Magazine


                                                                                In This Issue:
                     Meditation  - Rev. Steven R.  Houck
                               Remembering the Poor . ..*.........................*....................................,. 218
                     Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma
                              A Timely Question about  "Preterism" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
                     A Word Fitly Spoken  - Rev. Dale  H. Kuiper
                              Abound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224
                     Come, Lord Jesus  - Rev. Cornelius Hanko
                               Signs of the Times (2)
                               The Rise of False Christs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  225
                     Guest Article - Rev. Douglas  J. Kuiper
                               Judging: the Christian's Duty (3)
                               A Postive Explanation of This Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
                     That They May Teach Them to Their Children -  Miss Agafha  Lubbers
                               Establishing Schools to Provide
                               Reformed - Covenant Education (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*...*.....*..*. 230
                     Ministering to the Saints  - Prof.  Roberf  D. Decker
                               Visiting the Sick (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
                     Taking Heed to the Doctrine  -  Rev. Steven R. Key                                                                                                                       '
                               Confessing Our Lord (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
                     Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
                     Report of  Classis  East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238
                     "dews From Our Churches  - Mr. Benjamin  Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...* 239



Vol. 75, NO.  1U
February 15, 1999


                               Remembering the Poor

                                           Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I
                                           also was  forward  to do.
                                                                                                                              Galatians  2:lO



T                                                                      This is a situation which the                            upon our own strength and re-
           he Jerusalem council did not                         church will always face, for the                                sources. That fact obligates us to
           lord it over the apostle Paul                        poor are always with us. That was                               take care of the poor. James, Peter,
           and give him all kinds of or-                        true in the days of Moses. We                                   John, and the other leaders of the
ders. They did, however, ask him                                read, "For the poor shall never                                 church of Jerusalem understood
for one thing: that he would re-                                cease out of the land..."  (Deut.                               that. That is why the one thing they
member the poor of the churches                                 15:ll). That was true in the days                               requested of Paul was that he re-
of Jerusalem and  Judea. There had                              of Christ. He said, "For ye have                                member the poor. The apostle Paul
been a great famine- which devas-                               the poor always with you.. ." (Matt.                            also knew that. He proclaims,
t a t e d   t h e   p e o p l e .           P a u l   a n d     26:ll).  We live in a very affluent                             "...the same which I also was for-
Barnabas had already brought                                    society. Generally speaking, we                                 ward to do." The words "was for-
money from the church of Antioch                                have much more than people in                                   ward to do" mean "to exert one-
to help relieve that great need. But                            other lands. But there are still poor                           self, endeavour, give diligence."
there had been and still was much                               people in our midst and always                                  The apostle exerted himself. He
persecution of the church by the                                w i l l   b e .                                                 was very diligent in remembering
Jews, which left the churches of                                       God gives these needy families                           the poor. He saw to it that the Gen-
Jerusalem and  Judea  in great need.                            for a reason. We read, "I will also                             tile churches which he established
Thus there was a request for con-                               leave in the midst of thee an af-                               took collections for them.
tinued financial help for the relief                            flicted and poor people, and they                                        That is our calling too. God re-
of the poor in the church.                                      shall trust in the name of the LORD"                            quires us to remember the poor
                                                                (Zeph.  3:12). God leaves an af-                                with the same zeal as did the
                                                                flicted and poor people in the                                  apostle Paul. We may not neglect
Rev. Houck  is pastor of Peace Protestant
Reformed Church in Lansing, Illinois.                           church to remind us of the fact that                            them. God says in Deuteronomy
                                                                we are to trust in Him and not                                  15:7, "If there be among you a poor


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2  1 &Standard Bearer/February  15,1&99


man of one of thy brethren . , . thou    But we are especially to care for                   order to the churches of Galatia,
shalt not harden thine heart, nor        the poor of the church. Thus we                     even so do ye. Upon the first day
shut thine hand from thy poor            read, "As we have therefore oppor-                  of the week let every one of you
brother."                                tunity, let us do good unto all men,                lay by him in store, as God hath
    What does it mean to remem-          especially unto them who are of the                 prospered him, that there be no
ber the poor? First of all, it means     household of faith" (Gal.  6:lO). We                gatherings when I come" (I Cor.
that we have a good attitude to-         are to do good to the household of                  16:1-21.. Here the apostle gives in-
ward them. "The poor is hated            faith because this is a manifesta-                  structions to the church of Corinth
even of his own neighbour: but the       tion of our love of the brethren. We                to take collections on the Lord's
rich hath many friends" (Prov.           all belong to Christ, therefore we                  Day.
14:20).      The poor are often de-      are to care for each other.                                Thus we have the principle that
spised, not because of any evil in           There is also an obligation                     the church is to take benevolence
them, but just because they are          which the poor have in this mat-                    collections on the Lord's Day in the
poor. We may not do that. We             ter. They are not to be ashamed or                  worship service. The fact that these
may not be hard, cold, and indif-        afraid of accepting the help which                  collections are to be taken during
ferent toward the poor. Our call-        is offered to them. Sometimes we                    the worship service means that
ing is to have mercy and compas-         are proud. We don't want the help                   they~~are acts of worship. We give
sion for them.                           of others. We don't want anyone                     not to a poor person, but to God.
    Out of that attitude of mercy        to know our needs. This is wrong.                   While we give to God, we worship
we are to treat them well in gen-        No one who has true needs ought                     Him and thank Him for what He
eral. We are not to oppress them         to be afraid or ashamed to make                     has given to us.
or be hard on them. We are to            his needs known. The very fact                             When we give to the poor by
show kindness to them. That is not       that God commands us to care for                    giving to the benevolence collec-
always done. Sometimes favorit-          the poor implies that the poor are                  tions, we also support the office of
ism is shown to the rich because         not to be ashamed or afraid. Re-                    the deacon. For the deacons have
they have money. That is not right.      ceiving help is to be a blessing. It                the special calling to collect and
The poor are to be treated just like     is to be a means of receiving the                   distribute the alms. The advantage
everyone else, in spite of their pov-    mercy of Christ.                                    of this method is that the deacons
erty.                                        Besides that, we have God as                    go to the poor as representatives
    Out of that attitude of mercy        our example. He has in His heart                    of Christ, with the mercy of Christ.
we are also to give them financial       a very soft spot for the poor. God                  The poor are made to see that this
and material help so that they have      is merciful and compassionate to                    money is not from a person or even
what they need to live. "Jesus said      the poor among His people. He                       the church, but from Christ. It is a
unto him, If thou wilt be perfect,       takes care of them and helps them                   manifestation of Christ's compas-
go and sell that thou hast, and give     in their needs. We read, "For the                   sion and love for them.
to the poor, and thou shalt have         oppression of the poor, for the sigh-                      It is also proper for individual
treasure in heaven: and come and         ing of the needy, now will I arise,                 believers to give directly to the
follow me"  (Matt.  19121).  We are      saith the  LORD;  I will set him in                 poor. There are many passages of
not to be so attached to our money       safety from him that puffeth at                            Scripture which indicate this.
that we will not give help to the        him" (Ps.  12:5).  The Lord                                  "But  whoso  hath this world's
poor when we ought to, especially        hears the cry of the poor and                 No one         good, and seeth his brother
if we have been given much. It           needy. He fights against all                  who has         have need, and shutteth up
may be that the Lord gives us more       who oppress them. Since                      true needs        his bowels of compassion
than others just so that we can help     God so cares for the poor                    ought to be       from him, how dwelleth the
the needy. Even if we are not well       and needy, ought not we                       afraid or        love of God in him?"
off, we have an obligation to the        have the same compassion                      ashamed          J h 3 17). If we truly  10::
poor. Our money and possessions          and give of our prosperity                    to make          Good: we ought to be  will-
should not mean more to us than          to help them?                                                 ing to give to our poor
                                                                                       his needs
keeping Christ's command to care             T h e r e   a r e   t w o   b a s i c     known.          brother in his need. "If a
for the needy.                           means of giving to the poor.                                 brother or sister be naked,
    This obligation relates espe-        First of all, we are to give to                             and destitute of daily food,
cially to our brothers and sisters in    the poor through the official  be-                   And one of you say unto them,
the Lord. It is not that we may not      nevolence collections of the church.                Depart in peace, be ye warmed and
give to the relief of unbelievers. If    This is the way the apostle Paul                    filled; notwithstanding ye give
we have neighbors who are poor,          had the Gentile believers give. We                  them not those things which are
this is part of our calling to love      read, "Now concerning the  collec-                  needful to the body; what doth it
them and show kindness to them.          tion for the saints, as I have given                profit? Even so faith, if it hath not

