A Reform
Semi-Monthly





                           Meditation  - Rev.  Meindert   Joostens
                                   Christian Apology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                        458
                           Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma
                                  The Reformed Worldview
                                  3.The Failure of Common Grace (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
                      t    All Around Us  - Rev. Gise VanBaren  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
                           In His Fear - Rev. Arie denliartog
                                   Decision Making and the Will of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
                           Contribution  - Rev. Dale  H, Kuiper
                                  That Parenthesis in the Third Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
                           Marking the Bulwarks of Zion  - Prof. Herman C. Hanko
                                  Sabellius the Unitarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*......................................... 469
                           Guest Article - Rev. David Higgs
                                  Introduction to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church
                                  of Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
                           Ministering to the Saints  - Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                  The Elders and Censura Morum  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
                           Search the Scriptures  - Rev. Mitchell C. Dick
                                  McSocieties,                             McVansma, & You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
                           News From Our Churches  - Mr. Benjamin Wgger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478





VOI.  74, NO.  ZaJ
September 1, 1998


                                               "But  sanctify  the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give
                                               an answer to  every  man that asketh vou a reason  of the hope that is in
                                               you with meekness and fear."
                                                                                                                                       I Peter  3:15

                                                                     things of heavenly bliss and glory                               away and not face the issue. But
L                                                                    which they cannot see. So they                                   we do not have that as a `legitimate
               ike Abraham of old, we are                            look at us askance as we walk seek-                              option, though we often sinfully ex-
               pilgrims and strangers on the                         ing the kingdom of heaven and re-                                ercise it!
               earth. We have no abiding                             fusing to become involved in their                                         God tells us here in His Word
place here below, but seek a heav-                                   concerns of the flesh.                                           that we must be ready to give an
enly homeland. For this very rea-                                            From time to time the world                              apology  to those who ask. No, I did
son we are so different from the                                     will even take harsh exception to                                not misread what Peter has to say
world by which we are sur-                                           our way of living and will perse-                                here in this epistle. The word
rounded. They oftentimes do not                                      cute us. This is, no doubt, what                                 "apology" is what we literally find
understand our actions and behav-                                    Peter  hBs mind in the context of                                here! We would immediately pro-
ior. They find it hard to believe                                    the verse we are considering to-                                 test. As Christians who walk a
we will not run with them in their                                   gether. For just before this we                                  godly life in obedience to God's
lustful ways. How could they un-                                     read, ti .  ..if  ye suffer for righteous-                       Word and in anticipation of heaven,
derstand? They cannot even begin                                     ness' sake, happy are ye: be not                                 we have nothing to apologize for.
to understand the hope that is                                       afraid of their terror neither be                                But do not misunderstand. We use
within us. They operate on the                                       troubled." When the world takes                                  the word "apology" in a different
level of the earthly and carnal.                                     exception to our life and conversa-                              sense. The word has come to mean,
They seek the mundane and are not                                    tion we must not be afraid or dis-                               almost exclusively, a confession.
able to set their sights on the higher                               quieted, but be ready to give an                                 We apologize for having done
                                                                     account to those who ask us for a                                something amiss. We tell our chil-
                                                                     reason of the hope within us! That                               dren, when they have mistreated
                                                                     is a calling which, I fear, we often                             each other or done one another
Rev. Joosfens is pastor  of  the  Protestant                         neglect. It is far easier to walk the                            wrong, to say they are sorry. That
Reformed Church in Lynden, Washington.                               way of least resistance, to walk                                 is how we understand an apology



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45?3/StandardBearer/Sepfember                        1,,199S


or to apologize. If you look in the       of hearts and made us citizens of         treasure!     They think themselves
dictionary, however, you will find        the kingdom of His dear Son. It is        rich in the frivolity and treasures
the first meaning (even today) to         not simply a matter of our acting a       this world can offer, but in reality
be, rather, an intelligent and  ratio-    little strange in the midst of this       they are poverty stricken. They are
nal defense of a certain proposition      world, but of our being strangers in      without the true treasure of Christ
or truth! That's what Peter had in        the earth! It is the spiritual  prin-     in whom we have all things. Soon
mind. As children of God in the  1 ciple of regeneration, which God                 death will claim them, and their
midst of the world, we do not-have  :! haswrought  in us His chosen chil-           belongings will be passed on to
to be sorry for who we are and how  ) dren, that makes us wholly  dis-              others.      More serious, not being
we live!  W7hen  we strive after a        tinct and unique. And it is that          clothed with the robes of Christ's
sanctified life we are not in the         principle of regeneration that so         righteousness they will face their
wrong, but stand in obedience to          begins to dominate our living as to       Maker, who is the Judge of all men!
God and serve Him as we are               make us appear rather odd to oth-             But as the wicked dance their
called to do. It is the world, in         ers who do not share in that pow-         way to hell, they will often ask of
their ungodliness and rebellion           erful transforming work of God.           us a reason of the hope that is in
against His Word and command-                 The world cannot understand           us. We are, no doubt, often asked
ments and in their persecution and        why we live the way we do! Why            this question? It cannot help but
mockery of us,. that is wrong. One        do we spend glorious and sunny            come up when we refuse to run
day they will know that and suffer        weekends sitting in stuffy old            with the world in their rioting and
for it eternally! But meanwhile, as       buildings called churches? And            lustful excesses. What answer do
they question us, we are required         then sit still in order to listen to      we give? Are we ready to make
to give an apology, that is, a good       dry sermons for an hour or more!          our apology? It is required of us!
defense, for the  .hope that moti-        Why do we allocate a large por-           We must give a defense of our life-
vates us  to'live  as we do in this       tion of  our  budget and hard-earned      style as it becomes those who  live
world.                                    monies to finance the ministry of         hopefully.
    The world wants to know why           the gospel and other kingdom                  Such an apology is not simply
we live the way we do. The whole          causes-to say nothing of Christian        an emotional response in which we
of our life-style provokes this ques-     school expense.7 And then some            state that we are Christians. Nor
tion! The way we live attracts at-        are even so odd as to deny them-          may it consist of a lame excuse for
tention in the midst of this world.       selves good or better paying and          being a Christian. But it must be a
This is not because we are of a           more profitable jobs because they         good, logical, and reasonable de-
mind to do things a little differ-        will not move away from a certain         fense and reason why we walk as
ently in order that. others may take      church or belong to an ungodly            we do here below! To be able to
note of us. It is not our desire to       union! The  worId cannot fathom           give such a defense we must be
be noticed or to  gai,n  some sort of     why we do not live for the things         well versed in the Word of God,
notoriety. We would just as soon          of this world which are so all-im-        which contains the promise of our
lead quiet and peaceable lives here       portant to them. And they consider        future hope. Our Heidelberg Cat-
upon earth. But we cannot help            it so strange that, from time to time,    echism, in Lord's Day 7, reminds
but be noticed and marked as dif-         we should be offended by the              us of the fact that an integral part
ferent and rather peculiar because        things they do and say. The world         of our faith is knowledge. We must
of who we are! Now that is not a          cannot understand our living a life       know in order to believe. This is
matter>  of adopting certain styles       of self-denial and sacrifice. How         impressed upon young people
and behaviors that make us stand          can they? They are blind to what          when they make confession of their
out. There are some who crave that        is important and of true value.           faith.     Such a confession may not
kind of attention. They deliberately      They are ignorant of the distinction      be a mere emotional feeling that
go against the norm in society in         between what is true and abiding          has no basis in fact. It has not
order that they may stand out.            and what is but of the moment and         pleased God so to work salvation
They like the attention! But for us       passing. Being wholly carnal in           in His saints.        God brings us
it is a matter of living the  convic-     their minds, they follow the phi-         through a "certain knowledge" of
tion of our hearts, and of living ac-     losophy of the world, let us "eat,        the truth to a "sure confidence" in
cording to the principle of the new       drink, and be merry for tomorrow          the promises of His grace in Christ
and heavenly life that has been           we die."                                  Jesus. And so, walking by faith,
placed within us. God has made                The ungodly are not able to see       we must be ready to give a reason-
us distinctive! He has made sepa-         the great treasure and inheritance        able explanation as to why we be-
ration between us and the world           we have from God in Christ Jesus          have as we do.
from a spiritual point of view in         our Lord and therefore have no ap-            Now, don't misunderstand.
that He has changed us in our heart       preciation for our longing after that     Not reasonable according to the

                                                                                        Sepfhber   7,7998/Standard      Bearer/459


wisdom of the world, which is pure               that is a matter of the heart. Peter     but we have no reason to be proud.
foolishness with God. But, recog-                is not talking about some sort of        In ourselves we find nothing wor-
nizing that our faith is eminently               outward conformity to the de-            thy of the object of the hope that is
reasonable, we must be able to de-               mands of the Word of God, but            within us. We are, in ourselves,
fend our walk by laying out the                  about a desire that comes from the       no better than the world which
great design of the wonderful grace              new man in Christ who seeks to           asks of us the reason for our pecu-
of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.                 live after all the commandments of       liar walk among them. God, in His
Not quickly brushing off the ques-               God. That desire, which is the be-       grace, has set us in covenant lines,
tion, we must be able to take those              ginning of a sanctified and holy         or providentially brought us into
who ask concerning our hope to                   life, will be seen by others. They       contact with the gospel, and so in-
our Bibles and witness to them of                will ask us to give an apology. If       stills that hope in our hearts. When
the greatness of God's glory and                 the request for such a defense is        we realize this, our reason for the
salvation shown us in Christ which               not heard, perhaps we must seri-         hope within us will not be given
is the deepest motivation of our                 ously examine ourselves to see           with our noses in the air. Rather,
godly living.                                    whether we have sanctified our           our apology will go something like
     That responsibility doesn't be-             hearts to Christ's lordship! Unless      this: "My dear fellow, you ask me
long just to a few preachers or el-              daily submission to that lordship        why I walk as a pilgrim and
ders, but this is the duty and obli-             of Christ is evident in a godly walk,    stranger in the earth? I am a
gation of each believer as he is                 the question concerning it cannot        wretched sinner like you, and if it
asked to give a reason for the hope              surface. When we submit our-             were not for the Lord and His
within him. Only the knowledge                   selves to the rule of our Lord Jesus     grace, I'd be walking with you.
acquired through diligent and on-                Christ, our walk will corroborate        But the Lord has touched me and
going study of the Scriptures will               our confession and give credence         shown me the wonder of Calvary!
give us the confidence and bold-                 to our apology. Apart from that,         Let me tell you about that.... There-
ness we need to fulfill this calling!            no one will believe our apology.         fore, I live in reverent fear and
     Peter points us to the way in                   Furthermore, Peter warns us          thankfulness before God in antici-
which this must be done. First of                against any haughtiness and pride.       pation of the great reward He has
all, we must do this in the way of               We must answer those who ask a           set aside for me in Christ!"
"sanctifying the Lord God in our                 reason of the hope according to              Such an apology honors God.
hearts." God, in Christ, must be en-             which we walk with "meekness             And it may be according to His
throned in our hearts. We must be                and fear." We may tend to be ar-         good pleasure through our godly
dedicated to Christ, making Him                  rogant in our witness to the world,      conversation and witness to bring
our Lord and Master. And, notice,                                                         others to Christ.  Cl





                                           The Reformed Worldview


                                            -
                                                                                                                                   Y
       xplaining why the Protestant              writings of John Calvin, common          worldview, Peter S.  Heslam repeat-
       Reformed Churches  (PRC)                  grace in Calvin does not have the        edly calls attention to this remark-
Irepudiate  Abraham Kuyper's                     meaning, the prominence, or the          able fact.  Heslam  states that at
worldview of common grace, the                   role ascribed to it by Kuyper. This      Princeton Kuyper wanted to con-
previous editorial contended that                is to say that for the Reformer com-     front the Presbyterians with "the
the worldview of common grace is                 mon grace is not the foundation          traditional teachings of the Re-
neither biblical nor confessional.               and impetus of the Christian             formed faith." He then adds, "the
    A third reason is that, although             worldview.                               one exception to this pattern was
there are scattered, ambiguous ref-                  In his fine study of Kuyper's        the doctrine of common grace,
erences to a "common grace" in the               Princeton lectures on a Calvinistic      which was not normally considered

460/Standard   Bearer/September  I,1998
                                 tc.


