elders must make certain that              merous.    It  was  invariably  so  in
ing the needs of the congregation.           the deacons are diligent in the col-           the Jewish Synagogue.   The same
They  ought  to  help  the  minister         lecting of the alms and faithful in            practice  ...  was  adopted  in  the
discern  and  address  the  weak-            realizing their calling to bring care          early  Church,  as  soon  as  Chris-
                                                                                            tians  began  to  erect  houses  for
nesses  manifest  in  the  congrega-         and  comfort  to  the  poor  and  op-          public worship.  This official and
tion.    Elders  ought  to  assist  the      pressed.  The elders are called to             conspicuous  accommodation  for
minister  in  choosing  his  texts  for      see  to  it  that  the  finances  of  the      the Elders is constantly provided
preaching.  Elders must not hesi-            church are administered wisely by              in  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church
tate to point the minister to his own        the deacons.  They ought to encour-            (this  would  be  the  Reformed
weaknesses  and  help  him  over-            age the deacons in their work.                 Church  in  America  in  the  early
come these.                                      And the elders are exhorted by             19th  century,  RDD)  in  this  coun-
    The  churches  ought  to  retain         the  Lord  through  the  inspired              try, and it is believed by most of
the  practice  of  having  the  elders       apostle to "take heed therefore to             the  Reformed  Churches  on  the
                                                                                            continent of Europe.  It is adapted
shake hands with the minister af-            yourselves,  and  to  all  the  flock,         to keep the congregation habitu-
ter the worship service as an indi-          over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath            ally  reminded  who  their  Elders
cation  of  the  elders'  approval  of       made you overseers, to feed (shep-             are,  and  of  their  official  author-
what  was  just  preached.    This           herd,  RDD)  the  church  of  God,             ity; and also to remind the Elders
ought to be done, not in the back,           which he hath purchased with his               themselves of their functions and
but  in the front of the sanctuary           own blood" (Acts 20:28).  In other             duties.  And it furnishes a conve-
so  that  the  congregation  can  ob-        words, the elders are to rule over             nient  opportunity  for  the  Pastor
serve.  And our churches ought to            themselves and see to it that their            to consult them on any question
reinstate the practice of having one         fellow  elders  faithfully  discharge          which may occur, either before he
                                                                                            ascends the Pulpit, or at the close
of the elders shake the minister's           the duties of their office.                    of the service.3    u
hand before he goes to the pulpit.               Through this office, the office
Both of these practices are indica-          of elder, Christ is pleased to rule
tions and reminders to the congre-           and  govern  His  precious,  blood-          1 The Church Order of the Protestant Re-
gation of the elders' calling to take        bought  church.    What  great  and          formed Churches, pp. 111-112.
oversight  of  the  preaching  of  the       wonderful  things  Christ  accom-
Word and the administration of the           plishes through the faithful elders          2 Ibid , p. 112-113.
sacraments.                                  in  His  church!    Let  all  of  God's
    The elders are called to see to          people  pray  for  the  elders  of  the      3 Samuel Miller, The Ruling Elder (Dal-
it  as  well  that  the  minister  faith-    church that God will give them the           las:  Presbyterian  Heritage  Publica-
fully performs the other aspects of          grace  to  carry  out  the  duties  of       tions, 1984), pp. 214-215.
his office.  Among these duties are          their sacred office.  In this way the

420/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


  In His Fear                                                                                   Rev. Arie denHartog


    Seek Ye First the Kingdom of Heaven
                           and Its Righteousness (2)

                                              with  the  equipment  they  need  to       truth  and  righteousness  of  the
                                              live  in  good  works,  and  they  are     kingdom and is in fact an enemy
When we rightly under-
               stand  the  nature  of  the
               kingdom,  we  can  also        strengthened for the great battle for      of God and of Christ.  Seeking the
rightly understand what it means              the kingdom in their lives.                kingdom involves separating from
to seek the kingdom of heaven and                 The  church  is  central  to  the      the false church and opposing her.
its righteousness.  The most com-             kingdom  of  Christ.    We  may  say           We truly seek the kingdom of
mon errors in understanding  this             that the church is the capital city        Christ when we stand together in
great exhortation of Christ are the           of the kingdom.  This is a wonder-         the  church  with  fellow  believers,
errors that follow from an earthly            ful  thing.    Not  Washington,  not       loving and confessing the truth for
and carnal conception of the king-            Rome, or Paris, or Amsterdam, or           the glory of the name of God.  The
dom.  Many imagine therefore that             London, or any other earthly city          whole reason for standing for the
they are seeking the kingdom when             is the capital of the kingdom.  The        true doctrine of the Word of God
they get themselves involved in the           true church of Jesus Christ is the         is the glory of God and of Christ
great  social  and  political  move-          capital of the glorious kingdom of         the  mighty  and  glorious  Lord  of
ments of the day, such as protest             Christ.  To the  church Christ has         His kingdom.  Few today have any
rallies against the evils of our soci-        given  the  great  commission  of          understanding  or  appreciation  of
ety.   These  will often even go  so          preaching the gospel which is, as          this.    Kingdom  seekers  must  be
far as to condemn the churches that           we  said,  the  great  power  of  the      ready  to  make  all  kinds  of  sacri-
do not get involved in these activi-          kingdom of Christ.                         fices  for  the  sake  of  being  mem-
ties as "do nothing organizations."               Seeking the kingdom therefore          bers  of  the  true  church  of  Jesus
Even ministers of the gospel have             necessarily means that we must be          Christ.  If such a church is not to
followed this error.  They have for-          members  of  the  true  church  of         be  found  in  the  area  where  they
saken their pulpits in church in or-          Jesus  Christ.    No  Christian  who       live,  they  must  move  even  great
der to get involved in politics and           loves the kingdom may have a dis-          distances and at great costs in or-
social action, imagining that  they           regard  for  the  church  of  Jesus        der to be part of this church.  No
will have a greater influence for the         Christ.    Seeking  the  kingdom    is     one who belongs to the true church
cause of the kingdom of Christ by             not  done  by  Christians  individu-       ought  to  move  to  an  area  where
doing  this.    They  are  sadly  mis-        ally, independent from the church,         there is no such church.  Not even
taken.                                        but by Christians as they are mem-         job promotions by large and pres-
    The mighty power of the king-             bers  of  the  church.    We  seek  the    tigious companies, or glorious and
dom  is  the  preaching  of  the  gos-        kingdom when we are living mem-            lucrative careers ought to override
pel.  By the power of this preach-            bers of the true church where the          the great importance for the king-
ing,  the  cause  of  the  kingdom  of        truth of the gospel is preached.  We       dom seeker of belonging to the true
Christ is advanced and the citizens           seek  the  kingdom  when  we  are          church  of  Jesus  Christ.    Young
of  the  kingdom  are  gathered.              ready  to  stand  with  this  church       people, when they choose a college
Through the preaching of the gos-             against the false doctrine and the         or  university  to  attend,  ought  al-
pel the citizens of the kingdom are           false church of our age.  The false        ways  to  make  belonging  to  the
instructed in the righteousness of            church is always much larger than          church  the  great  consideration.
the  kingdom,  they  are  furnished           the true church.  The false church         Not even as a temporary arrange-
                                              is always the most zealous perse-          ment should one move to an area
                                              cutor of the true church.  The false       where he cannot be part of the true
Rev. denHartog is pastor of Hope Prot-        church claims to be the great ad-          church, or where he can continue
estant Reformed Church in Redlands,           vocate  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,      to be so but only with great diffi-
California.                                   when at the same time it denies the        culty.    Seeking  the  kingdom  first

