                                                                        The
                                                       Standard
    A Reformed                                                   Bearer
    Semi-Monthly
    Magazine

             In This Issue:
Meditation -- Rev. Cornelius Hanko
       Dwelling With God ................................. 242

Editorial -- Prof. David J. Engelsma
       Preaching in Worship:
       Voice of God, Voice of Christ (4) ........ 244

Go Ye Into All the World --
       Rev. Thomas C. Miersma
       Preaching and Missions without a
          Debilitating Offer (2) .......................... 246

That They May Teach Their Children --
       Prof. Russell J. Dykstra
       A New/Old Rubric ................................... 249

Marking Zion's Bulwarks --
       Prof. Herman C. Hanko
       The Battle Against Heresy .................... 251

Special Article -- Rev. Arie denHartog
       The Philippines an Open Door? .......... 253

When Thou Sittest in Thine House --
       Rev. Wilbur G. Bruinsma
       The Covenant of Marriage
       2.  Courtship Within the Covenant ..... 258

Decency and Order --
       Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga
       Special Days of Prayer .......................... 260

Book Reviews.................................................... 262
Report of Classis East -- Mr. Jon J. Huisken 263                         Conference in the Philippines
News From Our Churches --
       Mr. Benjamin Wigger ................................ 263           See "The Philippines an Open Door?" -- p. 253


    Vol. 74, No. 11
    March 1, 1998


   Meditation                                                                                                                         Rev. Cornelius Hanko



                                               Dwelling With God

                                                   Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?  who shall dwell in thy
                                           holy hill?
                                                                                                                              Psalm 15:1

                                                                         But  then  also:    Who  has  the                   thought to the fact that he who eats
                                                                  right to approach God in prayer?                           or  drinks  unworthily  eats  and
                                                                  Who is worthy or has the boldness                          drinks condemnation unto himself,
Lord God, who is worthy to
           enter into Thy house?  Who
           is  fit  to  stand  in  Thy  pres-                     to address Him who dwells in the                           not  discerning  the  Lord's  body  (I
ence on Zion's holy mount?                                        high and lofty place, far beyond all                       Cor. 11:29).
       Every  sincere  believer  of  the                          that is creature--the eternal, ever-                                 But  the  psalmist  takes  every
old  dispensation  was  confronted                                blessed, adorable, living God?                             form  of  worship  seriously.    He
with  this  question.    Whether  he                                                                                         counts  it  a  privilege  to  enter  into
lived  in  Jerusalem  or  was  ap-                                             333    333    333                             the presence of the highly exalted,
proaching  the  holy  city  of  God                                                                                          living  God,  to  abide  in  His  pres-
from afar, he felt the need of do-                                       At times we are so concerned                        ence, to worship and adore Him as
ing some soul searching.                                          with  our  own  cares  that  we  ap-                       God above all, who is blessed for-
       We can well ask ourselves to-                              proach  God  as  if  He  were  in                          ever, but he also considers it a seri-
day:    Who  of  us  has  the  right  to                          heaven to serve us, rather than that                       ous responsibility to do so with a
submit his or her child to baptism,                               we  are  on  earth  to  serve  Him.                        proper attitude.
or who has the boldness to partake                                James warns us:  "Ye ask, and re-
                                                                                                                                          333    333    333
of the supper of our Lord?                                        ceive  not,  because  ye  ask  amiss,
       But  that  raises  another  ques-                          that ye may consume it upon your
tion:  Who is worthy or fit to enter                              lusts" (James 4:3).                                                 Who, O Lord, with Thee abid-
into  the  presence  of  the  Lord  on                                   Do we come to the public wor-                       ing,  in  Thy  house  shall  be  Thy
the Sabbath day to worship in the                                 ship  service  on  the  Sabbath  day                       guest?
communion  of  saints  under  the                                 merely because of custom or habit,                                  The psalmist knew the answer,
ministry of God's holy Word?                                      but  not  to  worship?    God  warns                       and so do we.
                                                                  Israel, "I hate, I despise your sol-                                To  us  are  entrusted  the  cov-
                                                                  emn feast days, and I will not smell                       enant and the promises, but above
                                                                  in your solemn assemblies" (Amos                           all the oracles of God, that is, God's
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the                          5:21).                                                     holy and infallible Word.
Protestant Reformed Churches.                                            We  may  even  partake  of  the                              From that we know, as did the
                                                                  Lord's  Supper  without  giving                            psalmist,  that  he  who  comes  into


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242/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


God's presence does not make him-          heart, that is quite another matter.             He conquered all the powers of
self  guilty  of  backbiting,  nor  of         When I put my hand in my bo-             darkness:  Satan, sin, death, and the
slandering  his  neighbor.    But  he      som, it comes out, as it were, lep-          grave; and He ascended to heaven
speaks the truth in love.                  rous.  I am prone by nature to hate          for us.
    He does not seek his compan-           God and my neighbor.  Of myself I                At  His  ascension  a  section  of
ionship  among  vile  persons.    He       am incapable of any good and in-             the  heavenly  choir  sang:    Lift  up
does not walk in the counsel of the        clined to all evil.                          your heads, O ye gates!  And be ye
ungodly, nor stand in the way of               What  right  have I,  how  can  I        lift up, ye everlasting doors!  And
sinners, nor sit in the seat with the      lift my voice in prayer to God, to           the King of glory shall come in!
scornful.  Of wicked men he says:          worship in the beauty of His holi-               Another section asked:  Who is
Shall  I  not  hate  them  who  hate       ness on the Lord's day, or to par-           this King of glory?
Thee, O Lord?  I hate them with a          take of the sacraments that He has               To  which  arose  the  powerful
perfect  hatred.    His  friends  and      instituted for the strengthening of          response:    The  Lord,  strong  and
companions are those who fear the          our faith.                                   mighty!    The  Lord,  mighty  in
Lord.                                          Yes,  who  shall  abide  in  Thy         battle!
    When  he  swears  to  his  own         tabernacle?    Who  shall  dwell  in
hurt he willingly suffers the conse-       Thy holy hill?                                          333    333    333
quences.  He does not take advan-
tage of the poor, of the widow, or                 333    333    333                        He  breaks  into  our  hearts  by
of the orphan, but rather comes to                                                      His  Spirit,  makes  us  partakers  of
their aid.                                     But,  Jehovah,  Thou  knowest.           His  new,  spiritual,  heavenly  life.
    In  one  word,  he  walks  up-         And  Thou  hast  revealed  to  us  in        We  are  made  new  creatures  in
rightly,  keeps  God's  command-           Thy holy Word  that  there  is One           Christ.  We have the gift of faith
ments, and works righteousness!            who does have the right and who              that is wrought by the Holy Spirit
                                           possesses  the  worthiness  to  enter        in our hearts.  Wonder of wonders!
         333    333    333                 into  Thy  presence,  to  dwell  with        I can say with conviction:  I believe!
                                           Thee in Thy eternal dwelling place.          I  believe  in  God,  the  God  of  our
    Yes, Lord, I know, even in the             Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who           salvation, and in Jesus Christ, His
depths  of  my  heart  I  know.    But     from all eternity was appointed for          only begotten Son, our Lord!  And
that gives me the more reason to           that very purpose, came in the like-         by that bond of faith and love I am
ask, "Who has the right to abide in        ness of our sinful flesh, became like        united  with  Him  forever.    I  am
Thy tabernacle, who is fit to dwell        unto us, yet without sin, begotten           righteous in Christ and sanctified
in Thy holy hill?"  Certainly not I!       of the Holy Spirit, born of the vir-         by His blood.  God sees me not as
    When engaged in conversation,          gin Mary.                                    I am in myself, but as a new crea-
or spending a few hours in fellow-             He  dwelt  among  us,  witness-          ture in Christ.
ship with family or friends, I find        ing by His Word and by signs and                 As our Mediator our Lord Jesus
that  my  conversation  so  readily        wonders  that  He  was  given  the           Christ intercedes for us in the heav-
turns to criticizing or condemning         tongue of the learned to know how            enly sanctuary on the basis of His
my fellow saints.  Gossip, backbit-        to speak a word in season to him             atoning work.  His prayer is heard,
ing, and slander are common evils          who is weary.                                so that in Him we have access to,
that I seem to slip into almost un-            The Lord opened His ear, and             and  boldness  to  approach,  the
awares.                                    He  was  not  rebellious,  neither           throne of grace in prayer, to dwell
    How  much  easier  it  is,  espe-      turned He away back.  He gave His            in His presence in the communion
cially to avoid trouble, to associate      back to the smiters, and His cheeks          of saints under the ministry of the
freely with an unbelieving neigh-          to those who plucked off the hair.           Word, and to partake of the holy
bor who lives next door, or whom           He  hid  not  His  face  from  shame         sacraments.
I meet in the factory, office, or busi-    and spitting.
ness establishment.  If he will be a           He who had no sin was made                          333    333    333
bit  careful  about  his  language,  I     sin for us, that we might be made
will be silent about my faith.             the righteousness of God in Him.                 That explains some remarkable
    I know the second table of the         Even in all His sufferings, bearing          statements I read in the Scriptures
law so well.  I hear it read every         the  torment  of  God's  wrath  unto         concerning the saints of old.  God
Sunday  in  our  church.    Like  the      the dark agonies of hell, He stood           says of Enoch that "he walked with
rich young ruler I am inclined to          the test.  He had clean hands, and           God."  The same is said of Noah.
say that outwardly I have known            a  pure  heart.    He  did  not  lift  up    Scripture speaks of Abraham as a
and  kept  these  things  from  my         His  soul  to  vanity.    Nor  did  He       friend of God; of Job that he was a
youth--but  when  I  search  my             swear deceitfully (Ps. 24).                  man who "was perfect and upright,

                                                                                                   March 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/243


and one that feared God, and es-           even grossly transgressed them all.          echism, Lord's Day 23).
chewed evil"; and of David that he             Hast  thou  at  some  time  kept             Lord Jehovah, through faith in
was a man after God's heart.  Yet          any of them perfectly?                       the infallible truth which Thou hast
all  these  men  were  sinners,  con-          No, not one.                             sealed in my heart that I am justi-
ceived and born in sin, even as we.            Will you promise henceforth to           fied and sanctified in Christ Jesus,
    I now realize that God eternally       keep all My commandments?                    Christ's  worthiness  is  mine!
sees us as we are  in Christ, as we            No, I cannot, for I am still in-         Christ's  fitness  is  mine!    I  can,  I
belong to our faithful Savior Jesus        clined to all evil.                          may,  I  will,  I  must  abide  in  Thy
Christ.  He regards us no longer as            The verdict of the Judge rings           tabernacle and dwell in Thy holy
we are in ourselves, but He sees us        into the depths of my soul:  With-           hill in prayer and worship!
as new creatures in Christ, clothed        out any of your merit, but purely                One thing have I desired of the
from head to foot in the righteous-        of grace, I grant and impute to you          Lord:  that I may forever dwell in
ness of Christ Jesus.                      the perfect satisfaction, righteous-         the house of my God with Christ
    Now before my consciousness            ness, and holiness of Christ.                in His glory.
I stand before the judgment seat of            I stand before the face of God,              That will I seek after.
God.  The question is put  to me,          "as  if  I  never  had  had,  nor  com-          To  behold  the  beauty  of  the
Are you guilty of transgressing My         mitted  any  sin:    yea,  as  if  I  had    Lord!
commandments?                              fully  accomplished  all  the  obedi-            And to inquire in His temple,
    I hang my head in shame:  Yes,         ence  which  Christ  has  accom-             constantly growing in the riches of
I  have  transgressed,  not  one,  but     plished  for  me"  (Heidelberg  Cat-         His grace even unto endless eter-
all  Thy  commandments.    I  have                                                      nity.   u

  Editorial


                             Preaching in Worship:
                  Voice of God, Voice of Christ
                                                          (4)

The preceding editorials in there has been little development In contrast, the chapter on "Sing-
         this  short  series  demon-       of preaching as worship.                     ing of Psalms" goes on for ten and
         strated  that  the  faithful          In his contribution to the vol-          a half pages.
preaching of Holy Scripture by an          ume on Presbyterian and Reformed                 This  lack  of  development  of
ordained man is the living voice of        worship,  Worship in the Presence of         preaching as an element of worship
God in Jesus Christ.  The preach-          God  (Greenville  Seminary,  1992),          is surprising for two reasons.  First,
ing  of  the  gospel  is  the  Word  of    Thomas  G.  Reid,  Jr.,  remarks  on         the Reformed churches have been
God.  This concluding installment          this startling lack:  "The relation of       of one mind, that preaching is the
draws the conclusion that preach-          preaching  to  the  concept  of  wor-        main  element  of  public  worship.
ing  has  the  central  place  in  wor-    ship and to the other elements of            One  would think that their treat-
ship.                                      worship  remains  a  relatively              ment of public worship would re-
    Surprisingly  little  has  been        unfallowed  field"  (p.  367;  "fallow       flect this importance of preaching.
done in Reformed theology, specifi-        field" must be intended, that is, a              Second, if preaching is, in fact,
cally in Reformed liturgics, to de-        field  that  has  not  been  worked).        the voice of God (as the Reformed
velop  the  place  of  preaching  in       Reid's contribution to the book is a         faith insists), it is not immediately
worship and the relation of preach-        review  of  "Recent  Writings  on            plain that preaching is part of pub-
ing to the other aspects of worship.       Worship  of  Particular  Interest  to        lic worship at all.  Is not worship
Reformed theologians have devel-           Reformed  Christians."    The  para-         our activity of praise and thanks-
oped preaching  as  means of grace,        graph  that  lists  writings  on             giving?  But preaching is God's ac-
but a study of liturgics, homiletics,      "Preaching  in  Worship"  is  the            tivity.    Through  the  office  of  the
and  even  dogmatics  reveals  that        briefest paragraph in the chapter.           ministry, God is active in speaking

