                                            The
                          Standard
A Reformed                      Bearer
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                                                   Rev. Kortering addresses synod


     Rev. Koole, pre-synodical sermon         PRC
                                              Synod
                                              1998


                                                             Prof. Dykstra, graduation speech

                                                    Highlights
            Presentation of the graduate


Vol. 74, No. 18
July, 1998


                                  In This Issue:
                                                                                                     Special Feature--Prof. Russell J. Dykstra
Meditation--Rev. Kenneth Koole                                                                                   God's Covenant:  The Heart of the
       Encouraged to Persevere in the Lord's                                                                       Protestant Reformed Pastor's Life and Work ..........422
          Great Building Project .................................................. 410              All Around Us--Rev. Gise VanBaren ........................................424
Editorial--Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                    Taking Heed to the Doctrine--Rev. Steven R. Key
       PRC Synod 1998 ................................................................414                       Christ, Our King (2) ...........................................................426
Go Ye Into All the World--Rev. Jason L. Kortering                                                     Book Reviews ..............................................................................428
       Mission Enthusiasm--                                                                           Report of Classis East--Mr. Jon J. Huisken .............................429
          Stimulated by Golden Opportunities ......................... 416                           News From Our Churches--Mr. Benjamin Wigger ...................429


   Meditation                                                                                                                                         Rev. Kenneth Koole

                       Encouraged to Persevere in the Lord's
                                                         Great Building Project

                                                   For thus saith the LORD of hosts:  Yet once, it is a little while, and I
                                           will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
                                           And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come:
                                           and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.
                                                                                                                                        Haggai 2:1-9

                                                                  was taking the Lord so long?  We                                       shaped  and  formed  for  the  living
Haggai is the first of the also, in these latter days, are wait- temple.  We engage in this in our
                three who prophesied fol-                         ing for the return of the King and                                     churches--in the preaching, making
                lowing the return from the                        the  culmination  of  His  kingdom.                                    sure  we  are  building  on  the  one-
Babylonian  captivity.    The  paral-                             What is keeping Him?                                                   only  foundation,  and  in  missions
lels between Haggai's day and our                                        As  Judah  waited,  they  were                                  also, gathering material and souls
own  are  too  clear  to  miss.    The                            faced with a monumental task, the                                      as they come from every nation and
post-exilic people to whom Haggai                                 rebuilding of the house of the Lord.                                   tongue.  To this labor, in our day
preached were waiting for the com-                                They  were  faced  with  many  ob-                                     also,  there  is  growing  opposition.
ing of the promised Messiah.  What                                stacles and hindrances.  The king                                      Our churches, through our synod,
                                                                  of Persia himself had forbidden the                                    must  be  encouraged  to  press  on
                                                                  reconstruction.    We  also  are  in-                                  with the great kingdom work.
Rev. Koole is pastor of Faith Protestant                          volved  in  building  the  Lord's                                               But  there  is  also  a  distinction
Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan.
       This is the text of the pre-synodical                      house.  We do this as parents in-                                      that ought to be noted.
sermon preached in Hope PRC on June 8,                            structing the seed of the covenant.                                             It was the task of those whom
1998.                                                             They  are  "living  stones"  to  be                                    Haggai addressed to begin the work.

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410/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


It is our task not to begin the work        ply in terms of an earthly kingdom        days, what are we left with?  We
(though we must begin to be more            and glory.  They were to look for         live in days of diminishing returns.
involved in missions), but to be in-        something more heavenly and en-           In our diminished stature what do
volved in what I am convinced has           during.  To be obtained how?  By          we  hope  to  accomplish?    Return
to do with bringing the great work          being  a  separate  people.    Forget     Protestantism to its glory days?  It
of the building of the Lord's house         about building houses with those          is not to be.  Engage in missions?
to its completion and its end.  The         high,  vaulted  ceilings  (1:4)  while    Fine.  But burden our people with
work begun by Zerubbabel's little           the  temple  work  was  being  ne-        financial  sacrifice--to  gather  how
band 2,500 years ago at last is com-        glected.  Where are your priorities!      many?  How few?  And it's worth
ing  to  its  great  conclusion.    This    The feast of tabernacles was a re-        it?  And as the spirit of Antichrist
work  befalls  the  church  entering        minder.                                   grows in strength, it is not going
the twenty-first century.  Facing the           When Haggai brings the words          to get any easier either.  And so,
inevitable  and  mounting  discour-         of our text, discouragement is al-        as in Haggai's day, encouragement
agements we need to hear Haggai's           ready setting in.  The people have        is needed.
word, "Yet once, it is a little while,      labored for just over a month, just
and I will shake the heavens and            long  enough  to  know  they  were        Urged on by Promised Judgment
the earth...."                                faced  with  a  monumental  task.             Haggai  exhorts  the  people.
                                            They were going to have to make           "Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel
Addressing Discouraged Builders             great sacrifices in time and money.       ... and be strong, O Joshua...; and
    The date with  which our  text          And all to accomplish what?  Noth-        be strong, all ye people of the land,
begins is not insignificant.  This is       ing they could build could even be-       saith the LORD, and work..." (v. 4).
true of the date with which the en-         gin  to  compare  with  Solomon's         He addresses the officebearers and
tire prophecy begins, the first day         temple in its magnificence and or-        the  congregation.    He  means  "be
of the sixth month (v. 1).  That date       namental grandeur.  For one thing,        strong" in the sense of being physi-
marked  an  anniversary,  namely,           they did not have the same quality        cally energetic, because great effort
the completion of  the destruction          material.  "We do not have great          is required.  But, more than that,
of  David's  Jerusalem  and  of             marble stones.  We do not have the        he  means,  "Do  not  let  the  work
Solomon's temple almost exactly 70          great beams hewn from the cedars          overwhelm you.  Do not lose heart.
years before.  On that date Judah           of Lebanon.  Neither do we have           No matter what, because the Lord
officially ceased to exist as an in-        all those gifted craftsmen they had       is with you."
dependent nation once and for all           back then, men of such great skill            Note  that  the  recurring  name
and the people began their journey          with  wood  and  stone  that  the         God uses is  "the LORD of  Hosts."
to Babylon.  On the anniversary of          stones all but spoke.  For that mat-      There  is  a  host  of  evil  that  faces
that bitter destruction, and 16 years       ter, we do not even have the ark of       God's  people.    But  the  Lord  will
after  the  people  laid  the  founda-      the  covenant.    What  we  are  put-     confront them with His own hosts
tion and then abandoned the work,           ting up is a warehouse compared           and, be assured, will prevail.  Re-
Haggai calls Judah to begin the re-         to  the  temple  of  those  bygone        gardless of what you lack in qual-
construction  of  the  temple  once         days."                                    ity of material and what impresses
more--but this time with a resolu-               And so with us today.  Whom           the eye, the Lord is with you, and
tion  that  would  see  the  work           do we think we are fooling?  The          His Holy Spirit is in you.  And that
through to its end.                         glory  days  of  Protestantism  are       more  than  makes  up  for  lack  in
    The prophecy of our text takes          past.    Once  the  Presbyterian  and     number and size.
place  on  the  21st  day  of  the  7th     the Reformed faith was a force to             The Lord assures them that He
month.  This is just a month after          be reckoned with.  Those were days        still remains faithful "to the word
the work had begun.  It comes at            when giants walked the earth.  The        that I covenanted with you when
the conclusion of the Feast of Tab-         great Reformers -- who shall ever          ye  came  out  of  Egypt..."  (v.  5).
ernacles.  This feast, a week-long          see their like again?  Great volumes      That covenant is the word of prom-
living  in  huts,  was  to  remind  Is-     of  theology  were  written.    Great     ise to which God has bound Him-
rael of the wilderness wanderings.          synods met and wrote foundational         self.  That word, when Israel was
By this feast Israel was to remem-          creeds.  Seminaries were filled with      coming out of Egypt, was, "I will
ber, first, God's preserving power          men  of  great  theological  stature.     give you the promised land.  I shall
through the most trying of circum-          What  resources  they  had  at  their     give to you the kingdom.  The great
stances.  And second, Israel was re-        disposal!    What  great  mission         promised  kingdom  shall  be  as
minded of their calling to be pil-          projects!  Tens of thousands were         Paradise restored.  You shall be a
grims and strangers.  Not even in           gathered as they preached.  Days          kingdom  of  priests  before  me."
the promised land were they to put          that are forever past.                    The point is that, as the Lord kept
their roots down, or to think sim-              In  comparison  to  those  glory      His  word  once  in  bringing  them

                                                                                                    July, 1998/Standard Bearer/411


out of Egypt to the promised land,           shadows of despair vanish away!              second, if the words of the prophet
so, they may be assured, the prom-               But  also  the  ears of  the  heart      have been fulfilled, why do the na-
ise still stands.  The Messianic king-       of the dying saint hear. His heart           tions and the forces of evil and of
dom shall appear as surely as the            is attuned to the pitch of this voice        Antichrist  still  stand?    And  not
Lord  has  shown  Himself  to  be  a         and  its  song.    And  hope  and  ex-       only stand, but obviously flourish.
God of His word.                             pectation return.  "I know that my           They are building greater cities and
    This brings  us  to the  founda-         Redeemer liveth!  I hear his voice."         skyscrapers  and  sprawling  apart-
tional  encouragement  of  the  text.        In this assurance bring the Word.            ment complexes all the time.
It is captured in those magnificent              And this is the knowledge that               This  was  certainly  a  question
words of verses 6 and 7.  "... Yet             missionaries must take with them.            raised by the early New Testament
once, it is a little while, and I will       They  face  darkness  and  supersti-         believers.  If the cross is the great
shake  the  heavens,  and  the               tious  unbelief,  spiritual  indiffer-       fulfillment of the prophet Haggai,
earth...."    We  are  all,  I  think,  fa-    ence,  and  even  bitter  opposition.        as  you  apostles  say,  why  do  the
miliar with these words--perhaps              Who  can  hope  to  prevail  and  set        kingdoms  of  ungodliness  still
because  they  are  quoted  in  He-          any soul free from such hardness             stand; why are we yet persecuted
brews  12,  as  we  shall  see.    But       and deception?                               so fiercely; and where is the ever-
when I read these words I hear a                 Take heart!  In the background           lasting kingdom with its victory?
song being sung.  I hear the voice           and  through  the  ages  comes  this             Well, beloved, we are not left
of a bass soloist singing, resonat-          Voice with these words, reverber-            without  answer.    The  Lord  gives
ing and deep.  I hear it being sung          ating, penetrating, entering into the        answer  in  Hebrews  12:26,  27.
in the oratorio properly called "The         deep recesses of men's hearts.  And          There the inspired apostle adjusts
Messiah."                                    kingdoms  of  darkness  crumble,             the  prophecy  and  explains  how
    Brethren, what you and I must            hearts  become  new  and  pliable,           "once" can mean "twice," or, if you
understand is that these words are           and blind eyes suddenly see.  The            will, "once more."  Notice, that in
still reverberating through creation         voice of Jesus, the great kingdom            Hebrews 12:26 the apostle speaks
and the events of history.  This is          shaker, is heard.                            of the voice that shook the earth,
the song, this is the theme, this is             Is  this  encouragement?    You          "saying, Yet once more I shake...."
the  Voice  that  resonates  through         had  better  believe  it.   This  is  the    Whether  you  find  that  in  Haggai
New Testament history.  Wherever             voice and these the words that echo          or not, the Spirit says it is there by
we go with the Word, this song is            and reverberate down through the             clear and necessary inference.
in the background.  And the One              ages to this present time.                       And this squares with natural
who  is  still  singing  these  words                  333    333    333                  reality.    The  striking  thing  about
with the voice of power is the great             Having stated all this, we ac-           earthquakes  is  that  they  come  in
Bass Soloist of the church, the Lion         knowledge that there are some ex-            clusters.  There are usually minor,
of Judah's tribe.                            egetical  questions  that  must  be          preliminary  tremors,  and  then
    This must encourage us as pas-           faced.   The prophet  refers to one          comes what  is known in the  ver-
tors and preachers.  We go to hos-           great decisive shaking that is prom-         nacular as "the Big One," the ma-
pital  rooms,  and  we  stand  at  the       ised.  "Yet once, it is a little while       jor, dominating quake.  But, as ev-
bedside  of  a  beloved  and  dying          ...  and  I  will  shake  all  nations."       ery expert will tell you, once it has
saint,  whose  body  is  ravaged  by         The  question  must  be  asked,  to          hit, you had better prepare your-
terrible disease.  What can one say          what decisive event does the text            self  for  one  great  aftershock  as
that  is  adequate  to  contend  with        refer?                                       well.
death, that can drive away the de-               Our immediate inclination is to              The interesting thing about an
spair, that can answer to the grief          say, "Well, to the cross, of course,         "aftershock" is that it is directly re-
of spouse and children?   All you            to the death of the Messiah, and to          lated to the major quake.  First, it
can do is open the Word, and be-             His resurrection.  That is the great         follows right along the same, main
gin  to  read.    But  as  you  do,  the     shaking  of  the  whole  sin-cursed          fault-line; and second, it is this af-
great Soloist begins to sing.  And           creation, and of the foundations of          tershock that brings crashing down
there are ears that hear His voice           the kingdoms of darkness and this            those structures whose foundations
and song.  The Evil One is there,            world as well."                              were decisively damaged and bro-
filling  the  room  with  his  despair           But  if  that  is  true,  then  there    ken by "the Big One."  The after-
and  accusations.    He  hears  the          are two questions.  First, what are          shock  finalizes  what  the  major
voice of the great Bass Soloist.  "I         we going to say about the return             quake has really accomplished.
AM  the  one  who  has  shaken  the          of  Christ  and  the  second  coming             Such  is  the  relationship  be-
heavens  and  the  earth  and  your          as the final shaking of all things?          tween the cross and Christ's return.
kingdom to its foundation.  Begone           The prophet says, "Yet once...," not           Irreparable  damage  has  been  in-
foul fiend!"  And he flies!  And the         "yet twice," or three times.   And           flicted  on  the  kingdoms  of  Satan