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means always fulfilling our calling         ward  life.    One  can  have  great      They  are  always  ready  to  go  the
as members of the church of Jesus           boasting  about  following  King          second mile.  They love even their
Christ in worshiping God and serv-          Jesus  and  standing  for  His  king-     enemies, blessing those who curse
ing the church and her members.             dom, but when such a person dis-          them  and  praying  for  those  who
Seeking  the  kingdom  first  means         regards the law of righteousness of       despitefully  use  them  and  perse-
that we must set priorities right in        that kingdom and lives a life of un-      cute them.  This is the righteous-
all our life no matter what.  Being         godliness so that he can hardly be        ness of the kingdom.  The citizens
always  part  of  the  true  church  is     distinguished from the world, this        of the kingdom do good  unto all
far more important than going to a          man is deceiving himself.  Such a         men as children of their Father in
prestigious  school  somewhere  far         person is a hypocrite in spite of all     heaven.    This  is  the  perfection
away.                                       his great claim for zeal for the king-    which Christ the King demands of
    Being  part  of  the  true  church      dom.  He is doing the cause of the        the citizens of His kingdom.
will mean that we must be ready             kingdom great harm and giving the             Seeking the kingdom of heaven
to be members of a small and de-            world  occasion  to  blaspheme  the       and its righteousness is the oppo-
spised  organization,  an  organiza-        name of King Jesus.  To seek the          site  of  materialism  and  covetous-
tion  that  is  ridiculed  and  perse-      righteousness  of  the  kingdom  of       ness.  The love of money and the
cuted in the world.  The vast ma-           Christ one must be ready to suffer        desire for the glory and riches of
jority  of  the  ridicule  of  the  true    great loss in the world.  The king-       this world is the chief sin that de-
church  comes  from  the  apostate          doms of this world are character-         stroys in the heart of the child of
church that is many times greater           ized  by  greed,  covetousness,  and      God the purpose to seek the king-
in  number  in  the  world  than  the       corruption of every sort.  When the       dom of heaven first.  No, riches and
true church and boasts of its fame          citizen of the kingdom  refuses  to       material  things  are  not  wrong  in
and glory and power and influence           join the world in its great evil, of-     themselves.  They are good gifts of
in the world.  For the love of the          ten he must suffer great financial        God and must be used to help us
truth and for the glory of the name         loss.  But what does this matter if       seek  the  kingdom.    But  we  must
of  Christ  the  King,  the  kingdom        our hearts are set on the righteous-      pay  attention  to  the  many,  many
seeker  remains  steadfastly  and           ness and glory of the kingdom of          warnings of Scripture against the
zealously  a  member  of  the  true         Christ?                                   great evil of covetousness and the
church of Jesus Christ.                         A great issue of righteousness        love of money which is the root of
    Seeking the kingdom of heaven           in the kingdom of heaven is true          all evil.  The love of money makes
and  its  righteousness  means  that        and genuine love among the citi-          a  man  compromise  on  the  righ-
we stand firm on the righteousness          zens of the kingdom.  The citizens        teousness  of  the  kingdom.    The
of  the  kingdom.    As  regenerated        of the kingdom glorify Christ their       love of money makes a man greedy
children of God we desire to walk           King  and  serve  the  cause  of  the     and self-seeking and self-glorying.
in that righteousness in every area         kingdom in a most wonderful way           The love of money makes men cor-
of our lives.  We seek the kingdom          when they are meek and merciful,          rupt.    The  love  of  money  fills  a
by personally and actively striving         and  when  they  are  ready  to  for-     man's heart with anxiety over the
to live by true spiritual principles        give especially their fellow saints.      things of the world.  This anxiety
of righteousness in our lives.  We          The Beatitudes, which Jesus spoke         soon takes over the great spiritual
seek the kingdom by opposing the            in the Sermon on the Mount, cer-          concern and zeal that ought to oc-
wickedness  and  unrighteousness            tainly bring this out.  Jesus further     cupy  the  hearts  and  souls  of  the
that is in the world, by condemn-           explains  in  the  Sermon  on  the        citizens of the kingdom.  The love
ing it and by separating ourselves          Mount  what  true  love  for  the         of  money  destroys  genuine  spiri-
from it.  Seeking the kingdom in-           neighbor means.  The  Sermon on           tuality.  It has done that for many
volves us in a great spiritual battle       the Mount is not a charter for so-        professing  Christians,  probably
with the ungodliness of this world          cial  concern  and  humanistic  phi-      more  than  anything  else.    The
and a struggle even with our own            losophy.    The  righteousness  of        church must never cease to warn
sinful  nature  that  is  deeply  op-       which it speaks is a spiritual righ-      her  members  of  the  great  evil  of
posed to this kingdom.  More and            teousness that only the regenerated       the love of money.
more in our day immoral life-styles         child of God can practice.                    Seeking the kingdom first must
are being flaunted.  Even profess-              The principles of righteousness       be  evident  in  marriage  and  the
ing Christians imagine that an oc-          of the kingdom mean that we must          Christian  home  and  family.    The
casional  immoral  affair  is  not  all     be ready to bear wrong and to suf-        desire for the kingdom of heaven
that serious.                               fer for Christ's sake.  The citizens      must  control  the  young  man  and
    The righteousness of the king-          of  the  kingdom  do  not  avenge         young woman when they begin to
dom is that of the purity of heart          themselves.    They  turn  the  other     look for a life partner.  One of the
and mind as well as that of our out-        cheek, not rendering evil for evil.       great purposes of marriage is that

422/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


husband and wife might assist each           in that profession.                          Christian home to raise a God-fear-
other  in  their  kingdom  calling.              Many  have  mistakenly  imag-            ing family, such a woman is great
This is of course impossible if one          ined that one seeks the kingdom of           in the  eyes  of the Lord and does
of  the  partners  is  not  truly  and       Christ by joining a humanistic or-           truly great things for the kingdom
spiritually a citizen of the kingdom         ganization whose only objective is           of Christ.  The husband who is a
of Christ.  This is so obvious that it       to alleviate world poverty and the           citizen of the kingdom shows this
is hard to believe that it is so often       social  evils  and  injustices  of  this     in his deportment to his wife and
ignored by young people in their             wicked world.  In the eyes of the            family.  He rules over his wife with
dating practices.  How easy it is to         world this may be considered to be           love  and  tender  affection,  honor-
be motivated in dating by the same           very noble.  But such organizations          ing her for her important place in
things  that  motivate  the  world.          as the  Red Cross Society and the            the kingdom.  He supports his wife.
The chief concern then is physical           Peace Corps and other worldly or-            He  knows  his  calling  to  lead  his
and sexual attractiveness, popular-          ganizations  fighting  hunger  and           family in the fear of the Lord.  He
ity in the world, and the enjoyment          social  injustice  are  not  organiza-       does not commit himself to carnal
of the pleasures and sinful life-style       tions  promoting  the  cause  of  the        pursuits of his earthly occupation
of the world.  We live in an age of          kingdom  of  Christ.    Sometimes            to such a measure that he does not
the  worship  of  the  human  body           such organizations claim to be pro-          have the time and energy to rule
and the idolizing of sexual attrac-          moters  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.        his  children  and  teach  them  the
tiveness  as  more  important  than          They go by high sounding Chris-              principles of true godliness.  Also
anything  else  in  life.    Citizens  of    tian names.  However, before the             for the husband it is urgent that he
the kingdom must realize how ab-             Christian ever joins such an orga-           realize  that  money  and  career  in
solutely antithetical the culture of         nization and devotes his life to it,         the world are secondary, as impor-
the  world  is  to  the  righteousness       he  or  she  must  be  sure  that  it  is    tant as they may be in themselves.
of the kingdom of God in this area.          not merely earthly and carnal in its         By really following this perspective
Young  people  seek  the  kingdom            objectives, as noble as those objec-         of  life  the  godly  man  seeks  the
first in their lives when, already in        tives may seem in the eyes of the            kingdom first.  Even if that means
dating, they fellowship only with            world.                                       that he has a less lucrative and glo-
those who by their confession and                Let no one forget that seeking           rious occupation in the world.
walk  demonstrate  that  they  are           the  kingdom  must  be  our  calling                  Many  more  practical  things
truly  citizens  of  the  kingdom  of        in  our  daily  lives  in  all  the  com-    could be said.  Let us examine our
Christ.  Scripture, after all, speaks        mon  spheres  of  our  life,  in  our        whole  life  and  judge  ourselves
of  husbands  and  wives  in  Chris-         homes,  in  our  occupations,  in            whether the kingdom of heaven is
tian marriage as joint heirs of the          church, and in society in general.           truly central and primary in all our
kingdom of Christ.                           We seek the kingdom by living ac-            life.
    Sometimes  seeking  the  king-           cording  to  the  principles  of  righ-               We  seek  the  kingdom  first,
dom is imagined to be something              teousness  and  for  the  glory  of          knowing the glory and blessedness
done only in some faraway place              Christ  in  every  one  of  those            of the kingdom.  All the glory and
and by becoming a missionary or              spheres.  This is greatly significant.       riches  of  this  world  shall  pass
minister of the gospel or a Chris-           Let none imagine that this means             away.  The things of this world are
tian  school  teacher.    There  is  no      nothing and does nothing.  Christ            only  of  temporary  and  very  lim-
doubt about the fact that the min-           the King is glorified especially by          ited  significance.    Our  hearts  are
istry  of  the  gospel  is  the  highest     this.  Anyone who compromises the            set  on  the  glorious  and  blessed
and  most  blessed  calling  in  the         principles of righteousness of the           things  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.
kingdom.    Young  men  seeking  a           kingdom, no matter how great he              These things  shall be our posses-
life's career ought to consider the          may imagine his earthly occupation           sion  through  all  eternity.    Our
will  of the Lord for them, whether          to  be,  has  lost  sight  of  the  great    hearts are  set on  the  blessed  and
the Lord has not called them to this         calling to seek the kingdom.                 glorious  appearing  of  Christ  our
great occupation in life.  There is a            The  husband  and  wife  who             heavenly  King.    We  know  that
great  need  for  Christian  school          bring forth covenant children not            some  day  we  must  leave  all  that
teachers.  Being a Christian school          for their own glory but for the sake         we have in this world behind.  But
teacher is a noble kingdom profes-           of the church and covenant of God            then we shall inherit the glory and
sion  in  which  many  faithful  chil-       are  seeking  the  kingdom.    The           blessedness that eye has not seen,
dren of God have served well.  On            godly mother who resists the temp-           nor  ear  heard,  nor  has  it  entered
the other hand, it must be said that         tation of the world to get a glam-           into the heart of man to conceive.
every Christian, in whatever occu-           orous  earthly  career  but  instead         We  shall  live  forever  with  Christ
pation to which the Lord has called          makes great personal sacrifices and          our blessed King to praise Him for
him or her, must seek the kingdom            works hard  day  and night in her            His glory and grace.    u