244/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


His  Word  to  the  church.  How  is             As  the  covenantal  meeting  of       By  the  very  preaching  in  which
God's speaking part of our worship?          God  with  His  people,  worship  is       God is first and central in worship,
How is God's speaking the  center            delightful.  Psalm 84 is the experi-       God calls us to activity in worship.
of our worship?                              ence of every friend of God, some-         But this activity is not that we come
    Exactly this is the objection that       times stronger, sometimes weaker:          up with all kinds of innovations to
modern  religious  people  have                                                         make  ourselves  busy  in  the  ser-
against  the  traditional  Reformed              How  dear  to  me,  O  Lord  of        vices.  Rather, our activity is that
worship service with its emphasis                     Hosts,                            we  hear  God  speaking--truly  hear
on preaching.  Most of the service               The  place  where  Thou  dost          with  the  reverence,  submission,
consists of one man's reading and                     dwell;                            trust, obedience, and love of faith.
expounding  the  Scriptures.    The              The tabernacles of Thy grace               "Hear ye him!" God says to us
congregation  is  inactive--as  pas-              In pleasantness excel.                 concerning  His  Son,  Jesus  Christ
sive, one has said, as chickens sit-             My  spirit  longs,  yea,  even         (Matt. 17:5).
ting on their roost.  Such worship                    faints,                               This, this is the activity in wor-
services are detrimental to lively,              Thy sacred courts to see;              ship that is required of the congre-
active congregational worship.                   My thirsting heart and flesh cry       gation.  This, this is the public wor-
    If we are successfully to resist                  out,                              ship that is acceptable to God.
the pressure against the centrality              O living God, for Thee.
of preaching in public worship, as                                                        Therefore the supreme worship of
injurious to lively, active worship              This meeting of God with His             God that a man can offer, the Sab-
by the people of God, we must give           people  takes  place  by  means  of          bath of Sabbaths, is to practice true
account  of  preaching  as  the  very        God's Word.  God is present to us,           godliness,  to  hear  and  read  the
heart of worship.  It is not enough          and we draw near to God,  by the             Word.  On the other hand, noth-
                                                                                          ing is more dangerous than to be-
to argue that preaching is the voice         Word.  In the activity of worship,           come  tired  of  the  Word.    There-
of God.  We must also show that              God takes the initiative by reveal-          fore  anyone  who  is  so  cold  that
and  how  preaching  is  the  central        ing Himself as our Father and Sav-           he  thinks  he  knows  enough  and
element  of  the  public  worship  of        ior in Jesus Christ  in the preaching        gradually  begins  to  loathe  the
the people of God.                           of the gospel.                               Word has lost Christ and the Gos-
    Preaching is, and must be, the               God is first in worship.  God is         pel....  This is what is finally hap-
heart of right worship exactly be-           central.   God  is  God  in  our wor-        pening  to  the  frivolous  fanatics
cause  it  is  the  activity  of  God  in    ship,  as  He  is  God  in  our  salva-      (Martin  Luther,  commentary  on
Jesus Christ:  the voice of God.             tion.                                        Gal. 1:11, 12).
    Worship is the meeting, the fel-             The  public  worship  of  the              When the busy "worship-lead-
lowship, of God with His people.             church is theological, is theocentric.     ers,"  no  doubt  sincerely,  make
The  service  of  public  worship  of        We do not make it so.   God makes          themselves and us frantic with re-
the true church is the official, for-        it so.  Nor does God make our wor-         ligious  exercises,  every  Sunday  a
mal,  visible  realization  of  God's        ship theocentric merely in the sense       new set of them,  we must say to
covenant  of  grace  with  believers         that  all  our  activity  revolves         them, "Sit down!  Shut up!  Stop
and their children in the world.  It         around  Him.    But  He  makes  it         working!  Let God speak, will you!
is awesome.  Every Sunday morn-              theocentric  in  the  sense  that  He      And hear!"
ing and every Sunday evening, the            Himself as the active, working, dy-            "Hear !"--the  most  difficult,
cloud of glory fills the temple, but         namic God is the center of the ser-        strenuous  activity  of  all,  and  the
now as the Spirit of the crucified           vice.    His  activity,  work,  dyna-      sweetest, as it is the most glorify-
and  risen  Christ,  so  that  we  can       mism, at the center of the service,        ing to God.
bear the Presence and can stand to           is the preaching of the Word.                  Commenting  on  Habakkuk
minister (I Kings 8; I Pet. 2:1-10).             To the preaching of the gospel         2:20, "But the L
In His Spirit and Word, the glori-           as the heart of biblical worship are                            ORD is in his holy
                                                                                        temple:  let  all the earth  keep  si-
fied Jesus Christ walks in the midst         attached, not banners and special          lence before him," Calvin said:
of the churches (Rev. 1:10-2:1).  An-        music,  but  the  sacraments.    They
gels  attend  their  sovereign,  the         too are primarily God's actions, not         Silence in this respect is nothing
triune  God  in  the  exalted  Jesus         ours.  In baptism and the supper,            else but submission:  and we sub-
Christ, at the service (I Cor. 11:10).       God more fully declares and seals            mit  to  God,  when  we  bring  not
If an unbeliever enters the service,         to  us  the  promise  of  the  gospel        our own inventions and imagina-
the secrets of his heart will be made        (Heid. Cat., Q. 66).                         tions,  but  suffer  ourselves  to  be
manifest, and he will fall down on               This  does  not  imply  that  the        taught by His Word.
his face and report that God is in           congregation is passive, whether in
us of a truth (I Cor. 14:23-25).             indolence or in stupefied wonder.              The  right  worship  of  God  by

                                                                                                March 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/245


His New Testament church is de-            "the  blood  of  sprinkling"  (v.  24)        not disdain the voice of God!  Do
scribed  and  exhorted  in  Hebrews        and  the  promise  of  a  new  world          not  first  belittle  and  despise  and
12:22-29.  The "church of the first-       (vv. 26, 27).  Just as really as the          then replace altogether the preach-
born" (v. 23) is called to "serve God      voice of words that Israel heard at           ing of the Word of God!
acceptably" (v. 28), where "serve"         Sinai was the living voice of God                 Positively, the one great exhor-
is one of the chief New Testament          (v.  19),  so  truly  is  the  voice  that    tation  of  the  New  Testament
terms  for  the  church's  worship.        the church hears in the preaching             church regarding her public wor-
This "service" is characterized by         the voice of God (vv. 25, 26).                ship is:  Hear Him!
"reverence and godly fear" (v. 28),            The resulting and correspond-                 The true church will heed the
not by wild exuberance and fren-           ing  activity  of  the  worshiping            admonition and exhortation.  The
zied activity.  It is Reformed, not        church is pointed out in the warn-            speaking God Himself will see to
charismatic.                               ing of verse 25:  "See that ye refuse         it.  He makes His voice lovely to
    The central act in the church's        not him that speaketh.  For if they           her.    Once,  from  Mt.  Sinai,  He
worship  is  the  act  of  speaking:       escaped not who refused him that              spoke the awful justice of the law,
"See  that  ye  refuse  not  him  that     spake  on  earth,  much  more  shall          and Israel "entreated that the word
speaketh"  (v.  25).    The  one  who      not  we  escape,  if  we  turn  away          should not be spoken to them any
speaks is the triune God:  "much           from  him  that  speaketh  from               more" (v. 19).  Now, in Mt. Sion,
more  shall  we  not  escape,  if  we      heaven."                                      He speaks the gospel of the forgive-
turn away from him that speaketh               Negatively,  the  one  great  ad-         ness of sins in the blood of Jesus,
from  heaven"  (v.  25).    He  speaks     monition  of  the  New  Testament             and the church receives the Word
through Jesus Christ the mediator          church regarding her public wor-              gladly.  She refuses to have it si-
of  the  new  covenant  (v.  24).    He    ship is:  Do not reject the speaking          lenced.
speaks still.  He speaks today.  He        God!  Do not turn away from the                   Thus  does  the  church  rightly
speaks by means of the preaching           one who speaks from heaven!  Do               worship God.   u
of  the  gospel,  whose  message  is                                                                                     -- DJE

  Go Ye Into All the World                                                                   Rev. Thomas Miersma


                          Preaching and Missions
                without a Debilitating Offer (2)

    In the previous portion of this article, October 1, 1997, I touched on the Reformed doctrine of preaching, some-
    thing which has also been addressed in recent articles on Reformed worship.  I also discussed the historical roots of
    the well-meant offer in the attempt in the past to marry the Reformed and Arminian doctrines of election and the
    atonement within the history of Reformed and Presbyterian doctrine.  It is in that historical context that this
    article now returns to the subject under discussion.


                                           trines  of  the  means  of  grace,            simply call and command men to
                                           preaching and the sacraments.  It             repent  and  believe  under  the
The well-meant offer, or free
       offer,  and  the  notion  of  a
                                           is  again  an  attempt  to  marry  an         preaching  of  the  Word,  but  sin-
       general conditional promise
                                           Arminian doctrine of salvation and            cerely  desires  the  salvation  of  all
are  really  nothing  more  than  at-
                                           the  means  of  grace,  preaching  or         and well-meaningly offers Christ,
tempts to introduce this same semi-
                                           baptism, to the Reformed view.  It            His righteousness and eternal life,
Arminian synergism  and dualism
                                           involves  teaching  two  kinds  of            to all, head for head.  The preach-
into the whole doctrine of  soteri-
                                           grace,  a  general,  common,  condi-          ing  becomes  a  check  which  man
ology, the doctrine of the applica-
                                           tional,  and  resistible  grace  to  all      must endorse by his faith, an ob-
tion of salvation, and into the doc-
                                           under the preaching or in baptism,            jective bequest which man may ac-
                                           and a particular, irresistible grace          cept or reject.  Moreover, if you ob-
Rev. Miersma is home missionary of the     to  only  some.    According  to  this        ject to this as Arminianism, you are
Protestant Reformed Churches.              theory of the offer, God does not             told that, since they also teach that

246/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


God fulfills the conditions by grace            This affects first of all the con-       and exegesis becomes eclectic.  By
in  the  elect,  the  charge  of  being     tent of the preaching and exegesis.          this error the authority, power, and
Arminian is false.                          If God wants to save all but wills           clarity of the gospel is overthrown.
    While dressed in a new suit of          to save only some; if Christ is dead         The herald or preacher sounds an
clothes, this error is still the same       for  all  but  died  only  for  some;  if    uncertain  note  on  the  trumpet  of
error which was condemned by the            God offers salvation to all but calls        the gospel.  Because of it the offer
Reformed       and     Presbyterian         effectually only  some; then truth,          is  a  debilitated  cripple  when  it
churches of the past.  While the the-       veracity, and coherence have gone            comes to mission work and a clear
ology it is based on is rarely spelled      out the window.  The double track            proclamation of the gospel.
out, it is nothing more than that of        theology of the offer makes coher-               Moreover,  as  God  wants  to
Amyrauld.    Its  doctrine  of  the         ent preaching of the truth impos-            save all and offers Christ to all in
atonement is that of the Marrow.            sible.  God wants what He does not           the  preaching,  the  gospel  is  re-
In order to make Christ's death and         want, intends what He does not in-           duced to a crippled, truncated ver-
the preaching of it universal or an         tend.  Authoritative proclamation            sion  of  itself.    One  cannot  under
offer, they must separate from that         of the truth of the gospel can but           the  offer  preach  the  doctrine  of
death its efficacy and all the sub-         cease.  The unity of the truth is bro-       election as good news for sinners,
jective  blessings  of  salvation.    If    ken.  By separating Christ as Me-            that "all that the Father giveth me
Christ is offered to all, then faith        diator of the covenant and as Head           shall come to me" (John 6:37).  This
cannot  be  a  benefit  of  the  cross.     of  the  elect,  one  distorts  and  ob-     goes  into  the  theological  closet.
One cannot very well offer faith as         scures  even  Christ's  mediatorial          Likewise,  since  faith,  repentance,
a blessing while requiring it as  a         work.  One cannot genuinely com-             and conversion are the conditions
condition.  One cannot promise to           pare Scripture with Scripture, for           man must fulfill to receive the prof-
all what is an entrance requirement         Scripture  contradicts  itself.    The       fered  salvation,  they  also  can  no
to the promise.                             fundamental principle of Reformed            more be preached as the glorious
    The offer introduces ambiguity          scriptural interpretation is broken.         work of God, the effectual fruit of
into the doctrine of faith, conver-         Scripture speaks out of two sides            the atonement.  They too must go
sion, and repentance.  Rather than          of its mouth.  One must first care-          into the theological closet.  The gos-
being a work of grace in man, the           fully impose this hermeneutical du-          pel is reduced to a truncated word
wonder work of God in Christ, and           alism  on  the  text,  much  like            about  the  cross,  without  its  effi-
a gift of grace out of which a man          dispensationalism  does  when  it            cacy, design, power, and purpose.
himself  actively  repents  and  be-        tries  to  separate  Israel  and  the        That by "one offering he hath per-
lieves,  the  preaching  of  the  offer     church.    Does  this  passage  speak        fected for ever them that are sanc-
becomes centered on the experien-           of God's universal will or His par-          tified" (Heb. 10:14) belongs in the
tial moment, for faith is man's ful-        ticular will?  Is this passage about         closet.    It  is  too  definite.    Soteri-
filling of the condition.  And yet,         Christ as Mediator or as Head?               ology,  and  the  saving  efficacy  of
because they would be called Cal-               This is plain from the effect and        the  cross  in  Christology,  likewise
vinists, they would also be seen as         consequences  of  this  dualistic            join God's sovereignty in the theo-
teaching that it is God's gift.  The        hermeneutic round about us as it             logical closet, especially on the mis-
only  way  one  can  maintain  this         has worked through the life of the           sion field.  Instead an unfruitful di-
kind of dualism is to reduce faith          CRC.  If God wants to save all but           vine  desire  to  save  all  men  must
and conversion to an experimental           wills  to  save  only  some,  He  may        be preached.
moment,  a  moment  of  revelation          also want only men to be ministers               All of this robs the gospel not
and  response,  of  giving  and  yet        from  a  creation  perspective  but          only  of  its  power,  authority,  and
taking  and  receiving.    Grace  be-       wills that women also hold office            clarity,  but  also  of  the  wonder  of
comes  like  a  ball  bouncing  on  a       from an eschatological perspective.          grace.    It  does  not  lead  to  rever-
table.  In the moment it touches the        Who is to judge?  "What is truth?"           ence  and  fear,  to  worship  and
surface, God is giving and man ac-              It  is  not  without  reason  that       praise, but to the notion of a spiri-
cepting, God is revealing and man           this  leads  to  shoddy  exegesis  in        tually  impotent  God  who  wants
responding.  This is Barthian mys-          which  one  sometimes  takes  an             what  He  cannot  or  does  not  per-
ticism.  It is dualism carried to its       Arminian  interpretation,  and  one          form.  It robs God of the honor and
ultimate synergism.                         sometimes,  though  quite  arbi-             glory due His name and demeans
                                            trarily, takes a Calvinistic interpre-       the  name  of  Christ,  the  Lord  of
The offer and preaching                     tation.  Sometimes one takes a con-          glory.  This is emphatically debili-
    The  seriousness  of  this  error       servative  or  orthodox  approach,           tating to the work of missions.  It
must  not  be  overlooked.    It  has       while at other times a liberal one.          is exactly the unique power, glory,
practical consequences for preach-          The truth in fact becomes relative           and majesty of God in Christ which
ing and mission work.                       to the interpreter and his opinion,          sets the Christian gospel apart from