one of the essential or fundamen-          tic theology, is widely recognized                        Fourth, it is the fatal flaw of
tal doctrines of Calvinism, and            today. The liberal Dutch Reformed                    the common grace worldview that
does not occupy a prominent posi-          theologian Hendrikus Berkhof has                     it calls regenerated children of
tion in Calvin's theology" (Creat-         written,  /In theology-apart from                    God, who have the new life of the
ing a Christian Worldview: Abraham         his broad development  of  the doctrine              risen Christ by the indwelling of
Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism,            of  common grace-Kuyper closely                      the Holy Spirit, to live their earthly
Eerdmans, 1998,  p.  140).  In fact,       followed the Calvinistic tradition,                  lives  on the basis and in the power  of
Calvin spoke of God's common               even in its scholastic form" (Two                    common grace,  the grace that they
grace only "occasionally" (p. 178).        Hundred Years  of  Theology: Report                  supposedly share with unbelievers.
When  Heslam comes to his "final           of  a Personal Journey,  Eerdmans,                   T h i s   m o n s t r o u s   e v i l   o f   t h e
conclusions" concerning Kuyper's           1989,  p. 109; emphasis added).                      worldview of common grace is sel-
efforts at establishing a Calvinistic           T h e   C h r i s t i a n   R e f o r m e d     dom recognized. Kuyper himself,
worldview in the lectures at               Church, however, thinks that com-                    so far as I can tell, did not explic-
Princeton, wittingly or unwittingly        mon grace is an essential, funda-                    itly state this, or even address this
he passes a devastating judgment,          mental, and major dogma of the                       issue, in his lectures. But this is
not only upon Kuyper's common              Reformed faith. She has made it                      the impression that very definitely
grace and the worldview of which           official, binding dogma in her fel-                  is left by the lectures, as it is the
it is the foundation but also upon         lowship and has deposed  con-                        clear and necessary implication of
the entire body of Reformed theol-         sistories for refusing subscription                  the thrust of the lectures. Believ-
ogy that has been affected by              to it.                                               ers and unbelievers share God's
Kuyperian common grace. As for                  What is far worse, indeed in-                   common grace.               This common
the common grace of Kuyper's lec-          tolerable, is the effect that Kuyper's               grace is the basis of their coopera-
tures,  Heslam says:                       theory of common grace had on the                    tion in developing culture. In the
                                           whole body of Reformed theology.                     ordinances and spheres of creation,
  The doctrine of common grace,            In the words of  Heslam: "Kuyper's                   therefore, as regards developing
  which is not a major element in          treatment of traditional Reformed                    culture,  believers must live and work
  traditional Calvjnistic theology,        doctrine amounted to a radical re-                   by common grace.
  became, under the influence of
  Kuyper's objectives, a doctrine of       interpretation and reapplication of                       If there were no other objection
  overriding and central impor-            its central tenets"  (p.  259). Kuyper               to Kuyper's worldview than this,
  tance. His insistence on the cen-        set about to modernize Calvinism                     this would be sufficient to expose
  trality of this doctrine in the  Cal-    mainly by means of his doctrine of                   Kuyper's worldview as erroneous
  vinistic worldview was an attempt        common grace. The result, says                       and condemnable. If one thing
  to make explicit an element that         Heslam,  agreeing here with critics                  characterizes the life of the Chris-
  was implicit in Calvin's thought,        of Kuyper within Reformed circles,                   tian in the world according to
  and to give systematic expression        who charged that Kuyper broke                        Scripture, it is that the believing
  to an aspect of Calvin's theology        with traditional Calvinism, "may                     child of God lives his life on the
  that had none of the coherence
  Kuyper ascribed to it (pp. 259,          justifiably be called  `neo-Calvin-                  basis of and by the power of the
  260).                                    ism' and cannot be taken as an ac-                   indwelling Spirit of Jesus Christ,
                                           curate and reliable guide to the the-                that is, in the power of (particular)
    This is bad enough: the very           ology of John Calvin" (p. 260).                      regenerating, sanctifying grace. He
foundation of the supposedly  Cal-              Mind!         The theology that                 lives  his one, entire  life in the power
vinistic worldview is constructed          Kuyper reinterpreted and reap-                       of regenerating grace, not only his
from what is at best merely a mi-          plied by means of common grace                       life of worship on the Lord's Day
nor element in Calvin himself. Or,         is not Calvinism, but  "neo-calvin-                  but also his life of "culture"
as another contemporary student of         ism," and is not "an accurate and                    throughout the week. If there  were
Kuyper has recently put it, Kuyper         reliable guide to the theology of                    another kind of grace than the
built his elaborate theory of com-         John Calvin."                                        grace of God in Christ Jesus (and
mon grace out of mere "hints and                Why do the Protestant Re-                       there is not), the believer would
piece2  in earlier Reformed theol-         f o r m e d   C h u r c h e s   r e p u d i a t e    spurn it as useless and dangerous
ogy (James Bratt,  Abraham Kuyper:         Kuyperian common grace and the                       for his holy life. By the quicken-
A Centennial Reader,  Eerdmans,            worldview of which it is the foun-                   ing grace of Christ, and only by the
1998,  p. 165).                            dation? Apart from any other rea-                    quickening grace of Christ (Eph.
    That the doctrine of common            son, because Kuyper's common                         2:1-lo),  do the Ephesians live the
grace as taught by Abraham                 grace is not the teaching of Calvin                  holy life in the church, in society,
Kuyper is not to be found in               or the Calvinistic tradition and be-                 in marriage, and in labor to which
Calvin,  or in traditional  Calvinis-      cause it corrupts the whole of  Cal-                 they are called in chapters 4-6. By
                                           vinistic, Reformed theology.                         the sanctification of the Spirit, and

                                                                                                    September   1,1998/Standard   Bearer/461


only by the sanctification of the                   of being one of the most corrupt,                      Opened up to the world's way
Spirit (I Pet.  1:2),  do the elect                 lawless, God-dishonoring cultures                  of life by common grace, the
strangers manifest an excellent be-                 in the world.                                      churches, their people, and espe-
havior in the various ordinances of                      Where is the transformation of                cially their schools adopt the
creation as they are exhorted to do                 culture in North `America by the                   worlds explanation of origins (evo-
in I Peter  2:llff.                                 Christian Reformed Church, by                      lution); accept the world's demoli-
    To choose another grace for life                Calvin College, by the Institute for               tion of the family (feminist denial
and work in the world is to choose                  Christian Studies, by all the other                of the  headship of the husband in
another Lord and Savior than Jesus                  Christian Reformed schools, by                     the home and church); and approve
Christ.                                             Princeton Theological Seminary,                    the world's adultery (divorce on
    Where does the Bible instruct                   and by other organizations devoted                 any ground and remarriage for
the elect believer that, in addition                to the worldview of common                         guilty and innocent parties alike).
to the regenerating grace of Christ                 grace? North American culture is                   The Reformed Churches in the
that raised him from death to life,                 not far behind the depraved way                    Netherlands have sunk away into
he also possesses common grace                      of life in the Netherlands.                        the deepest,' filthiest depths `of the
and that this common grace is to                         The worldview of common                       wicked world. They sanction sod-
be the power of his cultural life?                  grace has not made Dutch society                   omy and lesbianism.' The  Cliris-
By regenerating grace, he believes,                 or North American culture Chris-                   tian Reformed Church, having al-
worships, prays, and loves his fel-                 tian and Reformed. Not one whit!                   ready declared that the homosexual
low-saints. By common grace, he                     But it has made the Reformed                       condition  is not sinful (because she
builds a family, does his job, sub-                 Churches in the Netherlands and                    insists on listening to the world),
mits to civil government, gets an                   the Christian Reformed Church in                   is now reduced to a struggle, on
education, and plays the piano. In                  North America and their schools                    her assemblies, to keep out homo-
the "spiritual" realm, he lives out                 thoroughly worldly.                                sexual practice.
of Christ. In everyday, "earthly"                        Kuyper intended his theory of                     Men graced by God with the
life, he lives, not out of Christ but               common grace to be a bridge be-                    gift of discerning spirits saw it
out of common grace that he shares                  tween the Reformed church and the                  coming. In the early 1900's Henry
with Socrates, members of the                              world over which the Re-                    Danhof, Herman Hoeksema, and
Teamsters Union, Thomas                                         formed believers would                 George Ophoff warned the Chris-
Paine, John Dewey, and                        To                move into the world to                 tian Reformed Church, as Dutch
Liberace. This is not only                  choose               "Christianize" the world.             ministers warned the Reformed
false doctrine, with dan-           another grace                Kuyper forgot something               Churches in the Netherlands, that
gerous consequences; it is        for life and work              about bridges. Bridges                the adoption of Kuyper's  world-
nonsense.                                in  the world           allow for two-way traf-               view of common grace would cer-
    Fifth, the PRC reject                is to choose            fic. Over the bridge of               tainly result in a deluge of world-
the Kuyperian worldview             another Lord                 common grace, during                  liness. The entire church world at
in 1998 because, after 100               and Savior              the past 100 years, the               the end of the  20*  century can see
years of the implementa-                     than                world has poured into                 that the prophecy is fulfilled.
tion of the Kuyperian                       Jesus                the Reformed Churches                     Why do the PRC reject the
worldview by Reformed                       Christ.             in the Netherlands, the                worldview of common grace? Be-
churches, groups, and indi-                                    Free       U n i v e r s i t y   o f    cause God's powerful, frightening
viduals in the Netherlands,                                   Amsterdam, the Christian                 judgment in history upon Kuyper's
North America, and other places,                    R e f o r m e d   C h u r c h   i n   N o r t h    worldview is that it has been
the worldview of common grace                       America, Calvin College, and the                   weighed and found wanting. It has
has proved to be a colossal failure.                other organizations that espouse                   transformed no culture. It has de-
    Common grace has failed! It                     the worldview of common grace.                     stroyed the churches and schools          .
has failed obviously! It has failed                       Common grace has driven out                  that embraced it.
miserably!      It has failed disas-                or silenced the gospel-truth of par-                   The worldview of common
trously!                                            ticular grace. Predestination, lim-                grace is hay and stubble that
    Where is the transformation of                  ited atonement, and irresistible                   Abraham Kuyper built on the  foun-
culture in the Netherlands by the                   grace are a dead letter. The Re-                   dation. It will be burned in the
Reformed Churches in the Nether-                    formed Churches in the Nether-                     day of Christ.
lands, by the Free University, and                  lands have got rid even of the let-                    The worldview of common
by all the societies that adopted                   ter (the Reformed creeds).  Univer-                grace is a worldview that has
and carried out Kuyper's common                     salism in various forms prevails.                  failed.  Cl
grace worldview.7 The culture of                    Universalism is the mind of the                                                   - D J E
the Netherlands has the distinction                 world.

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                                                 For decades many scientists dis-          neer. Twenty-five years ago he
                                               missed creationism as something             enrolled at Capital Bible Seminary
Evolutionists Worry                            that faded away not long after the          near Washington, where he
                                               1925 Scopes "monkey" trial. But
         ould you really think so?                                                         earned degrees in Greek, Hebrew
                                               now some see it as a renewed                and theology....
         Have they not, in effect, won         threat to the teaching of science,             . ..Curtis said he is not influ-
the war concerning origins? The                and they are jumping into the               enced by other religious scholars
books of science, the museums of               fray.                                       who have been willing to accept
the land, the periodicals-all un-                In April, the largest scientific          evolution, or even by the 1996 pro-
abashedly promote and maintain                 society in the United States, the           nouncement by Pope John Paul II
evolution. There is simply no room             National Academy of Science, re-            that evolution is compatible with
for another view-at least not the              leased a new guidebook for teach-           Christian belief.
                                               ers explaining how to teach evo-
view of Scripture. To prove that                                                              "Those people are neither edu-
                                               lution.                                     cated nor Christian," he said. He
they are not scientific ignoramuses,             . ..Stanford biologist Donald             argues that the central tenet of
many within the churches go along              Kennedy, who headed the group               Christianity-that Christ died to
with these views, howbeit with an              that created the new guidelines,            redeem Adam's original sin-rests
emphasis that it is "theistic."                says that pressure from religious           on the existence of Adam.
    An interesting article about this          groups is having a "chilling ef-               "If Noah isn't true, and Adam
debate appeared in the Denver                  fect" on elementary and second-             and Eve aren't true, then Christ is
Post,  July 2, 1998. It had the                ary teachers, who feel pressured            a liar," he said. Without Adam
tongue-in-cheek title, "Creation de-           to steer clear of evolution.                and Eve, he said, the whole pic-
                                                 At stake is far more than a
bate continues to evolve." But the                                                         ture falls apart.
                                               child's understanding of Darwin's              Many scientists acknowledge
sub-heading was more telling:                  theory of evolution. The literal            that evolution can be hard to swal-
"Evolutionists worry Bible will                biblical version of creation contra-        low.
veto science." Some remarkable                 dicts most of geology, geochemis-              In a recent talk in Philadelphia,
claims were made in the article.               try, geophysics and paleontology,           Harvard paleontologist Stephen
                                               all of which hinge on the idea that         Jay Gould called evolution a threat
    William Curtis worries that the            Earth is 4.6 billion years old.             to man's superior place in nature.
  teaching of evolution in schools is            Creationism has a wide follow-            It shows humans are not the
  steering young people away from              ing. A 1993 Gallup poll showed              crowning glory of creation, he
  God  and the Bible. So the Bible             that 47 percent of adults favor cre-        said, but "a tiny, fragile little twig
 -scholar is running an institute              ationism over evolution and 35              on this bushy, branching tree of
  here to promote the literal bibli-           percent agree that the Bible should         life."
  cal version of creation.                     be taken literally.                            . ..The rise of literal creationism
    Meanwhile, professor Donald                                                            is a recent phenomenon, said his-
  Wise fears that the growing influ-              Professor Donald Wise decided            torian Edward Larson, who won
  ence of literal creationists like           he would put up a fight.  But be-            a Pulitzer Prize this year for his
  Curtis will deprive children of an          fore doing so, he decided that he            book, "Summer for the Gods: The
  understanding of contemporary               must learn something about cre-              Scopes Trials and America's Con-
  science. Wise, who teaches geol-            ationism. He said, "As a geologist           tinuing Debate over Science and
  ogy at Franklin and Marshall Col-                                                        Religion."
  lege here, is using his science             I had a great deal of trouble un-
  knowledge to debunk creationist             derstanding it."                                And so the debate goes on. The
  views that man and the universe                                                        unbelieving scientist can find no
  were created in six days, that                  To help sort it out, he con-           other alternative to creation but
  Noah's flood killed the dinosaurs,           structed the equivalent of a geo-
  and that the Earth is only 6,000             logic time line according to the          evolution, which is itself hardly
  years old.                                    creationist 6,000-year  framework,       scientific and cannot be proven.
    Creationists #are  a very power-           which assumes that most of                The believing scientist seeks to
  ful and influential group," said             Earth's mountains and canyons             prove from the realm of the natu-
  Wise. "The scientific community              formed during the single year of          ral that God did, after all, create as
  has to stand up and be counted."             Noah's flood.                             the  Bible states it. Creationists con-
                                                  For research materials, he             tinue  to show  the foolishness of the
                                                turned to the Creation Resource          theory of evolution.                       Robert
Rev. VanBaren  is pasfor of the Protestant      Institute, which is run by Curtis.       D o o l a n ,   i n   a n   a r t i c l e   t i t l e d
Reformed Church  of  Loveland, Colo-              Curtis, 68, spent the first half of
rado.                                           his career as an aerospace engi-         "Evolution's Three Dead Ducks"