                                                                                                    Febtvmy  15,1999/Standard  Bearer/279


works, is dead, being alone" (James        read, "Take heed that ye do not                      That is because the refusal to
2:15-17).  True faith, faith that is       your alms before men, to be seen                 care for the needy is a reproach of
not dead, will manifest itself in giv-     of them: otherwise ye have no  re-               the Lord. "Whoso  mocketh the
ing to the brother in his need.            ward of your Father which is in                  poor reproacheth his Maker..."
    There are several characteris-         heaven.     Therefore when thou                  (Prov.  17:5). If we mock the poor
tics of proper giving. First of all,       doest thine alms, do not sound a                 by not helping them in their need,
we are not to give grudgingly or           trumpet before thee, as the  hypo-               by that action we also mock God
of necessity. "Every man accord-           crites do in the synagogues and in               who made the poor and gave them
ing as he purposeth in his heart, so       the streets, that they may have                  to the church.
let him give; not grudgingly, or of        glory of men. Verily I say unto                      Not only that, our punishment
necessity: for God loveth a cheer-         you, They have their reward. But                 is great because by neglecting the
ful giver"  (II Cor.  9:7). When we        when thou doest alms, let not thy                poor we neglect Christ. Jesus said,
give of necessity, we give because         left hand know what thy right                      /`Then shall he say also unto
we have to. We know that it is             hand doeth: That thine alms                           them on the left hand, Depart
our calling, but we would rather           may be in secret: and thy  Fa-             We          from me, ye cursed, into  ev-
not give. We feel forced into giv-         ther which seeth in secret           are not           erlasting fire, prepared for
ing. When we give grudgingly we            himself shall reward thee           to open             the devil and his angels: For
give in sorrow, pain, grief, or an-        openly"  (Matt. 6:1-4). The         our hand            I was an  hungred,  and ye
noyance. We weep within our-               Pharisees sought after the        just enough           gave me no meat: I was
selves because we have lost some           glory of man, so they gave            to let            thirsty, and ye gave me no
of our money. This kind of giving          their gifts in the streets            out a             drink: I was a stranger, and
is not truly giving, even though we        where all could see them.            little.           ye  took me not in: naked, and
put money in the collection plate.         They even had their servants                          ye clothed me not: sick, and
    Rather we are to give cheer-           blow trumpets to let the people                     in prison, and ye visited me not.
fully and from the heart. Even             know that they were going to give.               Then shall they also answer him,
though we know that giving is re-          We may not give that way. We                     saying, Lord, when saw we thee an
quired by the Lord and  isthere-           are to give for God's glory and not              hungred,  or  athirst, or a stranger,
fore something which we ought to           our own. Therefore, we ought to                  or naked, or sick, or in prison, and
do, we do it because we want to.           give in secret.                                  did not minister unto thee? Then
We do it because we love our Lord.             Whether we faithfully give or                shall he answer them, saying,
It does not cause us pain. We are          neglect our calling, there will be               Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as
happy about it and rejoice in the          certain consequences. We read,                   ye did it not to one of the least of
opportunity to show our love of            "Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry              these, ye did it not to me"  (Matt.
God.                                       of the poor, he also shall cry him-              25:41-45).  By neglecting the poor
    In the third place we ought to         self, but shall not be heard"  (Prov.            we reveal that we are not true chil-
give liberally. " . . . Thou shalt open    21:13). If we do not hear the cry of             dren of God. We are only hypo-
thine hand wide unto thy brother,          the poor and help them, God will                 crites as the Pharisees were.
to thy poor, and to thy needy, in          not hear our cry for help. He will                   On the other hand, if we are
thy land"  (Deut.  15:ll). We are not      be just as hard and unconcerned                  faithful in this calling, there is a
to open our hand just enough to            as we are. "Hear this, 0 ye that                 reward for us. There is a reward
let out a little. We are to open wide      swallow up the needy, even to                    for us as individuals. Jesus said to
our hands. We are to give to him           make the poor of the land to fail.. . .          the rich man that if he would sell
in abundance.       Our generosity         The  LORD  hath sworn by the excel-              all that he had and give it to the
ought to be based upon the Lord's          lency of Jacob, Surely I will never              poor he would have treasures in
generosity to us. He was so liberal        forget any of their works.... Shall              heaven. That is true of us too. We
in His giving to us that He gave           not the land tremble for this, and               may not have much on earth, but
His only begotten Son. We may              every one mourn that dwelleth                    we will have a whole treasure chest
not be stingy.       Remember the          therein? and it shall rise up wholly             full of jewels in heaven. We will
words of II Corinthians  9:6, "But         as a flood; and it shall be cast out             have all the spiritual blessings and
this I say, He which soweth spar-          and drowned, as by the flood of                  gifts given to us by Jesus Christ.
ingly shall reap also sparingly; and       Egypt" (Amos  84, 5, 8). This is                 However, we do not have to wait
he which soweth bountifully shall          the judgment which the Lord                      for heaven to be rewarded for giv-
reap also bountifully."                    brings upon a congregation that                  ing to the poor. We have a reward
    Finally, we are to give to the         swallows up the needy. He sends                  here and now. Jesus said, "It is
poor without ostentation. We are           a flood, as it were, which will de-              more blessed to give than to re-
not to show off when we give, or           stroy that people and bring them                 ceive" (Acts  20:35). The poor re-
boast in how much we give. We              to mourning.                                     ceive a wonderful blessing by  re-

220/3andard  Bearer/Februq  15.1999


ceiving the mercies of Christ, but        own midst, there is manifested the          congregations who have needy
those who give receive even more          communion of the saints and the             people, the unity of the body of
of a blessing.                            brotherly love which exists among           Christ is manifested. The  congre-
    The same is true of the church        all the members. There is unity,            gations are made to feel more and
as a whole. The congregation              peace, and contentment, for God's           more that they belong to that one
which helps the poor will also be         mercies are seen in her midst.              spiritual body to which all of God's
richly blessed of the Lord. When a        When a congregation helps other             people belong. That is a great  re-
congregation helps the needy in her                                                 w a r d .   0





                            A Timely Question
                            about 64Preterism99

                                          Response                                    dead, a final judgment, and a cata-
                                                                                      clysmic destruction of the present
                                          What "Preterism" is                         creation in the future on the basis
                                              Your question is timely.                of any prophecy of Scripture is mis-
A                                             "Preterism" is a heresy that, as-       taken. All is past.
            reader has asked about        tonishingly, is creeping into Re-               Hence, "preterism." The term
           "preterism." The question      formed and Presbyterian churches.           itself derives from a Latin word
           is occasioned by the series    That it does so is largely due to           meaning `past.'
of editorials defending (Reformed)        postmillennial Christian  Recon-                Basic to the heresy is its inter-
amillennialism  (Standard Bearer,         structionism. Against this error I          pretation of Matthew 24 as refer-
Jan. 15, 1995  - Dec. 15, 1996). The      was fighting in the series of edito-        ring exclusively to the destruction
subject is worthy of editorial treat-     rials that occasioned your question,        of  *Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The
ment.                                         Your question is also timely be-        preterist insists that verse 34 is de-
    The question and my response          cause preterism is about time,  spe-        cisive for this interpretation: "This
follow.                                   ,cifically  the time of Jesus' second       generation shall not pass, till all
                                          coming, the resurrection of the             these things be fulfilled."
Question                                  dead, the final judgment, and the               Preterism also makes much of
                                          renewal of the creation.                    the fact that Scripture teaches that
    I have read your articles on              Preterism holds that the time           Jesus' coming is "near," or "at
amillennialism and have learned           of Jesus' second coming (Greek:             hand." Explaining this "nearness"
much. I have some dealings with           parousiu)  was A.D. 70. The second          in terms of a very brief period of
people who hold to a postmil-             coming of Jesus was the destruc-            time according to man's standards,
lennial view. Lately, some people         tion of Jerusalem in that year.             preterism concludes that the New
have come to our church who hold          Preterism holds that the second             Testament predicted the coming of
to a preterist view. Do you know          coming of Christ promised in Scrip-         Christ within 40 years at the most.
much about this view? Do you              ture was  exclusively  the destruction      This prediction was fulfilled in
know what good books or articles          of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. A.D. 70            A.D. 70. It was completely and ex-
I could read? They deny the sec-          was the end of the ages prophesied          haustively fulfilled in A.D. 70.
ond coming of Christ and many             by Scripture. Christ came then; the
other important truths. I hope that       dead were raised then; the final            Preterists
you can help me.                          judgment took place then; creation              A recent book promoting
                  Michael MC  Cullough    was renewed then.                           preterism is The Promise of His Com-
                           Ripon, CA          To expect a visible, bodily com-        ing: Interpreting New Testament
                                          ing of Jesus, a resurrection of the         Statements concerning the Time  of