412/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


and of this world.  The principal,          and safety.                                   gold?  It is all Mine to begin with.
decisive shaking and breaking has               This is our task.  It is urgent.          I  do  not  need  silver  and  gold,  I
taken place, namely, the cross and          "Yet  once,  it  is  (only)  a  little        need you!  No, not in the sense of
resurrection of our Lord.  Accord-          while...."  The building structures             depending on you, but in the sense
ing to this knowledge we must la-           of the nations are condemned.  The            of your service being of use to Me.
bor.                                        "aftershock" is sure to strike.  Who          That  is  what  is  of  value  and  im-
        In  Hebrews  12:27  the  apostle    knows how long the Lord tarries.              portance to Me, your willing and
points  that  out.    He  states,  "And     Meantime, it is our solemn obliga-            zealous service."
this word, Yet once more, signifieth        tion to be going through the corri-               The glory of the house of the
the removing of those things that           dors of this world, declaring to its          Lord they were to build would be
are shaken...."  Notice, he does not          inhabitants, "Repent, or perish with          greater  than  Solomon's  golden
speak of those things that  "will be        all that has been condemned.  Flee            temple.    How  could  this  be?
shaken," (that's the language of the        from the wrath to come while it is            Simple.  The glory of Zerubbabel's
prophet Haggai), but of the things          yet today."  How many Reformed                temple  would  be  the  living  Lord
that  have already been shaken--"are         churches  take  this  message  seri-          Jesus Himself, His person, gospel,
shaken."    The  foundational  shak-        ously anymore?  We do.  The task              and work.
ing  has  already  occurred.    The         falls upon us.                                    To  this  prophecy  of  Haggai
apostle speaks then not so much of              Brethren, take heart!  Whatever           there is an astonishing fulfillment.
another  shaking,  but  of  the  "re-       forces  of  evil  confront  us  and           Notice, the word is, "...and I will
moval" of those things shaken.              would  prevent  the  gospel  work,            fill  this house with glory...,"  and
        The  New  Testament  church         fear  them  not.    They  are,  despite       again,  "The  glory  of  this  latter
simply  awaits  the  collapse  of  the      appearances, without true and last-           house shall be greater than of the
structures that have been decisively        ing power.  Their foundations have            former."    The  significant  thing  is
damaged, and their final, culminat-         been struck a shattering blow, and            that  Herod  never  demolished
ing  destruction.    This  will  occur      the fast approaching aftershock is            Zerubbabel's temple, but rather ex-
when  the  Lord  comes  to  shake           going to bring them crashing down.            tensively remodeled it and added
them "yet once more."                                                                     to it.  Five centuries later, the Lord
        Brethren, this knowledge ought      The Incentive of Coming Glory                 Jesus Himself would point at the
not only assure us of the sure col-             The prophet is called to assure           very stones Zerubbabel's little band
lapse of the evil that confronts us         the  people  that  "the  desire  of  all      had  laid,  and  say,  "Destroy  this
in these latter days, but it also gives     nations shall come" (v. 7).  This is          temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will
to  us  our  great  task  with  its  ur-    the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  It            build it again.  And this he spake
gency.                                      does  not  matter  that  the  greater         concerning his own body."  Christ's
        What is that task?  May I be so     part of the ungodly want nothing              resurrection  body!    What  greater
bold as to call it "Operation Res-          to do with Him.  The fact is that             glory is there?  These words have
cue"?  We look out over the world           He alone is the answer and solu-              a  literal  fulfillment  beyond  what
and see the nations and their cities        tion to the children of men in their          one could first believe.
teeming with life like Nineveh and          desperate, dying need.  And as for                But  one  more  thing.    Do  not
Babylon  of  old.    They  have  been       the elect of the Gentile nations, He          forget that, in the deepest sense, the
decisively shaken and condemned.            is  the  one  they  cry  for,  saying,        true body of Christ is nothing else
And yet the Lord has not brought            "Have mercy upon us, thou Son of              than the church.  As Head, Christ
them crashing down.                         David!"                                       loved  and  gave  Himself  for  his
        Why,  you  ask,  do  they  still        It is in light of His appearing           body,  which  is  His  bride,  the
stand?  Because there are residents         that  Jehovah  God  declares,  "The           church (Eph. 5:23).  Ye are, we are,
in  the  condemned  structures  of          glory of this latter house shall be           the temple of the living Lord.  This
civilization that must be evacuated         greater than of the former ... and              means  that  we  are  continuing  to
and led out before the collapse may         in  this  place  will  I  give peace..."        construct what Zerubbabel's little
occur.  In those structures are the         (v.  9).    This  "greater  glory"  is  in    band began in the days of Haggai.
very elect of God.  They are not to         contrast to the silver and gold spo-          No minor work.  It is the glory of
perish in their ignorance in the ru-        ken of in verse 8.  The silver and            this  house  and  church  that  shall
ins of the nations.  And so the Lord        gold  represent  what  impresses              alone endure and stand.
Jesus, like a mighty Samson, by the         men.  Without silver and gold, how                When  the  aftershock  of  the
power of His will, holds up the na-         can  this  structure  ever  be  appro-        cross  and  resurrection  strikes  yet
tions themselves, preventing their          priate for the glory of the everlast-         once more, everything shall come
collapse until the last lost sheep of       ing kingdom promised?  The Lord               crashing down.  One structure and
His true Israel has been led out and        says, "Who cares about that?  What            one  structure  only  shall  remain
brought  to  everlasting  salvation         need  have  I  of  more  silver  and          standing--what  Hebrews  12  calls

                                                                                                       July, 1998/Standard Bearer/413


"the general assembly and church          are of such importance.  They have          building  of  the  more  glorious
of the firstborn, and ... of just men       everything to do with the work of           temple  is  not  the  labor  of  a  few,
made perfect."                            the great gathering of Christ's own         but of us all, and giving ourselves
    This is why the examination of        before the end of all things comes.         to  the  work  with  an  energy  and
the student this coming week, and,            This is why the prayers of all          zeal.
D.V., his subsequent candidacy, is        the saints for more laborers, in par-            Ah,  Lord  Jesus,  Thou  sweet
so important.  Another messenger          ticular  the  gospel  preachers  from       Singer of true Israel, establish Thou
will  have  been  prepared  to  send,     our own sons, is so vital.  The work        the  work  of  our  hands,  yea,  the
to warn, and to encourage.  This is       is urgent.  And this is why the con-        work of our hands, establish Thou
why our decisions as synod, espe-         tinued  contributions  and  support         it.   u
cially as they pertain to missions,       of the saints for this great building
                                          project  is  so  vital  as  well.    The


  Editorial


                                  PRC Synod 1998

                                          examination  and  declared  Mr.             cluded 12 men were enrolled in the
                                          Nathan  Brummel  a  candidate  for          seminary as either full-time or part-
                                          the  office  of  the  ministry  of  the     time  students,  in  addition  to  the
                                          Word and sacraments in the PRC.             three full-time students aspiring to
                                          He is eligible for a call on or after
The annual synod of the Prot-
          estant  Reformed  Churches                                                  the ministry in the PRC.
          (PRC)  met  at  the  Hope       July 11, 1998.
Church in Walker, Michigan from               The graduation exercises were           Domestic Missions
June 9-15.                                held  on  the  evening  of  June  15.            Missions,  both  domestic  and
    At the pre-synodical service on       Prof. Russ Dykstra spoke on "God's          foreign,  made  up  a  large  part  of
Monday evening, June 8, Rev. Ken          Covenant:  The Heart of the Prot-           synod's agenda.  Synodically, the
Koole,  president  of  the  previous      estant Reformed Pastor's Life and           work of the PRC in the British Isles,
synod, preached to a full house on        Work."  The address appears else-           centered presently in Northern Ire-
Haggai 2:1-9, "Encouraged to Per-         where in this issue of the  SB.  The        land,  is  under  the  supervision  of
severe  in  the  LORD'S  Great  Build-    president of the Theological School         the  Domestic  Mission  Committee
ing Project."  The  text of his ser-      Committee  (TSC),  Rev.  Dale               (DMC).  Synod approved sending
mon is the meditation in this issue       Kuiper, and the rector of the semi-         someone periodically to the British
of the Standard Bearer.                   nary,  Prof.  Robert  Decker,  pre-         Isles to help missionary Ron Hanko
    Officers of the 1998 synod were       sented  Mr.  Brummel  with  his  di-        with  a  view  to  determining
Rev.  Gise  Van  Baren,  president;       ploma.                                      whether synod 1999 should call an-
Rev.  Ron  Cammenga,  vice-presi-             Other actions of synod regard-          other  missionary  to  work  in  the
dent; Rev. Steven Key, first clerk;       ing the seminary included the ad-           British Isles.
and  Rev.  Barry  Gritters,  second       mission of two new students from                 Synod also approved calling a
clerk.                                    the PRC to the seminary in the fall         second  home  missionary  for  the
                                          of 1998; the instruction of the TSC         eastern  part  of  the  United  States.
Seminary                                  to arrange special training for the         He  will  begin  working  in  Pitts-
    About  a  day  and  a  half  was      seminarian of the Evangelical Pres-         burgh, Pennsylvania, where a small
taken up with the oral examination        byterian Church of Australia, Mr.           group has been meeting with Rev.
of Nathan Brummel, senior student         Mark Shand, in the area of pasto-           Tom  Miersma  and  other  visiting
at  the  Protestant  Reformed  Semi-      ral work; and the approval of Prof.         ministers of the PRC.  Pittsburgh
nary.    The  examination  included       Herman  Hanko's  seeking  emeri-            is a large city,  and  the  Reformed
Mr. Brummel's preaching a speci-          tation  at  the  synod  of  1999.    The    witness there is small in compari-
men  sermon  before  the  synod  on       report of the TSC informed synod            son  with  the  presence  of  the  Ro-
Isaiah 43:3, 4.  Synod approved the       that  in  the  school  year  just  con-     man  Catholic  Church  and  of  the