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the inventions of  human philoso-          coming, is maintained and taught              of the Catechism, by a prominent
phy and pagan religion.                    in practice, if not in theory.                so-called conservative.  The glory
    The very need for a sovereign              Moreover  the  wicked  are  left          and  beauty  of  that  work  of  God
Savior of mere grace is destroyed,         with the principle that, after all, if        was adequately set forth.  But then
for God is said to offer that which        God wants to save them so much                he  had  to  add  the  offer  to  it  all.
was not purchased in the blood of          and is trying so hard to offer sal-           We had to attain unto it by our be-
Christ  and  to  desire  to  impart  to    vation to them, there is really no            lieving.    The  whole  sermon  was
sinners that which Christ did not          urgency about the matter.  If God             concluded with the  hope that we
effect on the cross for them.  It de-      wants to save them, would He now              would  attain  to  the  resurrection.
stroys the holiness, righteousness,        give up and judge?  The fact is that          This was his hope, and he hoped
and  truth  of  God.    It  sets  God's    the  offer  tempts  men  to  despise          (???!) it was true for the congrega-
mercy against His own justice by           God's very simpering impotence.               tion.  The wonder and glory were
overthrowing  the  principles  of              As if that were not enough, by            taken  away  and  the congregation
atonement.  Jesus no longer actu-          making the promises general and               was  left  with  only  doubt,  a
ally saves, but only wants to if we        conditional, the personal, sure com-          comfortless question mark, an un-
will accept Him.  It is demeaning          fort of the gospel is lost.  There is         sure hope that maybe it would be
to Christ crucified.                       an  irony  here  in  calling  the  offer      true for them.  It was an abomina-
    As such, the offer is incapable        the  "free  offer  of  the  gospel."          tion, which robbed the sheep that
of proclaiming a serious call to re-       There is nothing free about prom-             Sunday morning of the hope and
pentance and faith.  It is not a di-       ises with strings attached.  Sover-           comfort  of  the  resurrection  from
vine summons which seriously ad-           eign grace is free, genuinely free,           the dead.  What was done with the
dresses  men  with  the  will  of  the     rooted in the grace of election.  The         sermon  was  the  same  fear  tactic
Holy God to turn from their wicked         effect  of  the  offer  is  to  leave  the    that  the  church  of  Rome  uses  by
way.   Rather it becomes  a plead-         hearer in doubt whether, after all,           holding purgatory over the heads
ing invitation, something that God         those promises are for him.  Have             of the people.  The well-meant of-
wants to be true for all.  The gos-        I really repented?  Do I really be-           fer  dangles  the  promises  of  God
pel does not confront men with an          lieve?  Either I must boast in my             which are yea and amen in Christ
imperative, a command, but with            own works of believing and accep-             before the people of God, holding
a wish, a pleading, a begging, with        tance of the gospel or I am left with         them  out  of  reach.    Its  professed
moral  suasion  and  emotional  ap-        the  conclusion  that,  after  all,  my       love for sinners is false and cruel.
peals  to  accept  the  proffered  sal-    whole spiritual welfare is in doubt.
vation. Not only so, but the faith         The offer, rather than leading one            Conclusion
called for is not a powerful trans-        out of oneself to Christ to be justi-             It is the offer which is crippled,
formation  that  grace  alone  can         fied  by  faith  as  God's  free  gift,       debilitated, and anemic in preach-
give, but a work which man must            leads  one  inward  to  a  seeking  of        ing the gospel. This is particularly
perform and a condition he must            signs of revealed grace, to a mysti-          true  on  the  mission  field,  for  it
fulfill in order to be saved.  Oh, to      cal, spiritual "belly-button watch-           comes  with  neither  clarity  nor
be  sure,  if  you  press  those  who      ing."  It overthrows the tender con-          power, neither a clear command to
preach the offer, they maintain that       science  of  those  who  know  that           repent  and  believe,  nor  a  sure
God by His grace fulfills the con-         they "have not perfect faith."  On            promise.  It destroys a serious call
ditions in man.  They formally re-         the mission field it leaves one who           to repentance rather than establish-
ject free-willism.  Nevertheless, it       is broken by his sin and guilt, who           ing one.  It robs the sheep of their
is my faith, my repentance, my ac-         cries out, "Men and brethren, what            comfort.  Abraham Kuyper put it
ceptance upon which the salvation          shall we do?" (Acts 2:37), with nei-          well.  When he spoke of the advo-
offered to me rests.                       ther a clear direction, "repent and           cates of a "Christ for all," he said,
    This is the doctrine of salvation      be baptized every one of you in the           "In reality, it is they who are in an
upon  the  worthiness  of  my  faith       name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 2:38),          increasingly painful and sad situa-
and repentance.  It is Arminian.  In       nor with a sure promise, "thy sins            tion, for in spite of that `pro omni-
fact, it is the doctrine of justifica-     are forgiven thee" (Luke 5:20).  The          bus' (for all), they are still not able
tion  because  of  faith  and  works,      offer  leads  to  mysticism,  and  an         to  persuasively  move  the  soul  to
which is the doctrine of Rome.  The        unwholesome  experientialism.    It           believe"  (Dat De Genade Particular
offer is warmed-over Jesuit theol-         robs the sheep of that sure comfort           is; Abraham Kuyper, Part 1, chap-
ogy  masquerading  as  Protestant-         which  they  have  in  Christ  and            ter 1, p. 3; translation mine).  It is
ism.  However much free-willism            ought to have.                                the offer which cannot do genuine
is denied, the practical fruit of that         In this connection, I recall spe-         mission work, for it does not faith-
error,  a  trusting  in  one's  own        cifically a sermon on the resurrec-           fully serve the cause of Him who
works of believing, repenting, and         tion of the body from the dead, out           said, "I will build my church."   u

248/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


  That They May Teach Their Children                                                            Prof. Russell Dykstra



                              A New/Old Rubric

                                             estant Reformed Churches of pro-          MN organized a school society in
                                             viding Christian education for cov-       1940, and opened the doors of the
                                             enant children. The first Protestant
With this issue, the Stan-
            dard  Bearer  restores  an                                                 new school ten years later.
            old and honored depart-          Reformed school began instructing             In  1956,  members  of  the  con-
ment, namely, a rubric devoted to            students  in  1934  in  the  basement     gregations  in  South  Holland  and
covenant  education.  The  SB  has           of  the  Redlands  (  CA)  Protestant     Oak Lawn formed a Protestant Re-
from early on shown a dedicated              Reformed  Church.  A  two-room            formed School Society, and within
concern for Christian schools and            school  building  was  erected  in        five  years had  a  school  in opera-
the  instruction  of    covenant  chil-      1941, and the school operated un-         tion.
dren. This had been my general im-           til 1954 when, decimated by "the              A school society was formed in
pression, and a search of the index          split of 1953," it ceased operations.     northwest Iowa in the late fifties,
confirmed  this,  no  rather,  as-           The Redlands congregation rejoices        and the Northwest Iowa Protestant
tounded me. Articles on the Chris-           today in the new school started in        Reformed Christian School opened
tian  school  are  found  in  the  first     1975.                                     in Doon, IA in 1967.
volume of the  SB. From that vol-                The  second  Protestant  Re-              The congregation in Loveland,
ume to the present, 44  SB  articles         formed school movement began in           organized in 1958 as a Protestant
discuss  Christian  schools  in  the         1937  with  a  meeting  in  the  base-    Reformed  Church,  made  quick
Protestant Reformed Churches; 179            ment  of  the  First  Protestant  Re-     work  of  establishing  their  own
articles  explore  Christian  schools        formed  Church  of  Grand  Rapids.        school.  By  1961,  their  school  was
and/or  education;  47    more  deal         Soon  after,  a  society  was  formed     up and running.
with education in general; 29 dis-           for the establishment of a Protes-            Another huge milestone in the
cuss  "the  government  and  Chris-          tant Reformed high school. The de-        history  of  Protestant  Reformed
tian schools"; 22 articles are writ-         termination to seek a high school         schools  occurred  in  1968  when
ten on just plain "instruction"; 47          was due largely to the influence of       Covenant  Christian  High  School
of  the  many  articles  on  the  cov-       Rev. Hoeksema, who had some ten           began its opening day of classes.
enant  focus  on  children  and  the         years earlier begun to plead for the          In  the  last  twenty-two  years,
covenant;  and  35  articles  address        founding of such a school (SB, Vol.       the drive for Protestant Reformed
the  topic  "children"  directly.  Are       13,  p.  508).  However,  four  years     schools has not faltered. The 1970s
you keeping track? That comes to             later (1941), the society changed its     saw  three  more  Protestant  Re-
403 articles! This does not include          goal--it  would  strive  for  an  el-      formed  schools  begin  classes--
the many articles which, in discuss-         ementary school. It was not until         Redlands in 1975 (as noted above),
ing  a  particular  philosophy  or           1950  that  Adams  Street  Christian      Hull Protestant Reformed Christian
trend, also address its possible ef-         School opened with 235 students.          School  in  1976,  and  Covenant  in
fect  on  children  or  the  Christian           By that time, Hope Protestant         Lynden, WA in 1978. The school in
schools.                                     Reformed  Christian  School  had          Lynden even included high school
    This  history  of  writing  about        been  in  operation  for  three  years    grades  from  1979  to  1991!  Addi-
Christian education in the SB runs           on the other side of Grand Rapids.        tionally,  the  newly  organized
parallel to the  activity in the Prot-       The beginnings were more modest           (1977) Trinity Protestant Reformed
                                             (51 students), but the society had        Church in Houston, TX maintained
                                             taken only a year and a half after        its own school from the start and
                                             organization to put the school into       held classes as long as it was fea-
                                             operation. The early fifties saw the      sible, with many in the congrega-
                                             Protestant Reformed congregations         tion helping with the instruction.
Prof. Dykstra is professor of Church His-    in  Hudsonville  and  Holland  join           By the early 1980s, overcrowd-
tory  and  New Testament  in  the Protes-    the effort.                               ing in Hope school caused the so-
tant Reformed Seminary.                          The congregation in Edgerton,         ciety of Hope to see the need for a

                                                                                                 March 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/249


new  school  in  the  Hudsonville           in the northeast side of Grand Rap-        ing to devote long hours to school
area. The result was the commence-          ids  started  their  own  school  this     board  meetings,  committee  meet-
ment of Heritage Christian School           school  year  (Eastside  Christian)        ings,  and  the  like,  without  pay?
in 1985.                                    when  Adams  St.  was  forced  to          Why  are  teachers  ready  to  spend
    In addition, the belief that the        move.                                      themselves  in  the  effort  of  teach-
demands of the covenant apply to                The  secondary  school  move-          ing, when the same level of educa-
all children in the sphere of the cov-      ment is showing life in at least two       tion as well as the number of hours
enant  prompted  the  Hudsonville           areas  of  the  country.  The  society     spent in the business world might
consistory to call a meeting in 1983        for secondary education in the area        well  make  them  rich?  Why?  The
to encourage the formation of a so-         south of Chicago recently took the         schools  are  not  exclusive,  well-
ciety  for  educating  children  with       positive  step  of  purchasing  land       equipped academies that promise
special needs.  The  result  was  the       with  a  view  to  the  building  of  a    superior graduates and guarantee
Society for Special Education in the        high school. In addition, a new so-        entrance  to  the  best  universities,
Grand Rapids area which began of-           ciety for secondary education was          though they do stress excellence to
fering special education classes in         formed in 1997 by members of the           the glory of God. These schools do
Hope in 1985 and continues today            congregations  in  Doon  and  Hull,        not  promise  an  academic  "free
with its own room in Heritage.              Iowa, and Edgerton, Minnesota.             ride" for children who do not care
    The serious and dedicated de-               Other schools report excellent         to study, though they are zealous
votion to Protestant Reformed edu-          support from the congregations, in-        to  help  the  struggling  student.
cation  over  the  years  is  evident       cluding  building  projects  being         These schools do not advertise free-
from the formation of other related         planned or paid off. Many pastors          dom from all the evil influences of
organizations.  The  Federation  of         speak of the unity of focus and sup-       the world, though they have no tol-
Protestant Reformed School Boards           port for the schools established by        erance for sin.  Again, we ask, Why
was  organized  in  1957  by  the           the  members  of  their  congrega-         this  labor,  sacrifice,  and  determi-
boards  of  Adams  St.,  Hope,  and         tions. Others point to the truly en-       nation, why these millions of dol-
South Holland. Through the years            couraging  fact  that  the  younger        lars, when other schools are avail-
it has grown to eleven schools.             generation  is  enthusiastically           able at no cost, why this enthusi-
    In  1955  a  handful  of  teachers      throwing  its  support  behind  this       asm by a relatively small band of
started  the  Protestant  Reformed          work of love.                              people for the  work of  educating
Teachers' Institute for mutual en-              Great  things?  Yes.  Significant      their children?
couragement  and  instruction.  It          things?  Yes.  In  the  eyes  of  the          In a word, the answer is, God's
held meetings and annual conven-            world? No. In the opinion of most          covenant.  The  life  and  walk  of  a
tions in the Grand Rapids area and          of the church world? Probably not.         Christian  must  be  determined  by
in  South  Holland  for  the  first         No doubt to many these efforts ap-         the truth he confesses. The lives of
twenty-five years of its existence.         pear small and insignificant. They         Protestant Reformed people ought
In  1980  it  agreed  to  meet  in  NW      do, however, demonstrate the keen          to be governed by the eternal cov-
Iowa  every  fifth  year.  It  has  also    interest  in  and  support  for  good,     enant of grace that God has estab-
published its own quarterly maga-           Reformed,  Christian  education  in        lished with them. This is especially
zine,  Perspectives in Covenant Edu-        the Protestant Reformed Churches.          true in the area of covenant educa-
cation, since 1974. At its last con-        In  addition,  I  contend  that  great     tion.  To  this  we  will  turn  in  the
vention (held in northwest Iowa in          things  do happen in these schools!        next installment, the Lord willing--
1997)  seventeen  new  teachers             Covenant  children,  hundreds  of          God's gracious covenant with His
joined  the  Institute,  and  ninety-       them,  are  reared  in  obedience  to      people, the basis of Protestant Re-
nine teachers were in attendance!           the command of God given to par-           formed schools.   u
    Those are indications that the          ents; equipped to walk down their
cause of Protestant Reformed edu-           God-ordained  paths  in  harmony
cation flourishes today. There are          with  the  Reformed  truths;  and
others--the start of Faith Christian         trained to stand as representatives
School in Randolph in 1994; the ex-         of  God  in  this  present  evil  age.
istence of the Lacombe School So-           With the obvious exception of the
ciety  (Alberta,  Can.),  formed            preaching, is there a more signifi-
shortly after the church organized          cant work anywhere in the world?
in  1987; and  Hope's  50th  anniver-           The question begs asking, Why
sary celebration held this past sum-        do  parents,  grandparents,  young
mer, where many generations were            couples,  and  single  individuals
represented. And we note that en-           zealously  support  and  labor  for
thusiastic  parents  and  supporters        these schools? Why are men will-