                                                                                          Febrtmy15,1999/Standard   Bearer/221


Christ's Appearance  (Chicago:                         . . . whose day of doom was now                      No one can possibly fail to de-
Laudemont Press,  1996), by R. C.                      near at hand"  (p. 108). The re-             tect the false doctrine.
Leonard and J. E. Leonard. The                         newal of creation described in  Ro-                   Preterism destroys the Chris-
b o o k   c o n t e n d s   t h a t   a l l   t h e    mans  8:19-22 is not a coming de-            tian hope: the soon-coming of
eschatological prophecies of Scrip-                    liverance of the "irrational and in-         Jesus Christ our Lord in the body
ture have been fulfilled in the past,                  animate creation," but the libera-           to raise our bodies from the dead
in A.D. 70.                                            tion of groaning, "suffering and             and to take us unto Himself in the
                                                       down-trodden humanity" when                  perfected fellowship of the cov-
  Since the coming of Christ, as pre-                  "the whole visible fabric and frame          enant. With the scoffers of II Peter
  dicted in the New Testament                          of Judaism were swept away" in               3:4, it asks, "Where is the promise
  documents, has already taken                         the destruction of Jerusalem in              of his coming?" With Hymenaeus
  place, little scriptural basis exists                A.D. 70 (pp. 222-232).                       and Philetus, it says that "the res-
  for perpetuating the doctrine that                                                                urrection is past already" (II Tim.
  it still lies in the future (p. 216).                    The entire book of Revelation,
                                                       with the embarrassing exception of           2:18).
  We have presented the evidence                       the millennium of chapter 20,                         It is rejection of the Christian
  that the destruction of Jerusalem                    found its complete fulfillment in            hope with a vengeance. Nothing
  in AD 70 represents the fulfillment                  the destruction of Jerusalem (pp.            of our hope is left.
   of what the apostolic church knew                   362ff.).                                              Russell admits as much. Hav-
   as the promise of Jesus' coming                         Russell's preterism is consis-                ing annihilated the expectation of
   and the end of the age. The fu-                     tent. Every prophecy of Scripture                 Christ's coming on the part of the
   ture hope of today's church, there-                 about the coming of Christ and the                church and the Christian, he imag-
   fore, lies in another direction...  (p.
   219).                                               end of the world was fulfilled in                 ines his readers asking, "Whither
                                                       the destruction of Jerusalem in                   are we tending? What is to be the
   For today`s Christians, the last                    A.D. 70.                                          end and consummation of human
   days to which the New Testament                                                                       history?" Indeed! What are our
   refers lie in the past. Our task is                   We are compelled . . . to conclude              prospects? What were the pros-
   not to anticipate the end, but to                     that the Parousia, or second com-               pects of the believers and their chil-
   live in the new community inau-                       ing of Christ, with its connected               dren after A.D.  70?
   gurated by Jesus Christ  (p. 220).                    and concomitant events, did take                    Russell's answer?
                                                         place, according to the Saviour's                   "Scripture prophecy guides us
     Present-day preterism, includ-                      own prediction, at the period                     no further" (p. 549).
ing the teaching of the Leonards,                        when Jerusalem was destroyed,
                                                         and before the passing away of                          And, "Where nothing has
draws heavily from a book by the                         "that generation"  (p.  54%.                          been revealed it would be the
19& century Congregational writer,                                                         Preterism...         height of presumption to
James Stuart Russell. The book is                          As this quotation indi-         is rejection         prognosticate the future"  (p.
The Parousia: a Critical Inquiry into                  cates ("according to the                of  the           550).
the New Testament Doctrine  of  Our                    Saviour's own prediction";           Christian              God's Word leaves us
Lord's Second Coming.  A new edi-                      "passing away of `that gen-         hope with a           completely in the dark as
tion of this work, first published                     eration"`), Russell's inter-        vengeance.            regards the future.
in 1878, was published in 1996 by                      pretation of New Testament           No thing               The church and the be-
Kingdom Publications in Bradford,                      eschatology is squarely                 of our           liever are hopeless. Since
PA. The references that follow use                     based on his explanation of             hope is          we are saved by hope, ac-
this recent edition.                                   Matthew 24 as referring  ex-             left.          cording to Romans  8:24,
     According to Russell, the sec-                    elusively  to the  destruc%on of                      preterism strips us of salvation.
ond coming of Christ that is fore-                     Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Russell af-
told in I Thessalonians  4:13-17  and                  firms that the language of Matthew                The Preterism of
in II Thessalonians 1 and 2 hap-                       24 (and 25) "is not only appropri-                Christian Reconstruction
pened in A.D. 70 in the destruc-                       ate as applied to the destruction of                  This grievous heresy, postmil-
tion of Jerusalem (pp. 165-190).                       Jerusalem, but that this is its true              lennial Christian Reconstruction is
The resurrection of the dead prom-                     and exclusive application"  (p. 82).              promoting in Reformed and Pres-
ised in I Corinthians 15 happened                          This is heresy.                               byterian churches today, although
in A.D. 70 in the destruction of                           It is gross denial of the second              it claims to avoid full-blown, con-
Jerusalem (pp.  199ff.). The public,                   coming of Christ and, with it, the                sistent preterism. The close rela-
final judgment of Matthew 25:31-                       resurrection of the dead, the final               tionship between the fully devel-
46 is not the future, "final judgment                  judgment, and the renewal of the                  oped, consistent preterism of James
of the whole human race, but that                      creation of the heaven and the                    Stuart Russell and the Leonards on
of the guilty nation . . . of Palestine                earth.                                            the one hand and the less fully  de-

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veloped, inconsistent preterism of            plies exclusively to the destruction        second coming of Christ. To a  fu-
Christian Reconstruction on the               of Jerusalem, not at all to the  com-       ture coming of Christ, Christian
other hand is evident.                        ing of Christ in the future. Such is        Reconstruction pays lip service.
         The new edition of Russell's         the basic importance of the  proph-         The hope of Christian  Reconstruc-
The Parousia  features glowing rec-           ecy of Matthew  on the reckoning  of        tion is a carnal kingdom of earthly
ommendations of the book by Gary              everyone that if Jesus' eschatology         power, prosperity, and peace.
DeMar and Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.              has only the destruction of  Jerusa-               When the Leonards-consistent
DeMar writes: "Russell's  Parousia            lem in view the same is true of all         preterists-get around to telling us
takes the Bible seriously when it             the eschatology of the New  Testa-          why they have shoved all of New
tells us of the nearness of Christ's          ment. Matthew 24 is the  is-                              Testament eschatology into
return.. . . Reading Russell is a             sue. The interpretation of               The                the past, thus annihilating
breath of fresh air in a room filled          Matthew 24 is the  differ-        interpretation             the     e x p e c t a t i o n   o f
with smoke and mirror  herme-                 ence between the hope of                                      Christ's coming, this is
neutics." Although not agreeing               the Christian faith and           of  Matthew 24
                                                                                is the difference            what they say:
with all of Russell's conclusions,            the hopelessness of                   between
Gentry praises the book highly and            preterism. The four  ar-              the hope                 (This) provides the in-
confesses his own dependence on               titles in which I  exam-                                       centive for the church
it:                                                                                  of the
                                              ined, criticized, and  re-                                     militant, the followers
                                                                                Christian faith
                                              futed  J. Marcellus Kik's                                      of Jesus Christ  engag-
       I highly recommend this well-or-                                             and the
                                              preterist interpretation                                       ing the distortions and
       ganized, carefully argued, and                                            hopelessness               inequities of a godless
                                              of Matthew 24 and then
       compellingly written defense of                                           of preterism.             culture, and laying the
                                              set forth the right explana-
       preterism to serious and mature                                                                    foundation for the-con-
       students of the Bible. It is one of    tion of the passage  were  the                            tinual reconstruction of soci-
       the most  persuasive and challeng-     heart of the series of editorials,                 ety according to the principles
       ing books I have read on the sub-      "A (Reformed) Defense of Amillen-                of God's covenant law. Christians
       ject of eschatology and has had a      nialism" (SB, April 1, April 15, May             have no biblical warrant for with-
       great impact on my own thinking.       1, and May 15,1996).                             drawing from this struggle in the
                                                  Second, Christian Reconstruc-                hope that Christ will appear,
DeMar and Gentry are mainstream               tion insists on explaining the New               sooner or later, to execute the
                                                                                               sanctions of the end. The last days
champions of Christian Reconstruc-            Testament's teaching that the com-               have come and gone, leaving the
tion.                                         ing  of Christ is "near" and "at                 church on earth where Christ in-
         Also, the Leonards, consistent       hand" as meaning that Christ                     tended it to be  (The  Promise,  p.
preterists, appeal to Christian               would come in the second coming                  208).
Reconstructionist David Chilton in            within a few years, that is, in the
support of their consignment of the           destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.               Sound familiar?
whole of the book of Revelation to            If this is, in fact, what is meant by              The carnal kingdom of "Jewish
the past  (The Promise,  p. 156).             "near," "at hand," and "quickly,"           dreams"!
         In addition, the reading of          Christ came in A.D. 70, and every-                 Christian Reconstruction is
Russell's  The Parousia  brings to            thing connected with His coming,            committed, willy-nilly, to the  full-
light the dependence of the Chris-            e.g., the resurrection, took place at      blown, consistent preterism that
tian Reconstructionists on Russell            that time in the past. Scripture's          strips the church and the Christian
for their interpretation of  suchpas-         prophecy of the end has been ful-           of all hope and all salvation.
sages as II Thessalonians 2 and the           filled. It has been fulfilled com-                 The gospel of hope is Re-
entire book of Revelation.                    pletely. It has been fulfilled com-        formed, amillennial, biblical
         As for the protest by Christian      pletely in the destruction of Jerusa-      eschatology.
Reconstruction that it wants to re-           lem. There is no further revelation                Jesus Christ is coming. He is
tain the hope of a future coming of           of any future coming.                      on the way now. He will come in
Christ and a future resurrection of               Third, Christian Reconstruction        the future. He will come person-
the dead on the basis of a few New            is committed to a consistent                ally, bodily, and visibly. He comes
Testament prophecies that still ap-           preterism, despite its protestations        quickly. His coming is near. We
ply to the church today, that is, that        to the contrary, inasmuch as the           live daily in the expectation of
it wants to hold an  "inconsistent            one, great good in the future that         Him. His coming is our hope.
preterism," three things make this            Christian Reconstruction has its                   Come, Lord Jesus!  Cl
impossible.                                   heart set on, looks forward to, and                                                  - DJE
         First, Christian Reconstruction      hastens toward is the earthly king-
teaches that Matthew  24:1-35  ap-            dom of its dreams. The hope of
                                              Christian Reconstruction is not the