414/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


mainline  Protestant  churches.           general operating expenses of the          expires.  The grounds are informa-
Southwest  PRC  in  Grandville,           field and $40,000 for initial setup        tive and encouraging:
Michigan  will  be  the  calling          costs.
church.                                                                               a. The PRC could be of assistance
    If the present home missionary,       Contact with Other Churches                 to  the  ERCS  in  its  Theological
Rev. Tom Miersma, must be moved               The  synodical  committee  on           Training School;
from the San Luis Valley in Colo-         ecumenicity was instructed to ex-           b. the transition to another man
rado, as appears likely because of        press  to  the  United  Reformed            who  would  continue  in  Pastor
                                                                                      Kortering's  labors  could  best  be
the lack of fruit on the work, the        Churches (URC) the desire of the            made  while  Pastor  Kortering  is
DMC is inclined toward Spokane,           PRC to have a conference to deter-          still serving his  term of labor in
Washington, where is a small con-         mine  and  discuss  the  issues  that       Singapore;
gregation that has expressed inter-       separate  us,  including  the  theory       c. Pastor Kortering's labors have
est in the PRC.                           of common grace and the doctrine            resulted  in  a  solid  relationship
    Synod adopted a budget for ra-        of  the  covenant.    Synod  also  de-      formed  between  our  denomina-
dio for 1999 of $31,400, to enable        cided to send observers to the next         tions  which  can  serve  as  a  plat-
the  DMC  to  broadcast  in  areas        synod of the URC.                           form for future joint labors;
where  the  radio  program  should            Synod  discontinued  sending            d. our labors with the ERCS have
                                                                                      been  to  the  blessing  of  both  de-
serve to promote our mission pur-         observers  to  the  Reformed  and           nominations  and  should  be  con-
poses.    The  DMC  uses  the  pro-       Presbyterian  ecumenical  body,             tinued.
grams  of  the  Reformed  Witness         NAPARC.    The  grounds  for  this
Hour.                                     decision  include  that  important            On behalf of the Training Com-
                                          doctrinal  differences  between  the       mittee  of  the  ERCS,  Pastor  Lau
Foreign Missions                          PRC  and  member  churches  of             Chin Kwee addressed the synod of
    Synod heard reports on visits         NAPARC make membership by the              the PRC by letter:
to the Philippines by a delegation        PRC  in  this  organization  impos-
consisting of Rev. Arie den Hartog        sible and that the PRC ought not            Greetings from the Far East where
and  Rev.  Allen  Brummel  and  by        to  continue  sending  observers  if        our  glorious  Lord  also  has  His
Rev.  Jay  Kortering.    These  visits    they  have  no  intention  of  joining      people to bear witness of the truth
were conducted under the auspices         the organization.                           that He is the Sovereign Lord of
of the Foreign Mission Committee              Synod authorized the Contact            all,  without  the  knowledge  of
of the PRC (FMC).  In accordance          Committee (CC) to proceed with a            which no man can be saved....  We
with  the  recommendation  of  the        conference on biblically regulated          want to take this opportunity to
                                                                                      express our heartfelt gratitude for
FMC, synod approved the sending           worship with the Evangelical Pres-          the  encouragement  we  received
of two more delegations to the Phil-      byterian Church (EPC) of Austra-            from  your  members  when  they
ippines before synod 1999 to pre-         lia in the coming year, if this is pos-     cheerfully give towards our work
pare the way for establishing a mis-      sible.  The EPC addressed the PRC           in Theological Training and Mis-
sion field in the Philippines.  The       with  a  warm  letter  of  greetings.       sion.    With  such  givings  we  are
intention is to call a missionary to      This letter thanked the PRC for the         sure that many prayers have also
the Philippines in the near future.       training of a student from the EPC          been uttered before the throne of
    The FMC informed synod that,          in the seminary of the PRC.                 grace that we may obtain help in
after the decision of synod 1996 to           A highlight of  the synod was           times of need.  We see many op-
                                                                                      portunities  of  service  around  us
make Ghana, West Africa a mission         the address by Rev. Jay Kortering,          and also feel  our own limitation
field, it learned that the PRC need       minister-on-loan to the Evangelical         in what we can do.  Your prayer-
a Ghanaian sponsoring body in or-         Reformed  Churches  in  Singapore           ful support encourages our heart.
der to send a missionary to Ghana.        (ERCS), sister churches of the PRC.
Synod decided to pursue working           Rev.  Kortering  reported  on  his            Through the secretary of their
in Ghana.  It did this by instruct-       work in the churches in Singapore          Contact Committee, Ishu Mahtani,
ing the FMC to investigate the re-        and on the work of the ERCS.  He           the ERCS sent greetings to the PRC:
quirements  associated  with  spon-       spoke  of  the  possibility  that  the
sorship and to proceed with spon-         PRC might be asked to give more             Evangelical Reformed Churches of
sorship providing it does not con-        assistance to their sister churches         Singapore  send  their  warmest
flict  with  the  decisions  of  synod    in  southeast  Asia  in  the  future.       greetings in the name of our great
1996 (Art. 70) and does not com-          Following this address, synod in-           and mighty Saviour Jesus Christ.
promise the teaching and preach-          structed  the  CC  to  begin  discus-       We hope that you are kept in good
ing  of  our  Reformed  distinctives.     sions  with  the  ERCS  concerning          health by the grace of God as you
                                                                                      continue  to  serve  Him  with  the
Also, synod approved a 1999 bud-          our future labors with the ERCS af-         love and zeal that you also have
get for Ghana of $101, 345 for the        ter Rev. Kortering's term of labor          shown  to  us  over  the  many

                                                                                                 July, 1998/Standard Bearer/415


  years.... Classis sends their warm-        ings from the EPC of Australia and          each one would not be eligible at
  est greetings to the PRC with deep       from the Covenant Protestant Re-            retirement  to  receive  premium-
  appreciation of the love and con-        formed  Church  in  Northern  Ire-          free Medicare insurance.  The ma-
  cern the PRC have shown to them          land.                                       jority  of  these  ministers  without
  for so many years.  It is their hope                                                 Social  Security  will  reach  retire-
  that our relationship with the PRC                                                   ment ... in 20 years, at which time
  as sister churches may continue to       Other Matters                               the  Emeritus  Fund will  face  this
  abound in brotherly love and that            Synod continued planning for            impact.    It  will  be  a  significant
  we may with likemindedness con-          the denominational celebration of           burden for the churches to handle.
  tinue  to  prosper  as  a  body  of      the  75th  anniversary  of  the  PRC.
  Christ, even as we embark on for-        The  celebration  is  scheduled  for          The special committee was con-
  eign  missions  and  other  related      June 19-23, 2000 in Grand Rapids,         tinued with the mandate to work
  work in the next millennium.  The        Michigan.  The theme will be "Liv-        further on the matter of emeritation
  Classis here have made some de-          ing out of Our Heritage."  Synod          funding.  The committee is to make
  cisions  regarding  their  desire  to    made decisions concerning an an-
  send delegates for the PRC's 75th                                                  recommendations regarding other
  anniversary  that  is  going  to  be     niversary book and booklet; fund-         revenue  sources  for  the  emeritus
  held in the year 2000.  ERCS are         ing  (by  a  drive  and  collections);    fund,  administrative  practices  for
  pleased  to  inform  you  that  they     speakers;  and  necessary  commit-        the  emeritus  fund,  and  fair  and
  have  decided  to  send  two  del-       tees.                                     consistent "savings" techniques for
  egates  as  representatives  to  the         Synod was informed of the dis-        pastors.      One  of  its  duties  is  to
  PRC for this special event.              banding of the Trinity PRC, Hous-         prepare  an  investment  policy  in-
                                           ton, Texas.                               cluding both fixed income and eq-
    The  synod  of  the  PRC  re-              Synod considered the report of        uity securities for use in investing
sponded  by  sending  its  greetings       a  special  committee  to  advise  on     excess synodical funds.
to  the  ERCS,  rejoicing  with  them      the synodical emeritus fund.  The             The  synodical  budget  in  1999
in  their  spiritual  well-being,  ex-     occasion  is  the  "significant  need     was raised to $733 per family from
pressing its prayers for the Lord's        faced by the Emeritus Fund" in the        $665 in 1998.  Synod's explanation
blessing on their endeavors in theo-       future because many of our minis-         of this whopping increase is unex-
logical  training  and  missions,          ters are not in the Social Security       pected  expenditures  from  the
thanking them for their "love gift"        program:                                  emeritus fund; a second home mis-
of  $12,000(S)  for  the  support  of                                                sionary; and the opening of a mis-
Rev. and Mrs. Kortering, and con-            more than half of our present min-      sion field in Ghana.
veying  its  joy  that  the  ERCS  will      isters are not in the Social Secu-          The  First  PRC  of  Holland,
send a delegation to the PRC cel-            rity program.  Therefore, many in       Michigan is the calling church for
ebration of their 75th anniversary.          this group may not have any other       the synod of 1999.   u
    Synod also responded to greet-           real  source  of  retirement  income
                                             other than the Emeritus Fund, and                                          -- DJE

  Go Ye Into All the World                                                                 Rev. Jason Kortering



                                  Mission Enthusiasm --
      Stimulated by Golden Opportunities

                                                                                     others.  This is the biblical pattern
                                           This article is about opportu- if we understand the nature of the
                                                    nities--opportunities to prac-    world in the last days.  Commer-
                                                    tice missions.                   cial  leaders  call  it  globalization.
                                               The  world  is  changing.    Na-      Politicians speak of the New World
                                           tions are mixing with nations, eth-       Order.  World communications no
Rev. Kortering is a Protestant Reformed    nic groups are intermingling with         longer depend upon the infrastruc-
minister-on-loan to Singapore.

416/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


ture of individual nations; satellites     ask you about your community as              groups  have  yet  to  hear  the  gos-
eliminate  all  of  this.    The  Bible    well  as  your  Christian  faith  and        pel"  (from  "Overseas  Mission
speaks of the coming of the anti-          church.                                      Fellowship's  Newsletter").  Con-
Christian  world  power  (Rev.  13).           The biggest hindrance to shar-           nected with that is the extreme dif-
It's closer than we like to think.         ing the gospel today is our imper-           ficulty in getting the written Word
    And  we  are  in  the  middle  of      sonal society. We all live in caves          of  God  into  their  languages.  We
all of this.                               and  ignore  neighbors.  The  Chris-         have personally observed the hard
    We are called by God to bring          tian  has  to  come  out  of  his  cave      work our friends in East Malaysia
the gospel to these nations, these         and  engage  in  meaningful  ex-             are  doing.  They  work  with  the
peoples.                                   change to show genuine love and              Summer  Institute  of  Linguistics
    Opportunities have never been          care. There are so many opportu-             (Wycliff). The tribe had only oral
better.                                    nities for this.  I challenge you:                   speech,  no  written  language.
    First, this is true concerning the     when  you  finish  reading                              They had to listen and for-
objects of missions. We have estab-        this, sit down and focus on                The           mulate an alphabet, then a
lished that missions includes both         one such person or family               biggest           dictionary, followed by a
witnessing of the individual Chris-        that God placed on your                hindrance          grammar.  After  all  this
tian  and  the  official  preaching  of    pathway.                         to sharing the            they had to teach that to
the  gospel.  As  we  intermingle  in          Thirdly,  the  same               gospel today         the  people  before  even
today's world, we must realize that        holds true for the global                is our            beginning the translation
almost  every  person  who  crosses        community  as  expressed              impersonal          of the Bible into that lan-
our  path  is  an  object  of  missions    in the internet. It is excit-           society.          guage.  To accomplish this,
for  us.  The  reason  is  that  almost    ing  that  our  churches  are                           one has to be dedicated to
everyone who crosses our path is           developing  excellent  "home                           a lifetime of work, and only
either a non-Christian or a Chris-         pages"  to  make  our  literature                   under  God's  blessing  will  one
tian.    For  the  non-Christian  we       available. If you want to try some-          ever see it accomplished. And this
ought to be burdened for his lost          thing more personal, I suggest that          is for only  one tribe among thou-
condition.  For  the  Christian  who       you join a discussion group on any           sands.  For all sorts of reasons, over
does  not  embrace  the  Reformed          religion,  including  Christianity.          half of the world's population has
faith, we ought to be burdened for         Yes, there are a lot of odd-balls out        not heard the gospel, even today.
his lack of spiritual understanding.       there, and you have to sort it out.                  Opportunities abound at home
That covers a lot of neighbors. The        There are also worthwhile discus-            and abroad.
opportunities are almost endless.          sions  about  different  religions  in               As  churches  and  individuals
    Second,  the  intermingling  of        the  news-groups.  If  you  follow           we need to be more aware of them
the nations gives us many oppor-           them, or better yet participate, you         in order that we can do something
tunities  to  reach  out  to  different    will sharpen your skills in commu-           about it. We can compare this situ-
peoples.    Many  work  places  are        nicating  the  gospel  to  the  non-         ation to a married couple who are
like a little United Nations.  Many        Christian world. You will also be            not interacting together as husband
jobs  require  foreign  travel  which      toughened to take abuse from those           and wife as they ought. All of us
affords excellent contact with many        who do not appreciate the gospel.            who do marriage counseling know
non-Christians.  A family from an-         I am amazed how much some non-               that  such  a  couple  may  have  de-
other country may move into the            Christians  know  about  Christian-          veloped bad habits and have to be
house next door to you.  How do            ity and how skillful they are in at-         given  a vision  of  a different  way
you react as a family?  In all likeli-     tacking it.                                  of life which they can hardly imag-
hood these are lonely people who               We  could  also  cite  statistics        ine. This requires four steps. First,
are going through cultural shock.          which indicate how little of today's         they have to be made aware of or
If you befriend them and take an           world has even heard the gospel.             be sensitized to their lack and to a
interest in them, you will expand          It is quite easy to say that almost          better way of doing things. Second,
both your own horizon and that of          all  the  nations  have  heard  about        they  have  to  be  motivated  to  be-
your family. It is an excellent op-        Christ. Yet, if you sit down and re-         have differently. Thirdly, they have
portunity  to  sit  down  with  your       ally  examine  what  Christian               to  be  counseled  how  actually  to
children, get out the encyclopedia,        missiologists  are  saying  about            change  their  behavior  and  even
and learn something about India or         people groups, you get a different           coached in this process. Finally, as
their Hindu religion. That way you         picture.  One  significant  quote:           they put these changes into prac-
can  understand  their  background         "Out  of  24,000  distinct  ethnic           tice, they have to be monitored and
and their needs when you talk to           people groups in the world today,            encouraged. It seems to me this is
them.  When  you  do  this,  it  can       about  13,000  have  been  evange-           a good approach to challenge each
open the door for this neighbor to         lized.  Eleven  thousand  people             other to be more active in missions.