250/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


  Marking Zion's Bulwarks                                                                   Prof. Herman Hanko




              The Battle Against Heresy


                                             What Heresy Is                            the doctrines of sovereign grace, he
                                                 I suppose that it seems a bit su-     erred  in  viewing  the  sacraments,
Introduction                                 perfluous to ask what heresy in the       especially  the  sacrament  of  bap-
Throughout the history of the church is; everyone knows that. tism, as having themselves the
       church  of  our  Lord  Jesus          Everyone knows that a heresy is a         power of regeneration.  This view
       Christ,  heretics  have  been         teaching  in  the  church  which  is      was accepted by the  church until
present to  trouble the  church, at-         contrary to the Scriptures.               the time of the Reformation.
tempt  to  lead  her  astray,  and  at-          Though in a way that is true, it          But a heresy is different.  One
tempt to destroy the church by rob-          is  not  quite  accurate  enough  to      does  not  necessarily  teach  heresy
bing her of her dearest treasure and         serve our purposes.                       when he sets forth a view which is
her most important reason for ex-                The church has always made it         a mistake born out of a less than
istence.                                     her  business  to  study  the  Scrip-     full  understanding  of  the  truth.
    The lives and teachings of these         tures.  This studying has been done       But once the church of which he is
heretics are so closely interwoven           by all the members of the church,         a part has shown him that his view
in the life of the church that it is         although especially by those who          is wrong, that it is not in harmony
impossible to know anything about            are in the offices of minister, elder,    with the teaching of Scripture, and
the church without knowing some-             and deacon.  But the members of           that he should not, therefore, teach
thing of the heretics that periodi-          the  church  are,  after  all,  though    it--if he continues to teach it none-
cally appeared and the false doc-            saints in Jesus Christ, also sinners      theless, at that point he becomes a
trines they proposed.                        as long as they are in this world.        heretic.
    We intend to write a series of           Sometimes in their study of Scrip-            Or if the church has already es-
biographical  sketches  of  some  of         ture, especially in the early history     tablished a certain doctrine as be-
the church's most influential her-           of the church, they made mistakes         ing the teaching of Scripture, and
etics,  describe  the  heresies  they        in  their  understanding  of  God's       some man comes along and begins
taught, and give some idea of what           Word and began to teach ideas that        to  teach  something  contrary  to
their role was in the larger picture         were  not  in  harmony  with  Scrip-      what the church has established as
of the history of the church.                ture.                                     the truth of God's Word, that man
    But before we actually get into              There are several instances of        teaches heresy.
the matter of writing about these            such mistakes which various men
heretics, it is well, I think, to say        made.    Indeed,  sometimes  men          The Reasons for Heresy
something about them in general,             taught  wrong  ideas  which  were             How is it to be explained that
about  the  heresies  they  tried  to        even  generally  accepted  in  the        heresy continually raises its head
pass on to the church, and about             church,  but  which  were  proved         in the church?
the importance of writing concern-           wrong  by  later  men  of  God  who           If one would look at that ques-
ing them.                                    understood  the  Scriptures  more         tion from the viewpoint of the man
                                             perfectly.  These  mistakes  are  not     who  himself  teaches  heresy,  the
                                             really heresies.                          question  is  somewhat  difficult  to
                                                 An  instance  of  this  latter  is    answer.  It is always possible for a
                                             Augustine's  view  of  the  sacra-        man  to  make  a  mistake  with  re-
                                             ments.  While Augustine was com-          spect  to  the  truth  and  to  teach
                                             pletely in harmony with Scripture         something that is quite clearly her-
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church His-      in most of his teachings, especially
tory  and  New Testament  in  the Protes-                                              esy.  Every man is sinful and the
                                             when it came to his teachings on
tant Reformed Seminary.                                                                imperfection of our natures makes

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heresy a distinct possibility.               which  lurks  in  the  minds  and            church is here, there is sharp wit-
        But when a man makes a mis-          hearts of men and which raises its           ness to God and Christ, something
take, and the church points out to           ugly  head  in  the  church  is  Satan       intolerable  to Satan  in  his  nefari-
him that mistake, then his obliga-           and  his  host  of  devils.   They  are      ous purposes.
tion before God and the church is            the ones who sow the seeds of her-               But that the battle for the truth
to confess that wrong, admit his er-         esy and nourish these seeds until            is a battle for the very existence of
ror, and get clear in his own mind           they become thorns and thistles in           the church means also that it is a
what the truth of Scripture is.  This        the life of the church.                      spiritual battle.  The greatest issues
does not often happen.  Man is too               Satan has his own reasons for            are  always  at  stake.    The  eternal
proud, as a general rule, to admit           bringing  heresy  into  the  church.         destinies of men are being decided.
his  wrong.   So  he  defends  vigor-        He does so because he knows, bet-            For in the confession and defense
ously  the  error  that  he  made,  so       ter than men, that the surest and            of the truth lies everlasting salva-
that  what  was  at  first  a  mistake       quickest way to destroy the church           tion; while in heresy and its pro-
now becomes stubborn support of              of Jesus Christ is through the in-           motion lie spiritual destruction and
a wrong position.  This happens re-          troduction of heresy into her faith.         everlasting damnation.  No battles
peatedly  in  the  church.                   The church is built on the founda-           in any war ever fought are as im-
        Oftentimes men who are min-          tion of the apostles and prophets,           portant as the battles fought in the
isters of the  gospel, professors in         with Jesus Christ the chief corner-          defense of the faith on the battle-
one of the church's schools or semi-         stone (Eph. 2:20-22).  That is, the          fields of the church.
naries, or leaders in a certain area         truth, as it is centrally in Christ and          But  we  must  carry  the  point
of the church's life deliberately be-        as  it  is  revealed  through  the           one step further along.
gin to teach something which they            apostles and prophets, is the foun-              We believe that God is sover-
know is wrong.  They may do so               dation of the church.  Take away             eign in everything and that, there-
in  a  very  subtle  way  so  that  the      the foundation, and the church col-          fore,  no  heresy  can  trouble  the
heresy  sounds  as  much  like  the          lapses  into  a  pile  of rubble.    The     church  without  the  will  of  God.
truth as possible.  But they make a          devil knows this.                            Even Satan is under God's control
conscious  choice  to  teach  some-              It  was  to  this  idea  that  Jesus     and can do nothing without God's
thing contrary to Scripture and the          referred  when,  in  speaking  of            will.
teachings of the church.                     Peter's  confession  that  Jesus  was            Why does God so rule that her-
        Why do they do this?                 the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living      esy  comes  into  the  church  and
        The reasons, I suppose, are le-      God, He said that this was the rock          brings  all  the  pain  and  suffering
gion.  Perhaps they want to appear           on  which  He  would  build  His             which church struggles involve?
before  men  to  be  original theolo-        church and the gates of hell would               There are also several answers
gians  who  come  with  new  and             not prevail against it.  The gates of        to this question.  We need only be
amazing insights into the truth so           hell batter that rock on which the           brief,  for  the  themes  involved  in
that men will marvel at their intel-         church stands.                               this  question  are  going  to  be  the
lectual prowess.  Maybe they want                The struggle within the church           chief themes in the series of articles
to make a name for themselves as             between the truth and the lie, be-           we hope to write.
scholars whose masterful writings            tween heresy and the confession of               The history of the church is the
will appear in prestigious theologi-         the faith of Scripture, is never an          history of a church which has al-
cal  journals.    Maybe  they  simply        intellectual  battle  only;  it  is  pro-    ways in it carnal and wicked seed.
want  the  preeminence  within  a            foundly  and  intensely  a  spiritual        These come  into the  church from
congregation and choose to teach             struggle.  The very existence of the         the  outside,  or  they  are  in  the
heresy as a way to gain a follow-            church is at stake.  On the outcome          church  because  even  among  the
ing.                                         rests the continued presence of the          children of believers not all that are
        But  in  every  case,  obviously,    church in the world.  And it must            of Israel are true Israel.
they consider themselves more im-            never  be  forgotten  that  the  devil           If they were permitted to con-
portant  than  the  truth  of  God's         will not consider himself to have            tinue to fly deceptively under the
Word.  They set themselves above             accomplished his sordid purpose in           colors of the faith, they would so
the truth.  Their own name, fame,            this world until he has obliterated          weaken the church that her posi-
reputation,  honor  which  they  ac-         the church.                                  tion  would  become  increasingly
quire for themselves--all these are               The church is, after all, the pil-       precarious.  But heresy comes into
more  important  than  God's  truth          lar and ground of the truth.  That           the church that the carnal element
and God's glory.                             is, the church shouts as loudly as           may reveal itself as such by join-
        But we must look at this mat-        it can the truth which is found in           ing with the forces of heresy.  In
ter of heresy from another point of          the Holy Scriptures, for that truth          this way the church undergoes pu-
view as well.  Behind every heresy           is the truth of God.  As long as the         rification and reformation.

252/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


     But more importantly, it is al-        church  had  better  get  to  work  to     and  glorious  truth  of  Scripture.
ways over against heresy that the           search the Scriptures so that the at-      The weapons of our spiritual war-
truth of the Word of God is devel-          tacks of heresy may be fought off          fare  are  not  manufactured  in  the
oped in a positive way.                     with the weapons of God's truth.           ivory towers of theological specu-
     There are, I think, two sides to           But we are also called to live         lation; they are hammered out on
this matter.                                antithetically  in  the  world.    God     hastily prepared forges set up right
     Generally speaking, the people         has so ordained that our life in all       on  the  battlefield,  where  the  din
of God are too spiritually lazy to          respects is always a certain "No"          and  noise  of  the  conflict  can  be
be busy with developing the truth           to that which is wrong, and an em-         heard on every side.
for its own sake.  If no heresy ever        phatic "Yes" to that which is right.           To study the heretics is no vir-
appeared as a cloud on the ecclesi-         We cannot live any differently than        tue in itself.  To study them with a
astical horizon, the church would           that.  We cannot serve God in any          view to seeing how in every case
bask in the sunshine of peace and           other way.                                 their heresies resulted in a church
quiet and the truth of God's Word               And so, when it comes to mat-          stronger in the faith because it be-
would go undeveloped.                       ters of the truth, we cannot say our       came  more  knowledgeable  in  the
     Heresy acts as a goad to push          "Yes" to the truth without first say-      truth is to participate in an excit-
the church out of complacency and           ing  "No"  to  heresy.    That  is  the    ing and worthwhile endeavor.
spiritual lethargy.  When the truth         way we serve God.  It has been so              So we intend to do.  So we shall
is  threatened,  God  uses  the  very       ordained by God Himself.                   be marking Zion's bulwarks in or-
threat of heresy to show His people             And  so  heresy  is  always  the       der to glory in the strength of Zion
that the existence of the church it-        spur to the development of the rich        against the relentless attacks of her
self  is  in  danger  and  that  the                                                   enemies.   u


  Special Article                                                                            Rev. Arie denHartog



    The Philippines an Open Door?