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 (Christian News,  July 6,  1998),                tion that only life begets life is          When you are talking to an evo-
 states:                                          overwhelming evidence against it.           lutionist who rejects God and His
                                                    DEAD        DUCK          NUMBER          creation, bring up the points men-
     What does a duck need to get                 THREE: If you reject God and                tioned above . . . .You  will notice he
   off the ground? Well, it must at               miracles, you have no scientific            ducks for cover when he finds his
   least have wings, and it must be               law that would allow one type of            explanation can't get off the
   alive.                                         creature to turn into a completely          ground.
     If a majority of people think a              different type of creature. Rep-
   dead duck can fly, it won`t change             tiles don't turn into birds, because          So the evolutionists are wor-            .
   the fact that it can't. Those who              reptiles don't have genes to pro-         ried. They intend to  carry on the
   reject God's creation but accept the           duce feathers and wings. The              battle  against the creationists. And
   theory of evolution are putting                theory of evolution teaches that          the creationist  is ready to  fight-
   their faith in dead ducks. At least            simple life forms evolved into            often on the very ground of the
   three of them.                                 more complex life forms, which
     DEAD DUCK NUMBER ONE: If                     evolved into fish, which evolved          evolutionist. Yet, when it comes
   you reject God and miracles, you               into amphibians, which evolved            right down to it, there is one rea-
   have no scientific law that allows             into birds and mammals.                   son why the evolutionist will never
   something to evolve from nothing.                But there is no natural law that        be convinced of the creationist's
   If there is no matter in the uni-              could allow this to happen. The           viewpoint, and one reason why the
   verse to start with, there is no uni-          best that evolution can do to ex-         creationist must understand that he
   verse; so nothing can happen to                plain how this might have hap-            cannot succeed in persuading an
   make anything appear. Juggle fig-              pened is by mutations and natu-           evolutionist.     That reason is put
   ures anyway you like, but with-                ral selection. But mutations actu-        simply in Hebrews  11:3:   "Through
   out a Creator you are not going to             ally destroy genetic information,
   get anything, let alone everything.            and natural selection simply              faith we understand that the worlds
     DEAD DUCK NUMBER TWO:                        weeds out unfit creatures-it              were framed by the word of God,
   If you reject God and miracles,                doesn't produce new kinds.                so that things which are seen were
   there is no scientific law that can              . ..A11  the evidence is on the side    not made of things which do ap-
   account for living things' coming              of the Christian who believes the         pear." So then, belief in the scrip-
   to life from non-living things.                Bible's account of creation-that          tural creation account requires first
   Evolutionists believe that at some             God created the world and all the         and above all a living faith. With-
  time in the distant past, life arose            major types of creatures to repro-        out it, it is impossible to please
  from non-living substances. But                 duce "after their kind."                  God. Without it, it is impossible
  biology has no law to support this                Evolution truly is equivalent to
  idea, and the invariable observa-               a belief that dead ducks can fly.         to believe the creation account
                                                                                            given in Scripture. Cl





                                                Three things made me inter- sermon I read, among other things,                           .
                                                      ested in writing an article on        a book with the same title as the
                                                      this subject. Recently I              one I have chosen for this article.
                                                preached a sermon on the third pe-          The book is by Gary  Friesen and             i
                                                tition of the Lord's Prayer, in which       Robin  Maxon and was published
                                                our Lord teaches us to pray that            by Multnomah Press. I do not find
                                                the will of God be done. This is            myself in agreement with every-
                                                one of the great petitions of the           thing in this book. It suffers  gen-
Rev.  denHartog  is pastor  of Hope  Protes-    Lord's Prayer. It has profound              erally from superficiality. But
tant Reformed Church in Redlands,  Cali-        meaning and significance for our            reading the book did stimulate
fornia. .                                       daily lives. In preparation for this        thinking on the subject. Thirdly, as

464/Standard  Bearer/September  1,;$#9S


a pastor I sometimes have Chris-           Nowhere does the Bible teach that          His will through mere subjective
tians come to the study to ask for         God today gives us private revela-         feelings and impressions. Such feel-
guidance regarding some major de-          tions. It is true that in the days of      ings and impressions could come
cision in their lives. I appreciate the    special revelation, before the canon       from all kinds of other sources
concern that such Christians have          of Scripture was complete, God             rather than from God, such as our
for wanting to make decisions that         sometimes gave wonderful visions           sinful nature, the prompting of the
are in harmony with the will of            to prophets and others. We must            devil, the temptations of the world,
God. This ought to be the great            maintain, however, in the first            hormones in our bodies, temporary
concern for every child of God             place, that such special revelations       mood swings, etc. Even when we
when he or she faces the great de-         have ceased, since we now have the         as ministers of the Word of God
cisions of life such as the choice of      complete revelation of God in the          are faced with a call to go to an-
a life's career, marriage, and mov-        Bible. Furthermore, the biblical ex-       other charge we must be careful in
ing to another part of the country.        amples of such revelations never           how we seek to know the will of
All of us will, if we are honest, ad-      have to do with mere personal and          God. We must evaluate carefully
mit that often we make momentous           private matters such as revealing          such statements as "the Lord laid
decisions without prayerfully con-         God's will concerning whom you             it upon my heart" to accept or re-
sidering the will of God.                  and I should marry, what occupa-           ject a call. Let's hope we do not
    I could add another reason for         tion we should enter upon, or what         imagine that God reveals His will
the consideration of this subject.         part of the country we should live         for ministerial calls in some mysti-
There is current among Christians          in. The special revelations of God         cal way.
in general many wrong ideas about          had to do with far more mighty                 When considering a future
how to come to know what God's             and significant things. They had to        course of action the terms "open
will is for our lives. One hears glib      do with central aspects of the rev-        doors" and "closed doors" are used
statements such as "God told me            elation of the covenant of God and         rather frequently. Perhaps these
that He wanted me to do this or            the realization of the kingdom of          terms can be used in a legitimate
that," or "I feel this is God's will       God.                                       way. The biblical use of these
for my life." This sounds rather               It might be objected that at           terms is always in connection with
pious, but I have found quite a few        least in the case of Eliezer, the chief    opportunities to preach the gospel
times that these statements are            servant of Abraham who was com-            and not with personal decisions for
made based on totally wrong ideas          missioned to find a wife for Isaac,        careers, or changing our place of
about how God reveals His will to          there is a biblical example of per-        residence, etc. We believe indeed
us in our lives. Of even greater           sonal direction that God gave con-         that God's providence determines
concern is that sometimes in our           cerning finding a wife. There are          all things in our life from the small-
own churches we hear members               some important lessons that our            est to the greatest. We ought to
claiming that they are following the       young people can learn from Gen-           consider the providence of God in
will of God in certain decisions,          esis 24 concerning finding a life          the light of His Word when we are
and they must be told very strongly        partner. However, in considering           ready to make an important deci-
that their concept of the will of God      this passage one also has to keep          sion in life. On the other hand,
is just plain wrong.                       in mind that far greater matters           even in this we must be careful.
    It is a very common position           were involved than the personal            We must not imagine that God al-
that God reveals His will to indi-         question of finding a godly wife for       ways gives absolutely clear provi-
viduals concerning personal deci-          Isaac. Also in this incident the con-      dential signs for every major deci-
sions in life in ways other than           tinuation of God's covenant was at         sion in our life. There are a lot of
through His Word in the Bible.             stake. God gave special revelation         subjective elements in reading  so-
There are perhaps well meaning             to Eliezer for that purpose in ways        called providential signs. Some-
Christians who will earnestly pray         that He nowhere promises in His            times, for example, God sends us
to God concerning very serious de-         Word to give to us for mere pri-           very difficult providence in our
cision  in life. Then they will look       vate decisions of our life.                life. He does not always by this
for all sorts of ways which they               It is also rather common among         tell us to turn from a certain course
imagine God will use to reveal His         Christians to imagine that God will        of action to an easier one. It is the
will to them. Some claim to re-            reveal His will to us through cer-         will of God that we endure hard-
ceive    a private revelation from         tain subjective feelings and impres-       ships. He sends us great hardships
God through a vision or dream.             sions. So they become convinced            to try our faith and to sanctify us.
They cite passages of Scripture to         that it is the will of God for them        What we might interpret as a
support the idea of such private           to follow a certain course of ac-          "closed door" might in some cases
revelations. The supposed biblical         tions. Again, nowhere in the Bible         instead be a "crook in our lot" that
basis for these, however, is false.        is there any proof that God reveals        God in His providence sends us to