                                                                                                      July, 1998/Standard Bearer/417


    Let's  take  a  look  at  the  local            This is hard work, but impor-                 learned many things, but I mention
congregation.                               tant  work  if  we  truly  care  about                only two important factors that are
    If you ask me what is lacking           our faithfulness to God in missions.                  involved in the spread of the gos-
in our outreach ministries in the lo-       Yes, it means we have to search out                   pel here.
cal congregation, I would say that          appropriate  material  that  we  can                      1.The most significant resource
it is the activity of the local mem-        use for our training. It means that                   for  potential  new  members  with
bers reaching out to others by shar-        we have to do more than use les-                      which to work comes from the per-
ing the gospel with them and even-          son material, we have to hold ac-                     sonal involvement of the member-
tually  inviting  them  to  come  to        tual practice sessions and challenge                  ship.  Hardly  ever  does  someone
church.                                     each other to do this work between                    show  up  at  any  church  activity
    I would urge our pastors and            meetings  and  discuss  what  we                      without being invited.  The regu-
church  extension  committees  to           learned. I look back at our efforts                   lar efforts on the part of members
concentrate  on  this  lack.  As  pas-      in Grandville.  We used Metzger's                     of  every  age  provides  plenty  of
tors we are spiritual leaders in                   book, Tell the Truth. It was good              new  contacts  for  instruction  and
all areas of ministry. By our                          material, but I failed to in-              training.
preaching and teaching we             If you            clude actual hands-on ex-                     2.Children's ministries are very
must  sensitize  our  mem-            ask me            perience, and without that                effective. These include such things
bers to this responsibility. what is lacking             it  soon  becomes  theory                as Vacation Bible School, Holiday
We  must  follow  through         in our outreach        without practice. All such               Camps, Church Youth Groups, Tu-
and meet with our church            ministries           efforts can best begin on                ition (tutor) programs. By these ef-
extension  committees  to           in the local         a  small  scale  with  a  vi-            forts,  non-Christian  children  and
be  sure  that  this  aspect      congregation,          tally interested group. We               youth come for training and fellow-
is also included in their          I would say            must  not  take  the  ap-               ship. Such programs afford oppor-
work. The pastors cannot             that it is           proach  that  if  we  hold              tunities to introduce children to the
personally  do  the  four          the activity           one such training session,              gospel of Christ. Obviously, these
steps  mentioned  above             of the local          then all the members are                are  long-range  programs,  so  that
with each member of the              members              equipped for this work.                 we try to reach the same youth or
church. It would appear           reaching out to         Witnessing is a spiritual               children  year  after  year.  As  they
to  me  that  this  is  in-           others              art, much like prayer. All              mature, some of them are open to
cluded in the ministry of           by sharing            such  spiritual  activity               the gospel and willing to be trained
the  church  extension              the gospel            needs  practice,  constant              for membership. Many adult Chris-
committee.                        with them and           reinforcing,  and  encour-              tians testify that they were first in-
    Church  extension  is           eventually           agement.  If  the  Lord                  troduced  to  Christ  when  very
outreach.  How  do  we            inviting them          blesses such efforts, it will            young and it had a lasting impact
reach  out  to  our  neigh-          to come             be  like  leaven  in  the                on  them.  God  works  in  children
bors? Yes, in our outreach          to church.          church and will spread as                 and youth, also among non-Chris-
we publish materials, we ar-                          the Holy Spirit works.                      tian  people.  God  frequently  uses
range  radio  broadcasts,  we  hold                 Be sure that as you undertake                 these children to speak to their par-
lectures and class discussions. But,        such efforts you pray fervently to                    ents who in turn become involved
even  with  these  projects,  without       God that He will work zeal for the                    in classes and spiritual training.
the personal involvement of every           spread of the gospel. No spiritual                        Because we are so covenant ori-
member, they are very limited. The          advance  ever  takes  place  in  the                  entated (and that with great bless-
key to  any outreach must include           church apart from fervent prayer.                     ing), we may resist the thought of
the activity of our members. Every          Because this is true, whenever we                     reaching  children  if  they  do  not
church extension committee mem-             see fruits upon our labors there is                   have  covenant  homes.  We  may
ber knows this only too well. If our        no  reason  for  boasting,  for  it  is               even resist the idea of reaching par-
members  don't  invite  others  to          God's work and all glory is His.                      ents  through  children.  Yet,  God
come to a lecture or a special wor-                 It would seem to me that if we                continues to do just this in many
ship service, there will be very few        really come to grips with the                                instances.    I  see  it  here  in
visitors. As members we won't in-           importance of every mem-              Witnessing              Singapore  and  I  was  en-
vite anyone to these meetings if we         ber involved in outreach, it                  is a            couraged  to  see  the  same
have  not,  on  some  regular  basis,       will  also  affect  our  home        spiritual art,           in  India,  the  Philippines,
formed a sharing ministry with our          mission  and  foreign  mis-              much                 and also Myanmar. Is there
neighbors. It is a good thing when          sion  efforts.  Because  I  am        like prayer.            a  reason  why  the  same
our  church  extension  committees          personally  involved  in  for-                              would  not  be  true  of
give  thought  and  make  plans  to         eign  missions,  I  can  speak  from                  America  and  Europe  and  other
train our members to reach out.             some experience in this area. I have                  countries? Yes, there is a difference

418/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


in culture and history, but we do              istering to their children.  This has         range such a trip from America to
well to give serious thought to this           to be done with great sensitivity.            Southeast  Asia.  I  don't  have  in
possibility.                                   In today's world, parents are very            mind a holiday.  I have in mind a
    There  is  one  more  aspect  we           cautious not to allow their children          working experience in which those
should consider. If this is true in            to be involved in religious activi-           interested can get some actual ex-
foreign missions, why would it not             ties  with  "strangers."  This  is  ex-       posure to mission work.
be true in domestic missions?                  actly the point. We have to become                Second,  as  we  become  more
    Perhaps  this  is  something  for          friends  and  overcome  the  barrier          aware  of  mission  opportunities,  I
us  to  ponder  regarding  our  ap-            of  stranger.  We  must  be  the              would         like     to     encourage
proach in home missions. We have               friendly neighborhood church. We              volunteerism. It seems to me this
many  criteria  for  determining               have  to  be  the  friendly  neighbor         was  one  of  the  side  benefits  of
whether or not a certain group of              who is trustworthy because of past            Houston,  Texas.  Some  of  our
people  constitutes  a  "field  of  la-        interaction.  Virtually  no  outreach         people "wintered" there. And they
bor."  Perhaps we have to include              program  will  have  any  success             didn't just sit on a chair in the sun-
in  our  evaluation  whether  the              without some personal interaction             shine; they helped out and worked.
group is mindful of their responsi-            with others by us. But if such con-           I am sure that everyone involved
bilities in outreach to "bring them            fidence is established, bridges can           would  testify  they  are  spiritually
in," so to speak. If they lack in this         be built between the congregation             better  for  it.  As  the  Lord  opens
regard, it may very well be the first          and  neighbors  through  the  chil-           doors  of  opportunity  for  us  as
duty of a local pastor or home mis-            dren. At least it is worth consider-          churches we should encourage vol-
sionary to engage in this training.            ing.                                          untary help.  So many young or re-
If it is true for domestic missions,                   I  would  like  to  conclude  this    tired people (seems as if both ex-
as we see it is in foreign missions            article  on  stimulating  enthusiasm          tremes fit this situation) travel any-
(that the local congregation plays             by suggesting two more things.                way.  Why not donate their travel
a  key  role  in  outreach),  then  we                 First,  mission  awareness  trips     for missions?  Many youth and re-
must expect this of those who form             are powerful stimulants to get the            tired people are looking for some-
the  core  group,  that  they  will  be        spiritual juices flowing. I can only          thing to do. Why not help them fo-
actively involved in gaining others            speak from my own experience in               cus  their  talents  in  areas  of  mis-
for Christ. It is a fact that a pastor         this regard. My wife and I consider           sions. If our heart is right, it won't
or a home missionary has his limi-             travel to the different countries for         cost our churches a penny, and all
tations in doing this.  The reason             the purpose of developing mission             concerned ought to find joy in giv-
is obvious.  He has such limited                        interest as one of the greatest      ing this way.
contact  with  neighbors  or                               "fringe  benefits"  of  being         Mission opportunities span the
relatives of members of the                                 in  Singapore.    Nothing        globe. God is working in America
                                     ...a pastor
core group, that at best he                                  lifts the two of us up so       in  our  local  congregations  as  we
                                     or a home
can only function as one of                                  much as such travel. We         work together in our home mission
                                  missionary has
them and not function for                                    may come home cough-            effort. God is working through our
                                   such limited
all of them.  A key role of                                   ing, spitting blood, dog       churches in Northern Ireland and
                                   contact with
the pastor and missionary                                     tired, and whatever, but       the British Isles. God is giving us
                                     neighbors
is to motivate members to                                     our spirits soar.  Noth-       opportunity in Ghana, Africa. God
                                  or relatives of
go  out  to  the  lost  and                                   ing excites us more than       has established the ERCS in South-
                                  members of the
bring them in, so that he                                     the opportunity to fur-        east  Asia  as  a  sister-church  with
                                    core group,
in turn can give such per-                                    ther  the  gospel  in  new     whom we are engaged in mission
                                    that at best
sons  individual  instruc-                                    areas.  I  am  sure  that      efforts.  This  is  only  a  very  small
                                           he can
tion  as  the  Holy  Spirit                                   you  would  experience         part  of  the  work  which  Christ  is
                                   only function
works  in  their  hearts  to                                  the  same  if  you  could      doing  by  His  Spirit  through  His
                                  as one of them
prepare them for member-                                      just  have  the  opportu-      church in the world.  The work of
                                 and not function
ship.                                                         nity. I have heard about       the gathering of the lost is a won-
                                           for all
    Then  what  about  out-                                  such trips taking place to      der  of  grace,  and  all  of  us  stand
                                      of them.
reach to children and youth?                                Jamaica  and  to  Houston,       humbly before God when it pleases
There are different factors to                            Texas.  That is good, and I        Him  to  use  us  as  instruments  in
consider  with  each  community.                       am  sure  it  produces  mission       His hands to perform this work.
What  do  we  have  to  offer  these           enthusiasm. The more we can see                   This is worth being enthusias-
children which would interest them             firsthand the  joys and sorrows of            tic about.
in coming? Also, we must exercise              mission work, the better we will be               I trust you are enthusiastic with
care so as not to threaten good re-            in our own mission efforts. I have            the confidence that God also uses
lations with local families by min-            a dream that some day we can ar-              you!   u

                                                                                                           July, 1998/Standard Bearer/419


    SYNOD 1998


                                                                                  Officers of synod





                                          Committees of pre-advice ... at work





        Indispensable service to synod                                Congratulating the new candidate

420/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


Sharing ...


                   ... insights





    ... notes     ... words





   ... numbers           ... pickles.