                                            In  the  short  two  weeks  that  we       Study  program  of  Rev.  Bernard
                                            were  in  the  Philippines  we  had        Woudenberg.    We  also  found
                                            enough interesting experiences for         people who had read the  Reformed
                                            me to be able to write a book.  We
In the first couple of weeks of
    December the author of this ar-
    ticle and Pastor Allen Brummel          give in this article a brief report.
from our church in Edgerton, Min-               Let  me  first  of  all  give  some
nesota  were  sent  by  the  Foreign        background  and  the  reason  for
Mission Committee of the Protes-            which  our  Foreign  Mission  Com-
tant Reformed Churches to visit the         mittee  decided  to  send  us  to  the
islands of the Philippines to inves-        Philippines.  Over the years a num-
tigate the possibility of a mission         ber of contacts have been made in
field  for  our churches  there.   We       the  Philippines  with  men  and
are thankful for the exciting oppor-        groups  of  men  who  profess  faith
tunity given to us to make this trip.       in Jesus Christ and interest in par-
                                            ticular  in  the  precious  Reformed
                                            faith which the Lord has entrusted
                                            to  us  and  preserved  in  our
                                            churches.  We came across breth-
                                            ren in the Philippines which first
Rev. denHartog is pastor of Hope Protes-    learned about the Reformed faith
tant Reformed Church in Redlands, Cali-     through the correspondence Bible
fornia.                                                                                  Pastors denHartog and Brummel

                                                                                              March 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/253


Dogmatics   by  Rev.  Herman               Daet, some of the men would have           but very adequate hotel in Cagayan
Hoeksema.  One pastor was in fact          to  travel  by  sea  and  by  land  for    where we would stay the next sev-
using the dogmatics to teach other         two days.                                  eral  days.   We  were  immediately
men  in  the  Reformed  faith.    We           Rev. Brummel and I flew into           impressed  by  the  low  economic
contacted a young man in Manila            Manila on December 3 late in the           standard of the people in the Phil-
who first came to know about our           evening.  There we met first with a        ippines,  especially  on  the  islands
churches  through  the  reading  of        young man named Allan Bautista.            away  from  Manila.    This  became
one of the Reformed Free Publish-          We  found  Allan  to  be  a  vibrant       even more apparent when  we at-
ing Association books.  We spoke           young Christian man greatly inter-         tended  the  first  meeting  in
with a group of men from Negros            ested  in  learning  more  about  the      Cagayan, a Bible Study with about
who had learned about the faith-           Reformed  faith.    Allan  arranged        10  people.    The  Bible  Study  was
fulness of our churches in their ad-       hotel  accommodations  for  us  in         around an old table, outdoors, in
herence  to  Reformed  doctrine.           Manila.  He also took us to our ho-        the  dark,  with  a  few  lights,  sur-
They have formed themselves into           tel the night of our arrival.  That        rounded  by  shanties  which  are
an organization called "Conveners          ride gave us our first taste of the        people's living quarters, pretty far
of  the  Historic  Reformed  Faith."       traffic  snarls  for  which  Manila  is    from the luxurious homes we live
This organization is very interested       famous.  We soon found out that            in here in America.  After the Bible
in  learning  more  about  our             there  were  many  advantages  to          Study we had a ride around some
churches  and  the  truth  God  has        having a native of the Philippines         of the city before we went back to
given to us.  Based on this history        with us whenever we moved from             the hotel.
the FMC last year asked Rev. and           place to place.                                The  next  day  there  was  a
Mrs. Jason Kortering to visit sev-             The next morning (Wednesday)           planned  conference.  This confer-
eral places in the Philippines last        we went to the domestic airport in         ence was for ministers and church
year.  They did this but were able         Manila  to  fly  with  the  Philippine     leaders from the area.  It was spon-
to make only very short visits.  Rev.      Airlines to the island of Mindanao         sored by the Bible Study group of
Kortering gave a very encouraging          and  the  city  of  Cagayan  De  Oro.      Cagayan.    One  thing  we  learned
report to the 1997 synod.                  At the airport we had our first ex-        very soon was that there are many
    The history detailed above was         perience  of  the  enthusiastic  and       men  who  call  themselves  pastors
the reason why the FMC, with the           warm welcome that we would re-             and who are taking care of small
approval  of  the  1997  synod,  de-       ceive  everywhere  we  went.    A          groups which are called churches
cided to send a delegation to the          group  of  about  30  members  of  a       but are hardly organized churches
Philippines to find out more about         Bible Study in Cagayan De Oro met          as we know them.  The "pastors"
the various contacts there.  Plans         us at the airport.  They displayed         are  not  all  well  trained.    Many
were  made  that  the  delegation          a large banner to welcome us that          evangelical  organizations  have
should  visit  four  different  cities     made  us  feel  as  though  we  were       Bible schools in the Philippines that
where we have some contacts, in-           some sort of celebrities, a little em-     turn out one "pastor" after another
cluding Manila, the capital city of        barrassing.  Included in this group,       with  minimal  training,  and  then
the  Philippines.    Also  it  was  de-    interestingly,  were  a  number  of        commission  them  to start  a work
cided to organize a conference in          young people of high school age.           in an area of their choice by trying
the little town of Labo, near the city     Two  members  of  the  Cagayan             to  get  a  following.    As  you  can
of  Daet,  on  the  island  of  Luzon.     group teach at the high school were        imagine, this has resulted in many
This location was chosen because           these  young  people  attend  and          tragic  situations.    Some  of  these
of  the  presence  of  an  established     have had a good influence on the           men  get  very  little  financial  sup-
church  with  facilities  to  hold  the    students.  (I was reminded of my           port.  They cannot find other jobs
conference.    Knowing  the  great         first meeting in Singapore with the        because of the high unemployment
poverty of the people in the Phil-         members of what was then called            (30%) in the Philippines.  Tiny so-
ippines with whom we had contact,          the Gospel Literature and Tract So-        called  churches  are  found  every-
the  FMC  offered  to  pay  the  ex-       ciety, when I went to Singapore as         where.
penses of a few men from each of           missionary of our churches.)  We               The  conference  was  attended
the areas of the Philippines where         were transported from the airport          by about  30 people.   At  the  day-
our contacts were.  Moneys were            by Jeepney.  There is hardly any-          time  meeting  I  gave  a  lecture  on
sent  to  leaders  of  the  various        thing  more  unique  to  the  Philip-      the subject "What is the Reformed
groups and they decided whom to            pines than the Jeepneys.  There are        Faith?"  This  was  only  a  general
send to the conference.  This con-         more of them on the roads in some          summary because we knew that a
ference  envisioned  bringing  to-         places  than  regular  cars.    Riding     number of the men from Cagayan
gether men from very different ar-         them is an experience in itself.           were coming to the conference in
eas of the Philippines.  To travel to          We were brought to a modest            Labo the following week, and we

254/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


did  not  want  to  present  the  sub-    in "values" in the high school men-          part of the group at Elder Jacutin's
jects of this conference in Cagayan       tioned  earlier  in  this  article.    We    home.  The church, to my dismay,
already.  After the lecture we ex-        had a very pleasant visit with this          had a very Pentecostal worship ser-
perienced our first response to mes-      family.                                      vice.  Pentecostalism is widespread
sages given in the Philippines.  All          In the evening of the same day           in the Philippines.  It has engulfed
of  the  speeches  would  generate        there was a special preaching ser-           even churches with connections to
very  lengthy  and  lively  discus-       vice  at  which  Rev.  Brummel               Western denominations that have
sions.    The  discussions  indicated     preached  the  Word.    The  young           Presbyterian and Reformed tradi-
that there was a definite interest in     people from the high school were             tions.  Pastor Brummel preached at
the Reformed faith.  Most of those        present at this meeting, as well as          a worship service in Elder Jacutin's
attending the meeting were infants        a number of the other members of             residence.    I  joined  the  meetings
in  understanding  Reformed  doc-         the Bible Study group.  To the sur-          there  in  the  afternoon  and  eve-
trine.    Some  were  hearing  Re-        prise of Pastor Brummel there was            nings.    At  these  meetings  there
formed truth for the first time.  A       a request to translate his message           were speeches and discussions on
few had learned enough heresy to          into  the  Philippine  dialect  of  the      subjects like infant baptism and on
be strongly opposed to Reformed           people.    From  all our  contacts  in       what it means to be a pastor and
doctrine.                                 the Philippines we learned that if           what it means to be a church.  Dis-
    The  Bible  Study  group  in          a missionary were to go there from           cussions  at  these  meetings  were
Cagayan De Oro is mostly self sup-        us he would almost certainly have            lively.    The  men  there  showed
porting.  They rent an upstairs hall      to learn the Filipino dialect of the         varying degrees of knowledge and
in a building which, though poor          people to whom he is ministering.            understanding  of  Reformed  doc-
by  American  standards,  is  never-          On  Saturday  morning  we                trine.  Most of the speeches were
theless  adequate  for  their  needs.     boarded a plane to another city on           translated into the Filipino dialect
The Bible Study holds Sunday wor-         the  island  of  Mindanao  called            of the men present.  This dialect is
ship  services  with  regular  atten-     Davao  City.   This city  seemed  to         called Cebuano.
dance  of  about  50  people.    They     be  just  a  little  more  prosperous            On Monday morning we had a
have three pastors, some of whom          than Cagayan De Oro, though Fili-            little  opportunity  to  walk  the
are  better  informed  and  more          pinos told us later that this was not        streets of Davao near our hotel.  We
gifted  than  others.    We  were  en-    true.  At the airport in Davao we            found out what a rarity Americans
couraged by the interest in God's         were  met  by  another  group  of            are in most of the Philippines.  An
Word.    We  saw  also  the  need  of     people  with  whom  our  churches            American really attracts attention
instruction in so many basic areas,       have  had  contact.    This  time  we        when  he  walks  down  the  streets.
even such as what a pastor is and         rode in a regular taxi from the air-         Even the downtown areas of Davao
what a church is.  But there is an        port to an outdoor park, where we            City are pretty poor by American
openness and desire to learn.  They       had lunch, and after that we were            standards.  We did not encounter
have  some  good  men  with  good         brought to our hotel.  Later in the          any hostility from the people there,
potential for leadership as the Lord      day  we  planned  for the activities         though we were told of the need
might  direct  them  in  developing       scheduled  for  the  evening.    The         of  being  careful.    Many  of  the
and  growing  in  the  truth.    The      group in Davao City meets at the             people were very pleasant and gra-
Cagayan group is commendable in           home of Elder Ronald Jacutin.   He           cious.  It seemed to us that Davao
that it is self supporting.  This is      is a squatter, and the living condi-         City was a place where an Ameri-
not  very  common  for  church            tions of his family are pathetically         can  missionary  family  could  live
groups in the Philippines.  Many          impoverished.  The group that met            without severe hardships.
depend on support from Western            together  at  Elder  Jacutin's  resi-            Later  that  day  we  boarded  a
churches.                                 dence were from other small works            plane  to  travel  back  to  Manila.
    In  the  afternoon  we  visited       in  the  area.    Many  of  these  men       Flights  into  Daet,  our  next  stop,
with  Pastor  Romegio  Lapiz.    He       are  called  pastors  for  the  reason       were scheduled only on Tuesdays
seemed to be a good man with a            mentioned earlier.  At the evening           and Saturdays, only one flight on
pastoral heart and a good grasp of        meetings we gave a summary pre-              each of these days.  The city of Daet
Reformed truth.  We were also im-         sentation  on  the  Reformed  faith.         is about 60,000 in population but
pressed with his wife and family.         Pastor Brummel dealt with some of            obviously  pretty  isolated.    It  is
They  obviously  have  a  serious         the difficult passages in scripture          probably almost fifty years behind
Christian home.  The family lives         often used to attempt to refute Re-          the Western world in development.
in  pretty  humble  circumstances.        formed doctrine.                                 Tuesday morning we traveled
Pastor Lapiz supplements his sup-             The  next  morning  being  Sun-          to Daet.  We were met there at the
port  from  the  Bible  Study  group      day,  I  was  asked  to  speak  at  the      airport  again  by  an  enthusiastic
with income from teaching a class         church of one of the men who was             group.    There  are  two  Reformed

                                                                                              March 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/255


pastors  in  Daet  with  whom  our
Foreign  Mission  Committee  has
had extensive contact.  They are a
father  and  son,  Pastor  Modesto
Tanierla (69 years old) and his son
Pastor Percival Tanierla (42 years
old).  These two men proved to be
delightful.  They are pastors in the
true  biblical  sense  of  the  word.
They are wholly devoted to  their
work in the church, and they have
real  love  for  the  Reformed  truth
and for the people to whom they
minister.  They zealously desire to                           Our hosts, Pastor and Mrs. Tanierla, and our cooks.
teach the truth to as many as the
Lord in His providence will bring             ter-filled fields divided into small              topics  to  give  presentations  on.
to  them.    We  had  a  very  blessed        square  sections.    There  were  tor-            The  presentations  were  on  infant
time of fellowship with these two             rential  rains  almost  every  day,               baptism,  the  work  of  the  Holy
men.                                          which made travel in an open jeep                 Spirit,  Reformed  church  govern-
    We rode from the airport in a             interesting.                                      ment,  and  the  three  views  of  the
small open jeep.  This jeep and its               The  conference  was  the  main               millennium, including especially a
faithful  driver (  a  member  of  the        event of our stay in the Philippines.             critique of dispensationalism.  Lec-
church)  would  take  us  on  many            We  were  told  the  first  day  what             tures had to be prepared early in
journeys  during  the  next  several          the  schedule  would  be.    The                  the mornings, beginning usually at
days.  Again I must limit myself in           planned speeches were scheduled                   5:00  A.M.  Needless to say, we were
giving details of the interesting ex-         for the evening so that members of                kept  very  busy.    There  was  very
periences  we  had  in  Daet  in  this        the church who worked during the                  little  time  for  sight-seeing;  but,
little  jeep,  usually  loaded  down,         day could attend the meetings.  We                then, that was not the purpose of
with people sometimes even hang-              were faced with having to keep the                our visit anyway.  There was great
ing  out  of  the  sides.    The  city  of    four groups of men at the confer-                 interest in all the lectures.  Discus-
Daet is in a rural setting.  We drove         ence  busy  the  whole  day.    There             sions  and  debates  afterwards  al-
through the country to get to the             were no nearby resorts to drive off               ways had to be cut off long before
church  and  meeting  place  of  the          to.  The groups at the conference                 all questions were answered.  We
conference in a town called Labo.             traveled from Manila, Negros, and                 had an exciting time of presenting
The  countryside  reminds  one  of            Mindanao.  Some traveled for two                  the truth to men who ranged from
pictures from Vietnam during the              days  to  come  to  the  conference.              a good measure of knowledge and
days  of  American  involvement               Meals were made by the ladies of                  full agreement with almost all we
there.  All around you see rice pad-          the church (three a day for a group               had to say, to men who were hear-
dies submersed in water.  There are           of  about  40  to  50  people).    They           ing the things we were teaching for
the  typical  water  buffalo  pulling         did an excellent job.  The food was               the  first  time  in  their  lives,  and
crude implements through the wa-              different but good.  The attendees                some who were strongly opposed
                                                               ate  heartily,  prob-            to what they heard.  One has to be
                                                               ably  because  they              a walking Bible commentary in a
                                                               were  getting  better            situation like this.  It was hearten-
                                                               food than they were              ing to hear from men who have a
                                                               used  to  at  home.              good grasp of Reformed doctrine.
                                                               A c c o m m o d a t i o n s      It was also amazing to hear heresy
                                                               were        makeshift.           of almost every sort that had been
                                                               Some  slept  on  the             brought by various denominational
                                                               church pews, others              works of Western churches into the
                                                               in  huts  around  the            Philippines.
                                                               church sanctuary.                    All the evening meetings were
                                                                   C o n v e r s a t i o n s    well  attended.    The  little  church
                                                               with men at the con-             was  almost  full  to  capacity.
                                                               ference soon gave us             Among  those  who  attended  the
                                                               all  kinds  of  good             evening meetings were also young
     Our driver shows us around the city of Labo.                                               people, some of whom were receiv-