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try us. If this were not the case,             On the other hand, there are         pressed commandments of God.
Israel might have decided that it          many things about our personal           Let no one, for example, say that
could not possibly be the will of          lives that God has  .kept  secret in     he or she is doing the will of God
God that they pass through the wil-        His counsel. This does not mean          by marrying an ungodly person
derness to the promised land.              that they are not fixed in His coun-     simply because "God has brought
       None of this means that we          sel. Whom I marry, what occupa-          that person into my life." This is a
ought not to be deeply concerned           tion I have in life, where I live,       false appeal to the will of God. Let
about doing God's will in our lives.       whether I am rich or poor, famous        no one say that God wants him to
We ought to spend much time in             or lowly in the world, all these         move to a city far away to take a
prayer to learn God's will. We             thing have been determined before-       lucrative job offer or company pro-
should never make any major de-            hand in the counsel of God. But          motion when such a move will in-
cision in our lives without praying        God does not give us private rev-        volve moving away from the true
that God might reveal His will to          elations concerning these things         church of Jesus Christ where the
us.                                        ahead of time.                           Word of God is faithfully preached.
       It is common, and we believe            The second aspect of the will        Let no young person say that he
biblical, to speak of a twofold dis-       of God is His moral will. This is        must go to this or that university
tinction in the will of God. We            the righteous and holy will of God       or college because it has such a
speak of the will of God's decree          concerning how we must live in ev-       good program of study to offer for
and the will of God's command.             ery sphere of our life. God has          his course of study and then claim
The will of God's decree is abso-          clearly and absolutely revealed His      it is God's will. "After all, God
lutely sovereign. It is always real-       moral will in the Bible. The abso-       gave me this talent and this inter-
ized. It is all-comprehensive. It in-      lutely perfect will of God is re-        est in life and He wants me to pur-
cludes things as small as the germs        vealed in His law of the Ten Com-        sue it as far as I can by going to a
that invade our body when we fall          mandments. For the redeemed              prestigious university. Never mind
sick, to things        as great as the     Christian this moral will of God is      that going there will involve sev-
movements of the galaxies in the           the absolute standard of life. It is     eral years of absence from the
heavens. It includes the course of         the rule for his life of gratitude to    church I belong to." Young people
the history of the nations of the          God for the salvation He has given.      who reason this way cannot claim
world. God's sovereign decree de-          There is no area of our life in which    to be following the will of God.
termined the fall of man. It was by        we are exempt from the holy law              I once heard the claim made by
His sovereign determination that           of God.                                  one who belonged to our churches
our Lord was crucified. God is                 Many if not most of the pas-         that since God had given certain
sovereign over all the evil of this        sages of Scripture which speak of        talents to one of his children, and
world. Even the heart of man is in         the will of God for our lives have       because these talents could not be
God's hands to turn it  whither-           to do essentially with God's moral       used in the worship services in our
soever  He wills.                          and perfect will for us. Often Chris-    churches, therefore it was God's
       Sometimes it is said that the       tians have tried to find passages of     will for him to switch to another
will of God's decree is entirely hid-      Scripture to support the idea that       church. It is a rather common ar-
den. There are those who claim             God will reveal some personal and        gument in our day that since God
that God's purpose of predestina-          private will to us and have ignored      has also given talents for the min-
tion belongs to His hidden will. By        the fact that the passages which         istry to women, we ought to allow
no means must this truth of God            they allege to support this idea are     them to be "equal partners in the
be preached in the churches, it is         actually admonitions to follow the       ministry with men." Never mind
said by some. But God clearly re-          moral law of God in our lives. If        that Scripture clearly indicates that
veals in Scripture the truth of His        we had the space in this article we      men are to rule and be in the spe-
decree of predestination. The sov-         would take the time to give numer-       cial offices in church and not
ereign of heaven and earth has de-         ous examples.                            women.
clared His will concerning the re-             How does God reveal His will             Let no one say that God wants
alization of His covenant, the sal-        to us for the great decisions of our     him to take this or that occupation
vation of His people, and the tri-         life? First of all, He has given us      in life when it involves things such
umph of the kingdom of His Son             His law. Whatever we do in life,         as Sabbath working or membership
Jesus Christ. "Declaring the end           this is the sum of all things: "Fear     in an ungodly union.
from the beginning, and from an-           God and keep His command-                    We could give many more ex-
cient times the things not yet done,       ments." Therefore it is entirely im-     amples of such faulty reasoning.
saying my counsel shall stand, and         possible that a certain course of ac-    Let this be the absolute rule of our
I will do all my pleasure" (Is.            tion in life can be the will of God      life: if anything is contrary to the
46:lO).                                    if it goes contrary to one of the ex-    law of God which He has clearly

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     revealed in His Word, it cannot          God promises to give us this wis-        for a young girl that will be able to
     possibly be the will of God.             dom when we ask in faith and             supplement our income with a
         When we pray for God's will          prayer. "If any man lack wisdom,         glamorous career of her own, so
     in our lives (and we ought to pray       let him ask of God, that giveth to       that we can live the upper  middle-
     for this very earnestly and sin-         all men liberally, and abraideth         class American life-style with all of
     cerely), we must pray .for spiritual     not: and it shall be given him"          its luxuries and pleasures and
     knowledge and understanding of           (James  1:5).  Spiritual, godly wis-     glory. God does not reveal by some
     the revealed truth of God's Word         dom is necessary for all the great       private and secret revelation or in-
     and for wisdom to understand His         decisions of our life.                   ner subjective impression the name
     law as it applies to a given area of         So, for example, when we won-        of the person we should marry. He
     our life.    All the major decisions     der what the will of God is for our      does clearly tell the young man to
     in our lives involve great moral         life's occupation, we pray for wis-      look for the virtuous woman de-
     questions. We need to pray both          dom to choose that occupation            scribed in Proverbs 31, whose
     for knowledge and.  submission to        where we can best serve God and          glory and beauty is far above any
     the perfect will of God in our lives.    glorify Him. This is the highest         physical beauty of worldly women.
     God does not'care so much about          wisdom of life. We have greater          He tells the young woman to look
     whether we are engineers, doctors,       concerns than that our earthly oc-       for a husband who will be a spiri-
     or lawyers, or perhaps only a daily      cupation promises a high salary          tual leader in marriage and in the
     laborer in a factory. He cares a lot     and earthly prestige. It is better to    family.
     more whether we are living ac-           be a lowly servant than a king or a          Let me close with one other ob-
     cording to His law and for His           wealthy and powerful businessman         servation. This is one given to us
     glory in whatever our daily occu-        if being the latter leads us to boast    in the book of James. "Go to now,
     pation might be.                         in ourselves and in our own riches.      ye that say to morrow we will go
         God has made us moral, ratio-        We must pray daily that our occu-        into such a city, and continue there
     nal creatures. We have great re-         pation in life does not cause us to      a year and buy and sell, and get
     sponsibility to make wise decisions      become materialistic, vain, and un-      gain: whereas ye know not what
     in life. Because we are fallen sin-      godly like the world. We need to         shall be on the morrow. For what
     ners our minds have been dark-           pray for wisdom to use our re-           is your life? It is even a vapor,
     ened and our wills made hard and         sources properly that we are not         that appeareth for a little time, and
     rebellious. Our sinful natures are       led to poverty or bankruptcy. We         then vanisheth away. For that ye
     filled with the lusts of the flesh.      need to pray for an occupation in        ought to say, If the Lord will, we
     We must be constantly warned that        which we can earn by honest la-          shall live and do this or that"
     we must not follow the dictates of       bors money to support our Chris-         (James  4:13-15).
     our sinful nature, our pride and         tian family, and, to pay for Chris-          It is sinful pride and worldly
     lust and covetousness when we            tian schooling for them if available.    carnality when man does not pray
     make the great decisions of our life.    We need to pray that God will give       daily for the will of God to guide
     This is easy to do. We are prone to      us the resources to support the          him in the plans and purposes of
     do this according to our sinful na-      causes of Christ's church and king-      life. The Christian must be pro-
     ture. By the grace and Spirit of         dom in the world. This is the will       foundly conscious every day how
     God our hearts and minds have            of God.                                  all his plans and purposes and
     been renewed.                               When we seek a life partner,          even his very life's breath depend
         The Christian who has such a         we need to pray that God will lead       on the will of God. We honor God
     renewed mind and heart must be           us to a truly godly young man or         when we live in this consciousness.
     constantly praying the prayer of         young woman. We need to pray                 The Lord will prosper and bless
     Paul in Ephesians  198:  "The eyes       that God will keep us from too           us each day only when we pray
     of your understanding being en-          much preoccupation with exter-           "Thy will be done." This prosper-
     lightened; that ye may know what         nals, such as how handsome the           ity will not always, however, be in
     is the hope of his calling, and what     young man is, what career he is          terms of physical and material
     is the glory of his inheritance in       headed for, or how beautiful and         well-being. Sometimes the Lord
I    the saints." A similar prayer is         sexually attractive the young girl       sends trials, hardships, and disap-
     found in Colossians `1: 10 and 11:       is. This is following the will of        pointments. He does this accord-
     "That ye might walk worthy of the        God. We need to pray for a wife          ing to His own sovereign, wise, and
     Lord unto all pleasing, being fruit-     that will be a good helpmeet, to         perfect will. We must submit to this
     ful in every good work, and  in-         raise a godly family if this be the      perfect will and confess His name
     creasing in the knowledge of God."       will of God. This is one of God's        and live for His glory. 0
     We need the wisdom of God to             great purposes for marriage. This
     make the great decisions of our life.    is far more important than looking

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                                                   congregation that we all have a re-       heaval, change, and disorganiza-
               en infants are presented            sponsibility to instruct all the chil-    tion.  VanDellen  and Monsma write
                r   b a p t i s m   b y   t h e    dren of the congregation in the           of these times in the Church  Order
             church, three questions               aforesaid doctrines.      Are these       Commentary, page 231:
are asked of those presenting these                ideas correct? We offer these lines
infants. According to the Form for                 in an attempt to put that third               The general principle having
the Administration of Baptism that                 question in the proper historical           been established (that of infant
we use  (p.  86 in the back of the                 perspective.                                baptism, DHK) a number of prac-
Psalter), the third question reads,                    It ought to be stated at the out-       tical questions soon, presented
"Whether you promise and intend                    set that no one can deny that ev-           themselves. From the very outset
                                                                                               if became the rule to baptize only
to see these children, when come                   ery member of the congregation              the children of parents who be-
to the years of discretion (whereof                has a calling in respect to all the        longed to the Reformed Churches.
you are either parent or witness),                 children of the congregation and            But  some  parents, who were in
instructed and brought up in the                   not only his own.  Infact,  this call-      sympathy with the Reformation
aforesaid doctrine, or help or cause               ing extends to the children of be-          and at heart at odds with the Ro-
them to be instructed therein, to the              lievers in other congregations. This        man Church, nevertheless failed to
utmost of your power? Answer.                      belongs to the wonderful commun-            make a final break with Rome be-
Yes."                                              ion of saints! As Answer 55 of the          cause they lacked the courage of
     The words within the parenthe-                Catechism instructs us, "That ev-          faith and clarity of conviction. Of-
                                                                                              ficially they were still Roman
ses, "whereof you are either par-                  ery one must know it to be his              Catholics.    Sometimes such par-
ent or  witness,N  raise several ques-             duty, readily and cheerfully to em-         ents requested a Reformed Church
tions. What is the historical rea-                 ploy his gifts, for the advantage           to baptize their child. The first
son for the inclusion of these                     and salvation of other members."           Synod (Emden,  1571) replied to a
words? To what person or group                     If a family cannot provide the natu-        question regarding such cases by
of persons does the word "witness"                 ral needs of their children, we give       referring to the opinion of the
refer? Ought these words in pa-                    that family those needs, either di-         theologians of Geneva, ministers,
rentheses be read at each baptism                  rectly or through the diaconate. If         and professors. The rule should
ceremony, even when it is clear to                 someone is not using our schools           be, so Beza had written, that only
all that those presenting the                                                                  children of Church members
                                         infant    to instruct their children according       should receive baptism. But in ab-
are the parents? If this is the case,              to the demands of the covenant, we         normal times, as when the Church
what is the reason for the paren-                  point them to their calling in this        was in process of being reorga-
thetical marks?                                    regard, and assist with the paying         nized, or when severe persecu-
     There are those who believe                   of tuition if this is necessary. We        tions were raging, exceptions to
that the word "witness" refers to                  love our brothers and sisters in the       the rule might be made. Children
the entire congregation which wit-                 Lord, and we love their children,          of weak and fearful parents might
nesses the baptism and benefits                    and we will do what is in our              be baptized under these circum-
from it. There are pastors who,                    power that things go well with             stances, though not without cer-
during a baptism sermon, refer to                  them!                                      tain stipulations and promises.
                                                                                              But as will be realized, that rul-
the word "witness" to remind the                       But is it the intent of the bap-       ing was by way of concession for
                                                   tism form to set forth this truth?         the period of transition.
                                                       The form was composed by
Rev.  Kuiper  is pastor  of  Southeast Protes-     Petrus Dathenus in 1566, shortly          Those  "stipulations and promises"
tant  Reformed Church in  Grand  Rapids,           after the Reformation. The situa-         were that church members in good
Michigan.                                          tion in the churches was one of up-       standing had to function as  wit-
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nesses, guardians, or sponsors.                  Children born to excommuni-          (1976, Board of Publications of the
And they had to be in a position to            cated parents are not entitled to      C.R.C.), has three  baptism forms
make good on the baptism prom-                 Baptism.. . . Inasmuch as we have      available for their use. The first
ises.                                          no definite assurance in God's         one is the same form as ours, ex-
    VanDellen  and Monsma bring                Word regarding children of such
                                               unfaithful and unbelieving par-        cept that the parenthetical phrase
up another example on the same                 ents, and inasmuch as the instruc-     is omitted. The second is a mod-
page of their Commentary. Can                  tion of such children by compe-        ernized version of our traditional
children of parents under discipline           tent sponsors would be much            form. And the third contains a
be baptized? After pointing out                hampered at best, it is better not     question to be answered by mem-
that those whose Christianity is in            to baptize children born to excom-     bers of the congregation, after the
question are in no position to make            municated parents.                     parents have given their answers.
baptism promises before God, they                                                     This question is as follows:
write,                                       An exception might be made if
                                             such children                                The minister addresses the con-
    Yet this Sacrament is too sacred                                                    gregation:
  to be reduced to an empty form.              make their permanent homes, say            Do you, the people of the Lord,
  Consequently the Church and its              with their God-fearing grandpar-         promise to receive this child in
  office-bearers demand that the               ents who shall be able to explain        love, pray for him, help care for
  parents shall be qualified to ex-            the meaning of Baptism to them           his instruction in the faith, and en-
  plain to the child, as it grows up,          and who shall be in position to          courage him in the fellowship of
  the meaning of its Baptism, and              give them a good Christian train-        believers?
  that these parents shall also prom-          ing, then such children need not           The congregation responds: We
  ise to do so. Now if for any rea-            be barred from Baptism; the par-         do, God helping us.
  son parents of a child entitled to           ties concerned being willing to
  Baptism are disqualified to take             serve as sponsors, taking upon             If anyone desires that the con-
  upon themselves these solemn                 them the baptismal vows.               gregation respond at baptism to a
  promises, then, if the child is to                                                  question regarding their responsi-
  be baptized,  witnesses  must be               Hence, it is clear from these ex-    bility, that person ought to present
  found who promise to take the              amples that, historically, the term      an overture to consistory, classis,
  place of the parents to the best of        "witness" in our third question
  their ability. If such sponsors can-                                                and synod in order that the neces-
                                             does not refer to the congregation
  not be secured the child should                                                     sary changes be made in our form
  not be baptized until he is old            as a whole, but to definite indi-        in the proper way. We do not be-
  enough to judge for himself, and           viduals who have agreed to be wit-       lieve such a change is necessary.
  to request Baptism upon profes-            nesses, guardians, or sponsors for       Until such a time we should use
  sion of faith.                             the child in question. Therefore, it     the form we have according to its
                                             is not normally necessary that these     original intent and meaning. Then
    The well-known commentators              words be read.                           we "observe in all things the
on the Church Order give further                 The Christian Reformed               adopted order" (Art. 44 of the
advice:                                      Church, in their Psalter Hymnal          Church Order).  Cl