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                                                        Abound
  Three things abound in this present world; yea, God's grace is.1 Because our God is the God of all
         four things abound. The sins of the ungodly. grace, this virtue abounds in quantity and excels in
         The wrath of God. The grace of God. And quantity! "And of his fulness have all we received,
 the good works of the righteous. The Hebrew and and grace for grace" (John  1:16).  Those who turn unto
 the Greek word both express abundance in quantity the Lord discover that "he will abundantly pardon"
 or excellence in quality. It is used in the declara- (Is.  55:7). That God's grace is greater than sin and
 tive, comparative, and superlative degrees. Some- death is shown in Romans  5:15: "For if through the
 times the word is translated abundance, abundant, offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of
 or abundantly.                                                       God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus
      Just as before the flood "the, wickedness of man Christ, hath abounded unto many." And: "They
 was great in the earth, and every imagination of the which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of
 thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ."
  6:5), so just before the end of the world "iniquity And: "But where sin abounded, grace did much more
  shall abound, and the love of many shall wax cold" abound" (Rom.  5:17,  20)! We are taught to pray to
  (Matt.  24:12). The wicked trust "in the abundance God, for He "is able to do exceeding abundantly above
  of their riches" (Ps.  52:7), but "a man's life consisteth all that we ask or think" (Eph.  3:20). God works all
  not in the abundance of things which he possesseth" things for our good, "that the abundant grace might
  (Luke  12:15). One of God's purposes with the law through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory
  was that where "the law entered the offense might of God" (II Cor.  4:15). The grace of our Lord is "ex-
  abound" (Rom.  5:20). The man whose besetting sin ceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ
  is anger "stirreth up strife, and a furious man Jesus" (I Tim.  1:14). God confirmed His promise to us
  aboundeth in transgressions" (Prov.  29:22). Surely with an oath because He was "willing more abun-
  the abounding lawlessness that we see today in ev- dantly to shew unto the heirs of the promise the im-
  ery area of society indicates to us that the end of the mutability of His counsel" (Heb.  6:17). With grace
  world is at hand.                                                   comes mercy; "according to his abundant mercy hath
      That God's anger, wrath, and sore displeasure (He) begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the res-
  abound is testified abundantly in the Scriptures. urrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (I Pet.  1:3).
  These terms are used hundreds of times in the Bible. Always this grace is in Jesus Christ, always it is par-
  More often, in fact, is the wrath of God mentioned ticular for the elect, always it produces fruit unto God.
  than is the love of God! How strange that so little is                  "A faithful man abounds with blessings" (Prov.
  heard concerning the wrath of God today! God's 28:20). Grace leads a man to "abound in hope" (Rom.
  wrath is not a blemish upon the Godhead, but it is 15:13). He "abounds in consolation, even as the suf-
  one of His perfections. His wrath is an aspect of the ferings of Christ abound in him" (II Cor.  1:15).  Though
  love which God has for Himself. It is an aspect of the Macedonians had great trials, "the abundance of
  His holiness which cannot countenance sin. It stands their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the
  related to the perfect jealousy that God demonstrates riches of their liberality" (II Cor.  8:2). The saints
  toward all those that oppose Him, for "the anger of "abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and
  the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to
  man" who walks in the imagination of his heart us" (II Cor.  8:7). Yea, they abound in every good
  (Deut.  29:19, 20). The anger of the Lord is great work (II Cor.  9:8).
  (Jer.  21:5), it is hot (Ex. 22:24), it smokes  (I%. 74:1), it          Because the child of God knows that the works he
  is fierce (I Sam.  28:18),  and at His wrath "the earth performs are themselves the evidence and the fruit of
  trembles" (Jer.  1O:lO).  The wrath of the Lord is ev- divine grace  - powerful, undeserved, saving  - he
  erlasting (John  3:36). It is constant, for "God is an- abounds in thanksgiving (Col.  2:7). And in the world,
  gry with the wicked every day" (Ps.  7~11).  It runs in where the foundations are being shaken, "he abounds
  generations, for "the curse of the Lord is in their in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as he knows that
  homes" (Prov.  3:33). Is there anything greater than his  labour  is not in vain in the Lord" (I Cor.  15:58).
  the wrath of the Lord?                                              God will use the labors of His people for much good
  Rev.  Kuiper is pastor  of  Southeast Protestant Reformed Church    in His kingdom, and when Jesus returns He will crown
  in  Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                         those labors with even greater grace.  CI

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                                                 Signs of the limes (2)
                 The Rise of False Christs

                                                 dispensation who have presented                         a common bond of fellowship and
   And Jesus answered and said unto              themselves as saviors or deliverers,                    talk of meetings to discuss uniting
them: Take heed that no man deceive              able to solve the problems of hu-                       together. They argue that there are
you. For many shall come in my                   manity. The Caesars, Alexander                          far more points of agreement than
name, saying, I am Christ; and shall             the Great, Napoleon, and Hitler                         of disagreement between them,
deceive many.                                    have attempted to gain world                            therefore the points of agreement
                       Matthew  24:4,5           power under the pretense of seek-                       should be stressed and the points
A                                                ing the good of all.                                    of disagreement ignored. There are
         s they were leaving the                       There have also been many  so-                    also those in Reformed circles who
         holy city Jesus' disciples              called religious leaders who                            consider the statement in our
         were deeply disturbed by                 claimed to have been sent of God.                      Heidelberg Catechism that refers to
the Lord's powerful indictment                    In a cloak of piety they have sought                   the mass as an accursed idolatry
upon Jerusalem and its inhabitants,               to bring about great revivals, at-                     to be too harsh, and who argue that
since He had declared in no uncer-                tempting to spread Christianity far                    it should therefore be removed.
tain terms that Jerusalem would be                and wide and thus "convert" the                            But the Roman Catholic Church
destroyed and Israel as a nation                  whole world.                                           has not changed as far as its fun-
would cease to exist. Likely they                      The apostle John writes in his                    damental doctrines and tenets are
were discussing all these things                  first epistle: "Little children, it is                 concerned. The pope is still wor-
among themselves, for when they                   the last time: and as ye have heard                    shiped by thousands wherever he
reached the Mount of Olives An-                   that antichrist shall come, even                       goes, even by many who profess
drew and Peter with James and                     now there are many antichrists,                        to be protestants. He is still a
John approached Jesus with the                    whereby we know that it is the last                    power that should not be ignored.
question: "When shall these things                time."                                                     There have been and still are
be? and what shall be the sign of                      At the time of the great Refor-                   many who call themselves evange-
thy coming, and of the end of the                 mation in the sixteenth century, our                   lists, but who seek nothing more
world?" (Matt.  24:3).                            fathers did not hesitate to brand the                  than their own popularity and
    Jesus gave them many signs, as                pope as the Antichrist. They did                       profit. Peter speaks of them in his
recorded in Matthew 24, among                     so because he calls himself the                        second epistle saying: "Through
which was the sign of false Christs               "Vicar of Christ," the successor of                    covetousness shall they with
(v. 24). These false Christs, Jesus               the apostle Peter. He maintains                        feigned words make merchandise
warned, will be very many and                     that Christ is bodily present in the                   of you: whose judgment now of a
very deceptive, and the Lord's dis-               Eucharist, so that those who par-                      long time lingereth not, and their
ciples must not allow themselves                  take of the wafer actually eat the                     damnation slumbereth not" (II Pet.
to be deceived.                                   body of Christ. He also maintains                      2:3).
    T h e   n a m e   C h r i s t   m e a n s     that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was                        It could not be said more em-
"anointed," that is, to be ordained               holy, and did not actually die but                     phatically. They are covetous, they
of and qualified by God to a cer-                 was taken up into heaven (the as-                      seek themselves, they are hirelings
tain task, in this instance to be the             sumption of Mary). He believes                         who break into the fold in order to
Savior of the world.                              t h a t   i n   h e a v e n   M a r y   i s   t h e    rob the sheepfold of God, to kill
    As Jesus foretold, there have                 Mediatrix, who intercedes with the                     and destroy the sheep. They speak,
been many throughout this present                 Son for those who pray to her.                         Bible in hand, the language of the
                                                       Today there are many in the                       Scriptures, yet they deny its most
                                                  Reformed church world who are                          fundamental truths. Often their
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the          ready to compromise with the Ro-                       lives are not in harmony with what
Protestant Reformed Churches.                     man Catholic Church. Some seek                         they profess to preach.