256/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


                                                           the  truth  of  the       the church we had planned to visit
                                                           Word of God.              in the evening.  We did however
                                                                 In  conclusion,     have another opportunity  to visit
                                                           the  brethren  at  the    more  with  the  young  man  men-
                                                           conference      were      tioned at the beginning of our re-
                                                           easy  to  love  and  a    port.  This was done in the cool of
                                                           joy  to  have  fellow-    the  evening  while  walking  along
                                                           ship with.   On the       scenic Manila Bay.
                                                           Friday  evening  be-          It is our prayer that the Lord
                                                           fore  our  departure      will  guide  our  Foreign  Mission
                                                           from Daet, both Pas-      Committee  and  our  synod  this
                                                           tor  Brummel  and  I      summer  so  that  we  might  know
                Conference in Labo,                         preached  in  the        what  is  the  Lord's  will  for  our
        in Pastor Percival Tanierla's church.               church in downtown       churches  as  far as  future  mission
                                                            Daet  that  is  cared    work  in  the  Philippines  is  con-
ing  instruction  from  Pastors          for by Pastor Tanierla senior.  We          cerned.    We  believe  there  is  an
Percival  and  Modesto  Tanierla.        had occasion to demonstrate in ser-         open door in the Philippines.  We
Some  of  these  were  new  to  Re-      mons  how  Reformed  truth  is              met with a number of dear saints
formed teaching and were just so         present in the regular preaching in         of  God.      There  are  a  number  of
eager to listen to what we had to        church.                                     these who would greatly welcome
bring to them.  Giving the speeches              We  left  with  sad  good-byes      the help of our churches in teach-
on the great doctrines of grace was      from Daet.  Bonds in the truth had          ing them the gospel as we believe
exciting  in  ways  that  words  can     been  formed  in  our  short  visit         it  is  outlined  in  our  Reformed
hardly describe.  We have taught         there.    On  Saturday  morning  we         creeds.   They want our help in es-
these truths for years in our own        flew back to Manila.  In Manila we          tablishing  Reformed  churches.
churches and on so many occasions        stayed  at  Shalom  Mission,  which         Some expressly stated this to us.
that we might become complacent          is  a  modest  accommodation  for               For various reasons a mission-
in regards to the wonder of these        missionaries  and  church  workers          ary family would face many diffi-
truths.  How exciting it is to teach     from various denominations.  The            culties  living  in  the  Philippines.
this glorious and blessed truth of       cost  of  staying  there  is  consider-     However, there are many Western
the gospel to those who are eagerly      ably  less  than  hotel  accommoda-         missionaries who have coped with
discovering  and  hearing  about         tions.                                      living there for many years.  As in
them for the first time.                         We had made arrangements to         all fields, there are problems that
    I must still tell you about our      meet with the director of the Chris-        would have to be faced.  There is
particular  joy  in  fellowship  with    tian Reformed Missions in the Phil-         the problem of the poverty of many
the  brethren  from  Negros.    They     ippines on Sunday and also to at-           of the people.  There is the prob-
are  members  of  the  group  called     tend  a  worship  service  in  one  of      lem  of  the  difficulty  of  establish-
Conveners  of  the  Historic  Re-        their  congregations  in  the  Philip-      ing  self-supporting  churches  in
formed Faith.  These men are ob-         pines.    Pastor Lee  Baas  was  very       such a situation.  Roman Catholi-
viously  more  advanced  in  their       helpful  in  giving  us  an  overview       cism is very strong in the Philip-
knowledge of Reformed teachings          of  the  mission  work  which  the          pines.    Pentecostalism  has  had
than some of the others.  They are       Christian  Reformed  Church  and            widespread  influence.    There  are
men who have a good formal edu-          some  other  denominations  have            other  heresies  that  have  had  a
cation as well.  The group includes      done in the Philippines.   Having           strong  influence  in  the  country.
one who is a medical doctor, one         been  in  the  Philippines  for  eight      The  "peace  and  order"  situation,
who  is  an  attorney,  another  a       years he could tell us about the dif-       using the slogan of the Philippines,
physical therapist, and some who         ficulties  and  problems  they  have        can present some danger in parts
are teachers, as well as those who       faced as well as the joys.  We be-          of the Philippines.  Foreign mission
have had a good measure of train-        lieve our meeting with Pastor Baas          work is always very difficult.  May
ing in theology.   They are conver-      will  be  valuable  for  advising  the      the Lord enable us as churches and
sant with the writings of many Re-       Foreign Mission Committee regard-           ministers of the gospel for the sal-
formed theologians.  They are able       ing the physical aspects of setting         vation of God's people to face the
to see more deeply the importance        up  a  mission  work  in  the  Philip-      challenges.   u
of maintaining a distinctively Re-       pines, should the Lord so direct our
formed  position.    They  have          churches.
learned to  combat heresy as  they               Because of traffic conditions in
have grown in their knowledge of         Manila we were not able to attend

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  When Thou Sittest in Thine House                                                             Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma


                                          The Covenant of Marriage

               2. Courtship Within the Covenant (cont.)

Dating, or courtship, is a se-                                                             this  is  what  He  finds:    "there  is
           rious  matter!    It  is  not  a     A man must search out a wife               none righteous, no, not one:  there
           popularity  contest  to  see            God's  covenant  relationship           is  none  that  understandeth,  there
how  many  girls  or  guys  one  can           with His people has much to say             is  none  that  seeketh  after  God"
go out with.  It is not a game to see          about  who  takes  the  lead  in  dat-      (Rom.  3:10,  11).    This  is  true  of
how far one can go sexually with-              ing.  We  have already  learned  in         God's elect, too, prior to salvation.
out going all the way.  Neither is it          previous articles that the covenant         We are children of wrath even as
a means which one uses simply to               relationship which God establishes          others.    But  God  seeks  out  His
have  fun  with  a  person  (believer          with  His  church  is  described  in        people in this world.  Jesus speaks
or unbeliever) without any commit-             Scripture as a marriage relationship        of this in Luke 19:10, "For the Son
ments  or  responsibilities.   Dating          (e.g., Is. 62:4, 5).  We need not dem-      of man is come to seek and to save
is  not  a  game!    On  the  contrary,        onstrate that again.  The question          that which was lost."  The divine
dating is courtship.  It is a means            we wish to consider is:  who sought         Bridegroom seeks His wife.  This
which a person uses prayerfully to             out whom in this relationship?  Did         is  described  most  beautifully  in
seek out a spouse.  It is to be used           the church, the bride, seek out God         Ezekiel 16.  It is profitable to read
by a man and woman solely for the              or Christ, the bridegroom?  Or did          the entire passage, but a quotation
purpose  of  ascertaining  whether             God  search  out  His  bride  in  this      of verses 4-8 here will suffice.
God has intended them to spend a               world?
lifetime together in marriage.  That               The answer is clear from Scrip-           And as for thy nativity, in the day
is the godly goal of dating or court-          ture:    God  seeks  and  saves  His          that thou wast born thy navel was
ship.                                                                                        not cut, neither wast thou washed
                                               church!  This is firmly established
    If this is truly the purpose or                                                          in water to supple thee; thou wast
                                               in eternity already in the counsel
goal of dating, however, then it car-                                                        not salted at all, nor swaddled at
                                               of  God.    God  who  is  the  eternal        all.  None eye pitied thee, to do
ries with it some very practical im-           One, in order to bring glory to His           any  of  these  unto  thee,  to  have
plications for our dating life.  These         name, determined to share His fel-            compassion  upon  thee;  but  thou
we  consider  in  this  and  the  next         lowship with the creature outside             wast cast out in the open field, to
couple of articles.  As we do, keep            of Himself.  To accomplish this goal          the loathing of thy person, in the
in mind that we are not using the              God elected Christ as the firstborn           day  that  thou  wast  born.    And
standard that is set for us by the             among  His  people  (Col.  1:15-17).          when I passed by thee, and saw
wicked  society  in  which  we  live.                                                        thee  in  thine  own  blood,  I  said
                                               Only  upon this election of Christ
We do not follow after the example                                                           unto  thee,  Live.    I  have  caused
                                               follows the election of the church
or the advice unbelievers give us                                                            thee to multiply as the bud of the
                                               (Col.  1:18).    In  eternity  already,       field, and thou hast increased and
in this area of our lives.  We are             therefore, we find the bridegroom             waxen  great,  and  thou  art  come
Christians--followers  of  Christ.              (God)  choosing  unto  Himself  in            to  excellent  ornaments:    thy
We  therefore  follow  the  norm  of           Christ His bride (the church).                breasts  are  fashioned,  and  thine
Scripture.  We are believers whose                 But  what  is  firmly  rooted  in         hair is grown, whereas thou wast
dating life is governed by the cov-            eternity  is  even  more  clearly  re-        naked  and  bare.    Now  when  I
enant  which  God  has  established            vealed in time.  When Adam and                passed by thee, and looked upon
with  us.    The  bond  of  friendship                                                       thee, behold thy time was the time
                                               Eve fell into sin, this affected the
God establishes with His people in                                                           of love; and I spread my skirt over
                                               entire human race, including God's
Christ has much to say about dat-                                                            thee and covered thy nakedness:
                                               elect.    "...  for  we  have  before           yea, I sware unto thee and entered
ing.    How  so?    Consider  the  fol-        proved  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,            into  a  covenant  with  thee,  saith
lowing.                                        that they are all under sin" (Rom.            the Lord God, and thou becamest
                                               3:9).  When God looks down from               mine.
Rev.  Bruinsma  is  pastor  of  Kalamazoo      heaven  to  assess  the  children  of
Protestant  Reformed  Church  in               men,  to  see  if  there  are  any  that        This is the divine example we
Kalamazoo, Michigan.                           understand and seek Him (Ps. 14),           are given in Scripture.

258/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


    This example must govern us            findeth a wife findeth a good thing        of  feminist  thought.    Women  in
in our dating life:  the man is called     and obtaineth favor of the Lord."          church office and the career woman
by God to seek a wife.  Already in         Proverbs 31:10:  "Who can find a           who  gives  her  own  children  into
this approach to courtship we find         virtuous woman?  for her price is          the  hands  of  day-care  are  just  a
an all-important principle being es-       far above rubies."  Proverbs 18:19:        couple of evidences of the horrible
tablished which later will be exer-        "There  be three things which are          influences  of  feminism  on  the
cised in marriage itself.  The hus-        too  wonderful  for  me,  yea,  four       church.  No wonder we witness so
band is called to exercise headship        which I know not:  the way of an           much  divorce  and  remarriage  in
in  his  marriage.    Contrary  to  the    eagle in the air; the way of a ser-        the church!  Husbands and wives
cry of alarm sounded by the femi-          pent on a rock; the way of a ship          cohabit the same house, but do not
nists, this is not chauvinistic!  It is    in the midst of the sea; and the way       care  to  depend  on  each  other  fi-
proper!  And it is only logical too!       of a man with a maid."                     nancially  and  emotionally.    They
If  the  man  is  going  to  assume            This  is  the  knowledge  God's        live together but develop little in-
headship in his home as Scripture          Word  gives  to  us  about  a  man's       terdependence.    Yet,  we  contend,
commands  him  to  do,  then  that         role in dating.  But knowledge is          these  things  have  not  affected  us
headship is not something turned           not wisdom.  We can know what              as they have others.  Maybe not to
on like a light-switch on the day of       God's Word says, yet not be very           that degree as yet--of that we can
his marriage.  It is exercised from        wise in God's Word.  Spiritual wis-        be grateful.  But do not forget how
the very start.  It begins with a man      dom is the ability to put the knowl-       shrewd Satan is! Do not forget to
searching out a wife and continues         edge we have of God's Word into            be wise so that you are able to dis-
on into the dating relationship and        effect practically in our lives.  It is    cern what his subtle attacks are on
finally into marriage itself.              also  the  ability  to  discern  what      us!  Feminism slowly but surely fil-
    This role of the man seeking a         might dictate against God's Word           ters into the church.  It trickles into
wife  is  also  scriptural.    We  need    in a small but subtle way.  We say         the church in little, almost imper-
only look at the examples of godly         this  because  there  has  definitely      ceptible, streams.
men of old.  Abraham sent a ser-           been  worldly  influence  on  us  in           Who  takes  the  lead  in  asking
vant  to  Haran  to  find  a  wife  for    this whole area of dating.  We do          another out on a date?  The young
Isaac (Gen. 24).  The opposite was         not always detect this because Sa-         man, of course!  Does he do that
not  true:    Rebekah  did  not  come      tan is pretty shrewd when dealing          during "twerp week" too?  "Come
seeking  Isaac.    Jacob  too  was         with  the  church.    Yet,  there  is      on!  Don't be such a kill-joy!  This
charged by Isaac with these words,         something  appealing  to  us  too          is only done in fun!"  Is dating ever
"Thou shalt not take a wife of the         about  that  free,  independent            supposed  to  be  a  game?    Do  we
daughters of Canaan.  Arise, go to         woman.  The world makes her look           switch gender roles in courtship in
Padanaram to the house of Bethuel          so glamorous.                              order to make it fun?  Are we as
thy mother's father; and take thee             The sinful trends of feminism          adults  teaching  our  children  wis-
a wife from thence of the daugh-           today are glaring!  Feminists make         dom and discretion in dating with
ters of Laban thy mother's brother"        their  voices  heard  in  politics  and    such a frivolous practice?
(Gen. 28:1, 2).  Prior to the Flood        in  society.    We  cringe  when  we           Who  calls  whom  when  seri-
we also read of "the sons of God"          hear of their agenda!  But the views       ously  desirous  of  finding  a  life's
taking the lead in seeking to them-        of feminists have made their way           mate?  The young man, of course!
selves wives.  We read in Genesis          also into the media.  Their doctrine       Are we teaching our children this
6:1, 2:  "And it came to pass, when        of the supremacy (not equality) of         when  we  allow  our  daughters
men began to multiply on the face          the female gender creeps into the          (sometimes when they are thirteen
of  the  earth,  and  daughters  were      novels, magazines, and movies of           or fourteen already!) to call young
born  unto  them,  that  the  sons  of     today.  And far too many of us sin-        men  on  the  phone  to  lay  the
God saw the daughters of men that          fully  enjoy  reading  about  it  and      "subtle" hint that they really like
they  were  fair;  and  took  them         watching  it.    Yet,  we  assure  our-    him and want  to "go with"  him?
wives  of  all  which  they  chose."       selves, all of that is "out there" in      "Now you are going too far!  We
The sons of the church sinned, of          the wicked world and we person-            may not discourage our children by
course,  by  marrying  ungodly             ally would not care to follow in this      placing handcuffs on them in this
wives--but not by taking the lead           way.  We are not affected by the           whole  area  of  their  young  lives.
in  seeking  out  wives  for  them-        feminist propaganda that pervades          We did it when we were young and
selves.                                    society.  Are we sure about that?          we turned out all right."  We ought
    Other  passages  of  Scripture             Many churches today which at           to ask ourselves a serious question
simply  assume  that  it  is  the  man     one time were solidly rooted in the        in  this  connection.    What  are  we
who seeks and finds for himself a          Reformed truths of Scripture have          teaching our children when we al-
wife.    Proverbs  18:22:    "Whoso        come under the horrible influence          low them to do this?  Are we teach-