                                                                                                         July, 1997/Standard Bearer/423


  A Cloud Of Witnesses                                                                     Prof. Herman Hanko



                                  George Martin Ophoff:
                   Humble Servant of the Truth
                                                         (3)

Ophoff As Professor                        it well and he taught it thoroughly.      Nevertheless,  he  was  not  a  man
    Throughout his life in the min-        We learned our Hebrew under his           who  claimed  organization  as  his
istry, the center and most impor-          instruction.    We  could  not  have      strength.  His study was to anyone
tant aspect of Ophoff's work was           learned  it  better  anywhere  else.      entering it a disorganized place (al-
his labor as professor.  I am com-         We  had  to  study  and  we  had  to      though he seemed to know fairly
pelled to look at this aspect of his       study  hard.    The  sleepless  nights    well where everything was).  His
work from my own perspective be-           were many and the work was de-            notes were disorganized so that no
cause it was in the seminary that I        manding.  We had good courses.            one else could possibly have used
best knew him.                                 But  the  education  was  espe-       them.   His instruction was  disor-
    In  the  first  year  I  attended      cially good because it was taught         ganized, and the students used to
seminary,  the  school  was  rather        throughout from the perspective of        joke that we stayed longer at Mt.
large, with students from our own          Scripture  and  the  confessions.         Sinai  than  the  children  of  Israel.
churches,  interested  young  men          Ophoff  had  insights  into  things       We never covered all the material.
and college students who audited           which were unique and powerful.           The clock, governing the beginning
various courses, students from the         In  Old  Testament  studies  he           and the end of class periods, did
Netherlands, and students from the         opened to us the history of Israel        not  exist  for  him.    I  am  sure  we
Eureka Classis of the German Re-           in  a  way  which  could  not  be         would have had the same class all
formed Churches.  After the con-           learned from any book.  He did not        morning  if  we  had  not  reminded
troversy of 1953 the number of stu-        rely upon what others had said; he        him of the time.  But we received
dents was significantly reduced.           did not use the same old notes over       from  him  insights  which  were
    My first impression, formed al-        and over, year after year.  He was        principial; we learned viewpoints
ready  in  those  years,  and  one         fresh,  vigorous,  new,  insightful,      and methods of working that were
which continues to the present, is         and interesting.  In Church History       distinctively  Reformed;  we  were
Ophoff's immense dedication to the         he  showed  us  something  I  had         subjected to a man whose concen-
cause, a dedication which became           never  learned  in  all  my  college      tration  on  a  given  subject  was  at
especially  evident  in  his  willing-     days: the fundamental spiritual dif-      any  moment  total;  and  we  could
ness to sacrifice almost all earthly       ference  between  the  Reformation        not help but be moved repeatedly
goods and position for the sake of         and the Renaissance which created         by a spiritual dedication that stood
the truth.  Such enormous dedica-          sharp  antithesis  between  them.         above all else.  If later in life we
tion left an indelible mark.               And this is but one example.              had to continue our studies in sub-
    My second impression was that              My third impression was that          jects  we  only  began  with  him  in
our  education  was  of  the  highest      Ophoff was disorganized in much           seminary,  we  knew  that  we  had
possible  caliber.    This  was  true      of his life.  It must be remembered       been  given  the  proper  starting
even from an academic viewpoint.           that the workload he carried was          point  and  the  way  was  carefully
Ophoff, e.g., taught us our Hebrew         enormous  and  the  obligations           charted so that we would never get
grammar and reading.  He taught            many and varied.  It must be re-          lost.    And  that,  after  all,  is  what
                                           membered  too  that  Ophoff's  ab-        counts.
                                           sorption  in  a  given  subject  at  a        The  same  characteristics  ap-
Prof.  Hanko  is  professor  of  Church    given time made him so preoccu-           peared in his writings.  He wrote
History  and  New  Testament  in  the      pied that he was often oblivious to       syllabi for classroom use and wrote
Protestant Reformed Seminary.              what  was  going  on  about  him.         volumes for the  Standard Bearer.