                                                                                          So it is in the development of
                                             Introduction                             the truth of Scripture from the time
                                             The ways of God are always of Pentecost. As the truth devel-
                                                   perfect and wise. Sometimes        oped under the guidance of the
Prof.  Hanko  is professor of Church His-          we are given a glimpse of          Holy Spirit of Christ, we are  some-
toy and New Testament in the  Protes-        this perfection and wisdom; some-        times given a peek at the  astound-
tant Reformed Semina y.                      times, not.                              ing perfection of God's ways.

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     So it is in the development of              wisdom even in this. God showed            was no little problem.
the doctrine of the Trinity.                     His church that the truth concern-             The  Gnostics  (of whom we
     The perfect wisdom of God is                ing Himself was so great, so pro-          spoke in another article) solved the
revealed in the fact that this doc-              found, so beyond all human com-            problem by saying that it was re-
trine was the first major doctrine               prehension, so utterly different           ally impossible for God to eat and
of the Christian faith to be devel-              from anything that could ever arise        drink. So they proceeded to deny
oped. When once God shows us                     in the heart of man, that it took          Christ's human nature and to teach
that the truth concerning Himself                centuries before the church could          that the human nature was only an
is first, it is also evident to us why           even bring itself to say something         appearance. He  seemed  to be like
this had to be. The truth concern-               about it.                                  us, but really was not.
ing God as the triune God is the                     But another reason why the                 But a prior question also
most fundamental of all doctrines.               doctrine took so long to develop           troubled the church, a question still
That God is three in person and                  was because it was inseparably             more fundamental: What was the
one in essence is the one great doc-             bound up with another doctrine:            relation of the Son to the Father?
trine on which all other truth rests.            the absolute divinity of our Lord              You must keep in mind that the
Without establishing that doctrine               Jesus Christ. The doctrine of the          church lived in a world in which
near the beginning of her history,               Trinity and the doctrine of Christ's       polytheism was the universal reli-
the church could not have gone on                deity stand or fall together. And          gion. The Greeks and Romans,
in that high calling of developing               locked up in the doctrine of               and, in fact, every nation every-
the other great truths of Scripture.             Christ's deity is our everlasting sal-     where, worshiped a whole temple
     The reason for this is very sim-            vation. If we are saved, then it has       full of gods almost too many to be
ply that all truth is the truth con-             to be that Christ is God. Only God         counted. The Christian religion in-
cerning God. What God is in Him-                 can save. And Christ is our Savior.        sisted absolutely that all polythe-
self, in His own divine being, is                                                           ism was wrong, blasphemously
first. So it was that God led the                The Problem                                wrong. There is only one true God.
church into a confession of that                     Actually, from the time the            All other gods are simply idols,
truth first.                                     church began in this dispensation          men's evil inventions, sinful cor-
     There is another angle to this,             the saints never doubted that              ruptions of the truth.
however. The devil, probably bet-                Christ was Himself God. Some                   But now the problem. The
ter than we, recognizes how fun-                 very early second century writings         church insisted that God was God
damental to all truth is the truth of            prove this. "Brethren, we ought            alone. But Christ, the One who
God. And so it was that he at-                   so to think of Jesus Christ as of          died A.D. 33, who was sentenced
tacked this truth first of all-before            God, as of the judge of living and         by Pontius Pilate, and who arose
any others. If this could be de-                 dead. And we ought not to be-              from the grave-that Christ was
stroyed, this great truth of God, the            little our salvation; for when we          also God! He was the Son of God,
church would perish in the world.                belittle him, we expect also to re-        truly God. How could one avoid
   God is sovereign-also over the                ceive little," one saint had written.      saying that, after all, the Christians
devil. God decreed that Satan                        Notice how already shortly af-         had at least two gods?
should launch a powerful attack                  ter the apostolic era, in some of the          Various solutions to this prob-
against this truth first; and the                earliest extant writings of the            lem were proposed.
church, called to defend the truth,              church, Christ's divinity is tied up           One solution said that Christ
would develop this truth-first.                  with our salvation.                        was the adopfed  Son. The status of
     The wisdom of God is also dis-                  Another quote: "It will be im-         sonship  was confirmed on Christ ei-
played in the fact that the truth of             possible for us to forsake Christ . . .    ther at the time of His baptism or
the Trinity took many years to de-               or to worship any other. For him,          at the time of His resurrection.
velop and to be put in  creedal                  being the Son of God, we adore,                But this was not satisfactory. It
form. It was not really till the                 but the martyrs . . . we cherish."         denied that Christ was really God.
Council of  Nicea  in 325 that the                   Even an early pagan report on              Another solution said that
doctrine of the Trinity was set                  Christians spoke of these people           Christ was derived from the Father.
down for all the church. And even                gathering before sunrise to "sing a        The Father was greater than the
after this council, the battle contin-           hymn to Christ as though to a              Son. Maybe a very high angel;
ued for almost a century.                        god."                                      maybe a Spirit, maybe the Logos,
     That it took so long is due to                  The problem arose from the             maybe just son; but, for all the
various important facts. One cer-                fact that the gospel narratives made       greatness He possessed, still infe-
tainly was that the doctrine of the              it clear that Christ ate, drank, suf-      rior to the Father. Maybe "divine,"
Trinity was very difficult to under-             fered, and died. How could God             but this divinity was not the same
stand. Maybe there is a certain                  eat and drink, suffer and die? That        as that of the Father.

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     Nor was this satisfactory-al-           He ran into much the same             come known as Monarchianism.
though the greatest battle of all was    troubles when he went to Egypt                While many different heretics
to be fought over this question.         and began to propagate his views          taught Monarchianism, and while
(We will tell of it in our next ar-      there. Dionysius, the bishop of Al-       these heretics differed somewhat
ticle.)                                  exandria, called a council meeting        from each other in certain empha-
     And then a third solution was       of the city in 260 or 261, which          ses and peculiarities of their teach-
suggested. And this one consti-          council also saw fit to excommuni-        ings, generally speaking they all
tuted a real threat to the church in     cate Sabellius. One would think           taught firmly that there was only
the third century. This theory sug-      that two excommunications would           one God. They clung tenaciously
gested that Christ was, after all, to    have given the man pause; but his         to their monotheism. But they in-
be identified with the Father. He        views were beginning to have in-          sisted that the only way to protect
was the  same  as the Father. The        fluence on others, and apparently         the view that God is one is to deny
names "Father," "Son," and "Holy         his growing following, as with so         any kind of "personal" distinction
Spirit" were only three different        many heretics, fed his pride.             between Father, Son, and Holy
names for God, three different               Dionysius, however, over-re-          Spirit.
ways to refer to Him, three differ-      acted in his fear of Sabellius' teach-        I put the word "personal" in
ent ways of thinking about the one       ings. As a kind of antidote to            quotes because at this stage of the
and only God.                            Sabellianism, Dionysius so empha-         church's development the theolo-
    This third "solution" is the one     sized the distinctions between the        gians possessed no vocabulary to
we are going to talk about in this       Father and the Son that he nearly         define the doctrine in the way we
article.                                 denied their essential unity. And,        do today. Indeed, this was part of
                                         in emphasizing the distinction, he        the problem, because Scripture it-
Ssibellius                               taught that Christ was subordinate        self gives us no vocabulary to use
    There were a number of men           to the Father-a view which was a          in connection with the doctrine of
in the early church who held to this     kind of forerunner to Arianism-a          God. We speak of God being one
third "solution." They may have          heresy which we will discuss in our       in essence and three in person; but
disagreed in some minor points,          next article.                             the early church had no biblical
but they agreed in one basic point:          But all of this showed the con-       idea of the concepts essence and
they had to maintain a rigid and         fusion over the doctrine of God           person and never thought to use
strict monotheism at all costs. They     which prevailed in the early              these terms in connection with the
could not sacrifice the truth that       church. No one was sure what was          doctrine of God.
God is one God for some sort of          the solution to the difficult prob-           But, however that may be,
polytheism or tritheism.                 lems which faced the church.              Sabellius, in order to explain the
    Sabellius is only the best               Sabellius saw in the over-reac-       fact that Scripture spoke of the Fa-
known of the lot. And even he is         tion of Dionysius an opportunity          ther, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
not all that well known.                 to get his views approved in Rome         explained these names as only
    Many of these heretics were          after all. And so he appealed to          three different ways or "modes" in
like meteors that flashed across the     the bishop of Rome against the            which God revealed Himself. The
ecclesiastical heavens in one great      views of Dionysius.                       one God, also one in person, re-
burst of light-only to burn out in           But his ploy did not work. The        vealed Himself as a Father, as a
a short time, their graves unknown       bishop of Rome called a synod in          Son, and as a Spirit.
and their lives forgotten.               262, the result of which was: 1)              God revealed Himself as a Fa-
    So with Sabellius.                   Sabellius was condemned for his           ther in the work of creation, as a
    He was born in North Africa          views; 2) Dionysius was con-              Son in the work of redemption, and
in the area of Pentapolis, probably      demned for teaching tritheism             as a Spirit in the work of sanctifi-
in what is now Libya. But he did         (three gods) and subordinationism         cation in our hearts.
not stay there long. At the begin-       (Christ was inferior to the Father).          And so the Trinity was denied.
ning of the third century he was in      This decision in Rome effectively
Rome and had begun to ponder the         settled the controversy-at least for      The Response of the Church
mysteries of the Godhead. In fact,       a few years.                                  The church knew that these
he was bold and brash enough to              To the credit of Dionysius,           views were wrong. It was with
teach his views there, which             when his errors were pointed out          good reason, therefore, that
brought him into conflict with the       by the bishop of Rome, he gladly          Sabellius was disciplined in what-
bishop of Rome, Calistus. Appar-         retracted them.                           ever place he attempted to propa-
ently Sabellius was not about to                                                   gate his views.
change his views, and he was ex-         Sabellius' Teachings                          But there are some things that
communicated by  Cal&us.                     The views of Sabellius have be-       have to be remembered.