                                                                                             March 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/259


ing  them  that  courtship  is  an  as-      late our thinking about the signifi-        the  tide?    Scripture  teaches  what
pect  of  life  which  a  person  must       cance of dating.  Dating will set the       the  calling  of  a  young  man  and
always take seriously?  If so, then          course for one's whole future life          woman is in seeking a mate.  God's
parents  must  teach  their  children        in marriage.  It is a serious matter        covenant  with  His  church  lays  a
that there are certain rules in dat-         when  young  men  and  women  of            valuable foundation for us in this
ing.  We must not simply allow our           the covenant and church of Christ           matter.  A lifelong commitment in
children  to  follow  after  the  stan-      date one another.  If there is one          marriage is greatly assisted by fol-
dards  set  by  our  godless  society.       thing Scripture is clear on it is this:     lowing this Word of God.  We know
We must teach our children correct           every aspect of courting and mar-           what God's Word tells us.  But it is
behavior in dating.  That means we           riage  is  of  weighty  significance.       only the wise person who will take
must instruct our sons to be will-           And, yes, that begins already in the        this  Word  in  hand  and  put  it  to
ing  to  exert  headship  and  our           matter of directing our young men           practical use in his life.  May God
daughters  to  be  adorned  with  a          to do the searching, and our young          give such wisdom to parents whose
"meek and a quiet" spirit.                   women  to  wait  patiently  on  God         children are of age to date.
    These,  of  course,  are  only  a        to  bring  to  them  a  man  of  His             May  God  give  wisdom  to
couple  of  examples.    They  may           choosing.                                   young  men  and  women  in  the
seem  to  be  of  little  consequence.            Parents must exercise wisdom           church to use His Word to guide
And maybe that is true.  But then,           while guiding their children to es-         them  in  this  important  matter  of
they are only examples.  It is not           tablish a good marriage and fam-            dating.  May we be bold to stand
the intention of this article to call        ily.  The divorce rate even in the          against the pressures of the wicked
attention to particulars.  They are          church is on the rise.  Can we stem         world and society in which we live.
mentioned only in order to stimu-                                                        God give us wisdom.   u

  Decency and Order                                                                            Rev. Ron Cammenga



                      Special Days of Prayer

                        "In  time  of  war,  pestilence,  national  calamities,  and  other  great  afflic-
                    tions, the pressure of which is felt throughout the churches, it is fitting that
                    the classis proclaim a day of prayer."
                                                                              Church Order, Article 66.


The Original Article of Dordt                selves before God and implore His                Several  differences  may  be
    As is well known, the Roman              grace.    Thus  the  inclusion  of  Ar-     noted.
Catholic Church multiplied special           ticle 66 in our Church Order.                    First, our article speaks of the
days  of  fasting  and  prayer.    The            Our present Article 66 differs         "classis," whereas the original ar-
Reformed  churches  condemned                somewhat from the article adopted           ticle spoke of the "ministers" tak-
this multiplication of days.  At the         originally  by  the  Synod  of              ing the initiative in the proclama-
same time, they saw the spiritual            Dordrecht,  1618-19.    The  original       tion of special days of prayer.
benefits  of  fasting  and  prayer.          article read as follows:                         Second,  the  original  article
They believed that there were cer-                                                       spoke  of  the  government  setting
tain  times  when  circumstances                  In times of war, pestilence, na-       aside  these  prayer  days,  whereas
called  for  the  saints  to  come  to-         tional calamities, severe persecu-       our present article makes no men-
gether  in  order  to  humble  them-            tion  of  the  churches  and  other      tion of the government.  Undoubt-
                                                general difficulties, the ministers      edly this was due to the fact that
                                                shall petition the government that       on  these  days  of  prayer  all  busi-
Rev.  Cammenga  is  pastor  of  Southwest       by its authority and order public        nesses,  schools,  and  amusements
Protestant  Reformed  Church in Grand-          fasting  and  prayer  days  may  be      were shut down.  Public life came
ville, Michigan.                                designated and set aside.

260/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


to a standstill, as was otherwise the       article  to  designate  these  special       lands the congregations would of-
case only on the Sabbath.                   days  of  prayer.    Undoubtedly  a          ten spend the entire day in church,
    Third, excluded in our present          classis would do this at the request         at  the  same  time  refraining  from
article as a cause for a special  day       of one of its member consistories.           eating and drinking.  Usually two
of prayer is "severe persecution of         The  special  day  of  prayer,  there-       sermons  were  preached,  and  be-
the churches."  For some unknown            fore,  would  affect  all  of  the           tween  the  sermons  the  congrega-
reason  this  was  dropped  in  the         churches in that particular classis.         tion would  engage in prayer and
1914 revision of the Church Order           It  may  very  well  be  that  the  cir-     singing.
by the Christian Reformed Church.           cumstances prompting a classis to                At  times  the  question  arose
Perhaps  it  was  felt  that  if  the       set  aside  a  special  day  of  prayer      whether  these  special  days  of
church  was  experiencing  severe           are circumstances that do not pre-           prayer should be designated on a
persecution,  it  would  hardly  be         vail in neighboring classes.  This is        Sunday  or  on  a  week-day.    The
possible  for  the  congregations  to       the more likely in our own situa-            consensus of the synods was that
gather for public worship.  Never-          tion in which our classes are rather         they should ordinarily be held on
theless, this certainly qualifies as a      large geographically and congrega-           a week-day.
compelling reason for a special day         tions widely separated.                          The  purpose  of  these  special
of prayer.  It would be good, there-            Even though Article 66 autho-            days of prayer is not simply that
fore, that any future revision of the       rizes a classis to call for a special        the  church  request  that  the  Lord
Church  Order  restore  this  phrase        day of prayer, the article does not          remove whatever calamity He has
of Dordt.                                   prohibit either a local consistory or        sent.  Such a request has its place
    Fourth, our present article con-        the  general  synod  from  designat-         in the church, which all the while
tains no reference to fasting.  This        ing such days.                               submits such a petition to the will
is regrettable.  The original article           There  may  be  reasons  locally         of God, as it does in the life of the
of  Dordt  combined  fasting  and           for a consistory to take this step,          individual Christian.  But beyond
prayer.  These were to be special           for example, if the congregation's           that, it is the purpose of these spe-
days not only of prayer, but also           meeting place is destroyed by fire           cial days of prayer to recognize the
of fasting.  Consideration ought to         or its pastor unjustly imprisoned.           hand of the Lord in whatever af-
be  given  to  reinstating  the  refer-     Acts  12 tells us  that  many  of  the       flictions He has sent, and His good-
ence to fasting in any future revi-         saints of the congregation at Jerusa-        ness in sending them.  The purpose
sion of the Church Order.                   lem were gathered for prayer at the          is to humble ourselves under the
                                            home of Mary, the mother of John             heavy  hand  of  the  Lord,  confess-
The Provision of Article 66                 Mark,  at  the  time  that  Peter  was       ing  our  sins  and  acknowledging
    Article  66  is  concerned  with        miraculously  delivered  from                that  in  ourselves  we  deserve  far
special  days  of  prayer.    These         prison.                                      worse than extreme earthly afflic-
prayer days are to be distinguished             The general synod may desig-             tion.    The  purpose  is  to  pray  for
from the annual Day of Prayer for           nate a day of prayer.  The "national         His preserving grace in the afflic-
crops  which  is  referred  to  in  Ar-     calamities" referred to in Article 66        tion, the grace neither to complain
ticle  67.    These  are  not  regularly    may affect the churches of all the           nor to find fault with God's ways
scheduled days of prayer, but spe-          classes.  Or  all the churches may           which are always higher than our
cial days of prayer arising out of          come under the pressure of a gen-            ways.
extraordinary circumstances.                eral persecution.
    These  extraordinary  circum-               However,  ordinarily,  indi-             What About Fasting?
stances are the circumstances gen-          vidual classes will designate spe-               As noted earlier, the reference
erally  referred  to  in  the  article:     cial days of prayer for the churches         to fasting in the original article of
war, pestilence, national calamity,         within that particular classis.              the  Church Order of Dordt has been
other  great  afflictions,  and  perse-         On the designated day, each lo-          dropped  in  our  Church  Order.
cution.  In various ways these cir-         cal  consistory  will  issue  a  call  to    There are two explanations for this.
cumstances  bring  "pressure"  to           worship.  As  on the Sabbath, the                First,  the  Reformed  churches
bear on the churches.  The church           members  of  the  church  are  ex-           reacted to the unbiblical practice of
is not immune from these disasters.         pected to heed this summons.  Al-            fasting  in  the  Roman  Catholic
Although separate from the world,           though  these  are  special  days  of        Church.    Rome  imposed  fasts  on
the  church  is  in  the  world.    And     prayer, the Word is to be adminis-           the people.  And Rome promoted
being in the world means that the           tered, as is always the case when            fasting as meritorious.
saints experience the trouble, pain,        the  congregation  is  gathered  for             Second, the practice of fasting
and  temptations  associated  with          worship.    The  ministers  should           gradually fell into disuse in the Re-
these afflictions.                          preach a sermon appropriate to the           formed churches.
    The classis is authorized by the        specific  occasion.    In  the  Nether-          Is there, however, a legitimate

                                                                                                  March 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/261


place for fasting in the life of the              forty days and forty nights at the                and  meditation.    No  distraction,
New Testament Christian?  Is it ap-               time of His temptation in the wil-                not even the distraction of food and
propriate  at  certain  times  for  be-           derness (Matt. 4:2).  The church at               drink,  are  permitted  to  take  the
lievers to be encouraged to abstain               Antioch fasted prior to sending out               believer's  mind  off  God  or  to in-
from food and drink so that they                  Paul and Barnabas on the first mis-               terrupt  his  supplication  of  God.
may give themselves to prayer and                 sionary journey (Acts 13:2, 3).                   Besides this, fasting is an expres-
other exercises of piety?  Ought we                    Without  doubt,  fasting  ought              sion  of  sorrow  and  repentance.
to give fasting more of a place than              still to have a place in the life of              Fasting in Scripture is often asso-
we do?                                            New  Testament  Christians.    No-                ciated  with  confession  of  sin,  the
     The Scriptures contain numer-                where  do  the  New  Testament                    outward  manifestation  of  the
ous  references  to  fasting.    Under            Scriptures bind fasting on believ-                strickenness of the inward man.
the Old Testament economy there                   ers at set times and for prescribed                   It is doubtful that the provision
were  mandatory  fasts  associated                lengths of time.  Fasting in the New              of Article 66 has ever been imple-
with the solemn festivals appointed               Testament is to be voluntary fast-                mented  in  the  history  of  our
by  God  in  Israel.   The  Scriptures            ing.  The church is not to mandate                churches.  Perhaps some  day cir-
refer  often  to  voluntary  fasts.               fasting.    But  that  does  not  mean            cumstances  will  arise  which  per-
David fasted as long as the child                 that  at  certain  times  the  church             suade the churches to proclaim a
born  to  Bathsheba  still  lived  (II            may not encourage fasting.  It may                special day of prayer.  For it lives
Sam.  12:21ff.).    The  people  of               and it ought.                                     in the consciousness of Reformed
Nineveh  fasted  in  response  to                      Fasting  has  several  purposes.             Christians that prayer is the chief
Jonah's proclamation of God's in-                 The main purpose of fasting is the                vehicle  by  which  we  express  our
tention to destroy their city (Jonah              better to dispose the soul to prayer              gratitude to God and receive from
3:5ff.).   The Lord Jesus fasted for                                                                God His grace and Holy Spirit.   u