424/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


But what was true of his teaching          most  did  not  see,  that  Schilder's         In the summer of 1958, while
was equally true of his writing.  I        covenant views were at odds with           Rev. and Mrs. Ophoff were return-
worked  in  my  seminary  years  in        those  views  developed  in  our           ing  from  a  vacation  in  Canada,
the  print  shop  which  printed  the      churches.  Schilder promoted a bi-         Rev.  Ophoff  suffered  a  massive
Standard  Bearer.    Ophoff's  mate-       lateral  and  conditional  covenant,       stroke in Toledo.  He was moved
rial  was  always  late.    His  type-     and  such  teachings,  Ophoff  saw,        by  ambulance  to    Grand  Rapids,
writer  always  needed  a  new  rib-       were  directly  in  conflict  with  the    but  the  stroke  proved  the  end  of
bon.    His  manuscript  was  so           truths of particular and sovereign         his work.  Although he recovered
heavily edited by pencil or pen it         grace.                                     from some of  the effects of it, he
was difficult to make out.  Arrows             In fact, when Hoeksema urged           gradually lost his sight.  While it
directing one to all other parts of        Ophoff to be cautious and to with-         was possible for him to think the-
the manuscript, pieces chopped off         draw  charges  against  a  minister        ology and understand the theology
or cut out of pages, pages renum-          (Hubert De Wolf) in First Church,          which  others  read  to  him,  it  was
bered,  bits  of  paper  glued  on  to     Ophoff  persisted  in  pressing  the       no longer possible for him to read
other  pages  --  all  of  these  made      charges, and these charges eventu-         or write it.
setting his articles on the linotype       ally became the occasions for the              In  February  of  1962  Rev.  &
a real challenge.                          minister's suspension from office.         Mrs. Ophoff were moved to a nurs-
    His  writings  were  studded           And  when  defenders  within  the          ing  home.    One  week  before  he
with startling insights into the text      PRC  openly  wrote  with  approval         died,  Rev.  Ophoff  was  moved  to
of Scripture and magnificent truths        of a conditional covenant, Ophoff's        Pine Rest.  His death came on June
developed  at  length  in  stirring        defense of the Reformed faith was          12, 1962, and a little more than two
rhetoric.  But the organization was        vigorous and unyielding.                   years later, his wife followed him
uniformly poor and the writing im-             At the same time, Ophoff never         to glory.  It was a little more than
possibly long-winded and detailed.         attacked  someone's  person.    He         three  years  before  his  colleague,
    His writings remain a treasured        wrote against false views, and he          Rev. Hoeksema, went to his eter-
part of our heritage.  But someone         often did so in such controlled fury       nal reward.
needs to take his best  pieces and         that  his  enemies  were  incensed.
edit them by a rigorous shortening         But it was heresy against which he         Conclusion
process.    The  Reformed  churches        wrote, not people.  He was often a             George Ophoff stood about five
could  benefit  tremendously  from         prophet whom few would hear.               feet, nine inches tall and was rather
such work.                                     Yet his work was extraordinar-         well  proportioned.    Although  he
                                           ily  important,  for  it  was  used  by    surely  put  on  weight  in  his  later
Ophoff, the Polemicist                     God, not only to defeat a calculated       years, he was never overly heavy.
    Deep commitment to the truth           attempt to drive the PRC in a di-          He  had  a  natural  dignity  in  his
of  Scripture  leads  to  warfare,  for    rection different from that in which       bearing, in the look on his face, and
there are  not many  who love the          it  had  gone,  but  also  to  develop     in his head of pure white hair.  He
faith with fire and passion.  Ophoff       truths which became the heart of           was a handsome man, although he
fought for the Reformed faith.             the Reformed faith as taught in the        was completely oblivious to it.  His
    He did that already in the years       Protestant Reformed Churches.              eyes  behind  iron-rimmed  glasses
surrounding the origin of the Prot-                                                   were sharp and penetrating.  His
estant  Reformed  Churches.    He          Ophoff's Last Days                         head was massive and his chin had
wrote  oftentimes  in  a  polemical            The valiant defense of the faith       the  set  of  a  bulldog  so  that  his
style, for he saw in so many writ-         which led to the split in the PRC          whole  appearance  was  one  of  te-
ings by men who claimed to be Re-          in  1953  was  his  last  battle.    It    nacity and courage.
formed froth and blather, talk with-       seemed  as  if  God  had  preserved            On the one hand, Ophoff could
out  substance,  higher  critical  at-     him for it, and that when the shout-       be  surprisingly  indifferent  to  his
tacks upon Scripture.  Against all         ing and the tumult died and peace          appearance and he often came  to
these he raged with vehemence.             returned, Ophoff's work was over.          school  looking  rumpled  and  di-
    But Ophoff led the fight in 1953           Already  prior  to  the  split  in     shevelled -- most often because he
when conditional theology threat-          1953,  Ophoff  for  almost  the  first     had been in his study all night.  His
ened  to  engulf  the  churches.    He     time entered the hospital for stom-        wife had a difficult time of it keep-
was the  first to detect a different       ach surgery.  Although the surgery         ing him presentable.  But he could
"spirit" in the churches than that         was successful, the doctors warned         also be startlingly concerned about
which had characterized the PRC            him that he would have to lighten          his clothing.  If we would comment
at  its inception.   When  Dr.  Klaas      his work load.  He never did.  A           that the tie he wore did not go well
Schilder came to this country from         lifetime of work had developed a           with his suit, he would never wear
the Netherlands, Ophoff saw what           habit which could not be broken.           the  combination  again.    And  his

                                                                                                 July, 1997/Standard Bearer/425


wife took great pains to attempt to           But that meekness, as was the           relentless  in  pursuing  the  logical
keep  him  in  clean,  neatly  ironed     case with Moses, could sometimes            consequences of a proposition; he
shirts and suits.                         be  dispelled  by  a  burst  of  fierce     could hold to a point like a bull-
    An outstanding feature of his         temper and violent rage, although           dog when others abandoned it; he
life  was  his  meekness.    We  often    it was an attack on the truth which         could maintain a position against
thought of Moses when we thought          most often provoked it.  But if he          everyone else.  But it was this very
of Ophoff.  Of Moses it is said in        did wrong to someone, he would              tenacity which enabled him to be
sacred  Scripture  that  he  was  the     be the first to apologize, beg for-         the fit servant of Christ that he was
meekest man on the earth.  Ophoff         giveness, and express heartfelt sor-        in  the  defense  of  the  faith.    Yet,
came in, we thought, a close sec-         row for his bad conduct.                    when he became convinced that he
ond.  His meekness was expressed              His forgetfulness is legendary          was wrong in his thinking, he was
in his total dedication to the glory      and remains to this day the subject         quick to admit it, for he was, above
of God not only, but in his willing-      of loving conversations that turn to        all, loyal to the Word.
ness, all his life, to labor with his     his work in the churches.  But that             And while he seemed so often
considerable gifts in the shadow of       forgetfulness was often the fruit of        to  be  completely  oblivious  to  all
Herman Hoeksema -- and to do so            total absorption in what was occu-          that was going on around him, he
without a word of complaint or a          pying his thoughts at the moment.           had a penetrating insight into hu-
tinge  of  jealousy.    He  never  re-    His concentration was total.  I per-        man nature and events in history.
ceived the recognition which was          sonally witnessed, more than once,          He  taught  me  things  about  the
due him, and his considerable gifts       evidences of this.  In the course of        powers of sin, human character as
often  went  unnoticed.    But  the       an ecclesiastical assembly a motion         depraved and saved, relationships
deeds  of  a  man  are  noted  in         would  be  vigorously  discussed,           in life, which I shall never forget.
heaven, and records there are kept        into  which  discussion  Ophoff                 In  the  second  chapter  of  the
with infallible precision that  God       would enter.  But while Ophoff was          book of Judges we read that when
may  reward  His  servants  in  due       pondering the implications of the           Joshua died and all his generation,
time.                                     motion, it would be passed and the          "there arose another generation af-
    The relation between these two        assembly  would  go  on  to  other          ter them, which knew not the Lord,
men was unique.  They worked to-          business.  Suddenly he would jump           nor  yet  the  works  which  he  had
gether over 35 years in the semi-         to his feet and ask for the floor to        done  for  Israel"  (v.  10).    That  is
nary  and  in  the  work  of  the         discuss the recently passed motion.         Scripture's way of introducing the
churches.  They were about as dif-        He  never  noticed  the  progress  of       sad history of the judges.  The gen-
ferent  as  it  is  possible  for  two    the body, and if the matter was im-         eration that led our churches to the
people to be.  They worked in har-        portant,  did  not  notice  what  else      marvelous  truths  of  Scripture
mony and unison, with a common            was happening on the body as he             which  are  our  heritage  has  died
cause and purpose.  And both had          sank back into his own thoughts.            and  been  gathered  unto  their  fa-
nothing but respect for the other.            He had a tenacity that showed           thers.    Shall  another  generation
Each always called the other by his       in remarkable ways.  He could be            arise  which  knows  not  the  Lord?
last name.                                                                            May God forbid it.   u


  All Around Us                                                                              Rev. Gise Van Baren


                                          legitimacy  of  divorce  and  remar-        riage and several children as a re-
s Divorce --                               riage.  A good Roman Catholic who           sult of that marriage, divorced --
Roman Catholic Style                      divorces cannot remarry nor take            and subsequently had the RCC de-
                                          of  communion--unless  the  first            clare  an  annulment  of  that  mar-
                                          marriage was not, in fact, a mar-
The  Roman  Catholic  Church
    (RCC)  and  the  Protestant  Re-                                                  riage.    In  recent  years  two  other
formed Churches have one thing in         riage  at  all.      The  RCC  does  not    cases have been reported in news
common  --  at  least  I  always           recognize  a  civil  divorce  as  the       accounts: that of U.S. Rep. Joseph
thought so.  Neither recognize the        breaking of the marriage bond.              P. Kennedy II and that of U.S. Sen.
                                              In  a  number  of  high  profile        John Kerry.  Both were married a
                                          cases  some  well-known  Roman              lengthy period of time; both have
                                          Catholics have had their first mar-         a number of children.  Both have
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Prot-      riage annulled by the RCC.  A num-          sought or are seeking an annulment
estant Reformed  Church  of  Loveland,    ber  of  years  ago  Senator  Ted           of the first marriage.
Colorado.                                 Kennedy, after many years of mar-               These cases have raised the is-