                          July, 1998/Standard Bearer/421


  Special Feature                                                                                 Prof. Russell Dykstra



                                                 God's Covenant:
                 The Heart of the Protestant Reformed
                                      Pastor's Life and Work

                                                 lives of the members. The specific          turns from the heart of the Son to
                                                 question faced tonight is this: What        the Father with the Son's response
                                                 is the calling of the Protestant Re-        of deepest love.
                                                 formed minister in light of the pre-            That is the life of God: intimate
This graduation speech ad-
          dresses the particular calling
          of a  minister in the Protes-          cious doctrine of the covenant that         communion  and  love.  It  is  the
tant Reformed Churches. It has ap-               God has entrusted to our care?              deepest  fellowship  possible,  infi-
plication to ministers for obvious                   My  contention  is  that  God's         nite  and  perfect  fellowship.  For
reasons. It also has value for elders            covenant is the heart of the life and       there  are  three  distinct  persons,
who must see to it that ministers                work  of  the  Protestant  Reformed         providing  the  diversity  necessary
are faithful in their life and work.             minister. I do not say the goal; I do       for fellowship. Yet within the Trin-
Every  believer also can profit from             not say the focus -- although both           ity  is  also  the  deepest  possible
a discussion of how the covenant                 could be maintained. But the cov-           unity, for all are one essence. There
affects one's life and work, not only            enant is the heart. I mean that the         is never disunity, never disagree-
for  his  own  personal  advantage,              covenant  of  grace  is  the  heart  in     ment among the three.
but also to be able to encourage all             the sense that the Bible says that              So  they  have  eternally  ex-
our ministers so to live and work,               out of the heart are the issues of life.    isted--as the one only true God. He
yes,  even  demand  it.  But,  more              The  covenant  is  the  determining         is the living God! God is not a dead
than  anything,  it  is  for  the  semi-         and the governing principle in vir-         idol.  Nor did  God  live  in  eternal
nary  graduate  that  this  speech  is           tually all that the minister does.          solitude  until  He  eventually  cre-
given.                                               We must recognize, first of all,        ated  some  creatures  in  order  to
    The  assumption  behind  this                the  central  importance  of  God's         have some company. Rather He is
speech is that there is a connection             covenant of grace. What is the cov-         the living God who needs no one--
between  doctrine  and  walk.  Spe-              enant?  It  is  the  relationship  of       the most blessed covenant God in
cifically, it is taken for granted that          friendship and fellowship that God          Himself.
what one believes should directly                sovereignly  establishes  with  His             The covenant of grace is the fo-
influence how he lives. There is no              chosen people in Christ.                    cal  point  in  God's  work  because
doubt that God has given the Prot-                   This covenant is patterned af-          God patterned it after His covenant
estant Reformed Churches signifi-                ter God's intra-Trinitarian life. That      life.  From  all  eternity  God  deter-
cant  blessings,  particularly  in  the          life of God is not a cold business          mined  to  glorify  Himself.  He
understanding of God's covenant.                 agreement,  but  a  life  of  love  and     would do so by revealing Himself
The doctrine of the covenant, more               friendship.  The  Father  eternally         in all His glory for others to see, to
than  any  other  tenet,  is  a Protes-          begets the Son in His own image.            enjoy, and to praise. How best to
tant  Reformed  distinctive.  That               He delights in the Son, the Son of          do that? By causing the creature to
doctrine  must  be  manifest  in  the            His love. The Son, eternally begot-         know God's infinitely blessed cov-
                                                 ten  of  the  Father,  delights  in  the    enant life. And how to accomplish
                                                 Father, and reflects the Father's in-       that? Through Christ, the God-or-
                                                 finite perfections. The Holy Spirit         dained  Mediator of the  covenant.
Prof. Dykstra is professor of Church His-        completes the Trinitarian life of fel-      Besides, God determined to glorify
tory  and  New Testament  in  the Protes-        lowship.  The  Spirit  searches  the        Himself by making His people to
tant Reformed Seminary.                          deep  things  of God. He proceeds
    This is the first part of the text of the                                                know His covenant life--experien-
                                                 from the heart of the Father to the
address given at the seminary graduation                                                     tially! He would not merely  tell us
of Nathan Brummel on June 15, 1998.              Son  with  words  of  love,  and  re-       about His beautiful life; God would

422/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


cause  us  to  experience  it  for  our-    ditions filled by man, this must be       living  and  working  among  the
selves.                                     explicitly stated.                        congregation, and, finally, his life
    Thus it follows that Jesus is the           Most of these elements are set        and work in the midst of the world.
Mediator  of  the  covenant  who  is        forth  in  the  well-known  Genesis           The first area is the minister's
also  the  Head  of  His  covenant          17:7.  "And I will establish my cov-      own private life. For the minister,
people, in order to bring us into it.       enant between me and thee and thy         as for all believers, the covenant is,
He is not merely a mediator who             seed after thee in their generations      first of all, a personal matter. It is
would reconcile us to God and then          for an everlasting covenant, to be        his  life  with  God.  The  minister
bring us the benefits. But Christ is        a God unto thee, and to thy seed          knows that he is loved and chosen
the  Head,  through  whom  we  are          after thee."                              by God. He has been brought into
incorporated  into  that  covenant  as          The  central  place  of  the  cov-    friendship with the living God!
members of His body.                        enant is plain from the fact that it          Therefore he  knows  God (not
    Therefore the covenant of grace         is not a means to an end, but the         merely  about   God).  He  knows
includes at least the following six         goal itself. God's covenant is not a      God's greatness, glory, and some-
elements.                                   response to sin, a stopgap measure        thing of His infinite perfections. In
    God's covenant is one covenant,         necessary because God's first plan        his  heart,  he  knows  God,  not
not many. The covenant that God             failed. Nor is it merely a  means to      merely with his head. Such a min-
had with Adam before the fall was           bring  salvation  to  His  people.        ister consciously walks with God.
a  covenant  of  friendship.  God           Rather the covenant is the eternal            Such  a  relationship  can  only
maintained that same covenant af-           and unchangeable purpose for cre-         lead  to  greatest  humility  before
ter the fall in Christ.                     ating all things, namely, that God        God. The minister knows himself.
    The covenant is eternal, not lim-       might live in covenant fellowship         He knows his sinfulness, his lazi-
ited to time. It is from eternity in        with His people for an eternity, and      ness, and his pride. He is conscious
Christ according to God's council,          that, for the glory of His own name.      of his absolute unworthiness to fel-
realized in time as God establishes             Thus  the  doctrine  of  the  cov-    lowship with Jehovah. Yet, God has
His covenant with His people, and           enant  has  a  rightfully  important      adopted him to be a member of His
continues unto eternity in the new          place in Reformed theology. From          covenant family. This is a daily ex-
heavens and earth--God dwelling              Calvin through the ages, the devel-       perience  for  the  Reformed  pastor
in  covenant  fellowship  with  His         opment of the truth has involved          when he lives in covenant fellow-
people.                                     the covenant. God has blessed the         ship with God.
    The covenant is also unilateral,        Protestant  Reformed  Churches                How then can a man be proud
that is, one-sided. It is God's cov-        with  a  huge  repository  of  truth      who lives in conscious fellowship
enant.  He plans, executes, and es-         about the covenant. It was a truth        with God? If his fellowship is only
tablishes  His  covenant  without           sharpened  through  major  contro-        with  men--and  thus  his  point  of
any input or activity of man. We            versies.  The  first,  in  1924,  con-    reference is only men--he can eas-
reject the notion that the covenant         cerned God's grace. We rightly call       ily become proud. He is, after all,
is unilateral in its establishment but      God's covenant a covenant of grace.       better  educated  than  most  in  the
bilateral  in  its  maintenance.  Man       How  important  it  is  for  the  doc-    congregation. He has more knowl-
does not maintain God's covenant.           trine of the covenant, then, to have      edge of the Bible, of theology, and
Indeed, man is called to  obedience         it settled that grace is not common,      of the philosophers.
within the covenant; but the con-           but particular, and always saving.            But  the  Reformed  minister
tinuing  of  the  covenant  does  not           The  second,  in  1953,  touched      looks at God, and compares him-
depend on man, else the covenant            directly  on  the  covenant  as  the      self to the living God. Daily he is
is doomed.                                  Protestant Reformed Churches set          both humbled because of his insig-
    God's covenant is with the elect        forth  the  unconditional  nature  of     nificance and shamed by his sins.
alone, not with all men.                    the  covenant.  No  man  can  be  a           In  his  personal  life,  the  Re-
    God  establishes  His  covenant         Protestant Reformed preacher who          formed pastor is ever seeking cov-
with  believers and their seed in the       does  not  understand  and  love   the    enant fellowship with God, and he
line of continued generations. The          doctrine  of  God's  eternal,  uncon-     seeks  that  first  in  prayer.  A  Re-
covenant is organic in that sense--          ditional covenant of grace.               formed minister is a man of prayer.
not established with isolated indi-             Since the covenant of grace is        The covenant causes the Reformed
viduals here and there, but in the          that important, it ought to have a        preacher to pray without ceasing--
line of continued generations.              profound  effect  on  the  life  and      for prayer is fellowship with God.
    Finally, the covenant is  uncon-        work  of  the  Protestant  Reformed       In prayer he speaks to God; he wor-
ditional. That follows from its be-         minister. We will consider four ar-       ships God. He prays for the filling
ing one-sided, but since some still         eas of  his life and work, namely,        of his needs, conscious of his de-
want to have some covenant con-             his personal life, the preaching, his     pendence on God in all His labors.

                                                                                                 July, 1998/Standard Bearer/423


    Studying  the  Word  is  also  a            self--to grow in the knowledge of           communing  with  His  people  in
seeking of fellowship with God. It              God, which knowledge is life eter-         love.
is  never  an  abstract  study,  never          nal--covenant life with God.                    That  blessedness  of  the  cov-
academic. It is rather studying the                 Thus the preacher enthusiasti-         enant  home  the  pastor  wants  for
One whom the minister knows and                 cally returns to the Bible daily, first    himself.  But, even more, he knows
loves  more  than  any  other!  He              to feed his own soul, and then to          that it must be present in his home
comes to the Scriptures to hear God             bring out treasures for his congre-        and family. How can he preach the
speak  to  him,  with  the  prayer              gation, both new and old.                  covenant  of  God  unless  he  lives
"Speak  Lord,  for  thy  servant                    His consciousness of covenant          that covenant? His life must be a
heareth."                                       life with God also causes the min-         living  demonstration  of  the  truth
    He searches the Scriptures, dili-           ister to seek God's approval. The          he preaches. If it is not, he makes a
gently  comparing  Scripture  with              approval of men means nothing to           mockery of the truth.
Scripture. His consuming passion                him. His constant concern is: Does             If he lives in strife and hatred
is to get the truth, and to set it forth        God approve of me and my work?             with his wife; if his children walk
perfectly. His diligence in the study           Because he lives consciously before        in open violation of God's law, de-
is due, on the one hand, to the fact            God, God's approval sustains him           spising both their father (minister)
that he loves God too much to in-               even when he is enveloped by the           and mother, it is like the family of
vent  supposed  truths.  And  God               disapproval of men!                        Eli--an abomination to God. God
forbid  that  he  should  ever  teach               The minister's family life is also     will not bless such a ministry. The
half-truths or total lies about God!            determined  by  the  covenant.  The        minister will disqualify himself as
    On  the  other  hand,  he  is  so           family  contains  pictures  of  God's      an officebearer in Christ's church.
careful in his study of Scripture be-           covenant with His people. The hus-         The  Reformed  minister  must  live
cause  he  knows  that  the  Bible  is          band and the wife are pictures of          God's covenant.
like no other book, in that the be-             Christ and his church. Parents and             [Coming next month:  How the
liever does not merely get to know              children are a living illustration of      covenant of grace governs the Re-
about God through the Bible, but                God and His chosen, adopted chil-          formed minister's preaching, life in
the  believer comes  to know  God.              dren. There is love and fellowship         the  congregation,  and  life  in  the
The minister desires that for him-              in the homes of believers. That life       world.]   u
                                                is  a picture  of  God  dwelling  and



  All Around Us                                                                                     Rev. Gise VanBaren


                                                    The past six months have been              Think you can avoid natural di-
                                                  a disaster--as far as nature is con-        sasters  simply  by  staying  out  of
                                                  cerned.  Torrential rain in Califor-       California  or  Florida?    Think
                                                  nia, immobilizing ice in the North-        again.  Wyoming is the only U.S.
s Confirmation of                                 east, killer tornadoes in the South        state that hasn't experienced a ma-
                                                  have all rattled the nation's pre-         jor  disaster  in  the  last  10  years,
Matthew 24:7-8?                                   vailing  sense  of  well-being.    In      and that just might mean it's due
                                                  fact, this decade has been packed          for a plague of locusts.  So learn
We have  been  reading of the
         "natural"  disasters  which              with earthquakes, hurricanes, bliz-        about  your  area  and  its  likely
have  been  affecting  our  country.              zards, floods and fires.  With glo-        problems, prepare your property
What does it all mean?  And: is it                bal  warming  expected  to  make           as best you can and look on the
an "angry Mother Nature" or the                   violent storms even more common            bright  side.    Asked  how  a  seis-
fulfillment  of  Christ's  prophecy?              in years to come, and earthquake           mologist can bear to live in quake-
Newsweek,  May 4, 1998, has this to               watchers  still  awaiting  the  Big        prone Los Angeles County, USC's
                                                  One,  we  can  pretty  much  forget
say of the disasters:                                                                        Henyey laughs: "I feel pretty good
                                                  about 2000's being the start of the        about the lack of tornadoes."
                                                  mellow millennium.  Is there any-
                                                  thing  we  can  do  to  ward  off  an        It  does  give  one  pause  for
                                                  angry Mother Nature?                     thought.  The signs foretold by our
                                                                                           Lord are taking place.  Many can
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant           The article concludes:                 blame an angry "Mother Nature."
Reformed    Church    of    Loveland,  Colo-
rado.                                                                                      Many can blame "global warming."