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     Generally speaking, the church        West wrote and talked in Latin; the       "have crucified the Father and de-
did not, at this early day, know           East, in Greek. The East did not          posed the Holy Spirit."
what the truth of Scripture really         know what the West was thinking                These were all preliminary
was on the question of the doctrine        and doing for the most part, al-          skirmishes in the great battles that
of God. That would take another            though the West was more in-              were yet to be fought before the
50+  years, and many bitter contro-        formed about the East because             issues were settled. But they
versies. It knew what was wrong;           Greek was more common through-            would have to be settled because
it did not know what was right. It         out the Mediterranean world than          the doctrine of God is the basis of
was prepared to say to Sabellius           Latin.                                    all truth.
and his henchmen: "You teach                   The advanced ideas of the West             The doctrine of the Trinity is
what is contrary to the Scriptures."       on the doctrine of the Trinity were       not the abstract, difficult, icy cold
It was not prepared to say, "The           due, in large measure, to the work        doctrine of theologians. To men-
Scriptures teach this and this."           of Tertullian. Our readers will re-       tion only a few instances of how
     But what I have just said is not      call how this great church father         important the doctrine is, we must
entirely true.                             disappointed us all when he drifted       remember that the whole doctrine
     The Western part of the church        into the error of that early form of      of the covenant rests upon the Trin-
was ahead of the Eastern part in           Pentecostalism which has become           ity and the triune covenant life God
those days. This was evident from          known as Montanism.                But    lives in Himself. The absolute di-
the fact that the bishops of Rome          Tertullian had come very close to         vinity of Christ rests on the truth
understood exactly the error of            defining what was to become the           of the Trinity; and on that doctrine
Sabellius, while the Bishop of Al-         doctrine of the Trinity, and had          of Christ's divinity rests all our sal-
exandria himself strayed into other        given the church a vocabulary             vation. The divinity of the Holy
errors in his fear of Sabellianism.        which included in it words like           Spirit is the rock on which is to be
     But what the West saw more            "Trinity," "person," "essence."           built the whole blessed concept of
clearly than the East could not be             In fact, Tertullian was the first     our union with Christ-and union
easily shared with the East because        to define the error of Sabellianism       with God Himself through Christ.
of the huge language barrier: the          in a graphic and unforgettable way.
                                           "These heretics," said Tertullian,





I                                          we forget you as churches, or the         tor of the SB to write some articles
     t has been four years now since       many friends that we made in your         on the life of our churches in Aus-
   we returned from your country           midst. Indeed, rare is the occasion       tralia. It is my desire that we are
     to our own, and just over three       when we do not pray publicly for          in your hearts as you are in ours. I
years since I was ordained to the          you in our congregations - for you        am anxious to do anything that will
office of minister of the Word and         as denomination; for your minis-          f o s t e r   m u t u a l   r e m e m b r a n c e ,
sacraments. Life in the ministry is        ters and other officebearers; for the     knowledge, and love of each other
always busy, but never so busy that        seminary of which I was a part for        as denominations. We have in
                                           three years; or for individuals           common the central issues of our
                                           whom we have heard are experi-            most holy faith, foremost of which
                                           encing some trial from the hand of        is sovereign, particular grace. Not
Rev.  Higgs  is a minister in the Evan-    God.                                      only do we hold these things in
gelical Presbyterian Church  of  Aus-          It was a delight, therefore, to       common, but we stand almost
tralia.                                    receive an invitation from the Edi-       alone in the world today in sound-

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ing them forth. If these articles on     were seriously overcrowded by                            main purpose, for settling Austra-
the life of our churches will foster     then.                                                    lia was to provide a place for the
mutual respect for each other, then            So it was, in 1787, that the First                 excess of criminals whom Britain
God's name will be honored and           Fleet sailed from England to Aus-                        could not easily imprison in their
Christ's kingdom advanced. And           tralia, arriving on January  21,1788,                    own country. We, as a nation, have
there is nothing more important          with about 750 convicts. The next                        risen up out of the  seedbed  of
than that.                               year another fleet arrived with ap-                      masses of convicts.
    Let us begin, then, with some        proximately 1,000 convicts. By                               Now, I do not mean by this that
history.                                 1810 there were some 12,000 people                       the church was not present in Aus-
    In recent years there has been       living in Australia, and about one                       tralia, even from the earliest time
much controversy, and therefore          third of them were convicts. Be-                         of settlement. It was. The history
some confusion, concerning who           tween 1820 and 1850 over 100,000                         of our country, however, reminds
exactly discovered Australia. What       convicts were transported from                           me of something that our confes-
we do know with some degree of           Britain to eastern Australia.                            sional standards say concerning the
certainty is that a Dutch navigator,           Many of these convicts were                        catholic, visible aspect of the
Dirk Hartog, sighted the barren          sent to Australia for petty crimes.                      church: "This catholic church hath
shores of Western Australia in           Often the crimes that were commit-                       been sometimes more, sometimes
1616. Also we know that the Dutch        ted occurred because the people                          less visible.      And particular
sea explorer Abel Tasman discov-         were starving. It is not uncommon                        churches, which are members
ered the island state of Tasmania        to read accounts concerning con-                         thereof, are more or less pure.  .."
in i642.'                                victs who were transported for                           (WCF  25:4). In the history of Aus-
    It was not until over 100 years      stealing a loaf of bread, or some                        tralia, in the early days, the church
later, however, that any serious         such thing. There were, however,                         was so small that barely could she
consideration was given to settling      also many hardened criminals who                         be seen. Not only that, she was
Australia. One of the reasons for        were transported to New Holland                          less pure rather than more!
this was that one third of Austra-       for their crimes.                                            Let us examine this briefly.
lia is desert, and another one third          All very interesting, you may                           Accompanying the first fleet
is semi-arid.     Any seafarer who       say, but what has this got to do                         was the Rev. Richard Johnson. He
sighted or landed upon the shores        with the Evangelical Presbyterian                        was an Anglican minister, and
of Australia, therefore, rarely saw      Church of Australia? Nothing, di-                        chaplain to the convicts. He saw
anything that gave him cause for         rectly. But it may give you a feel                       himself as being the minister of all
excitement.                              for our country, and a knowledge                         the men and women of the colony,
    It was in 1770 that the English      of some differences that it has with                     however, and in this seems to have
captain James Cook sailed up the         your own.                                                been a faithful man. He writes: "It
east coast of Australia. This is the          If my understanding of the his-                     is my duty to preach to all, to pray
fertile section of our country. (To-     tory of your country is correct, the                     for all, and to admonish every
day approximately 90 percent of          United States of America began,                          one."2 Other Anglican ministers
our population lives along the east-     largely, due to colonization by                          were to follow Johnson.
ern seaboard.) Accordingly, Cook         refugees fleeing religious persecu-                          It seems, though, that the stron-
took home a more favorable report        tion in Europe. You have a reli-                         gest early influence on religious life
of  New Holland, as it was called        gious heritage which, while it may                       in Australia sprang from the
in those days.                           be lost in large degree today, has                       Wesleyan Methodists. By as early
    In 1783 Britain lost its Ameri-      influenced your culture. And by                          as 1831 "there was established in
can colonies. Now, that has af-          this I do not mean to suggest any                        Australia, and in the islands of the
fected you as a country greatly.         form of common grace. My mean-                           South Pacific, nine circuits of the
But it also affected us as a country,    ing, rather, is that your religious                      Wesleyan Methodists, fourteen
and still does! One of the conse-        heritage, as a country, has been                         missionaries, 736 communicants,
quences of your independence             used of God to control and limit                         and 1,000 children in  schools."3  It
from Britain was that no longer did      t h e   p r o g r e s s   o f   s i n ,   t o   u s e    was not until the end of 1822 that
the British have anywhere to send        Hoeksema's  termino1ogy.l                                the first Presbyterian minister ar-
their convicts. It is true that the            On the other hand, our coun-                       rived in  Australia.4 And we had
English did not send convicts to         try began, largely, for the purpose                      to wait until the 1840s before syn-
your country often. But they did         of providing a penal colony for the                      ods of Presbyterian churches with
do this.       And they would have       criminals whom Britain did not                           decidedly Reformed heritage were
done it far more in the late  178Os-     want. Now, of course, there was                          established.
90s because the Hulks (old ships         more to it than this. However, one                           This is the history of the land
used as prisons on English rivers)       of the main purposes, if not the                         in which I live. It is a history of

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settlement for the prime purpose                   ness, laziness, idolatry, or any         within this general milieu formed
of creating a national jail for con-               other excesses of any type.              by our history that we have to
victs. It is a history which, for the                  We must not get `a distorted         work as churches, today.
first fifty or sixty years, shows the              idea from this generalization,               Next time, D.V., I will talk
true church to be hardly visible,                  though. God has had His church           about history again. However, I
and, when she is, to be much less                  in our land from the beginning. At       will write then more directly on the
pure than she ought to be.                         times, even in the early days of         history of our churches.  0
    It is this history which has                   settlement, there was evidence of
shaped our nations. We are, I be-                  remarkable workings of the Spirit
lieve, more godless as a nation than               of Christ within His church. But,        1 Cf. Hoeksema, Ready to Give an An-
the United States. Our culture is                  due to our history, the national sins    swer:       A Catechism of Reformed
more radically humanistic, pagan,                  and characteristics of our people,       Distinctives,  pp.  111-112.  Cf., also, pp.
and devoted to sin. We Austra-                     as I have described them, are sadly      116-117.
                                                                                            2  Cited in Murray, I.H.,  Australian
lians, as a generalization, hate au-               predominant.                             Christian Life from  1788:  An Introduc-
thority, or seeing others succeed:                     It is from within this general       tion and Anthology.  The Banner of
but we love to shock, or to defy, or               milieu formed by our history that        Truth Trust, Edinburgh, 1988;  p. 3.
to "escape" through any means at                   God, in His grace, raised up the         3 Murray, p. 49.
our disposal  - be that drunken-                   EPC as a denomination. It is             4 Murray, pp. 74, 75.





                                                                                                           rum

                                                   "censure of one's conduct or life."      ercise Christian censure among
          rticle  81 of The Church Or-             Both are derived from the Latin.         themselves before the celebration
          der of the Protestant Reformed               The practice of  censura morum       of the Lord's Supper and inquire
          Churches (hereafter, the                 has an interesting history. John         into doctrine as well as into  life."3
Church Order) requires that, "The                  Calvin first introduced mutual cen-      Among the several questions put
ministers of the Word, elders, and                 sure among the ministers four            to and answered by that same
deacons shall before the celebration               times per  year.l  The ministers,        synod was this one: "Whether it is
of the Lord's Supper exercise                      Calvin proposed, should meet once        profitable and advisable that min-
Christian censure among them-                      per quarter for a mutual examina-        isters of the Word, elders, and dea-
selves, and in a friendly spirit ad-               tion of their conduct. The Church        cons exercise censure among each
monish one another with regard to                  Order adopted by the national            other before the celebration of the
the discharge of their office."                    synod of Dordrecht in 1578 stipu-        Lord's Supper?" The synod's an-
Officebearers in the churches know                 lated that the "ministers of the         swer was, "It is most profitable and
this to be the practice of  censura                Word, elders and deacons shall ex-       advisable."4 In the Church Order
morum.          I n   s o m e   R e f o r m e d    ercise Christian censure or exami-       adopted by the synod of  `sGra-
churches the practice is called                    nation with one another concern-         venhage in 1586 the requirement
censura  fraterna. This latter termi-              ing doctrine as well as conduct be-      was significantly changed to read,
nology speaks of "brotherly cen-                   fore the celebration of the Lord's       "Ministers of the Word, elders and
sure," and the former speaks of                    Supper and shall accept Christian        deacons shall exercise Christian
                                                   admonition in  love."2  Similarly the    censure among themselves and ad-
                                                   Church Order adopted by the na-          monish one another in a friendly
                                                   tional synod of Middleburg in 1581       way concerning the exercise of
Prof.  Decker is professor of Practical  The-      required that "ministers of the
ology in the Protestant Reformed Semi-                                                      their  offices."5     According to this
nary.                                              Word, elders and deacons shall ex-       version the censure must concern