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    These so-called preachers em-          man, they depend on man for the                    time that God Himself gathers His
phasize love. Love is the solution         gathering of the church, or, as they               own unto Himself through Christ
to all the world's problems and to         say, "to win souls for Christ and                  and the Spirit of Christ by means
everyone's personal problems.              stars for their crown." They have                  of the pure preaching of the Word.
They campaign for brotherly love           a form of godliness, but deny the                              +++  +++  +++
among all peoples, languages, and          power thereof. They use choirs, so-
races. Yet they fail to see that all       loists, drama, and all sorts of pub-                   Take heed that no man deceive
true love is rooted in God, and that       lic entertainment to try to draw an                you! That is the warning that
we cannot love the neighbor un-            audience and save, if possible, the                Christ gives to the church through-
less we love God.                          whole world.            From such turn             out the new dispensation and most
    Especially in our day there is         away.                                              emphatically to us in these times.
also a strong influence of charis-              It must be stressed anew that                     Implied is that the end is not
matic movements of various sorts.          the power unto salvation is in the                 yet. God's counsel must be fully
The charismatics speak of the              Word of God, the holy Scriptures.                  carried out. But in our day it also
power of the Holy Spirit. They             God works through means, but that                  implies that the end is drawing
profess to be able to prophesy, to         means is always the pure preach-                   near, possibly much nearer than we
speak in tongues, to heal the sick,        ing of the Word. God is not de-                    realize.
and to cast out devils. Some main-         pendent upon man. Christ alone                         In the meantime we are called
tain that they have a special gift of      gathers His church. And He does                    to be alert, not to allow ourselves
the Spirit whereby they are able to        so through the preaching of His                    to be deceived. We must watch in
live sinless lives. While not claim-       Word and by the Spirit, who works                  prayer.
ing to be without sin, they insist         mightily in the hearts of God's                        As the end approaches, the
that the ability not to sin is there.      elect. Paul writes in I Corinthians                false church grows numerically and
    Even the Jesus of the Arminian,        1:23, 24: "But we preach Christ                    in power, while the true church is
and of all those who teach a free          crucified, unto the Jews a stum-                   called to come out from among her
offer and who proclaim a Savior            bling block, and unto the Greeks                   and be separate.
who died for all men and who is            foolishness; but unto them which                       The time is coming when the
dependent upon man's acceptance            are called, both Jews and Greeks,                  true church will undergo severe
to save, is not the Jesus of the Scrip-    Christ the power of God, and the                   persecution at the hands of the
tures. The Jesus of the Scriptures         wisdom of God." We read                                 false church. Then each must
laid down His life for His sheep,          in Luke 16:31:  "If they hear                                  take a stand for the truth
for those given to Him of the Fa-                                                       It
                                           not Moses and the  proph-                                       or be swallowed up by the
ther, the elect. He does not merely        ets, neither will they be                cannot                 powers of Antichrist. In
offer or attempt to save, but He ac-                                              be stressed
                                           persuaded, though one                                            that day there will be no
tually saves His own.                      rose from the dead."                 too emphatically            hypocrites in the church,
    Jesus warns His disciples and                                                 in our time
                                           And Romans  10:14, 15                                             for the persecution will
us that these false Christs are very                                               that God
                                           teaches:       "How then                                           demand that we are
deceptive.                                                                      Himself gathers
                                           shall they call on him                                             ready to give up all our
    They come as ministers or              in whom they have not                   His own                    possessions, even  mem-
preachers who profess to preach                                                  unto Himself
                                           b e l i e v e d ?   a n d   h o w                                  bers of our family and
the Word of God. But a true min-                                                 through Christ
                                           shall they believe in                                              o u r   o w n   l i v e s   f o r
ister is called of Christ to be His                                              and the Spirit
                                           him of whom they have                                              Christ's sake.
ambassador. He has but one mes-            not heard? and how                      of  Christ                      The true church
sage, the message of the King as                                                   by means
                                           shall they hear without                                            will be very small in
contained in the infallible Scrip-         a preacher? and how                       of the                  comparison with the
tures. He proclaims to the utmost                                               pure preaching
                                           shall they preach, except                                        multitudes who boast
of his power: "So saith the Lord."         they be sent?"                         of the Word.             that they are the  follow-
He is faithful, not to the whims of             Jesus Himself teaches                                     ers of Christ, yet their
man, but to his God. The Holy              us: "I am the good shepherd,                              Christ is actually Antichrist.
Spirit works through the pure              and know my sheep, and am                              There will be a mere remnant,
preaching of the Word, applying            known of mine. . ..And other sheep                 a mere 7,000, who do not bend
that Word to the hearts of God's           I have, which are not of this fold:                their knee to the beast. They will
people.                                    them also I must bring, and they                   be like a hut in the vineyard, a be-
    All the false teachers men-            shall hear my voice; and there shall               sieged city.
tioned above have one thing in             be one fold, and one shepherd"                         Jesus urges us: "Hold that fast
common: they preach a doctrine             (John  10:14,  16).          It cannot be          which thou hast, that no man take
that centers in man and appeals to         stressed too emphatically in our                   thy crown" (Rev.  3:ll).  0

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                                Judging:  the Christian's Duty (3)
                      A Positive Explanation
                                             of This Duty

I                                            would say that he first receives the     ing to God. This is because, al-
     n examining various Scripture           evidence against the accused, then       though all of us sin and deserve of
     passages which speak of judg-           weighs the evidence, and finally         ourselves to die on account of our
     ing, we concluded in the last ar-       expresses his conclusion regarding       sins,  Christ  bore the sentence of
ticle that God hates hypocritical            the innocence or guilt of the ac-        death for the sins of God's children,
judging, but loves righteous judg-           cused.                                   while He did not bear this punish-
ment on the part of His children.                The second main factor in-           ment for those who are not God's
In other words, it is the Christian's        volved in judging is that of sen-        children. God will sentence to ev-
duty to judge. To a positive expla-          tencing. If the judge finds the ac-      erlasting punishment those who
nation of this duty we now turn.             cused to be guilty of the crime, he      are not His children, and to ever-
                   *****                     sentences him to an appropriate          lasting life those whom Christ has
                                             punishment. If the judge finds the       redeemed.
        What is judging?                     accused innocent, he lets him go                          *****
        Judging involves two main fac-       free of punishment. To order the             What must we judge?
tors. First, it involves a pronounce-        release of the one who is acquitted          Some things we cannot judge.
ment concerning whether some-                is also a sentence: the innocent per-    Whether or not another person is
thing is right or wrong. It is to be         son deserves life.                       elect, or whether or not the faith
critical. In fact, the noun "judge"              In saying that the Christian         which he professes to have is genu-
in the New Testament of our King             must judge, we have in mind pri-         ine, is known only to God, and not
James Version is, in most instances,         marily the first sense of judging,       revealed to us (I Tim.  2:19). Some
the translation of the Greek noun            that of deciding what is right and       might object by saying that we can
kritees,  from which is derived our          what is wrong. All Christian judg-       indeed determine whether or not
English word "critic."                       ment involves such a determina-          the faith of another person is genu-
        In being critical, one does sev-     tion. However, only in some in-          ine, because we can judge by the
eral things. First, he observes an           stances will our duty to judge also      works which that person performs;
action or hears an opinion of an-            involve pronouncing a sentence.          for true faith brings forth good
other person. Second, he evaluates           For example, when a consistory ex-       works (James  2:18,  26), and good
what he has observed, considering            communicates an impenitent sinner        trees cannot bring forth bad fruit,
the positive and negative aspects            from the church, a sentence is pro-      nor bad trees good fruit (Matt.
or implications of the action or             nounced  - one of death, of life         218). However, in saying this, one
opinion. Third, he reaches a con-            apart from God, of exclusion also        must be sure that he is looking for
clusion and expresses an opinion             from heaven  (Matt.16:19).  Even in      fruit,  not simply for fruit to a de-
regarding whether that which he              such a case, this sentence is always     gree that not every child of God al-
has observed was good or bad. To              contingent on the sinner's contin-
use the example of a judge who                                                        ways bears it. For, while every
                                              ued impenitence. The consistory         child of God does indeed bear good
must adjudicate a criminal case, we           never pronounces it absolutely, be-     fruit, it remains a fact that every
                                              cause God is the ultimate judge         child of God also gives evidence of
                                              who gives a sentence. In many in-       the corruption of his sinful nature,
                                              stances, the Christian who judges       which remains in him until death.
Rev.  Kuiper is pastor of the Protestant
Reformed Church  of  Byron Center, Michi-     whether another's actions are right         Because we do not know the
gan.                                          or wrong must leave the sentenc-        hearts of others, we must not judge