426/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


sue of annulment as granted by the             from the marriage are illegitimate.           Schuller said America's mission
RCC.  A report in  USA Today, as                                                           field is full  of people who don't
reported in the Denver  Post, May                So,  the  RCC  can  declare  that         know the Bible and don't care --
10, 1997, stated:                            marriage cannot be broken except              but are as hungry for meaning as
                                             by death.  But those who have di-             some Third World people are for
                                                                                           food.
    The number of U.S. annulments,           vorced can request of the Romish                "I've been giving in my minis-
  rare  30  years  ago,  has  exploded       Church a declaration  that the mar-           try rice to hungry people -- emo-
  --  as  has  interest  in  the  subject     riage was, in fact, never a marriage.         tional rice," Schuller bellowed in
  after  a  high-profile  battle  within     That is truly an interesting way to           the  voice  familiar  to  millions
  the  Kennedy  family  over  annul-         get around the teachings of Scrip-            through his "Hour of Power" tele-
  ment made headlines last week.             ture.  It would seem less cruel and           vision  show.    "Self-respect,  self-
    Nearly 75 percent of all annul-                                                        esteem, self-worth."
  ments  worldwide  are  granted  to         more  honest  simply  to  say:  "We
  U.S.  Catholics.    Soaring  divorce       recognize divorce and remarriage
  rates among Catholics and chang-           as legitimate in the church."                   After  the  talk,  Schuller  was
  ing church law have increased de-                                                      asked  about  the  Rev.  Richard
  mand at a time when getting an             s Emotional Rice --                          Rhem.
  annulment  has  become  easier.            Or Spiritual Rot?
  And as more lapsed Catholics seek                                                          ...Schuller  called  the  rift  be-
  to return to the church, they find         The Grand Rapids Press, May 13, tween the Rev. Richard Rhem and
  they  can't  remarry  or  take  com-           1997, reports on a speech by the          the  RCA  "sad,"  but  declined  to
  munion  unless  they  have  their          Rev.  Robert  Schuller,  Reformed             comment  further.    Schuller  last
  first marriages annulled.                  minister  of  the  Crystal  Cathedral         year canceled an appearance at the
    Because  divorce  is  not  recog-        of  Garden  Grove,  CA.,  given  at           church because of the controversy.
  nized  by  the  church,  annulment         Hope College.                                   Schuller  said  his  own  differ-
  has become known as "divorce                                                            ences with RCA members haven't
  Catholic  style."    Some  people,             It's  a  scene  the  Rev.  Robert         been major.
  even loyal Catholics, have begun                                                           "I very strongly believe in be-
                                               Schuller  cannot  forget.    He  was
  to  question  the  honesty  of  the          standing  at  the  pulpit  when  he         longing  to  a  denomination,"
  practice.                                    looked at the woman in the front            Schuller said.  "I trust the denomi-
    "The whole question of divorce,            pew.  Suddenly, he knew he had              nation so much, because look how
  remarriage  and  annulment  is  a            to  throw  out  his  Scripture-satu-        much  freedom  they've  given  me
  real  hot-button  issue,"  says                                                          to be creative in ministry."
                                               rated sermon.
  Frances  Kissling  of  the  liberal            The  woman  didn't  even  know
  group, Catholics for a Free Choice.          the  difference  between  the  Old            I suppose one can only have a
  Annulments  are  "just  a  way  for          and  New  Testaments,  Schuller           heavy  heart  in  hearing  how  a
  the  Catholic  Church  to  not  have         told an audience at Hope College          woman was proudly given stones
  to  accept  that  marriages  do  fail.       Monday.  He had to reach her an-          for  bread  --  or  gravel  for  true
  Instead of saying, "`This marriage           other way.
  failed,' the church has to say, `This                                                  "rice."  Schuller may have built up
                                                 "There is something missing in
  marriage  never  existed.'    It's  re-                                                the "self-esteem" of a woman who
                                               your life," Schuller told her.  "You
  ally  the  source  of  so  much  hurt                                                  needed  help  --  but  failed  (if  the
                                               don't know what it is, or you'd be
  and anger for people."                                                                 report  of  the  article is  correct)  to
                                               going after it.
    Since  the  1960s,  when  only  a            "It worked," added Schuller, re-        present her with the cross.  In fact,
  few  hundred  annulments  a  year            calling the early days of his min-        Schuller  would  "throw  out  his
  were granted, the number in the              istry after graduating from West-         Scripture-saturated sermon" in or-
  U.S.  has  jumped  12,000  percent.          ern Theological Seminary in 1950.         der  to  provide  that  which  could
  The Roman Catholic church grants               In Holland to receive Western's         neither give hope nor assurance of
  more  than  50,000  annulments  to           first  Distinguished  Alumni/ae
  Americans each year....                                                                  eternal life.  Schuller, it seems, is
                                               Award, Schuller explained how he
    An  annulment  is  a  declaration                                                    wiser than God, who gave His in-
                                               built  his  little  church  in  Garden
  by a church tribunal that decides                                                      fallible  Word  exactly  to  supply
                                               Grove,  Calif.  into  the  nationally
  if  a  fundamental  flaw  existed  in                                                  comfort and hope to the "hungry
                                               renowned Crystal Cathedral.  He
  one or both partners at the time             treated America as a foreign mis-         and thirsty."
  marriage vows were exchanged.                sion field.                                   And it is sad that Schuller can
    Immaturity,  drug  or  alcohol               "The  church  age  is  dead,"           insist that his differences with the
  abuse and psychological problems             Schuller told nearly 500 people in        RCA  "haven't  been  major."    If
  are among grounds for annulment              Dimnent Memorial Chapel.  "The            Shuller is speaking truthfully, then
  if  they  prevented  a  true  "sacra-        new age is the mission age.  I wish
  mental bond."  Annulment doesn't                                                       the Reformed Church in  America
                                               every church in America could die
  mean an emotional or sexual bond                                                       is in a sad state indeed.  And if the
                                               tonight  and  be  born  again  next
  never took place or that children                                                      Reformed  Church  in  fact  has
                                               Sunday as a mission station."

                                                                                                     July, 1997/Standard Bearer/427


granted him "much freedom" to be                     the National Coalition of Abortion      vocated    "family  planning"
"creative  in  ministry,"  then  one                 Providers, said he misled the pub-      through use of contraceptives.  In
would wonder about discipline and                    lic  because  he  feared  the  truth    the  pamphlet  they  stated,  "An
good order within the RCA.   We                      would damage the abortion rights        abortion kills the life of a baby af-
need indeed churches to be "mis-                     cause.                                  ter it has begun.  It is dangerous to
                                                       Recalling a November 1995 ap-
sion  churches,"  but  that  has  be-                pearance  on  ABC's  "Nightline,"       your life and health.  It may make
come necessary exactly because of                    Fitzsimmons said, "I lied through       you sterile so that when you want
places such as the Crystal Cathe-                    my teeth" when claiming the pro-        a child you cannot have it...."  To-
dral.  May God graciously grant re-                  cedure was rarely used and that         day  the  same  organization  main-
pentance!                                            the only women who sought such          tains  essentially  the  opposite  of
                                                     abortions were those whose lives        that original claim.
s Lies About Abortion                                were in danger, or whose unborn             Thomas continues in the article
C                                                    children were severely damaged.
     al Thomas, well-known colum-                                                            citing  several  more  of  the  "lies"
                                                     President  Clinton  used  nearly
      nist for the Los Angeles Times,                                                        which have been told to convince
                                                     identical  language  in  explaining
writes  some  hard-hitting  articles                 his veto of a bill that would have      people that abortion is simply re-
exposing  the  hypocrisy  of  many,                  outlawed the procedure....                moval of unwanted "tissue."
especially  politicians,  today.    He                                                           So the evil of murder of the un-
lists  in  an  article  printed  in  the               Thomas points out many other          born  continues.    It  is  based  on  a
Loveland Reporter-Herald, March 5,                 lies  spoken  over  the  years.    The    foundation  of  lies.    The  conse-
1997 many of the lies told by abor-                "Jane  Roe"  (Norma  McCorvey)            quences of this evil are seen today
tionists  which  have  been  used  to              case  that  went  to  the  Supreme        in the lack of concern about human
support their evil cause.                          Court  was  presented  as  that  of  a    life and family values.  These lies
                                                   woman who demanded abortion of            which support the "right" of abor-
       The admission by a prominent                the fetus conceived as a result of        tion  are  rooted  in  the  lie  of  the
  abortion  advocate  that  he  lied               rape.  Only later did she admit that      devil  who  would  insist  that  man
  about the number of babies killed                it was not rape after all.                has  the  "right"  to  determine  the
  during the procedure called "par-                    Planned Parenthood, a leading         good and the evil.  But God is the
  tial-birth  abortion"  is  surprising            advocate of the "right" of abortion,      final  Judge  --  something  which
  only  in  its  candor.    Ron                                                              ought to strike terror in the hearts
  Fitzsimmons, executive director of               published a pamphlet, according to
                                                   Thomas,  in 1965 in which they ad-        of all murderers.   u