474btandard  Bearer/Sepfembenrl,     1998


"the exercise of their offices," not               pended and deposed from office.                          ish him concerning these weak-
"their doctrine and life." Also the                If he is impenitent he is subject to                     nesses when cerzsuru   morum  is con-
requirement that this censure be                   the discipline of the church and                         ducted.
done  <"before  the celebration of the             even the  !/extreme  remedy" of ex-                           So it could happen as well with
Lord's Supper" was dropped. This                   communication (Articles 76  - 80 of                      the deacons. One might not be dili-
latter requirement was reinserted                  the Church Order). And certainly                         gent in the collecting of the alms
by the Christian Reformed Church                   one may not wait for  censuru morum                      and in the distribution of them to
in its 1914 edition of the Church                  to initiate suspension/ deposition                       the  poor.8 Perhaps one of the dea-
Order. And this latter is the ver-                 and discipline. Hence Article 81 is                      cons fails to visit faithfully the wid-
sion we have in our Church Order.                  not speaking of what we commonly                         ows and widowers or shut-ins of
      Itshould  be noted in this con-              call "censurable sin" either in doc-                     the congregation. When censura
nection, however, that this censure                trine or life.                                           morum  is conducted, such a dea-
has nothing to do with the celebra-                     How then must we understand                         con ought to be admonished con-
tion of the Lords Supper. The                      censura morum? According to Ar-                          cerning those weaknesses.
question is not whether any of the                 ticle 81  censzxra   morum  requires the                      There certainly is a place for
officebearers has any grievances                   officebearers to "exercise Christian                     negative, constructive criticism in
against one or more of his fellow                  censure among themselves, and in                         censurn  morum.  The motive, how-
consistory members, grievances                     a friendly spirit admonish one an-                       ever, of the critic must never be to
which would make it impossible                     other with regard to the discharge                       hurt his colleague in office. His
for them to celebrate the Lord's                   of their office." The word "cen-                         motive must be to help his fellow
Supper properly. No one, whether                   sure" in contemporary English us-                        officebearer in order that the pre-
he's in office or not, may go to the               age is a negative term. It means:                        cious flock of God may be the bet-
Lord's table with grievances                       to find fault with, to condemn as                        ter cared for and edified.
against a fellow member of the                     wrong, to blame, to express disap-                            Let the officebearers never for-
church.      This would not require                probation of, to criticize adversely.                    get the  manner  in which this cen-
special censure among office-                           No doubt this is part of what                       sure and admonition must be done.
bearers. If an officebearer has a                  the fathers had in mind. A minis-                        It must be  Christian  censure. This
grievance against a fellow office-                 ter might display certain weak-                          means it must not be censure in the
bearer he must deal with that im-                  nesses in his preaching and teach-                       ungodly, worldly sense.                   In the
mediately. And if that grievance                   ing. Perhaps he neglects certain                         world of unbelief, the critic seeks
involves error in doctrine or gross                d o c t r i n e s   o r   a s p e c t s   o f   t h e    to hurt and destroy. He's moti-
sin in conduct the procedure for                   Christian's calling. The minister                        vated by hatred against God and
suspension, deposition, and disci-                 might develop certain bad habits                         his neighbor. This must not be so
pline outlined in the Church Or-                   in the delivery of his sermons. Per-                     in the church, and certainly this
der must be implemented immedi-                    haps his congregational prayers are                      must not be the kind of censure
ately.                                             too much the same or full of "vain                       t h a t   t a k e s   p l a c e   a m o n g   t h e
    `The question naturally arises,                repetition." It could certainly hap-                     officebearers of Christ's church.
then, why did the Christian Re-                    pen that the minister neglects cer-                      Let the censure be done in a Chris-
formed Church reinsert the refer-                  tain aspects of his pastoral duties.                     tian manner out of love for God
ence to the celebration of the Lord's              A minister might dress slovenly                          and one's neighbor. The admon-
Supper? Monsma and Van  Dellen                     and thus dishonor the sacred of-                         ishing too must be done "in a
speculate, "Perhaps it was to give                 fice to which Christ calls him. Cer-                     friendly spirit." God's friends, and
the churches assurance that mutual                 tainly matters such as these could                       this is what we are as Christians,
censure will be exercised in all                   be brought to his attention at                           seek to help each other. The ad-
Consistories at least four times a                 censura morum.                                           monishing must never be harsh
year.lt6                                                Likewise an elder might be                          and bitter. If God's people in gen-
     No doubt the reason why the                   weak in certain aspects of the du-                       eral must not "bite and devour one
1586 synod of  `sGravenhage  stipu-                ties of the office of elder. Maybe                       another," certainly the office-
lated that this censure and mutual                 an elder in certain aspects of his                       bearers must not be guilty of this
admonition should concern "the                     life is a poor example to his fellow                     sin (cf. Gal.  5:13-15).
exercise of their office" rather than              believers. Or perhaps an elder fails                          But there is more involved with
"their doctrine and life" is because               properly to "comfort and instruct                        censura morum.  In its original, Latin
t h e   l a t t e r   w o u l d   m a k e   a n    the members, and also to exhort                          sense the word "censure" means to
officebearer subject to church dis-                others in respect to the Christian                       form or express a judgment in re-
cipline. If an officebearer teaches                religion."7 This being the case his                      gard to, to estimate, to judge. This
false doctrine or heresy or commits                fellow officebearers ought to bring                      too is what the fathers had in mind
public gross sin he must be sus-                   these to his attention and admon-                        when they placed this article in the

                                                                                                                 SeptenibW-1;     199S/Standard     Bearer/475


Church Order. In other words,                  minutes or less four times a year.                     2 Richard R. De Ridder, translator,
while there certainly is a place for           Let it be meaningful. Let it be the                    Translation  of  Ecclesiastical Manual In-
negative criticism,  censure   morum           time for constructive criticism                        cluding the Decisions  of  the Netherlands
ought also be positive. It ought to            given out of love for God and for                      Synods and Other Significant Matters Re-
be a time when the officebearers               one another and God's church. Let                      lating to the Government  of the Churches
                                                                                                      by P. Biesterveld and Dr. H. H.  Kuyper
encourage one another. It ought                i t   a l s o   b e   a   t i m e   w h e n   t h e    (Grand Rapids: Calvin Theological
to be the occasion for officebearers           officebearers prayerfully strive to                    Seminary,  1982),  p. 93.
to point to the good work that their           improve in the discharge of the du-                    3 Ibid.,  p. 119.
colleagues are doing and exhort                ties of the sacred office of Christ in                 4 Ibid.,  p. 123.
them to continue in this for the edi-          which they are given the privilege                     5 Ibid.,  p. 153.
fication of the congregation.                  to serve His precious flock. Cl                        6 Idzerd Van  Dellen and Martin
     In sum, let  censuru   morum  not                                                                Monsma, The Church Order Commenta y
become a mere formality among                                                                         (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing
the councils of the churches, some-            1    Ronald S. Wallace, Calvin, Geneva,                House,  1954),  p. 333.
                                                                                                      7    The Church Order, Article 23.
thing that's accomplished in three             and  the Reformation  (Grand Rapids:
                                               Baker Book House,  1990),  pp. 54-63.                  8    The Church Order,  Article 25.





                                               out prayer, seeking only to get                        thought about the things of God.
            cEverything.  So one has           something spiritual quickly, just to                   If we do take some time for devo-
            described this age. A fair         have something "to go," and to                         tional exercises, we MC it-the one
            description, I think. We           ease conscience pangs brought on                       minute Bible study before we drop
live in an age where almost every-             by your daily misplaced priorities?                    off to bed. And our consciences
thing is and must be quick and                      Yes.      McSocieties.   McBible                  are soothed once again. Another
easy. And to go. Whatever it is                Studies. That is what can happen                       cause? Computers. Not just the
we want we want it short, simple,              in these perilous times, in these                      machines. But the  computer-mind-
sweet, quick, yummy, and cheap.                perilous fast and easy times.                          set. It is MC, to be sure. Indeed,
Hot'n Now. Your way. For people                Causes? Culture, certainly. I mean                     with the proliferation of comput-
o n   t h e   g o .   McEverything.   O u r    the fast-paced kind. From the mark                     ers and the propaganda of the most
kind of age. Our kind of place.                America has been set to go, to go                      megahertz out the windows-95 has
     Well then, the question is fair:          fast, to grind up the ground, to go                    gone much of our willingness qui-
have you ever gotten a cheesebur-              on. Result? There are  Made-In-                        etly to meditate, diligently to
ger, fries, and coke...at Bible                America Bible Studies that cover                       study, and patiently to wait for the
Study? Which is to say: have you               the most ground, maybe, but fail                       Spirit's light when it comes to that
ever not gotten much, or gotten in-            to dig anywhere at all into the                        which we cannot compute: the
digestion? Almost worse: have you              depths of the truth of God.                  An-       Word of the living God. Comput-
yourself ordered such fast  Bible-             other cause? Cash, to be sure. It                      ers and our Bible societies? Well,
food? Have you done this by go-                is a prosperous time in our nation.                    from  mitchelld@juno.com  it is not
ing to Bible Study without having              With money we can buy toys. With                       hard to think  "societies@inter-
studied in preparation, and  with-             our free (non-working) time we                         netcorn."     In other words, think-
                                               like to relax, and be nigh like unto                   ing computer-like we can easily be
                                               vegetables (couch-potatoes) or out-                    led to want societies to deliver as
                                               right hedonists. The prosperity has                    quick as possible, to give us a kind
                                               a cost-to get and stay ahead, or                       of spiritual "fix" in our busy lives.
                                                                                                      Any society that does not so de-
Rev. Dick  is pastor  of  Grace Protestant     just even, we must, we think, work,
Reformed Church in                                                                                    liver, that does not give me some-
                       Standale,  Michigan.    work, work. But no time for Bible
                                               Study, no possibility of deep                          thing quick and easy, is snail-mail.
476/Standard  Bearer/September-?:      1998


     McSocieties.           McBible  Study.              want just sort of to grab at God's       do not have to do it, but you may,
Due to an on-the-go Culture,                             truth and to go on in our life con-      in the society room. But for God's
beaucoup  Cash, and crazy Com-                           tent only with a form of godliness?      sake do it from the pulpit anyway!
puters (and ten other things). But                           Sin again. The world's sin is        Hear it, believer! In the precious
these things are not ultimately to                       just our sin. We can sin worse than      moments of preaching--then is the
blame. Sin is the problem. The                           any worldling or  McChurchling.          voice of God sounding forth. Then
perilous fast times in which are                         Knowing what is good food, we            is God working faith, and confirm-
these strange societies are due to                       can desire just this world's  garlics    ing it. This is when the love and
sin. And the escalation of it. Sin.                      and leeks. Recipients of the gos-        passion for the Word is kindled
The failure to take God seriously.                       pel, we prefer the World to the          and rekindled. This is when the
The failure to sit and ponder God's                      Word. We lunge after this earth's        heat, the oxygen, the fuel of the Di-
Word. The loss of appetite for                           goodies, and dabble in the things        vine is applied to the dead wood
spiritually good food. That is the                       of the kingdom of heaven. We are         and the sputtering flame. This is
reason for McSocieties.                                  devoted to sportology. We are dil-       when the heart is made hot. Hear-
                                                         ettantes of theology. Our sight of       ing this Word-preaching with true,
                       *****                             the invisible God and blessings of       humble, receptive faith is why we
                                                         the covenant of grace has dimmed.        are  compe2Zed   (willingly!) to spiri-
     We are not surprised that the                       Our delight in God and spiritual         tual devotedness to our Maker and
McChurch  mimics  McDonald's. It                         blessings in heavenly places in          Redeemer, and to come together as
is not surprising that where the                         Christ Jesus has diminished. Our         believers in societies to commune
preachers are but short-order cooks                      trust in the revealed promises of        with each other around the Word.
(McPreachers)   a n d   entertainer-                     God is lacking. We have good in-         Let there be preaching, and there
clowns, there will be, perhaps, bil-                     tentions, somewhere deep in our          will be societies. Let there be good
lions and billions served (saved,                        hearts, but the spirit of the age of     preaching, and there will be good
they tell us), but billions of bloated                   MC has done its fast and destruc-        societies. Let there not be preach-
stomachs still. Nor are we sur-                          tive work....                            ing, let there be those who think
prised, really, that where Calvin-                                                                there is no need for church but that
ism has gone strangely Irish                                                **x*x                 it is a nice thing to study the Bible
(changed into  McCalvinism-                                                                       together, and there will not be true
Calminianism?!), where a  McCross                            Shall we have good societies?        societies of God. Let there be bad
gospel is preached (golden, with-                        Believing ones.? Societies of the        preaching and there will be bad so-
o u t   t h e   r e d ) , t h e r e   w i l l   b e      Holy Spirit? Societies of the Word?      cieties. Which will we have?
McSocieties galore. For all these                        Societies in the society of God? So-         P r e a c h i n g   m a k e s   p r a y e r .
p e r v e r s i o n s   o f   d o c t r i n e   a n d    cieties well attended with those         Preaching works prayer . . . or the
Christless gospels can produce are                       young and old who hunger and             preaching and/or the preached-to
McChristians-fashionable, '90s'                          thirst after the true righteousness      are dead. Prayer is necessary for
Christians who want societies like                       as it is in Jesus?                       good societies. The hearer of the
themselves: short, simple, sweet,                            What will it take? Always            Word prays to know and to drink
yummy, and cheap, I guess.. . . The                      grace, and God, we know. With-           deeply from the Word of God. He
good news they want to hear is                           out God gracing us we would be           wants God above all-just God!
news they can use-and fast! God                          McEverything,  living always and         He knows that God is not simply
to go. Christ to go. Doctrine on                         loving life in the fast, broad lane.     "God to go," a god who is for me,
the run.                                                 Without grace in societies there         and to help me to get by and to
     I say, we can understand all                        might be some socializing, some          have fun. He knows that God is to
this there-in the church-ham-                            mindless regurgitation of truths no      be worshiped, to be dwelt with, to
burger joints. But how so in the                         longer felt, but that is all. But        listen to, and to become like. He
true church?  Ho& can we, who are                        where there is grace there is the        prays fervently for the grace and
graced to love God and God's                             beginning of the new life of the         Holy Spirit of God to establish and
Word, honor God so cheaply, and                          children of God individually, and        enrich the church's Bible Studies
treat God's Word like hamburger?                         the hope of the good societies of        with God-centered study promot-
All of this perversion of Bible Study                    these children.                          ing resting-in-God people. And
makes us nauseous. We hate the                               Grace and the  means  of grace.      God answers! Where there are
very thought of McSocieties. We                          The God of grace gives grace, also       praying people there are prosper-
would go to God, and to His Christ,                      for societies, through the means He      ous, rewarding, God-honoring so-
and  meditate  on truth-stay there a                     Himself has ordained.                    cieties!
while, digest it. What is, and what                          Which is to say: there must be           P r a y e r ,   t h e n   w o r k .   Ora   e t
can be our problem? Why do we                            preaching. Do it, preacher! You          labora!     The believer who truly