424/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


Many can insist that there have al-             your agenda, maybe it's not light          extremely efficient, or else every-
ways been natural disasters.  Many              for you," said Weidenaar.  "Num-           thing is "cut and dried" and only
can foretell more violent events in             ber two, to cancel a synod is  an          requires  the  rubber  stamp  of  the
the  future.    But  Christ  Himself            extraordinary  measure.    The             assembly.
spoke of these things to come.  Do              church  order  says  there  can  be
                                                special  meetings  of  synod  con-
we hear His Word concerning the                 vened but only under the most ex-          s A Troublesome Question
signs of His return?                            traordinary  circumstances,  and
                                                you would also seem to need ex-            Christian Renewal, April 27, 1998,
                                                                                               has an article by Darrell Todd
s Cancel Synod?                                 traordinary circumstances to can-          Maurina which reflects on one of
A report of the agenda of the cel synod."                                                  the overtures appearing before the
                                                  Weidenaar  also  noted  that  the
     Christian Reformed Synod is                                                           CRC synod this summer.
                                                church order provides for annual
presented  by  the  United  Reformed            meetings  of  synod.  "That  ought
News Service.  The report includes              not to be contravened by a board               Should the Christian Reformed
a proposal, rejected by the execu-              or committee unless directed to do           Church  delete  a  statement  in  its
tive  committee,  to  cancel  synod             so  by  synod  itself,"  said                doctrinal standards declaring that
                                                                                             the Roman Catholic mass "is noth-
when it does not have enough busi-              Weidenaar.    "If  there  is  to  be  a      ing but a denial of the one sacri-
ness in the judgment of the Board               cancellation of synod, it should be          fice and suffering of Jesus Christ
of Directors.                                   the  synod  that  does  it,  not  a
                                                board."                                      and a condemnable idolatry"?
                                                                                               The answer seemed obvious to
    Should there be a procedure to                                                           Classis Lake Erie, which with little
  cancel  the  Christian  Reformed                The report continues by listing            debate  unanimously  adopted  an
  synod when denominational offi-             various  materials  which  are  to             overture asking the Christian Re-
  cials  judge  that  it  doesn't  have       come  before  the  CRC  synod  this            formed synod to delete that lan-
  enough business on the agenda?              year:                                          guage  from  the  Heidelberg  Cat-
    That question by CRC General                                                             echism.    The  only  discussion  on
  Secretary  Dr.  David  Engelhard                In  addition  to  the  regular  re-        the  floor  of  classis  was  whether
  was  considered  and  rejected  by            ports of the CRC's boards and de-            some  of  the  quotations  in  the
  the  executive  committee  of  the            nominational  agencies,  Synod               document  were  correctly  attrib-
  CRC Board of Trustees.                        1998 will consider nineteen over-            uted.
    "There's almost nothing to do,"             tures, two appeals, and two com-               While getting Classis Lake Erie
  said  Engelhard.    "We've  gotten            munications.                                 to  adopt  the  overture  may  have
  nineteen  overtures,  you've  got               Four overtures ask Synod 1998              been  easy,  getting  the  Christian
  candidates  to  approve,  and  a              to reject Synod 1998's proposal to           Reformed synod to change a con-
  couple  of  other  items,  but  my            revise the property rules for new            fession  which  was  first  written
  judgment is that there should be              CRC congregations and those re-              over four centuries ago and which
  some procedure in place when on               ceiving  denominational  funding;            has been used by the CRC since it
  a given year the agenda is so thin            three overtures ask synod to make            began in 1857 will be quite a bit
  that it could be judged not to be             various adjustments in response to           more  difficult.    "I  can't  imagine
  stewardly  to  pull  together  two            the potential loss of $11.5 million          that a decision of this magnitude
  hundred  delegates  from  all  over           of denominational funds invested             would be made on the basis of one
  to do the business that is there."            with  the  California-based  IRM             look at it at one synod, that would
    "The  Board  does  have  the  au-           Corporation;  three  overtures  ad-          be  very  uncharacteristic,"  said
  thority  to  call  a  special  or  sepa-      dress women in office by asking              CRC General Secretary Dr. David
  rate session of synod should the              Synod  1998  rather  than  Synod             Engelhard.  "It is possible it could
  board judge that it be necessary.             2000 to make the final decision on           be put into the hands  of a com-
  Why would the reverse not be a                allowing women's ordination, pre-            mittee  for  further  reflection,  but
  possibility?"  asked Engelhard.  "It          venting  a  separate  vote  on  male         it's possible that synod could ar-
  came to my mind, I addressed it               and female candidates for the min-           gue that we studied this fifteen or
  to the  executive  committee,  they           istry,  and  allowing  denomina-             twenty years ago."
  decided not to proceed."                      tional  agencies  as  well  as  local          Engelhard's  mention  of  prior
    William Weidenaar, a Chicago-               churches to hire women ministers.            study  refers  to  requests  by  Rev.
  area attorney who serves as presi-                                                         James  LaGrand  and  by  Classis
  dent of the CRC Board of Trust-                 The report lists other overtures           Rocky Mountain which had asked
  ees, said the executive committee           as  well  which  will  appear  before          Synod 1975 to delete or amend Q
  found three main problems with              the  synod.    All  of  this  presents         & A 80.
  the idea of canceling synod.                                                                 Synod  rejected  LaGrand's  re-
    "The difficulty with the sugges-          hardly  the  appearance  of  a  light          quest  to  delete  the  question  en-
  tion is number one, no matter how           work load for a synod which, I be-             tirely,  asked  a  denominational
  light the agenda is, if there is one        lieve, is to meet only a week any-             study  committee  to  look  at  pro-
  overture  on  the  agenda  and  it's        way.  Either such a synod must be              posed amendments, and decided


                                                                                                        July, 1998/Standard Bearer/425


  in 1977 not to change the language         Greenway, professor of missions at           lics  range  "from  the  traditional
  on five grounds, including that "a         Calvin  Seminary,  responded  in             Trent-like  Catholic  Church  to
  historical  creed  must  not  be  al-      part:                                        churches that are almost indistin-
  tered  without  weighty  reasons,"                                                      guishable  from  evangelical
  and  that  the  "statements  of  [the          Dr. Roger Greenway ... said he             churches, except that there is still
  Roman Catholic Council of Trent]             teaches a seminary class citing at         a formal adherence to the Papacy,
  which answer 80 rejects have not             least  seven  different  theological       to  the  Vatican,  and  to  the  state-
  been  repudiated  by  the  Roman                                                        ments that remain unchanged."
                                               positions  within  the  Roman
  Catholic Church."                            Catholic Church in Latin America.            According  to  Greenway,  the
    Synod 1977's fourth reason for               "Sometimes you've got to have            "number one problem" with revis-
  keeping Q&A 80 was the most de-              a rock thrown against the back of          ing  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  is
  tailed: "Although the language in            your head to wake you up," said            that  the  Roman  Catholic  state-
  answer 80 appears sharp, such in-                                                       ments  of  the  Council  of  Trent,
                                               Greenway.    "I've  had  that,  and
  dignation at the withholding of as-          people who have forever all their          which  the  Heidelberg  Catechism
  surance of salvation from believ-            lives  met  with  some  genteel  Ro-       was  written  to  oppose,  haven't
  ers is not inappropriate to confes-          man Catholics, who have always             been changed.
  sional  statement.    Trent  speaks          lived in the atmosphere of a rather
  rather sharply too.  And the acts            evangelical Roman Catholicism in             There appears to be a growing
  of  teaching  and  refuting  are  fre-       North  America  which  has  been         trend among Protestants--and Re-
  quently coupled in the New Tes-              leavened by a predominantly Prot-        formed as well--to seek closer ties
  tament."                                     estant  environment,  when  these        to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.
                                               folks  get  down  into  a  culture       The claim is made that the Roman
    First  CRC  of  Detroit  and               where the Roman Catholic Church          Catholic Church has changed--but
Classis Lake Erie pointed out that,            has  dominated  for  who  knows          as Greenway has pointed out, the
in  their  judgment,  the  Roman               how  many  hundreds  of  years,          decisions  of  the  Council  of  Trent
Catholic  Church  has  changed  so             they get shocked."                       have never been changed.  The Ro-
that the answer of the Catechism                 "In trying to analyze the Roman        man Catholic Church regards those
is no longer accurate.  They quote             Catholic Church in Latin America,
                                                                                        decisions as infallible and trustwor-
from  various  documents  recently             I  came  up  with  seven  or  eight
                                                                                        thy as Scripture.  The Heidelberg
published  which  appear  to  sub-             `faces'  of  the  Roman  Catholic
                                               Church  in  Latin  America,  and         Catechism remains correct in its as-
scribe to the confession of justifi-           some  of  them  are  very  different     sessment  of  the  Roman  Catholic
cation  by  faith  alone.    Dr.  Roger        from     one     another,"     said      church--also as it exists today.   u
                                               Greenway, noting that the Catho-


  Taking Heed to the Doctrine                                                                         Rev. Steven Key



                          Christ, Our King (2)

                                             He is King of the church, first of         Dominion Established
We concluded our last ar- all.                                                          in the Cross
              ticle with a consideration         Christ  rules in  His  church  by          That spiritual reign of grace is
              of the exercise of Christ's    His Word and Spirit.  He exercises         rooted in Christ's work on the cross
dominion.  Our exalted Lord reigns           a kingly authority over and works          for us.
unto the glory of God His Father             by the power of  grace  in all those           On the one hand, it was on the
and to the salvation of His people.          whom  He  makes  subject  to  Him-         cross  that  Satan's  dominion  was
                                             self by the gospel.  By that rule of       obliterated.  Satan himself exercises
                                             His  grace,  Christ  calls  us  out  of    spiritual dominion in the world be-
                                             darkness into the light of His glory       cause of sin.  At the fall man will-
Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Re-     and  grace,  into  the  kingdom  of        ingly subjected himself to the rule
formed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.        heaven.                                    of Satan.  But at the cross the head

426/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


of the serpent was crushed.  Satan's           But having considered His rule         kingdom of heaven, out of the prin-
dominion  over  us  was  abolished.        of  grace  over  us  His  people,  we      ciple  of  the  new  life  of  Christ
The  promise  of  Genesis  3:15  was       find that His rule over the wicked         within us, are called to live in en-
fulfilled.                                 is different.  It is a rule that is not    mity over against the world.  The
    Jesus, speaking of that moment         for them, but for us, to serve our         world,  from  a  spiritual  point  of
of  the  cross,  said  in  John  12:31:    defense and preservation.                  view, is an entirely different king-
"Now  is  the  judgment  of  this              The  difference  in  the  rule  of     dom.
world: now shall the prince of this        Christ over the wicked is evident              "Know ye not that the friend-
world be cast out."                        in the very attitude which He takes        ship  of  the  world  is  enmity  with
    At Calvary Christ secured for          toward them.                               God? whosoever therefore will be
us who are in Him  all things.  "All           There is much talk today about         a friend of the world is the enemy
is yours; and ye are Christ's; and         God being a God of love.  And that         of God."  James gives us clear in-
Christ is God's."  When Christ fin-        God  is  love  is  clearly  taught  in     dication as to where we stand, in
ished His work, the power of Sa-           Scripture.  But there is no contra-        that  text  in  James  4.    If  you  are
tan was forever broken.                    diction between God's love and His         walking  with  the  world,  it  is  be-
    But on that same cross our eter-       holiness and justice, as men want          cause  you  are  not  walking  with
nal King also accomplished all that        seemingly  to  make  today  when           God, nor as a subject of Christ the
salvation of which we have spoken.         they say that God loves everybody          King.    How  shall  the  subjects  of
By destroying forever the strong-          and that Christ loves all men.  We         Christ be among the slaves of Sa-
holds  of  Satan  and  defeating  the      must  understand  that  the  love of       tan?    I  know  that  the  subjects  of
powers of darkness also in our own         God is love for Himself, first of all.     both  kingdoms  are  mingled  here
hearts, Christ accomplished salva-         God loves Himself, His own per-            upon earth, and we cannot avoid
tion for all His own.                      fect  being;  He  seeks  Himself;  He      entirely  the  company  of  the  un-
    In  our  place  He  died,  paying      desires all things to serve His own        godly  except  we  go  out  of  the
the  price  for  our  guilt.    And  He    glory,  of  the  Father,  through  the     world  (I  Cor.  5:7).   That  we  may
earned for us salvation and an ev-         Son, and by the Holy Spirit.               not do.  But the citizens of Christ's
erlasting  place  as  citizens  in  His        But that love of God for Him-          kingdom find their fellowship with
kingdom.                                   self  and  for  His  own  holy  being,     the saints and, to use the language
    But  His  sovereign  rule  em-         means  that  He  cannot  love  any-        of Psalm 16:3, their delights are in
braces much more.                          thing or anyone that is contrary to        the excellent of the earth.
                                           Him.    That  is  exactly  why  Scrip-         Christ sets a sharp distinction
An All-Encompassing Dominion               ture  teaches  that  God  hates  the       between  the  citizens  of  the  king-
    Christ's dominion is all-encom-        wicked.  We sing in Psalm 5, and           dom and those of the world.
passing.  It is so to the defense and      that  is  the  teaching  of  the  whole        His rule certainly embraces the
preservation of His church.                Bible:  "For thou art not a God that       world  also.    But  He  rules  that
    Not only is that all-encompass-        hath pleasure in wickedness: nei-          world of ungodly men and women
ing dominion set forth in the words        ther shall evil dwell with thee.  The      with an attitude of hatred and by
of Psalm 2, but Daniel saw this in         foolish shall not stand in thy sight:      His power to execute judgment and
one of his inspired visions, and re-       thou hatest all workers of iniquity."      to use the ungodly for the purpose
corded it for us in Daniel 7:13,14:        We don't need to expand on that            of His own kingdom.
"I  saw  in  the  night  visions,  and,    profound  truth  any  more  in  this           While the ungodly do all that
behold,  one  like  the  Son  of  man      connection; but let us receive it in       they  can  to  destroy  the  kingdom
came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,       humility as God Himself reveals it         of Christ and to lead astray the citi-
and came to the Ancient of days,           to us in His Word.                         zens  of  Christ's  kingdom,  Christ
and they brought him near before               That also means, though, that          maintains His rule.
him.  And there was given him do-          Christ  hates the wicked and loves             He  rules  in  such  a  way  that
minion, and glory, and a kingdom,          His people.  For Christ is the per-        those who walk in rebellion against
that  all  people,  nations,  and  lan-    fect image of the Father.  Also in         Him and against His rule remain
guages, should serve him: his do-          His sovereign rule as King, He re-         accountable  for  their  sin  and  be-
minion is an everlasting dominion,         flects the attitude of His heavenly        come ripe for judgment, yet serv-
which shall not pass away, and his         Father whom He serves.                     ing the purpose which Christ Him-
kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be           For  that  reason  also  our  eter-    self  has  determined.    That  is  the
destroyed."                                nal  King  establishes  between  us        clear statement of Psalm 2.
    All  is  under  the  dominion  of      and the ungodly a life of opposi-              In Psalm 2 the wicked are de-
Christ, and serves Him.  Absolutely        tion--what we call the life of the          scribed  as  raging  and  imagining
nothing is outside His rule.  He is        antithesis.                                vain things.
Lord of lords and King of kings.               We who live as citizens of the             They proudly boast, if not with