  Book Review


                                                   With  astounding  disregard  for          Journal,  Hugh  L.  Williams;  and
                                                   Calvin's own writing in the  Insti-       John  Calvin's  sermon  on  I  Timo-
"Calvin v. Hyper-Spurgeonism:  The Battle          tutes, 3.21-24 and in "A Treatise of      thy 2:3, 4.
for the Preaching of the One Scriptural and        the Eternal Predestination of God"            The  sermon  by  Calvin  is  the
Reformation Gospel,"  by John Calvin and           (to  say  nothing  of  Dordt  and         heart  of  the  brief  rebuttal  of
others.  Lewes, E. Sussex, England:  Berith
Publications,  1997.    35  pp.    $4  (surface    Westminster), Murray charged the          Murray's universal, ineffectual love
mail)/$6 (airmail) (paper).  [Reviewed by          teaching of particular saving love        and will to save, just as Spurgeon's
the editor.]                                       and  a  discriminating  will to  save     sermon on the same text was the
                                                   with hyper-Calvinism.  The  Stan-         centerpiece  of  Murray's  work.
     This  booklet  is  genuine                    dard  Bearer  examined  Murray's          Murray  entitled  the  chapter  in
Calvinism's response to the recent                 Spurgeon  v.  Hyper-Calvinism  in         which he reprinted Spurgeon on I
Banner  of  Truth's  publication,                  the editorial of the April 15, 1996       Timothy 2:3, 4, "A  Crucial Text."
Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism:  The                  issue  ("Hyper-Calvinism  and             Murray approved Spurgeon's inter-
Battle for Gospel Preaching.  In the               Arminianism:  the Alternatives?").        pretation of "all men" in I Timo-
1995 Banner of Truth book, Iain H.                     The  English  response  to            thy 2:3, 4 ("God ...  will have all
Murray  wheeled  out  the  English                 Murray's book consists of a signifi-      men to be saved") as every human
Baptist  preacher,  Charles  H.                    cant evaluation of Spurgeon by a          without exception.  This is the "cru-
Spurgeon,  to  defend  Murray  and                 contemporary, A. J. Baxter; the re-       cial" basis in Scripture for Murray's
the Banner's doctrine that God in                  print  of  a  critique  of  Murray's      universalism.    According  to  Iain
Christ loves and desires to save ev-               Spurgeon  v.  Hyper-Calvinism  by         Murray and  the  Banner of  Truth,
ery  human  without  exception.                    the editor of the  British Reformed       the doctrine that God wills to save

428/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


every human without exception is               think  they  have  fair  show,  and          if  God  will  have  all  men  to  be
Calvinism.  Denial of this doctrine            some  good  resemblance  (for  ex-           saved, it follows that he has not
brands one as a hyper-Calvinist.               plaining  "all  men"  as  every  hu-         chosen a certain number of man-
    But  John  Calvin  himself  re-            man without exception--DJE). ...                kind, and cast away the rest, but
jected Spurgeon and Murray's in-               You say well, if we knew not Saint           that his  will  remains indifferent.
                                               Paul's  meaning:    but  the  very           So  then,  these  beasts  which  are
terpretation  of  the  "crucial  text."        asses may have a bit there, as we            nothing  exercised  in  holy  writ,
Calvin  denied  that  "all  men"               say in common proverbs.  If a man            and  will,  notwithstanding,  play
means every human without excep-               will read but three lines, he shall          the Doctors, pretend that it stands
tion.  Calvin taught that "all men"            easily  perceive,  that  Saint  Paul         in the choice of men to save them-
means elect persons from all classes           speaks not here of every particu-            selves,  and  that  God  leaves  us
of humans.                                     lar  man;  ...  but  he  speaks  of  all       alone,  and  waits  to  see  whether
                                               people,  and  of  all  states,  and          we will come to him or not, and
  We  must  mark  that  Saint  Paul            shows the case stands not as it did          so receives  them that come unto
  speaks not here of every particu-            before the coming of Christ, when            him (pp. 14, 15).
  lar man, but of all sorts, and of all        as  there  was  but  one  chosen
  people.  Therefore, when he says             people; but now God shows him-                 Truly, ours is an odd age.  Men
  that God will have all men to be             self  a  Saviour  of  all  the  world      of  scholarly  and  theological  re-
  saved, we must not think that he             ("Calvin v. Hyper-Spurgeonism,"            nown  embrace  and  propound  a
  speaks here of Peter, or John, but           pp. 13-15).                                doctrine that  Calvin attributed  to
  his meaning is this, that whereas                                                       asses,  beastliness,  and  enmity
  in times past he chose out one cer-            Calvin also pointed out, in the          against the gospel, and call it Cal-
  tain people for himself, he means          blunt  language  that  our  compro-          vinism.    Calvin's  own  doctrine,
  now  to  show  mercy  to  all  the         mising age desperately needs to re-
  world, yea to them that were, as                                                        they condemn as hyper-Calvinism.
                                             cover, what the real issue is in the
  it were, shut out from the hope of                                                      Virtually the entire Reformed and
                                             controversy, whether God wills ev-
  salvation.    ...  Therefore,  Saint                                                      Presbyterian  church-world  vigor-
                                             ery human without exception to be
  Paul's  meaning  is  not  that  God                                                     ously  assent.    The  reviews  of
                                             saved.    Those  who  explain  "all
  will  save  every  particular  man,                                                     Murray's  Spurgeon  v.  Hyper-Cal-
  but  he  says  that  the  promises         men" in I Timothy 2:3, 4 as every            vinism in the Reformed and Pres-
  which  were  given  to  one  only          human  without  exception  oppose            byterian  periodicals  have  been
  people,  are  now  stretched  out          God's election of grace:                     glowing.
  through all the world. ... As Saint                                                           Who can understand this?
  Paul speaks now of all nations, so           It is good to beat down the folly,
  he speaks also of all estates, as if         or rather the beastliness of them              "Calvin  v.  Hyper-Spurgeonism"
  he should say, that God will save            that  abuse  this  place  of  Paul,  to    can  be  ordered  from  Berith  Publica-
  kings and magistrates, as well as            make  the  election  of  our  God,  a      tions,  6  Orchard  Road,  Lewes,  East
  the least and baser sort. ... True it          thing of nought, and utterly take          Sussex  BN7  2HB, UK.   The phone/
  is,  that  at  the  first  blush,  they      it away.  For see what they say:           fax is 01273 472279.    u


  Report of Classis East


                                             ing, classis decided to advise Cov-          cent lecture shows interest by the
                           May 14, 1997      enant to disband and to report their         community, and they now need a
Hope Protestant Reformed Church              decision at the May 1997 meeting             pastor committed to mission work;
                                             of  classis.    Covenant's  decision,        3) they need a pastor's presence on
    Classis East met in regular ses-         however, was to remain a congre-             the pulpit to insure continuity and
sion on Wednesday, May 14, 1997              gation.  At a congregational meet-           not  rely  so  much  on  tapes  and
at  the  Hope  Protestant  Reformed          ing  held  on  March  27,  1997  the         reading  sermons;  4)  they  have  a
Church.    Each  church  was  repre-         consistory  of  Covenant  PRC                full-orbed  congregational  life;  5)
sented by two delegates.  Rev. C.            brought a motion to the congrega-            they have need of a pastor to help
Terpstra was the chair for this ses-         tion to disband.  This motion failed.        them  grow  --  growth  will  come
sion.                                        The  congregation  then  adopted  a          since they have resolved their in-
    Classis dealt again in this ses-         motion to continue as a congrega-            ternal difficulties; growth will also
sion  with  the  ongoing  problems           tion  on  the  following  grounds            help relieve their financial burdens.
that  Covenant  PRC,  Wyckoff,  NJ           (summarized):  1) the issue of hav-          On the basis of this evidence, and
has in trying to remain a congre-            ing a plurality of elders has been           at the request of Covenant, classis
gation.  At the January 1997 meet-           resolved; 2) thirty visitors at a re-        adopted the advice of its commit-