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secret motives (I Cor.  4:5). God        5:lff.). In this regard we follow the      including the playing of profes-
will judge these.                        example of Jesus (Matt.  5:13ff.).         sional or collegiate sports, and in-
    We are also forbidden to judge       The standard of our judgment of            cluding the buying and selling of
others in things indifferent (Rom.       sin is the law of God, for Christ          merchandise, is wrong." He does
14). Should someone feel bound           commands us to judge "righteous            not tolerate these things. Further-
by conscience to do something            judgment" (John  224).  Judging sin,       more, he must be consistent in this
which I would not do, I may not          we must also separate ourselves            respect. He must judge as wrong
judge him to be wrong, so long as        from those in the church who per-          not only abortion and homosexu-
his actions are not clearly contrary     sist in their sins (I Cor. 5:13).          ality, but also the murder of ho-
to God's law. Whether or not we              Not only must we judge the             mosexuals and of those who per-
eat, we drink, or we regard a day        wrong teachings or sins of  others,        form abortions.  AZI  sin is wrong!
as holy, our choice must be moti-        but we must also judge our  own                He does the same with respect
vated by faith and love for the          sins and wrong thinking. The               to false doctrine. He judges as
Lord, and we must not condemn            warnings against hypocritical judg-        wrong the notion that Christ is not
the actions of others in matters that    ing certainly make the necessity of        the only savior. He denies that
are indifferent. In this connection,     doing this clear. How do our own           God's love will, in the end, prevail
Paul says in Romans  14:13: "Let us      actions measure up to God's law?           over His justice, and that every per-
not therefore judge one another any      How do our own ideas measure up            son will somehow be saved. He
more: but judge this rather, that no     to the teaching of Scripture? If they      repudiates the notion that Jews,
man put a stumblingblock or an oc-       do not measure up, what will we            Mormons, Buddhists, or other reli-
casion to fall in his brother's way."    do about it? Will we condemn our-          gious groups, have the truth apart
Paul's point is that we may not con-     selves, or continue in our sins, hold      from Christ.
demn the practice of the Christian       to our wrong ideas, and insist that            The church as a whole must
brother as wrong just because we         the standard is faulty?                    also judge, through her  office-
would not do it that way.                                 *****                     bearers (pastors, elders, deacons).
    Positively, we must judge                This duty to judge falls both on       In the preaching of God's Word by
whether the practices or teachings                                                  the pastors, she must set forth the
of others are in accordance with the     individual believers and on the
                                         church as a whole.                         truth over against the lie, the right
law and Word of God.                         It falls on individual believers,      way of living over against the
    That we must beware of false         because they are                           wrong way. On the basis of the
prophets has already been pointed                              Christians.  This    Word, the pastor must judge right
out  (Matt.  7:15). We must "believe     title indicates that we are partak-
                                         ers of the anointing of Christ  -          to be right and wrong to be wrong.
not every spirit, but try the spirits                                               In the work of church discipline
whether they are of God: because         that we are prophets, priests, and
                                         kings. Particularly as king we fight       which the elders are called to ex-
many false prophets are gone out         against sin and Satan in this life         ercise, sin is judged. A member
into the world" (I John  4:l). We        (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 32).            who commits gross sin against the
must guard against those deceiv-         One aspect of the work of a king is        law of God must himself judge it
ers and antichrists "who confess         to judge, both within and without          to be sin, confess it, and repent of
not that Jesus Christ is come in the     his kingdom. Within, he judges             it. Elders must judge and disci-
flesh"; and we must not receive          whether or not his subjects have           pline those who fail to confess their
into our houses those who teach          obeyed his laws.          Without, he      sin and who remain impenitent.
false doctrine (II John 7, 10). All      judges (discerns) who is the enemy,        The elders must also guard the pul-
of these texts speak of our duty to      and fights the enemy. So the Chris-        pit by subjecting the pastor's
distinguish the truth from the lie.      tian, as king, judges sin within him-      preaching to the test of Scripture,
Our standard in this regard is           self as well as outside himself to         and calling the preaching heretical
Christ and Scripture, for Christ is      be sin, and fights against sin and         if it is that. That the church must
the truth (John  14:6), and God's        Satan.    The Christian, believing         judge is evident from I Corinthians
Word is truth (John  17:17). After       child of God will not hesitate to          5, in which Paul commands the
the Christian understands clearly                                                   church to judge the sinner, and if
what is truth and what is not truth,     judge as wrong and speak out
                                         against the immorality which               need be to remove him from her
he must confess the truth and op-        plagues our society today. Using           midst.
pose the lie, as well as ally himself    the Bible as his standard, he will                         ***+*
with other believers and separate
himself from deceivers.                  say, "All murder, including that of            Though it is clear that it is our
                                         abortion, is wrong. All fornication,
    Our duty with regard to the ac-                                                 duty to judge, the question of  how
                                         including that of homosexuality, is
tions of others is also clear. We                                                   we judge is important.
must judge sin to be sin (I Cor.         wrong. All Sabbath desecration,               To judge by using a standard

22SjWndard  Bearer/February 15.1999


other than the law and Word of              The chief incentive is our love       ance that God's condemnation will
God is wrong. Using the standard        for God. In love for Him we must          not come upon us on account of
of God's Word, we judge sin to be       defend His Word and law. To fail          our judgment, and with the com-
sin, knowing we are right even if       to judge sin is to condone sin. But       fort that the world's condemnation
society accuses us of intolerance.      God does not condone sin; rather,         of us for judging righteously actu-
Our judgment will then be in ac-        He hates it! To condone abortion,         ally serves their own condemnation
cord with God's judgment in the         homosexuality, and false teaching         in the day of Christ.
Judgment Day, because He will           is to deny the Word of God and                So my prayer for you, dear
also use His law and Word as His        show hatred for God Himself.              reader, is the same as Paul's prayer
standard of judgment. (Remember,            Second, and related to the first,     for the Philippians  (1:9-11): "And
that in this case we are not speak-     is the fact that we will stand in         this I pray, that your love may
ing of pronouncing a sentence  -        judgment. God will judge us ac-           abound yet more and more in all
i.e., heaven or hell  - but we are      cording to our works, whether they        knowledge and in all judgment;
speaking of whether or not God          be good or evil. To judge evil to         that ye may approve things that are
will find a certain teaching or ac-     be good in this life will surely bring    excellent; that ye may be sincere
tion to be right or wrong).             upon us His judgment of condem-           and without  offence  till the day of
    To judge hypocritically is          nation and everlasting destruction.       Christ; being filled with the fruits
wrong. We ought to judge others         To judge evil to be evil will bring       of righteousness, which are by
only after examining ourselves          upon us His judgment of innocence         Jesus Christ, unto the glory and
first. This does not mean that we       and everlasting life  - not because       praise of God."  Cl
may not judge another for a sin         we have earned it by our good
which we once committed; rather,        judgment, but because our good
it means that we must be sure we        judgment is evidence that His
have completely turned from our         Spirit works in us all the blessings
sin before we can speak to others       of salvation, one of which is the
of their sin  (Matt. 7:1-5).            privilege of testifying to the truth.
    Sometimes, in pride, we imag-           Third, we are motivated to                         It is Good
ine that we would never commit          judge by our desire for the salva-
the sins which we judge in others.      tion of our neighbor. We desire
At other times we judge rashly, not     his repentance! We desire his sub-           New dawns the Day
having examined the evidence            mission to the will of God! We de-              and it is good.
carefully enough to know whether        sire his speaking the truth as God            A Bud springs forth
or not a real sin has been commit-      revealed it! So we judge his sin as             From Aaron's wood.
ted. Or we might judge in igno-         sin, that he might repent. Paul in-           Incense perfumes
rance, judging the actions or ideas     structs us regarding this, when he              the prayer-filled bower.
of others as wrong simply because       says that the goal which the                  High noon commends
they differ from what we have al-       Corinthians must desire in exclud-              the open Flower.
ways thought to be right, without       ing the fornicator from their fellow-         And when the Wind
evaluating whether our own              ship is the salvation of his spirit in          its pollen stirs,
thoughts are in accord with Scrip-      the day of Christ (I Cor. 5:5).               True justice and
ture. All such judgment is wrong.                                                       true love concur.
                                                        *****
    Proper judgment must be car-                                                      The Flower fades,
                                            Let us then judge righteous
ried out in a spirit of humility, in                                                    but not to mourn:
                                        judgment! Persist in doing so!
mercy and readiness to forgive,                                                       The essence of
                                            Such judgment will surely
and in accordance with God's law.                                                       the Seed is born!
                                        bring upon us the ridicule not only
It requires us to remember that we                                                    The rip'ning Fruit
                                        of the world, but also of many who
too shall stand before the judgment                                                     `neath ev'ning's hood,
                                        call themselves Christians. It could
seat of Christ. It is also done with                                                  Is tasted and
                                        bring upon us the contempt of
authority and boldness, for God                                                         finds it is good.
                                        brothers or sisters, parents or chil-
calls us to do it, makes us partak-     dren, friends and loved ones! To
ers of Christ's anointing in order                                                                     Connie L. Meyer
                                        judge righteous judgment will not
that we might do it, and gives us       make things easy for us in this life.
His Word as the standard by which       It didn't for Christ  - it brought
to do it.        ****+                  Him to the death of the cross.
                                            However, we must persist in
    We have several incentives to       judging righteously, with the assur-
carry out this duty.