                                                                                                  July, 1998/Standard Bearer/427


words then certainly with their ac-         who want to walk their own way,            teaches us concerning Christ's rule
tions,  that  they  will  break  the        who  want  to  cast  off  Christ,  and     over the wicked, that it is a fearful
bands  of  Christ  and  throw  away         who appear to have accomplished            thing to be outside of Christ, to live
His cords.  They cast off His scrip-        their desire.                              in rejection of His Lordship.
tural precepts like water, opening              But  let  us  stand  reminded,             How great is the sin and mis-
the land to all forms of fornication,       there awaits another great day of          ery of those who continue in bond-
violation of Sabbath--in short, the          the Lord, a day of final judgment.         age  to  sin  and  Satan,  and  refuse
breaking  of  all  God's  command-          And  that  laughter  of  God  will         the rule of Christ!
ments.  And in doing so they tempt          again be heard, a terrible laughter
the people of God to walk in the            to all who stand outside of Christ         A Blessed Dominion
same sins.  They show themselves            the  Savior.    For  that  laughter  of        How blessed are we who have
citizens  of  the  kingdom  of  this        God is not a laughter that expresses       been brought by grace under His
world, seeking self and the things          joy,  nor  an  unholy  delight  in  the    dominion!
of  this  earth,  also  tempting  us  to    torment  or  pain  of  another.    But         For with  the  eyes  of faith we
do the same.                                that laughter of Jehovah is a laugh-       can see, even through the trials of
    And many times it appears that          ter  of  mockery,  of  derision,  and      this life, our eternal King leading
they  are  successful  in  their  at-       therefore  of  fierce  anger  and  hot     us to heaven.
tempts to cast off Christ and to run        displeasure.    It  is  a  laughter  of        His  mercies  are  new  every
the show themselves.                        mockery because those ungodly, in          morning.
    Think  of  how  true  that  ap-         all  their raging  and  proud  boast-          His  infinite  wisdom  and  un-
peared  at  the  cross.    Certainly  it    ing, simply serve Christ's purpose         changeable  love,  which  rules  the
seemed  that  Jesus,  the  King             and do His will.                           universe for the sake of His church
anointed of God, had gone down                  Our eternal King rules over all!       and kingdom, manages everything
to  defeat.    How  the  wicked  re-        The whole world of ungodly men             that relates to you personally too.
joiced!--until darkness covered the          and all the events that happen in              Consider His sovereignty and
land and the earth quaked and the           this creation and in our own lives         dominion,  His  salvation  of  you.
veil of the temple tore in two from         are  just  so  many  chess  pieces  on     Study His tenderness and compas-
top to bottom.  Then there was no           the chess board of history.  Noth-         sion, His meekness and pity as our
more  rejoicing.    For  those  who         ing can go against us; but by the          eternal  King.    Not  a  tyrant,  but
stood at Calvary rejoicing suddenly         rule of Christ all things are for us.      merciful is He to us His people.
realized  that  God  was  in  heaven        He defends and preserves us in the             At His appointed time He shall
laughing at them!                           salvation He has purchased for us.         lead us home, where we shall reign
    And today, there are so many            It  is  clear  from  what  Scripture       with Him forevermore.   u


  Book Reviews


                                            other mode, e.g., sprinkling.  Mr.         sue of the baptism of the infants of
                                            Kimmitt  takes  a  "scientific  ap-        godly  parents,  since  immersion
                                            proach" to the subject, examining          rules out the baptism of infants.
Baptism:  Meaning, Mode & Sub-              all of the references to baptism in            A  scientist  himself,  Mr.
jects,  by  Michael  Kimmitt.    Plas       the New Testament, in order then           Kimmitt has the scientist's appre-
Gwyn, Trelawnyd, Wales:  K & M              to draw the conclusion demanded            ciation  for  mathematics:    "Math-
Books, 1997.  48 pages.  $4 (paper).        by the evidence.  His study shows          ematics is a marvellous science; the
[Reviewed by the editor.]                   that  not  only  is  there  a  complete    one exact science we have" (p. 15).
                                            lack of evidence in the New Testa-         A theologian may be forgiven for
In six, brief chapters, this booklet ment for the dogma of immersion, demurring at this point.  Neverthe-
  treats  of  baptism's  meaning,           but also in most of the instances of       less, Kimmitt intriguingly employs
mode, and subjects, as well as three        baptism immersion is improbable            mathematics in the service of dem-
main objections against infant bap-         and often impossible.  "... there is         onstrating  that  John  the  Baptist
tism and certain implications of the        not a single certain case of immer-        could not have immersed all those
study.                                      sion in the New Testament and that         who came to him (pp. 14, 15).
    The short study of the biblical         the probability in case after case is          Brief as it is, the chapter on the
doctrine  of  baptism  is  especially       that Baptism was administered by           subjects  of  baptism  is  also  very
helpful regarding the mode of bap-          sprinkling or pouring" (p. 33).            good both to confirm the faith of
tism, whether immersion or some                 This bears, of course, on the is-      the Reformed Christian that infants

428/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


of believers are to be baptized and          divisions  and  return  to  the  Re-       Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church
to reprove the Baptist of his sin of         formed Faith" (p. 33).                     of Ulster has all but abandoned in-
excluding the children of the godly              There is the greatest need for         fant baptism, thus making a mock-
from  the  covenant  and  church  of         such a witness to the truth of in-         ery  of  its  own  name.    And,  of
God.                                         fant  baptism  in  the  British  Isles.    course,  the  Anglican  Church  has
        The author carries on a contro-      Those  with  some  reputation  for         turned infant baptism into the su-
versy  against  the  Baptists  with  a       Calvinism--the  "Calvinistic  Bap-          perstition of "christening."
good spirit.  But he does not mini-          tists"--deny  infant  baptism  alto-            The  booklet  can  be  ordered
mize the seriousness of the issue:           gether, thus forfeiting the right to       from  the  author  at  Plas  Gwyn,
"... we invite them (all Baptists--             the  name  "Reformed."    Ian              High  Street,  Trelawnyd    RHYL
DJE) to abandon their schismatical                                                      LL186DT, Wales, UK.   u


  Report of Classis East                                                                            Mr. Jon Huisken


                                                                                                                 May 13, 1998
                                                                                   Southeast Protestant Reformed Church

                                             nated.  Classis East rejected the ad-      erty  as  an  adequate  response  to
                                             vice  of  Covenant  and  extended          classis.  Covenant, for the present,
                                             Rev. Flikkema's credentials for two        will  be  retaining  their  property.
Classis East met in regular ses-
        sion  on  Wednesday,  May  13,       years.    If  Rev.  Flikkema  is  still    Covenant also requested approval
1998 at the Southeast PRC.  Each             without a charge at that  time, he         to ask the churches in Classis East
church was represented by two del-           and  his  consistory  will  need  to       that collections be taken for their
egates.  Rev. R. Cammenga served             bring  this  matter  before  Classis       building fund.  Classis will forward
as  chairman  for  this  session.  The       East for review.                           a similar request to synod for per-
delegates  ad examnia from Classis               The  second  matter  was  a            mission to make the same request
West, Revs. Haak, Houck, and Key,            brother's  appeal  of  a  consistory's     of the churches in Classis West.
were present for the matter of Rev.          decision.  This matter was treated             The  expenses  of  classis
Flikkema's credentials.                      in closed session.                         amounted to $1,754.84.  Classis will
        Classis dealt with several dif-          Several other matters were on          meet next on September 9, 1998 at
ficult issues.  The first concerned          the  agenda  concerning  Covenant          our Holland PRC.
Covenant  PRC's  recommendation              PRC.  Classis received their letter                    Respectfully submitted,
to  classis  that  Rev.  R.  Flikkema's      responding to classis' advice con-                Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk
ministerial  credentials  be  termi-         cerning selling their church prop-


  News From Our Churches                                                                     Mr. Benjamin Wigger


Evangelism Activities                        phlet,  "The  Christ  of  Armini-
D                                                                                       their new church home, with their
        espite  the  flurry  of  activity    anism,"  by  Rev.  S.  Houck,  was         first Sunday of worship scheduled
        leading up to the much antici-       translated by a contact of theirs in       for July 5, the Lord willing.
pated  move  of  our  First  PRC  of         New York.                                      Rev. A. den Hartog, pastor of
Holland, MI into their new church                First's  Evangelism  Committee         the  Hope  PRC  in  Redlands,  CA,
home this summer, their Evange-              is  also  producing  a  new  special       gave a short slide presentation on
lism  Committee  was  able  to  find         welcome brochure to serve as their         the Philippines June 14 at the First
time to complete the publication of          church's  introduction  into  their        PRC  in  Grand  Rapids,  MI.    You
another  of  our  churches'  many            new  neighborhood.    This  will  be       may remember that he and Rev. A.
pamphlets into Spanish.  The pam-            sent  out  to  the  surrounding  area      Brummel made a trip there recently
                                             before they move in, hopefully in          for  the  Foreign  Mission  Commit-
                                             early July.                                tee to investigate its potential for a
                                                 In  passing,  we  can  also  men-      mission  field  for  our  churches.
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant     tion here that First has set July 2        This  program  was  sponsored  by
Reformed  Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-    as  the  date  for  the  dedication  of    First's Evangelism Committee.
gan.