                                                                                                      July, 1997/Standard Bearer/429


tee of pre-advice to rescind the de-         to  continue.    Classis  further  ad-     synod of 1997 will have to give fi-
cision  of  the  January  1997  classis      vised Covenant to sell their prop-         nal approval.  The money for his
urging Covenant PRC to disband.              erty  on  these  grounds:    1)  their     support  is  proposed  to  be  taken
Classis decided this on the follow-          property  forces  them  to  live  be-      from the Needy Churches Fund.
ing grounds (summarized):  1) the            yond their means; 2) this would re-            In other business, several mat-
problem of plurality of elders has           lieve an ongoing financial strain on       ters  involving  discipline  were
been resolved; 2) Covenant has the           the denomination; 3) this would re-        treated in closed session.  Classis
ability  to  address  their  financial       move  a  source  of  discord  in  the      also  approved  classical  appoint-
needs by selling their property; 3)          congregation.  Classis also decided        ments for Hope PRC and Covenant
there  is  evidence,  even  though           to request Synod of 1997 to restore        PRC.    The  schedule  adopted  has
some  members  are  moving,  that            subsidy, with a pastor, as requested       been sent to the churches.  The ex-
there is interest in the area; 4) the        by  Covenant  at  the  January  1997       penses  of  classis  amounted  to
present consistory has the resolve           meeting of classis.                        $1,596.00.    Classis  will  meet  next
to  deal  with  their  internal  prob-           Rev.  Richard  Flikkema  re-           in  Kalamazoo  on  September  10,
lems; 5) their continued existence           quested  that  classis  approve  con-      1997.
will allow the PRC to have a wit-            tinued financial support for him for                    Respectfully submitted,
ness in this area; 6) there is a com-        another year.  Covenant PRC sup-                                  Jon J. Huisken,
mitment  in  the  congregation,  as          ported this request and classis de-                              Stated Clerk   u
evidenced by their recent decision,          cided  to  grant  his  request.    The


  News From Our Churches                                                                         Mr. Benjamin Wigger

                                             James?  Impossible you say?  Well,             The council of the Bethel PRC
                                             maybe not.  James has five chap-           in Itasca, IL decided to change the
                                             ters with a total of 108 verses.  Di-      starting time for their morning ser-
Congregational Activities
T                                            vided by the 10 weeks of summer,           vice  to  9:30  A.M.,  from  10:00  A.M.,
        his  summer  the  consistory  of     that  is  only  about  11  verses  per     starting June 1.  Their primary rea-
        the  Hudsonville,  MI  PRC  has      week.  And divided by six days per         son for this was that it was better
encouraged  all  the  members  of            week (figure one day off), that is         to start their morning worship ser-
their  congregation  to  put  to             only two verses a day.                     vice a little earlier at the Holiday
memory the Word of God from the                  And, really, what better way to        Inn to avoid breakfast or lunch buf-
book of James, a part or the whole.          spend  some spare  time this sum-          fets.  And when Sunday School is
This  program,  entitled  "In  My            mer,  considering  that  we  usually       in session it can be over before run-
Heart," had a part for both young            get a break this time of year from         ning into the Sunday lunch time.
and old.  Good quality Bibles will           school,  catechism,  and  organized
be  awarded  to  those  who  recite          Bible study.  We are happy to say
their chosen portion by the end of           that  almost  90  members  of              School Activities
the summer, whether that is a small          Hudsonville  did  sign  up  for  the
part of the book or the entire book.         program by the June 1 deadline.            There was a meeting on May 16
                                                                                            at  the  home  of  David  Benson
        Hudsonville's consistory's goal          The council of the Byron Cen-          of  our  Bethel  PRC  to  discuss  the
was  twofold:    that  the  people  of       ter, MI PRC decided to add an el-          possibilities of starting a PR Chris-
God  memorize  the  Scriptures,  so          der to their consistory, bringing the      tian  School  Association  in  the
that the Word is "in their heart,"           total number of elders to six.             Northwest side of Chicago.  All in-
and  that  the  people  of  God  have            The  choir  of  the  First  PRC  in    terested parties were invited to at-
Bibles  in  their  homes,  sufficient        Edmonton, AB, Canada presented             tend.    While  their  group  under-
that  each  person  has  one  by  his        their annual spring concert on Sun-        stood that a school may be a long
bedside  for  personal  devotions            day evening, May 18.                       way off, they also believed that a
when retiring at night.                          All  of  the  moms  of  First  in      job never begun is a job never com-
        Memorize  the  whole  book  of       Edmonton were extended an invi-            pleted.
                                             tation  to  a  Mom's  Morning  Out.            We pass along our congratula-
                                             They  were  invited  to  come  out,        tions to Miss Agatha Lubbers, who
                                             with their children six and under,         is retiring this spring after 45 years
                                             for a morning of  fun and fellow-          of teaching and administrating in
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant     ship,  swimming  together  at  the         our  Christian  schools.    An  Open
Reformed  Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-    West Edmonton Mall Water Park.             House,  followed  by  a  short  pro-
gan.

430/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


gram,  was  held  May  30  at  Cov-                   the  Bethel  PRC  in  Itasca,  IL  set               Minister Activities
enant  Christian  High  School  in                    aside  two  Saturdays  in  May  for
Walker, MI to mark the event.                         members  of  the  congregation  to                   Our Hope  PRC in Walker, MI
                                                                                                                  has  extended  a  call  to  Rev.
                                                      distribute  tracts  and  invitations                 Gritters,  who  was  chosen  from  a
                                                      door to door in the Elk Grove and                    trio  which  included  also  Revs.
Evangelism Activities                                 Itasca areas.                                        Koole and Houck.
It is always interesting to see how                                                                             Rev. A. Spriensma declined the
  our  churches'  evangelism  work                                                                         call he had struggled with to serve
can  develop  into  other  areas.                     Mission Activities                                   as  our  churches'  missionary  to
Along these lines you may remem-                                                                           Ghana.  And, subsequent to his de-
ber that about a year ago the Evan-                   Our minister-on-loan to our sis-
                                                            ter  churches  in  Singapore,                  cline  of  that  call,  Rev.  Spriensma
gelism           Committee            of     our      Rev.  J.  Kortering,  along  with  his               received  the  call  from  Covenant
Randolph, WI PRC received a re-                       wife, Jeanette, recently returned to                 PRC in Wyckoff, NJ.
quest  for  blueprints  for  their                    Singapore after a six-week absence.                       Rev. Lau Chin Kwee, pastor of
church from the Church of the Cov-                    They left Singapore on April 28 and                  one of our sister churches, the First
enant (OPC) in New Jersey.  Mem-                      spent  a  week  in  the  Philippines                 Evangelical  Reformed  Church  of
bers of that church became inter-                     with three pastors who have shown                    Singapore,  has  declined  the  call
ested in the plans when they saw a                    an interest in learning more about                   from the Covenant Evangelical Re-
picture of Randolph's church build-                   the  Reformed  faith.    They  would                 formed  Church  of  Singapore.
ing  in  some  of  the  literature  dis-              like to have someone come to teach                   Hence,  Candidate  Cheah  Fook
tributed by their Evangelism Com-                     them,  or  go  to  Singapore  them-                  Meng now has the call to Covenant
mittee.  They now write Randolph                      selves  to  study  in  their  Bible                  Church.
that  "the  consensus  of  the  Build-                School.
ing Committee was that the plans                           Then it was on to Grand Rap-                    Food for Thought
were  appealing  both  functionally                   ids, MI for three weeks, followed                         "Whosoever  hath  Christ,  can-
and aesthetically.  These plans have                  by ten days in Loveland, CO, four                    not be poor; whosoever wants him,
been submitted to a builder for an                    days in Hawaii on their return, and                  cannot be rich."
estimate."                                            then  back  home  in  Singapore  by                                                       -- Dyer   u
         The Evangelism Committee of                  June 11.