                                                                                      February  75,1999/standard   Bearer/Z29


                Establishing Schools to Provide
      Reformed - Covenant Education (2)

T                                              others wanted them to be, he was         garding the establishing and main-
           he first article in this series     in favor of using the schools that       taining of the Christian school, i.e.,
           initiated an endeavor by this       existed and also advised working         the Protestant Reformed Christian
           writer to uncover and review        for improvement in these schools.        school, have not changed or disap-
the background for the develop-                He realized, however, that because       peared. For this reason those who
ment of the Protestant Reformed                of ideological and theological dif-      are responsible for the planning
Christian Schools. (Cf. Standard               ferences that came to expression in      and establishing of these schools
Bearer, November  15,199g.j                    the 1920s during the debates con-        should study the writings of the
    During the first twenty-five               cerning Abraham Kuyper's com-            past, particularly some of those
years of the existence of the Prot-            mon grace ideology and theory and        written during the early days of the
estant Reformed Churches, most of              his world-view, resulting in the for-    PRC.
the parents in the PRC enrolled                mation of the PRC, this was an im-               +++  +++  +++
their children in schools which had            possibility. Therefore, during the
been established primarily by par-                                                          We stated in the previous ar-
                                               very early years of the existence of     ticle, published November  15,1998,
ents who were members of the                   the PRC he began to write about          that the first of more than 300 ar-
Christian Reformed Church. When                the necessity for Protestant Re-         ticles published in the 
I began school in the  193Osmy  PR                                                                                  Standard
                                               formed Christian Schools.
friends and I attended the Pella,                                                       Bearer  regarding Christian educa-
                                                   In this article and subsequent       tion was the text of a sermon by
Iowa Christian School. Later I at-             articles I continue a review and         the late Herman Hoeksema when
tended the Christian school of                 summary of several early articles        he was still a pastor in the CRC in
Randolph, Wisconsin, located at                that appeared in the Standard Bearer
that time in a diminutive farm vil-                                                     Holland, Michigan. More careful
                                               concerning education. I contend          research indicates that the number
lage called East Friesland, Wiscon-            that the articles by our early lead-
sin. At that time only one school                                                       is nearly 400 articles and that this
                                               ers were a significant and effective     article was not the first. This ser-
established by members of the                  means employed by God to con-            mon, published September  1,1927,
Protestant Reformed Churches ex-               vict and convince our people that
isted-the First Reformed Christian                                                      Volume 3, pages 532-536, was pre-
                                               the development of Protestant Re-        ceded by three articles by Rev.
School of Redlands, California. We             formed Christian schools was a ne-
will have more to say about the his-                                                    G.M. Ophoff concerning schools.
                                               cessity and that this was the call-      These articles, entitled "Dr.
tory of the Redlands school and the            ing of the parents and grandpar-         Clarence Bouma's New Platform,"
rest of the PR schools in future ar-           ents. This began as early as the         were published in the same volume
ticles.                                        1930s and continued in the 1940s
     It should be noted that Herman                                                     (Nov. 1, 1926, pp. 62-67; Nov. 15,
                                               and early 1950s. That this calling       1926, pp. 80-85; Dec. 1, 1926, pp.
Hoeksema was not in favor of                   and desire has not changed is ob-
withdrawing children from the                                                           117-l 19). They are a painstakingly
                                               vious when we observe PR parents         thorough, thoughtful, and lengthy
Christian schools and sending them             continuing to develop our schools        series of articles analyzing and cri-
to the public schools. Even though             and make plans to establish addi-        tiquing a speech by Dr. Clarence
the Christian schools were not as              tional schools, particularly high
Reformed in fundamental prin-                                                           Bouma at a meeting of the National
                                               schools, in which efforts will be ex-    Union of Christian Schools Con-
ciples and basis as Hoeksema and               pended to provide the best instruc-      vention in Chicago, Illinois, Au-
                                               tion and education possible for          gust, 1926. Dr. Bouma was one of
                                               children and young people.               several speakers at the Convention,
Miss Lubbers is a member  of  First Protes-        It will also become very appar-      and his speech was one of ten lec-
tant  Reformed  Church in Grand Rapids,        ent that the fundamental issues re-
Michigan.                                                                               tures that were published in a

230ptndard Bearer/Februmy  75.7999


booklet bearing the title Educational     ter of the Christian school move-           and exhibit, please, the content of
Convention  Papers.  The, speech by       ment cannot be maintained if the            this more inclusive Calvinism. Dr.
Professor Bouma was entitled "Can         cooperation of all Christians, even         Bouma avers that it is difficult to
                                                                                      state in final form and in a defi-
the Distinctive Character of the          those denominated "orthodox," is            nite complete set of propositions
Christian School be Maintained if         solicited.                                  what that distinctive view of life
we Solicit and Obtain the Coopera-            Dr. Bouma's description of the          really is. Great spiritual principles
tion of all Orthodox Christians?"         difference between those who  do            and realities, says the doctor, of-
Bouma contends that schools               and those who do not wish to widen          ten elude our grasp.
should reach out beyond the Re-           and generalize the platform of our
formed and CRC community and              schools hinges on the question:            Ophoff tellingly concludes:
include all "orthodox" Christians.        "Just what does each consider es-
    I intend to quote extensively         sential and accidental in the plat-         That is true, and therefore I would
from the three articles by Rev.           form upon which our school sys-             recommend that we permit the
                                                                                       Christian school to continue on its
George M. Ophoff. It is worthy of         tem stands?"                                 present distinctly Reformed plat-
note that the speech was given only           In his critique Ophoff quotes a          form until Dr. Bouma succeeds in
two years after the deposition of         paragraph from Bouma which                   grasping and defining these great
Herman Hoeksema, George M.                Ophoff describes as wordplay but             spiritual principles and realities.
Ophoff, and others from office in         which quote at the same time il-
the CRC and that Dr. Bouma was            lustrates the basic belief and con-            The expressed desire in the
one of those who recommended              tention of Clarence Bouma.                 speech by Dr. Bouma was that a
that these men be deposed from of-            Our platform must be distinc-          certain number of distinct groups
fice in the church.                         tive, but it must in no sense be         of orthodox Christians should be
    Although the articles of Rev.           ecclesiastical. The doctrinal stan-      enabled to cooperate in the matter
Ophoff and others writing in these          dards of this or that denomination       of Christian instruction. Dr.
early days are unfamiliar to many           are not to be taught in our schools.     Bouma also insisted that the groups
of us, they are part of that legacy         What should be taught is that spe-       must retain their distinctiveness.
with which we should become fa-             cific world and life view, which             Bouma is forced to ask,
miliar. We should know how im-              we commonly call Calvinism, and
                                            Calvinism in this sense is bigger,
portant the cause of distinctive Re-                                                   Does this mean we are introduc-
                                            more inclusive, and a differently
formed education was to the men                                                        ing ecclesiastical divisions into
                                            articulated thing than the particu-
who were cast out of the CRC.                                                          what ought to be a united Chris-
                                            lar standards of any denomina-             tian school movement? Does this
What they wrote was not the re-             tion. Calvinism in this sense is           mean that we say to all that do
sult of mere contentious feelings,          not one of many church creeds; it          not belong to a Reformed or Chris-
but they were sincere arguments             is fundamental Christianity come           tian Reformed church: "You can-
that were important for the cause           to its fullest and richest expres-         not join hands with us"? Does
of good Christian education and             sion in present-day thought and            this mean that we demand of
are therefore still significant for an      life. To be sure, its theological im-      Christians not belonging to these
understanding of the purpose and            plications are expressed in vari-          denominations that they shall oc-
                                            ous creeds of the Reformed and
goal of Reformed schools.                                                              cupy with us the platform of the
                                            the Presbyterian Churches, but
    Some readers will certainly rec-                                                   creed of our particular denomina-
                                            Calvinism as a world and life view         tions? Far from it. . . . But if some
ognize that the question of inter-          is not an ecclesiastical standard.         err on the one side by failure to
denominational schools continues            Calvinism in its fundamental im-           be distinctive, it cannot be denied
to be an issue in many communi-             plications is nothing but Christian        that we are at times in danger of
ties and schools.                           Theism come to its own. Taken              falling into the other extreme of
        +++  +++  +++                       in this sense Calvinism is not ex-         making the Christian school
                                            clusive in relation to the stand-
     Rev. Ophoff begins his critique                                                   movement ecclesiastical, denomi-
                                            point of ecclesiastically non-re-          national. This is likewise a mis-
(confer  SB Nov. 1, 1926,  pp. 62-67)       formed fellow Christians. It is in-        take.... The Christian school is not
by stating that a better title for the      clusive.                                   a denominational affair.
speech would have been "How can
the Distinctive Character of the               To  all of this Rev. Ophoff               Ophoff offers the following as
Christian School be Maintained if         writes as follows:                         the fundamental question proposed
we Solicit and Obtain the Coopera-             . ..What is that Calvinism which      by Dr. Bouma to the audience of
tion of all Orthodox Christians?"           is a bigger, a more inclusive, and       educators.
Implicit in this suggested change            differently articulated thing than
is the belief and opinion of Rev.            the particular standards (creeds,         How can we maintain the distinc-
                                                                                       tiveness of our Christian schools
Ophoff that the distinctive  charac-         AL) of any denomination? Define           and obtain, in the matter of Chris-