                                                                                                   July, 1998/Standard Bearer/429


Mission Activities                         leaving  behind  downed  power             to Candidate Kleyn.
                                           lines, trees, and homes.  The ser-             Rev.  J. Slopsema  continues  to
Rev. J. Kortering, our churches'
    minister-on-loan  to  the  Evan-       vices of many of our area churches         improve week by week.  The heart
gelical  Reformed  Churches  of            were canceled, and those that did          irregularities, fatigue, and anxiety
Singapore, along with his wife, was        manage  to hold morning services           that he has experienced are slowly
able  to  spend  a  few  days  in  late    did so using candles and light from        diminishing.    The  doctor  empha-
May in the Philippines en route to         the sun.  Thankfully there were no         sizes the need for  a continued pe-
a few weeks of vacation in the U.S.        serious injuries, and as far as we         riod of  rest.
Under  the  guidance  of  our              know  none  of  our  churches  were
churches'  FMC  he  visited  with  a       damaged.                                                Food For Thought
group of contacts who live on the              The consistory of the George-              "We may be truly said to wor-
island of Negros.   Men from this          town PRC in Hudsonville, MI gave           ship God, though we lack perfec-
island  attended  the  conference          their  approval  to  the  idea  of  an     tion; but we cannot be said to wor-
taught by Revs. Brummel and den            Adult  Sunday  School  class  to  be       ship Him if we lack sincerity."
Hartog  in  Daet  last  December.          held this summer during the regu-                              --S. Charnock    u
These  men continue to desire more         lar  children's  Sunday  School  sea-
of our instruction in the distinctives     son.
of the Reformed faith.   The FMC               Georgetown's  council  also
believes Rev. Kortering's visit will       called  a  special  congregational                           1998
also  assist  our  churches  in  deter-    meeting on May 28 for the purpose
mining the possibility and the di-         of  approving  building  and  finan-                   Candidate
rection of future work in that for-        cial  plans  for  their  new  church
eign country.                              home.  These plans were approved,
                                           and Georgetown anticipates build-
School Activities                          ing to begin on their sanctuary in
                                           late August.
Rev. R. Smit, pastor of the Doon,
    IA  PRC,  spoke  this  spring  at          Early this spring financial clos-
the  31 st  commencement  of  the          ing on the parsonage, church, and
Northwest Iowa PR School on the            land to the north of the Grace PRC
theme, "Walking in Jehovah's Wis-          in  Standale,  MI  was  completed.
dom," based on Psalm 111:10.  We           This  was  followed  May  7  with  a
would also encourage all this year's       dedication of their newly acquired
graduates  to  read  that  verse  and      church  home.    And  this  summer
consider  its  importance.    Besides      the  congregation  there  has  also
the usual pat on the back you re-          been  busy  with  a  number  of  re-
cently received, we want you to re-        modeling projects and adding some
member  the  strength  you  can  re-       additional parking.
ceive only through God's Word.                 The council of the Hull, IA PRC
    May  16  a  group  of  dedicated       has appointed a  committee of their
runners and walkers met at Hope            congregation to prepare plans for
PR Christian School in Walker, MI          a new parsonage to be located on                        Nathan Brummel
to  participate  in  the  inaugural        the southeast lot to the east of their     Age:  28
Hope  Classic  5k  and  1m  Run/           parking lot.                               Wife's Name:  Paula
Walk.  Rev. M. Dick,  pastor of the                                                   Membership:  Grandville PRC,
Grace  PRC  in  Standale,  MI,  took       Minister Activities                                                Grandville, MI
first, followed closely by Mr. An-                                                    Internship:  Hope PRC, Redlands,
gus Stewart, a first-year seminary         Rev.  A. Brummel accepted the
                                                   call he received from the South                                          CA
student from the Covenant PRC in           Holland, IL PRC to serve as their          Colleges:
N. Ireland.                                next pastor.                                   Calvin College, Grand Rapids
                                               Since  Rev.  Brummel  will  be             University of Wisconsin,
Congregation Activities                    leaving  the  Edgerton,  MN  PRC,                                          Milwaukee
                                           their  council  presented  a  trio  to
Many of us in west Michigan                                                           Contact:
       were  reminded  of  the  pas-       their congregation from which they                4390-2 Wimbledon Dr.
sage of  Acts 2:2  in a special way        called  a  new  pastor  on  June  7.               Grandville, MI  49418
on Pentecost Sunday, May 31.  That         From that trio of the Revs. A. den                       (616) 224-1802
morning winds estimated in excess          Hartog and S. Houck  and Candi-
of 100 mph blew through the area,          date D. Kleyn, they extended a call

430/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


                                                        ANNOUNCEMENTS

                                                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                        The  consistory  and  congregation  of
     During the early evening hours of May        the First PRC of Edmonton, AB express                                NOTICE!!!
27, our heavenly Father finished prepar-          their  heartfelt  sympathy  to  the  following         Hudsonville PRC informs anyone who
ing His mansion for                               fellow members and their families:                anticipates  visiting  our  worship  services
          MR. GERALD BOUWKAMP                          Mr. & Mrs. Henry Kippers and Elaine          that  the  Sunday  evening  service  begins
and  took  him  unto  Himself.    He  will  be    Kippers  in  the  loss  of  their  mother  and    at 6:00 P.M.
sadly missed by his loving wife and chil-         grandmother,
dren  and  many  friends  including  all  the                 SOPHIE KIPPERS.
members of the Hudsonville PR Men's So-                Mr. & Mrs. George Tolsma and fam-                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
ciety of which he was a faithful member           ily, Mr. & Mrs. Doug Tolsma and family,                The  consistory  and  congregation  of
for many years.  May we all be comforted          Mr. & Mrs. Tony VanGelderen and family,           Randolph  PRC  express  their  Christian
in the words of Scripture as found in Rev-        Mr. & Mrs. Pieter Kalkman, and Mr. & Mrs.         sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Maurice DeVries
elation 21:1-4, "And I saw a new heaven           Uilke Tolsma in the loss of their mother,         and family in the death of Mrs. DeVries'
and a new earth; for the first heaven and         grandmother, and sister-in-law,                   mother,
the  first  earth  were  passed  away;  and                   GERDA TOLSMA.                                    MRS. ELSIE AALSMA.
there was no more sea.  And I John saw                 May they find comfort in the words of             May God comfort them by His Word
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down         Jesus in John 14:1-3:  "Let not your heart        from Romans 8:28, "And we know that all
from God out of heaven, prepared as a             be troubled:  ye believe in God, believe          things work together for good to them that
bride  adorned  for  her  husband.    And  I      also  in  me.    In  my  Father's  house  are     love God, to them who are called accord-
heard a great voice out of heaven saying,         many mansions:  if it were not so, I would        ing to his purpose."
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,        have told you.  I go to prepare a place for                                  Rev. S. Key, Pres.
and he will dwell with them, and they shall       you.  And if I go and prepare a place for                                   Don DeVries, clerk
be his people, and God himself shall be           you, I will come again, and receive you
with them, and be their God.  And God             unto  myself;  that  where  I  am,  there  ye
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;        may be also."
and there shall be no more death, neither                           Rev. Michael DeVries, Pres.
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be                               George Tolsma, Clerk                          NOTICE!!
any more pain; for the former things are                                                                 Classis East will meet in regular ses-
passed away."                                           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                      sion on Wednesday, September 9, 1998
             Hudsonville PR Men's Society              The School Board and Society of Cov-         at the First Protestant Reformed Church,
                       Erv Kortering, Sec'y.      enant Christian School in Lynden, WA ex-          Holland, MI.  Material for this session must
                                                  tend their Christian sympathy to our fac-         be  in  the  hands  of  the  Stated  Clerk  no
         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                   ulty member, Mrs. Alyce Yonkman, fellow           later than August 10, 1998.
     The  Ladies'  Aid  Society  of               Board  member,  Mr.  Dirk  VanderMeulen,                                          Jon J. Huisken
Hudsonville PRC expresses its Christian           and  all  the  VanderMeulen  family  in  the                                        Stated Clerk
sympathy to our fellow members Florence           recent  passing  to  glory  of  their  mother,
Bouwkamp,  Shirley  Bergman,  and  Julie          grandmother, and great-grandmother,
Bergman in the loss of their husband, fa-              MRS. ETTA VANDER MEULEN,
ther, and grandfather,                            at the age of 86 years.  May the family                              NOTICE!!
           GERALD BOUWKAMP.                       find their comfort in the certain hope that            Classis  West  of  the  Protestant  Re-
As  we  have  studied  this  past  year,  in      the child of God has in the coming of our         formed  Churches  will  be  hosted  by  the
Psalm 18:  "The LORD is my rock, and my           Savior, when all things shall be made new         Loveland Protestant Reformed Church in
fortress,  and  my  deliverer;  my  God,  my      and we shall stand before Him in the king-        Loveland, Colorado on Wednesday, Sep-
strength, in whom I will trust" (v. 2); "In       dom of heaven forever and ever.                   tember 2, 1998 at 8:30 A.M., the Lord will-
my distress I called upon the LORD, and                "My heart and flesh faileth:  but God        ing.  All material for the classical agenda
cried unto my God:  he heard my voice             is the strength of my heart, and my por-          is to be in the hands of the Stated Clerk
out of his temple, and my cry came be-            tion forever."                                    thirty days before classis convenes.  An
fore him, even unto his ears" (v. 6).  He              The School Board thanks the many             Officebearers'  Conference  is  also  being
both hears and answers your prayers and           who have given generously to the memo-            planned for Tuesday, September 1.
ours.                                             rial established  by Mrs. VanderMeulen's                                      Rev. Steven Key,
                          Truett Hugg, Pres.      family for Covenant Chr. School in Lynden.                                          Stated Clerk
                       Donna Boven, Sec'y.                                Mr. Bob Kelley, Pres.
                                                                       Mr. David Zandstra, Sec.

                                                                                                                    July, 1998/Standard Bearer/431

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


          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
      The School Board and Society of Cov-                                                                           On July 1, 1998,
enant Christian School in Lynden, WA ex-                                                                          DUANE and JANET VAN DEN BERG
tend their Christian sympathy to our fac-                                                                       will celebrate their 40th wedding anniver-
                                                                     SPECIAL NOTICE!
ulty member, Mrs. Trudy Kuiper, her hus-                                                                        sary.  We are thankful to our faithful cov-
                                                              Classis East has extended the minis-
band, and extended family in the recent                                                                         enant God for the blessings given them
                                                         terial credentials of Rev. Richard Flikkema
passing  to  glory  of  their  mother,  grand-                                                                  and us, their children and grandchildren,
                                                         for  two  years.    Consistories/councils
mother, and great-grandmother,                                                                                  through them.
                                                         should  note  this  fact  as  they  consider
          MRS. WINNIFRED KUIPER,                                                                                     "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be
                                                         which ministers are eligible for call as they
at  the  age  of  91  years.    May  the  Lord                                                                  praised;  and  his  greatness  is
                                                         compose trios for calling a pastor.  Rev.
comfort the family with the knowledge that                                                                      unsearchable.  One generation shall praise
                                                         Flikkema  can  be  reached  at  1631
when our Lord calls, His children lay down                                                                      thy  works  to  another,  and  shall  declare
                                                         Stonybrook Dr., Jenison, MI  49428.  Tele-
the  earthly  to  dwell  with  Him  in  perfect                                                                 thy mighty acts" (Psalm 145:3, 4).
                                                         phone:  (616) 457-5493.
glory, world without end.  This is our com-                                                                     Y    Doug VanDenBerg
fort, that with body and soul, in life and                                                                      Y    Jim and Kathi Holstege
death,  we  belong  to  our  faithful  Savior.                                                                  Y    Doug and Beth Mingerink
"For  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is                                                                      11 grandchildren
gain."                                                                                                                                       Grand Rapids, Michigan
      The School Board thanks the many
who have given generously to the memo-                                                         You are invited to
rial  established  for  our  Covenant  Chris-                                    a conference in the Northwest on the topic:
tian  School  in  Lynden,  WA  as  was  re-
quested by the late Mrs. Kuiper.                                                        The Christian Worldview
                        Mr. Bob Kelley, Pres.                            in the Light of Sin and Grace:  The Antithesis
                    Mr. David Zandstra, Sec.
                                                                                       Location:  Spokane, Washington
                                                                                          Dates:  August 14-16, 1998
           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
      We give thanks to our heavenly Fa-                                                     Speakers and Topics:
ther  as  we  celebrate,  D.V.  on  July  21,                                Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma (pastor, Kalamazoo PRC) --
1998 the 45th wedding anniversary of our                                       The Christian and the World:  the Antithesis
parents,
      MR. and MRS. C.M. DOEZEMA.                                     Rev. Robert Hargrove (pastor, Sovereign Grace Ref'd. Church) --
      We praise God for the covenant in-                               The Christian and the Psychological Wisdom of this World
struction and love they have given us and                                    Rev. Thomas Miersma (home missionary, PRC) --
pray  for  His  blessing  upon  them  in  the                                 The Christian Church and Home in the World
years to come.                                                                       Beginning Friday evening at 8:00 
      "For the Lord is good:  his mercy is                                                                                   P.M.
                                                                                             All day Saturday and
everlasting; and his truth endureth to all                                             two worship services on Sunday
generations" (Psalm 100:5).
Y     Steven and Neva Feenstra                                                Sponsored by the Mission Committee of the PRC.
Y     Robert and Debra Doezema                                  Hosted by the Sovereign Grace Reformed Church of Spokane, Washington.
Y     Roger and Anne Veldman                                  Exact location to be announced.  There are many motels in the area.  Camping
Y     Henry and Dorothy DeJong                                available at Barker Road KOA, Spokane or Suntree RV Park, Post Falls, Idaho.
Y     Glenn and Beth Feenstra                                                            For more information contact:
Y     Charles and Heidi Doezema                                                   Rev. Thomas Miersma at (719) 589-8687
Y     Timothy and Joan Kaiser                                                                             or
           35 grandchildren                                                         Rev. Robert Hargrove at (509) 926-4854
                                    Holland, Michigan



432/Standard Bearer/July, 1998