                                                            ANNOUNCEMENTS

                                                                                                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                            The Adult Bible Society of Grace PRC of
         The Doon Men's Society wish to express            The Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Society of South-          Walker, MI, express their sympathy to fellow
their sincere sympathy to Perry VanEdgom and          west PRC expresses their sincere sympathy            member Leon Garvelink in the passing away
family in the death of his father,                    to fellow members Bern and Linda Zandstra,           of his father,
               ED VAN EGDOM, SR.,                     and  their  children  Ben  and  Meribeth  in  the               MR. ALVIN GARVELINK.
on April 28, 1997.                                    death of their newborn daughter and sister,               May  he  and  his  family  find  comfort  in
         Our prayer is that he and his family will                   REBEKAH JOY.                          these words from Romans 8:28, "And we know
receive comfort by the words of John 14:1, 2,              May they be comforted with the psalmist's       that all things work together for good to them
"Let not your heart be troubled:  ye believe in       words in Psalm 55:22, "Cast thy burden upon          that love God, to them who are the called ac-
God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house        the Lord and he shall sustain thee."                 cording to his purpose."
are many mansions:  if it were not so, I would                                   Gary Boverhof, Pres.                               Rev. Mitchell Dick, Pres.
have told you.  I go to prepare a place for                                     Jeanne Hanko, Sec'y.                                Mrs. Joan Hanko, Sec'y.
you."
                         Rev. Richard Smit, Pres.                                                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                            Dave Wiersma, Sec'y.            NOTIFICATION OF CANDIDACY                           The  council  and  congregation  of
                                                           All Protestant Reformed consistories are        Randolph PRC express their Christian sympa-
                                                      hereby informed that the 1997 Synod of the           thy  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eugene  Braaksma  and
                                                      Protestant Reformed Churches in America has          family in the loss of his father,
                      NOTICE!!                        declared Mr. Daniel Kleyn, Mr. James Laning,                      ALBERT BRAAKSMA,
         Classis East will meet in regular session    and Mr. Martin VanderWal candidates for the          on May 20, 1997.
on  Wednesday,  September  10,  1997  at  the         gospel  ministry  in  the  Protestant  Reformed           "For I reckon that the sufferings of this
Kalamazoo  Protestant  Reformed  Church,              Churches.  The candidates will be eligible for       present time are not worthy to be compared
Kalamazoo, MI.  Material for this session must        a call on or after July 12, 1997.                    with the glory which shall be revealed in us"
be in the hands of the Stated Clerk no later               Addresses  and  phone  numbers  of  the         (Romans 8:18).
than August 10, 1997.                                 candidates are listed earlier in this issue.                                        Rev. S. Key, Pres.
                      Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk                        Don Doezema,Stated Clerk                                       Don DeVries, clerk

                                                                                                                             July, 1997/Standard Bearer/431


      The
Standard
  Bearer                                                                                                                                          PERIODICAL
                                                                                                                                                  Postage Paid at
    P.O. Box 603                                                                                                                                  Grandville,
   Grandville, MI  49468-0603                                                                                                                     Michigan


                                                                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                          WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                     The  council  of  Southwest  PRC,                          On June 23 our parents,
     May 25, 1997 marked the 55th wedding                    Grandville, MI extends its Christian sympathy                   JEFFREY and BARBARA STEENHOLDT,
anniversary of our beloved parents and grand-                to fellow officebearer Elder Gerrit Boverhof and              celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. They
parents,                                                     his family in the death of his brother-in-law,                have always been a wonderful example of love
        JOHN and GRACE FLIKKEMA.                                            MR. JOHN PEPPER.                               and commitment, and they have shown us that
     We give thanks to our eternal Father that                       May their comfort and confidence be in                true love is a gift from the Lord and is found
He has so preserved them to this time; that                  God's word:  "Verily, verily I say unto you, he               only through His unfailing guidance.  We thank
He has so graciously given them to us as our                 that heareth my word, and believeth on him                    the  Lord  for  these  years  they  have  had  to-
instructors and guardians; praising Him for His              that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall                gether, and we pray that they may continue in
covenant faithfulness.                                       not  come  into  condemnation;  but  is  passed               their love.  "A man's heart deviseth his way:
     "He hath remembered his covenant for                    from death to life" (John 5:24).                              but  the  Lord  directeth  his  steps"  (Proverbs
ever, the word which he commanded to a thou-                                        Rev. R. Cammenga, Pres.                16:9).
sand generations" (Psalm 105:8).                                                          Ken Schipper, Clerk              Y    Amy Steenholdt
                               In loving gratitude,                                                                        Y    Dan and Mindy Wheeler
             Three daughters and 8 grandchildren                             TEACHER NEEDED                                Y    Joseph Steenholdt
                                          Crete, Illinois            Hope Christian School (Redlands, CA) is                                                 Kalamazoo, Michigan
                                                             seeking a teacher for the 1997-98 school year.
                                                             The opening is for the middle grades (3-5),
                                                             but grade assignments are negotiable.  Inter-                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                            ested persons, please call the school at (909)                     The Council and congregation of South-
     The  council  of  the  Doon  PRC  express               793-4584, Mr. Doug Pastoor at (909) 792-9392,                 west PRC, Grandville, MI extend their Chris-
their heartfelt sympathy to fellow officebearer              or Mr. Glenn Feenstra at (909) 794-5859.                      tian sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. John Faber and
Alan DeBoer, and his family, in the loss of his                                                                            Lisa in the death of John's father,
mother,                                                                                                                                   MR. JOHN FABER,
             MRS. LILLIAN DE BOER.                                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                               who  was  the  last  remaining  member  of  the
     It is our prayer that this family may know                      With gratitude to God, the children of                1953  consistory  of  the  First  Protestant  Re-
that God is our refuge and strength, a very                          JAMES and SALLY TEN ELSHOF                            formed Church.
present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).                        celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of their                    We are thankful as congregation that we
                    Rev. Richard Smit, President             parents  on  July  23,  1997.    Highlighting  the            may witness God's faithfulness, for indeed "one
                        Gene VanBemmel, Clerk                occasion will be a family gathering and din-                  generation shall praise thy works to another,
                                                             ner.                                                          and shall declare thy mighty acts."  May they
                                                                     Children of the couple are:                           rest in the sure promise of God's word, "Be-
                                                             Y       Leo and Sharon Nawrocki                               hold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all
           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                            Y       Jan and Patricia DeVries                              sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a mo-
     The  council  of  Southwest  PRC,                       Y       Eugene and Peggy Kars                                 ment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
Grandville,  MI  herewith  extends  its  sincere             Y       James and Grace Ten Elshof                            trump:  for the trumpet shall sound, and the
Christian sympathy to fellow officebearer Dea-               Y       Jaris and Marcia Mulder                               dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
con Bern Zandstra, and his wife and family, to                       They have seventeen grandchildren and                 be changed" (I Corinthians 15:51, 52).
whom the Lord yet again displayed His inscru-                twelve great-grandchildren.                                                        Rev. R. Cammenga, Pres.
table wisdom in taking unto Himself their in-                        "Unless the Lord builds the house, they                                           Ken Schipper, Clerk
fant daughter,                                               labor in vain that build it" (Psalm 127:1a).
                  REBEKAH JOY,                                                                   Grand Rapids, Michigan
shortly after birth. Our prayer is that they may                                                                                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
be given grace sufficient and the strength of                                                                                   The Men's and Ladies' Society of the First
faith  to  endure  this  trial  and  that  they  also                             NOTICE!                                  PRC of Holland extend Christian sympathy to
may experience the comfort expressed by the                          Classis West of the Protestant Reformed               Cornie and Fran Doezema in the death of his
psalmist:  "The angel of the LORD encampeth                  Churches will meet at the Peace PRC in Lan-                   sister,
round about them that fear him, and delivereth               sing,  Illinois,  on  Wednesday,  September  3,                            MRS. EVELYN PETERS.
them.  O taste and see that the LORD is good:                1997 at 8:30  A.M., the Lord willing.  All mate-                   May  they  find  comfort  in  these  words,
blessed is the man that trusteth in him" (Psalm              rial for the agenda is to be in the hands of the              "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
34:7, 8).                                                    Stated Clerk thirty days before Classis con-                  of his saints" (Psalm 116:15).
                       Rev. R. Cammenga, Pres.               venes.  An officebearers' conference is also                                              Terry Elzinga, Pres.
                              Ken Schipper, Clerk            planned for Tuesday, September 2.                                                  Gwen VanKampen, Sec'y.
                                                                                Rev. Steven Key, Stated Clerk

432/Standard Bearer/July, 1997