                                                                                                      Septemte! I,  199Sj3tandard      Bearer/477


prays will then study in prepara-           do when we are stirred in our           listen to other musers with respect
tion for society. He will examine           thoughts  about God's Word, to re-      for the depth of insight God has
the passage or subject to be dis-           examine it, to think it  through-to     given them.
cussed, comparing scripture with            be both confirmed in what we
scripture, discerning the gospel,           know, but also challenged to grow                      *****
growing and seeking to grow all             deeper in our knowledge and un-
the while in the knowledge of Jesus         derstanding. The result is higher           It's a fast and furious world.
the Christ,  the  revelation of God.        thoughts of God, humble honesty         Somehow we have go to get  bqth
He will truly study. He will make           about  ;ourselves,  with reverence      feet off this world's treadmill and
notes-mental or written, of signifi-        and godly resolve to have our  liv-     walk more in the way of faith.
cant points of doctrine, and in-            ing  transformed according as our           Even the world tells us to "stop
sights into the practicalities of god-      musing minds have been. Musing          and smell the roses." It sings "slow
liness. He will have questions, and         and societies? Do you have musers       down, you move to fast." It knows
jot them down and ponder them.              in yours? These are the ones to         something is wrong,  and  that the
He will consult a concordance to            whom people of God listen. They         food is bad, and the pace is  dehu-
                                                                                                            >
engage in a meaningful word-con-            may not speak much. But when            manizing.          .`>.           .
cept study. He will read a good             they speak, pins could drop and be          Shall we not  listen  when God
commentary for further insight into         heard.    This is because when          speaks? Be still. Be believing. Be
the truth of the Word. He will rea-         musers speak they tend to muse          taken up with the gospel God has
son through the truth God has               aloud; they take us with them to        sent down. Be under no tyrant,
shown him.                                  the heights and to the depths.          now in these devilish  McDays.
        Which is close to what the Bible        One other thing. The  McAge         Shake off the yoke of lord Dollar!
calls "musing." Musing is also a            is me, me, me.  McSocieties  are        Come away from the breast of
vital means to attaining good Bible         filled with individuals spouting off    mother Earth! Resist the tyranny
societies. With musing I include            their views, hardly hearing or wait-    of the Urgent! Turn from the Gim-
meditation, contemplation, rumina-          ing to hear what others have to say.    mick, and from this Fix and that,
tion, pondering, calling to remem-          Good societies are promoted by our      unto the living God!
brance, and the like. Musing is a           appreciating  these  means of grace:        As  societies  of the people of
holy speaking to oneself of the             other Spirit in-dwelt people. They      God! As people of God who search
things of God. It is taking the re-         are places where pray-ers have          the Scriptures together! Blessed
ceived food, the Word of God, and           prayed in love and thanks for the       fellowships! Shall we not have
thoughtfully chewing on it for a            brother and so when in society          them, my friends? For such an age
good, long while, so that it is di-         with him they are eager to hear         as this? Preach, and drink preach-
gested properly, fully assimilated.         what he has to say. They are places     ing as panting deer. Pray. Study.
Musing is the opposite of being             where students of the Word do not       Muse. And come together in love.
amused.        Being amused is being        come to show off, but to learn to-      For good meals at the Bible societ-
stimulated by something so that we          gether with all the saints at Jesus'    ies. Meals of the covenant-home,
are entertained by it and feel good         feet. They are places where musers      the church of Jesus Christ. Such
about it. But musing is what we                                                     societies! Our kind of place!  Cl





Congregation Activities                         "June  7,1998  was the last ser-    soon as the Lord makes the way
          e include here some informa-      vice of the Trinity congregation in     clear.
          tion on the recently dis-         West Houston, Texas. The  consis-           "On July 1, the historic church
banded Trinity PRC in Houston,              tory passed the motion to disband       building was relocated, about a
Texas, provided thoughtfully by             on June 8, 1998. Pastor Mahtani         half-mile south to the LH7 Ranch,
Mrs. Trudi Hopkins, a member                and family moved that week to           which is a designated historic land-
there.                                      Michigan and another member fol-        mark in Texas. Our church build-
                                            lowed shortly thereafter. Three         ing joins the general store/post of-
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant    families remain waiting on the          fice, also rescued from demolition,
Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michi-      Lord. Our desire is to join with        that was part of Barker, a frontier
gan.                                        one of our fellow congregations, as     town which served the ranchers

47Sfitandard  Bearer/SeptembeM,     1998


                                                                                        Wyckoff, N.J. sponsored a lecture
                                                                                        on the subject, "Jesus Christ: The
                                                                                        Builder of the Church."


                                                                                        Young Peoples' Activities
                                                                                        This year's PR Young Peoples'
                                                                                            Convention was held July 20-
                                                                                        24 on the campus of Grand Valley
                                                                                        State University in Allendale, MI,
                                                                                        with the Southeast PRC in Grand
                                                                                        Rapids serving as host. The theme
                                                                                        of this year's convention was "Liv-
                                                                                        ing the Antithesis." Prof. D.
                                                                                        Engelsma, Rev. J. Laning, and Rev.
                                                                                        J. Mahtani were the speakers.
                                                                                        Hopefully the young people were
                                                                                        spiritually edified through the fel-
                          Trinity PRC becomes a historic landmark                       lowship and activities of that con-
                                                                                        vention.

and cotton growers of the area.  To-           classes for their young adults to
day there is not a town. The LH7               study the distinctives of our            Minister Activities
Ranch was, once a large cattle ranch           churches. They especially encour-                ev. J. Slopsema has received
which still breeds Texas  Long-                aged the attendance of seniors in                the approval from his doctor
horns, but on a much smaller scale.            high school and above who were           to begin working part time. He is
Perhaps the ranch will someday                 perhaps contemplating making             currently preaching once a Sunday
open to the public as a museum.                confession of their faith in the Lord    and will continue on that basis
    "The church building was built             Jesus Christ. Two of the topics cov-     through the end of the summer,
in 1949, replacing a run-down                  ered this past summer were "The          D.V.
church. The only salvageable items             Holy Walk of Life of a Reformed              A welcome was planned for
were the cathedral windows, which              Believer," and "Highlights of Re-        July 8 by our Loveland, CO PRC
were installed in the new church.              formed Theology."                        for the arrival of Seminarian Garry
    "Rev. Lubbers worked as home                   On July 12 Rev. A. Brummel           Eriks, his wife, Jen, and their
missionary in the Houston area in              was installed as the ninth pastor        daughter, Abbie. Mr. Eriks will be
the early 1960s and passed through             of the South Holland, IL PRC. Af-        serving his internship there
again in the early 70s to encourage            ter a couple weeks to settle in and      through the end of the year, under
the saints who were interested in              complete some prior commitments,         the care of Loveland's consistory
forming a congregation. The late               Rev. Brummel took up his labors          and pastor, Rev. G.  VanBaren.
Rev. R. Harbach began work in                  full time in South Holland, preach-          T h e   S o u t h w e s t   P R C   i n
Houston, and Trinity was orga-                 ing his inaugural sermon on July         Grandville, MI, as calling church
nized February  15,1977  under the             26 entitled, "And Pray for Me,"          for a home missionary to Pitts-
supervision of Hope PRC in                     based on Ephesians  6:18-20.             burgh, PA, formed a trio of the
Walker, MI. The people first met                   The consistory of the  Hudson-       Revs. A.  denHartog,  J. Mahtani,
in a community center. After about             ville, MI PRC has recently set up a      and R. Moore. On July 19 they
a year the building was purchased              voice-mail communication line to         extended a call to Rev. J. Mahtani.
from a Presbyterian church that                help keep their congregation bet-        He accepted that call and was in-
had been meeting in Barker since               ter informed and updated on the          stalled as missionary on Sunday,
1906.                                          sick in their congregation.      The     August 9.
     "To God be the glory. His                 phone number can be called 24
work will not return unto Him                  hours a day for up-to-date infor-                     ~ood~or  z7iought
void. It shall accomplish that                 mation provided by the families in-          "The nature of the divine good-
which pleases Him and it shall                 volved.                                  ness is not only to open to those
prosper in the thing whereto He                                                         who knock, but also to cause them
sent it (Is.  55:11)."                         Evangelism Activities                    to knock and ask."
     The consistory of the South               In late June the Evangelism Soci-                           -St. Augustine  R
Holland, IL PRC organized eight                  e t y of the Covenant PRC in

                                                                                            September  1,1998/standard   Bearer/479


                                                                                                                                      PERIODICAL
                                                                                                                                      Postage Paid af
   P.O. Box 603                                                                                                                       Grandville,
   Grandville,  MI  49468-0603                                                                                                        Michigan





     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
     The consistory and congregation of                    On August 23, 1998, our parents,                   On August  17th, we celebrated the 50th
Edgerton PRC express their Christian sym-                   JIM and CAROL SCHIMMEL,                           wedding anniversary of our parents and
pathy to Allen Hendriks in the death of              celebrated their  25"  wedding anniversary.              grandparents,
Allen's brother,                                     We thank God for the beautiful example                         MR. and MRS. CORNELIUS KAMPS.
           HENRY HENDRIKS.                           of a Christian marriage and a happy home                        We are thankful to our heavenly Fa-
     May the resurrection promise of I               you have given us. All the years of your                 ther for the faithfulness He has  shownus
Corinthians  1554,  55 comfort our Chris-            total devotion to us, raising us in our Chris-           through their love, covenant instruction,
tian brother's heart. "So when this cor-             tian schools, have indeed been a bless-                  guidance, and prayers. May our gracious
ruptible shall have put on incorruption, and         ing from God. May God continue His work                  God  continue  to bless them in their life
this mortal shall have put on immortality,           through you in the years to come.                        together.
then shall be brought to pass the saying                   "For I am persuaded, that neither                         "The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion:
that is written, Death is swallowed up in            death, nor life, nor angels, nor principali-             and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem
victory. 0 death, where is thy sting? 0              ties, nor powers, nor things present, nor                all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt
grave, where is thy victory?"                        things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor               see thy children's children, and peace
                           John Hilton, Clerk        any other creature, shall be able to sepa-               upon Israel" (Psalm  128:5, 6)
                                                     rate us from the love of God, which is in                Y%      Carey and Lois Kamps
                                                     Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans  8:38,   39-              9 Dave and  Karla  Kamps
                                                     wedding text).                                           63     Terry and Lavonne Kooienga
                    NOTICE!!                         x%    Erin and Sarah Windemuller                         #I     Jim and Sandra  Westing
     The Fall meeting of the Eastern Men's           9 Naomi Schimmel                                         @I     Dave and Ruth Gunnink
and Ladies' League will be held Tuesday,             &     James and Stacey  Schimmel                         9 Larry and Lynn  VanOverloop
                                                                                                              I% Jonathon and  Tricia  Kamps
September 22, at 8                                   8 Rebeka Schimmel
                           P.M.,  in Southwest                                                                          29 grandchildren
PRC. Rev. C. Hanko will speak on the                 ~58 Joseph Schimmel
                                                                                                                                          Grand Rapids, Michigan
topic: "The Spiritual Life of the Family                                            Grand Rapids, Michigan
after the Children are Grown." All Men's/
Ladies' Society members and anyone in-
terested in this topic are urged to attend.                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                           The Men's Society of Hope PRC
                                                     (Walker) expresses its sympathy to mem-
                    NOTICE!!                         bers Marinus Kamps and Dan  DeMeester                                        LECTURE
     The Annual RFPA Meeting will be                 in the death of their daughter-in-law and
held in Grace Protestant Reformed Church             sister-in-law,                                                            Grandville PRC
on September 24 at 8                                                    LISA KAMPS.
                                P.M.  Rev. Steven                                                                          Evangelsim Committee
Key will speak on the topic "Reading, Writ-          May they experience God's comfort as                                  will present a lecture by
ing, and Heretics." Also, election of new            they deal with the loss of this young                                 Prof. Russell Dykstra
board members will be held from a nomi-              mother.                                                                     on the topic
nation of John Buiter, Jon Engelsma, Dave                  "1 will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,                 "God's  Priceless  Gift-The Family"
Kamps, Ron Koole, Clare Kuiper (SW),                 from whence cometh my help. My help                                   September 25 at 8  P.M.,
Steve Langerak, Tom  Schipper,  and Matt             cometh from the Lord, which made heaven                            in Grandville Middle School
VanOverloop. Members and non-mem-                    and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to                              (former high school).
bers, young and old, men and women are               be moved: he that keepteth thee will not
invited to attend this meeting.                      slumber" (Psalm  121:1-3).
                                                                             John Buiter, President
                                                                       Michael Lotterman, Secretary

480/Standard  Bearer/September  1,199s