  Book Reviews


Believers and Their Seed:  Children in                 From a certain point of view,  Be-           for  opposing  the  theory  of  common
the Covenant, by Herman Hoeksema.                 lievers  and  Their  Seed   is  Hoeksema's        grace, he set forth his covenant view
Grand  Rapids:    Reformed  Free  Pub-            most important book, for it sets forth            in  eleven  editorials  in  the  Standard
lishing  Association,  revised  edition,          his greatest contribution to Reformed             Bearer.  Those editorials form the con-
1997.  166 pages.  $17.95 (hard cover).           theology.  At the same time, the view             tents  of  this  book,  first  published  in
[Reviewed by Rev. D.H. Kuiper.]                   of  the  covenant  developed  here  sets          the Dutch language, then in an English
                                                  forth the heart of Protestant Reformed            translation  in  1971,  and  now  in  this
                                                  theology;  if  anyone  wants  to  know            attractive  reprint.    This  volume  also
     There  are  really  only  two  views
                                                  what these churches stand for, in dis-            contains a twenty-six page preface by
of  the covenant  of grace.    One  view
                                                  tinction from other Reformed denomi-              Prof.  David  Engelsma  which  gives  a
holds that the covenant of God is uni-
                                                  nations, this book will make that clear.          biography  of  Hoeksema  and  a  thor-
lateral.    The  other  view  is  that  it  is
                                                  As the sovereignty of God is the great            ough introduction to the book itself.
bilateral.  That the covenant is unilat-
                                                  truth  that  underlies  and  unifies  the             As Prof. Engelsma points out, the
eral  or  one-sided  means  that  God  is
                                                  five points of Calvinism, so the sover-           significance of the book is that it makes
sovereign in every aspect of the cov-
                                                  eignty  of  God  is  the  basis  of               six points about the covenant, points
enant:  He conceived of it, established
                                                  Hoeksema's understanding of the cov-              we  believe  Reformed  churches  need
it, maintains it, and perfects it.  There
                                                  enant.    God  is  God!    Salvation  is  of      badly to hear today.  1) The essence of
are not two parties in the covenant, but
                                                  the  Lord  alone!    And  salvation,  the         the covenant is friendship, friendship
one, and that is God.  There are two
                                                  covenant,  and  the  grace  of  God  re-          between God and His people through
parts to the covenant, God's and man's;
                                                  vealed therein, are only for the elect            the  work  of  Jesus  Christ.    And  this
but God performs His part, and also
                                                  whom God has chosen in eternity and               friendship is to be traced back to the
works man's part by the power of His
                                                  unconditionally.                                  triune life of God Himself.  God is the
grace.  The other view of the covenant,
                                                       Because Hoeksema was intellectu-             covenant God because He enjoys a life
bilateralism, has God and man in con-
                                                  ally honest and thoroughly committed              of friendship, first within Himself, and
tract or agreement.  Each has a work
                                                  to  Holy  Scripture  and  the  Reformed           then with His people.  2) Included in
to perform.  When God does His part
                                                  confessions,  it is safe to say that his          this covenant life are the children of
and man does his part then the cov-
                                                  insistence on particular grace assisted           believers, for God saves His church in
enant  is  successful.    In  this  book
                                                  him in developing a view of the cov-              the line of continued generations.  And
Herman Hoeksema argues successfully
                                                  enant that was biblically grounded and            for this reason infants are to be bap-
that the covenant is unilateral.  And
                                                  in harmony with the genius of the con-            tized.  3) There is one church through-
he shows that all other views are es-
                                                  fessions.    It  is  striking  that  in  1927,    out the ages, one covenant under Old
sentially bilateral, and as such partake
                                                  only three years after he was expelled            and New Testament forms.  Baptism
of Arminianism to one degree or an-
                                                  from the Christian Reformed Church                has  replaced  circumcision.    Infants
other.

262/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


must receive the token of the covenant.        bilateralism as regards the covenant?        the experience was profitable and en-
4)  The  covenant  is  established  only       Hoeksema  shows  that  the  Christian        joyable for all concerned.  We encour-
with the elect.  Here we see Hoeksema          Reformed  view  of  the  covenant  was       age  others  to  study  this  important
faithful to the Canons of Dordt as he          basically the same as that espoused by       book, either personally or in society.
applies  the  doctrines  of  grace  to  the    Dr.  K.  Schilder  and  the  Liberated       Such  a  study  will  send  us  to  Holy
covenant.    Because  believers  bring         Churches,  and  therefore  must  be  re-     Scripture to learn what it means that
forth a twofold seed, the elect and the        jected.  And 6) Hoeksema rejects the         God is the covenant God, and why the
reprobate, it is necessary to distinguish      Kuyperian notion of presupposed re-          covenant  is  called  the  covenant  of
the  covenant  from  the  sphere  of  the      generation as the reason for the bap-        grace.     Such  a  study,  humbly  and
covenant.  Only elect children of be-          tism of infants.  It is a mystery of mod-    prayerfully undertaken, will be an act
lievers  are  in  the  covenant  of  grace.    ern church history that time and again       of friendship.
The Esaus in the church are not in the         Hoeksema  and  the  Protestant  Re-              Many  years  ago  an  older  pastor
covenant, but are merely in the sphere         formed  Churches  are  charged  with         advised me to read Chapter 5 of the
of  the  covenant  for  which  they  are       maintaining  presupposed  regenera-          book before all the other chapters.  In
judged the more strictly.  5) The doc-         tion.                                        Chapter 5  the "Meaning of  the Cov-
trinal struggle of 1953 must be seen as            I have used the book to study the        enant" is set forth.  With that in mind
a  controversy  over  the  covenant:           doctrine  of  the  covenant  twice,  once    the  other  chapters  are  more  under-
Would  the  Protestant  Reformed               with the adult members of a small con-       standable.  We found that to be true,
Churches  remain  faithful  to  her  his-      gregation and once with older young          and pass the  suggestion on for your
torical moorings, or would she adopt           people and young adults.  Both times         consideration.   u


  Report of Classis East

January 14, 1998                               and  harmony  in  our  congregations.        Examina:     Rev.  Dale  Kuiper  for  a
Southwest  Protestant  Reformed                One matter of discipline was treated         three-year  primus  term  and  Rev.  M.
Church                                         in closed session.                           Dick  to  a  three-year  secundus  term.
                                                   Southwest PRC presented an over-         Classical Committee:  Rev. B. Gritters
        Classis East met in regular session    ture proposing the creation of the of-       was  elected  to  a  three-year  term.
on Wednesday, January 14, 1998, at the         fice of vice-president for classis.  This    Church Visitors:  Revs.  Dale  Kuiper
Southwest  PRC.    The  churches  were         overture was approved; the vice-presi-       and J. Slopsema with Rev. K. Koole as
each  represented  by  two  delegates;         dent will be the pastor who is next in       alternate.
Rev. W. Bruinsma chaired this session.         line alphabetically to be the chairman           In matters of finance, subsidy re-
Present for the first time as active pas-      of classis.                                  quests  for  1999  for  Kalamazoo  for
tors  were  Revs.  Laning  and                     In  voting,  the  following  results:    $19,500 and for Covenant for $37,500
VanderWal.    Mr.  Cal  Kalsbeek's             Synodical  Delegates:     Ministers--         were  approved.    Covenant  also  in-
church history students from Covenant          Primi--R.  Cammenga,  B.  Gritters,  K.       formed  the  classis  that  its  1998  sub-
Christian High School were in atten-           Koole,  J.  Slopsema,  C.  Terpstra;         sidy  would  be  reduced  by  $3,000  to
dance for part of the morning session.         Secundi--W. Bruinsma, M. Dick, Dale           $40,500.    The  expenses  of  classis
        This was a relatively light session    Kuiper,  A.  Spriensma,  R.  Van             amounted to $1,423.00.
for a January classis.  No one seemed          Overloop;  Elders-- Primi-- W.  De                 Classis  will  meet  next  at  the
to  mind  the  change.    Reports  were        Kraker, D. Harbach, Cal Kalsbeek, D.         Southeast PRC on Wednesday, May 13,
heard from the Stated Clerk, the Clas-         Ondersma, T. Spriensma;  Secundi--T.          1998.
sical Committee, and the church visi-          Bodbyl,  T.  DeVries,  D.  Kregel,  H.                         Respectfully submitted,
tors.  The church visitors report peace        Rutgers,  J.  VanDyke.    Delegates  Ad                    Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk

  News From Our Churches                                                                             Mr. Benjamin Wigger


                                               tian  School  in  Redlands,  CA  met         Lord willing, construction will be-
School Activities                              on  December  15  to  consider  two          gin  as  early  as  mid-way  through
        Our Christian schools continue         proposals submitted by their school          this month.
to  enjoy  increases  in  their  enroll-       board.    The  first  was  to  approve           Once more this 1998 season, the
ment.                                          adding  an  additional  teacher  to          Hope Foundation of the Hope PR
        Addressing that "problem," the         their staff for the upcoming year,           Christian School in Walker, MI is
school society of the Hope Chris-              and the second was to approve the            presenting their annual travelogue
                                               construction  of  another  building,         series at Grandville Middle School
                                               consisting  of  two  classrooms  and         in Grandville, MI.  Plans called for
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant       additional  bathroom  facilities.            four travelogues this year, ranging
Reformed  Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-      Both  proposals,  after  discussion,         from a canoeing adventure in the
gan.                                           were  passed  unanimously.    The            Northwest Territories in Canada, to

                                                                                                      March 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/263

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


Australia, over to Turkey, and fi-         those  who  have  served  and  now        like.  The proposed site plan and
nally  coming  to  a  conclusion  in       presently serve in office; and they       building  design  was  approved.
April in Switzerland.                      hoped also that men who have not          Consequently,  the  next  step  is  to
                                           served,  especially  younger  men,        engage an architect to prepare de-
Evangelism Activities                      would be able to use this class to        tailed  working  plans.    If  all  goes
    The Evangelism Committee of            learn of this important work of the       according  to  plan,  Georgetown
the Peace PRC in Lansing, IL has           church.                                   could  begin  construction  as  early
recently  published  business-size             This year two of our congrega-        as this summer.
cards with their church's address          tions reach important milestones in
and phone number on them.  The             their history, D.V.  Our Faith PRC        Food for Thought
first  question  and  answer  of  the      in Jenison will celebrate its 25th an-         "Prayer  as  it  comes  from  the
Heidelberg  Catechism  is  on  the         niversary on February 15, and our         saint  is  weak  and  languid;  but
back.  It was hoped that these cards       Loveland,  CO  PRC  will  celebrate       when the arrow of a saint's prayer
would be used in introducing oth-          their 40th anniversary on June 7.  As     is put into the bow of Christ's in-
ers to their church.  They could also      part  of  the  observance  of  these      tercession, it pierces the throne of
be sent to people in cards and let-        events,  both  congregations  made        grace."
ters, handed to friends and neigh-         plans to put together a pictorial di-                          --Thomas Watson   u
bors with whom one has contact,            rectory  for  1998.    We  also  know
and left in places of business.            that Faith made plans for an anni-
    From  a  letter  received  by  the     versary  program  on  February  15.
Evangelism  Committee  of  the             We are sure that Loveland will do               ANNOUNCEMENTS
Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI            the same as June draws closer.
we  quote  a  few  lines,  "I  have            You might also be interested in
passed out more than 1,000 copies          knowing that back in 1958, when                        TEACHERS NEEDED
of  PRC  booklets  in  the  past  five     Loveland was organized, their bud-             Adams Christian School of Grand Rap-
years  ...  to  the  men  in  my  Bible      get, based on 17 families, came to        ids, MI needs an elementary teacher for the
Study at Kent County Correctional          $4.25 per week.  Rent for their par-      1998-1999  school  year.    Interested  persons
Facility....   The men eagerly take          sonage  was  $780  per  year.    And      should contact Ted Pipe at (616) 452-9367, or
                                                                                     the school principal, Peter Hoekstra, at (616)
your  materials  and  comment  on          their pastor's salary was $3,800.00.      531-0748.
how much it has helped them come               The council of the Georgetown
to know who God is and His way             PRC  in  Hudsonville,  MI  called  a           Hope  Protestant  Reformed  Christian
of salvation...," from Mr. Donald            special congregational meeting for        School is accepting applications for a kinder-
VanderKolk,  Puritan  Reformed             January 29 to deal with recommen-         garten  teaching  position  for  the  1998-1999
Prison Ministry, Grand Rapids, MI.         dations from the council concern-         school year.  Those interested should contact
                                           ing a church building.  The council       Ron  Koole  at  (616)  735-1816,  or  Charles
Congregational Activities                  recommended  to  their  congrega-         Kalsbeek (616) 453-6437, or send an applica-
    The consistory of the Kalama-          tion that it approve a Phase I build-     tion to the school, 1545 Wilson Avenue S.W.,
                                                                                     Grand Rapids, MI  49544.
zoo, MI PRC has granted their pas-         ing program which included a pre-
tor, Rev. W. Bruinsma, permission          liminary site plan, a concept build-
to conduct a class on church pol-          ing design, and a tentative finan-                             NOTICE!!
ity.  Rev. Bruinsma planned to start       cial plan.                                     All  standing  and  special  committees  of
each  class  with  a  brief  period  of        After study of various designs        synod, as well as individuals who wish to ad-
instruction, followed by discussion        and  floor  plans,  Georgetown  is        dress synod, are hereby notified that all mate-
on subjects dealing with the duties        looking at a building with a seat-        rial for the 1998 Synod of the Protestant Re-
and labors of officebearers, the in-       ing capacity of about 500 persons.        formed Churches should be in the hands of
ner  working  of  a  consistory,  and      This  building  will  also  include  a    the stated clerk no later than April 1.  Please
                                                                                     send material to:
the  church  order.    Kalamazoo's         large  narthex  for  fellowship  after                  Mr. Don Doezema
consistory  hoped  that  this  class       worship  services  and  an  exterior                    4949 Ivanrest Ave.
would stimulate discussion among           style that is traditional and church-                  Grandville, MI  49418

264/Standard Bearer/March 1, 1998