                                                                                          February  15,1999/iGtandard   Bearer/231


   tian instruction, the cooperation of      which it differs and yet remains          Christian school system can be re-
   various non-reformed Christian            what it is. In other words, Dr.           duced to two propositions. The
   groups, which groups shall, even          Bouma will explain to the group           first pertains to the method, the
   though they cooperate, maintain           of educators how the impossible           "hewn  of this school training. The
   their distinctiveness?"                   can be done.                              second pertains to the content, the
                                                                                       "what" of this school training.
     Ophoff continues in his expli-            Ophoff provides an answer to            And in reply to the "what" of this
cation and analysis of the proposal        the question by declaring:                  school training I would say: The
by Bouma as follows:                                                                   Calvinistic outlook upon the
                                             . ..These non-reformed groups             world and attitude toward God
   Did the doctor actually succeed in        must become Reformed or we                and fellow man forms the warp
   solving the problem? He did not.          must cease to be Reformed rela-           and woof of all instruction and
   The problem cannot be solved.             tive the platform which is to serve       training. Does this mean that we
   Let us be thoroughly aware of the         as a basis for the Christian school.      are introducing ecclesiastical divi-
   implications. The distinctive char-                                                 sions into what ought to be a
   acter of the platform upon which            Ophoff observes, however, that          united Christian school move-
   our Christian schools rest must be      Dr. Bouma has another solution.             ment? Far from it. The doctrinal
  maintained. The non-reformed             He would place the Christian                standards of this or that denomi-
  groups, whose cooperation is                                                         nation are not to be taught in our
  sought, shall also maintain their        school upon a vague, neutral, in-           schools.
   distinctiveness. Yet their coopera-     definite, indistinct, colorless plat-
   tion must be obtained and that on       form that expresses the doctrinal
  the basis of a platform constituted      distinctiveness of no group.                  Concerning this Ophoff writes:
  of those essential elements expres-      Bouma's paper clearly indicates             It is plain that Dr. Bouma is let-
  sive of our distinctiveness. Let me      that this is the very thing he wants.       ting the terms essential and non-
  repeat: it cannot be done. It will       To prove the point we are asked to          essential apply to the  trufh....  It
  never happen. It ought to be plain       attend to the following by Bouma:           is the Calvinistic outlook upon the
  why it cannot be done. If certain                                                    world and attitude toward God
  non-reformed groups agree to co-             Let us maintain unwaveringly            and his fellow man that forms the
  operate with us on the basis of a          whatever is really fundamental,           warp and woof of all instruction
  platform constituted of these es-          essential, distinctive in the basis       and training. The pedagogue, la-
  sential elements expressive of our         of our Christian school system as         boring in the Christian school,
  distinctive character, it means that       we have it. But, you immediately          shall teach Calvinism. Not that
  they have embraced those ele-              interpose, precisely what is essen-       Calvinism of which our creed is
  ments responsible for our distinc-         tial, fundamental, and distinctive        an expression, but a bigger, more
  tiveness. In other words, they will        in our Christian school system?           inclusive Calvinism  - Calvinism
  have become like unto us. For Dr.          This is the crux of the matter. Ul-       in a sense in which it is not a
  Bouma will have to concede that,           timately the issue between those          church creed.. . .
  in general, parents want their chil-       who do, and those who do not
  dren taught only those things              wish to widen, to generalize the            Bouma contends that although
  which they, the parents, them-             platform of our schools hinges on       many understand that the school
  selves believe. I repeat, if parents       the question, as to just what each      is to be neither a church school nor
  of non-reformed faith agree to co-         considers essential and accidental
  operate on the basis of our dis-           in the platform upon which our          a denominational affair,  many have
  tinctive platform it is because such       school system stands today.             the  idea that the only basis that
  parents have changed their reli-                                                   ought to be expressed in the con-
  gious views and are now at one               Ophoff notes that Dr. Bouma           stitution of our organizations must
  with our distinctive platform. In        is a member of the group that             be the Three Forms of Unity of the
  other words, they will have be-          wishes to widen and generalize the        Reformed churches. This Bouma
  come like unto us. Yet, Bouma, it        platform of our Christian schools;        declares to be a mistake. He writes
  appears, insists that these non-re-      he guarantees that this is the case.      as follows:
  formed groups shall, even though
  they agree to cooperate, maintain        In order to widen the platform,            Now this is a mistaken conception.
  their distinctive character.             Bouma must attempt to make a dis-          The Three Formulas of Unity are
                                           tinction between what he calls the         not an adequate platform for our
    Observing the humor and trag-          essential and non-essential. Ophoff        Christian school movement.. . . In
edy in the situation,  GM0 writes:         contends that Bouma is referring           the propagation of the Christian
                                           to  docfrine  and that this becomes        school idea we should do all in
  We now grasp the situation. Dr.          clear in the following quote from          our power to avoid and eliminate
  Bouma appears before a group of                                                     the ecclesiastical and denomina-
  educators for the purpose of tell-       Bouma.                                     tional setting which seems to lin-
  ing them how a thing can become           Now it seems to me the essential,         ger in the minds of many support-
  like unto something else from             the distinctive character of our          ers of the movement. As ecclesi-

232/Standard  Bearer/February 15,1999


    astical standards these formulas                define the various elements con-             We have already stated that
    form the basis for all teaching and             stituting the platform of that na-       some readers will recognize that
    preaching in the Reformed and                   ture.... Such a platform must lack       the  matter of interdenominational
    Christian Reformed Churches.                    distinctiveness. It will have to be      Christian schools remains an issue
    But these Formulas of Unity of the              amazingly general and vague. A
     Reformed churches are not to be                school standing on such a plat-          in many communities. Related to
     looked upon as the Three Formu-                form will also lack distinctiveness.     this issue is the important concern
     las of Unity of the Christian school                                                    debated seven decades ago con-
     movement. After all, the adop-                   According to Ophoff, the child         cerning the relationship of the Re-
     tion of certain standards by a               when born will be christened "Cal-         formed confessions and creeds to
     given denomination is a church               vinism." "Not the Calvinism found          the basis and work of the school.
     matter, an ecclesiastical affair, and                                                   Many current leaders in Christian
     our schools are not church schools.          in John Calvin's Institutes, but a
                                                  Calvinism which is bigger, a more          education contend that we need an
                                                                                             educational creed that does not rely
       To all of this Ophoff finally              inclusive, and differently articu-         upon the Reformed confessions and
  adds the following:                             lated thing than the particular stan-
                                                  dards of any denomination."                other creeds.  Cl
     Will Dr. Bouma be so kind as to                                                                              . . . to be continued.





                              Visiting the Sick (2)

                                                      But the above is only part of          then Christ died for us, why must
  W                                               the answer to the why of sickness.         we also die?" (Q. 42). If Christ's
               e concluded our last ar-           If Christ bore the wrath of God on         death is the death of our death,
              ticle by discussing the             account of our sins and if,  there-        why must we still die? The an-
               question of the relation-          1 fore, the punishment for our sins        swer is, "Our death is not  a satis-
  ship between the parishioner's                  has been removed in the way of             faction for our sins, but only an
  sickness and his sin. We noted that             Christ's perfect satisfaction of the       abolishing of sin, and a passage
  there are instances where the con-              justice of God, why must the child         into eternal life." Sickness is part
  nection between the sickness and                of God still suffer the effects of sin?    of the process  that leads to the
  the sin must be pointed out. The                Why must he still suffer sickness?         "abolishing of sin, and a passage
  drunkard who suffers from cirrho-                   The answer, at least in part, is       into eternal life" through the death
  sis of the liver needs to know that             that God chastens those whom He            of the child of God.
  his sickness is the result of his sin-          loves and scourges every son                   These truths must guide the el-
ful, excessive drinking. In other                 whom He receives (Heb.  12:3-11).          ders in their work of visiting the
  instances, where the relationship               God does this chastening by vari-          sick.
  between the illness and sin is not              ous means, and sickness is one of              Turning now to the practical
   clear, we advised the elders to                those means. Also by means of              aspect, the question becomes,
  leave the whole matter to the pa-               sickness the Lord causes us to             "How ought a visit with the sick
  rishioner and the Lord. If the sick              "number our days and apply our            be conducted?" There are three
   person himself opens up concern-               hearts unto wisdom"  (Es.  90).            rules or practices by which the el-
   ing this question, the elders can                  But it is also true that, because      ders ought to be guided.  1) The
   deal pastorally with him.                       of the victory of Jesus Christ over       elders should not visit the sick un-
                                                  our sin and death, God uses sick-          less they are called by them or by
                                                  ness to work together for our good.        their loved ones. If the elders visit
                                                  Sickness has a sanctifying effect on       the sick even when not called, oth-
                                                  the Christian (Rom.  8:28). This is        ers will expect the same. This ob-
   Prof. Decker is professor of Practical The-
   ology in the Protestant Reformed Semi-          the viewpoint of our Heidelberg           viously can lead to difficulties,
   nary.                                           Catechism when it asks, "Since            since the elders are not always

                                                                                                 February  15,7999/Standard   Bearer/233


aware of who is sick or of how se-         know; no one ever died from it."             ringing, doctors and nurses bus-
rious the illness may be. 2) But           The poor lady replied, "True, but I          tling about, and people moaning in
when the elders are called, they           wish I could."                               pain, the elders must pray. The
must promptly respond with a                   The elder, when making the               need of the sick must be brought
visit. Especially is this important        visit, should be his natural self. He        to the throne of grace where they
if the person is critically ill. This      needs to avoid over-bearing solem-           will obtain mercy and find grace
may occasionally mean making a             nity. He ought to strive to be               from God through Jesus to help in
sick call at 2:00  A.M.  or at some        Christ-like. That is, the elder              their need (Heb.  4:16). God gives
other inconvenient time. 3) Elders         should demonstrate as much as                His grace and Holy Spirit only to
should make clear to the congre-           possible the care, the concern, and          those who with sincere desires con-
gation that they are available at          the compassion of the Great and              tinually ask them of him and are
any hour of the day or night and           Good Shepherd of the sheep.                  thankful for them (cf. the Heidel-
that they want to be with them and             Elders must listen to the sick           berg Catechism, Lord's Day 45).
minister to them in their times of         person so as to determine his/her            And, to cite no more, Scripture
crisis.                                    specific need. The elders must take          commands the sick to call for the
    In connection with rule three          seriously what the sick say. They            elders of the church and let them
above, there is an important word          must never minimize what to the              pray over them the prayer of faith
for God's people to remember.              sick person is an important or               (James  5:14,15).
They must not bother the ministers         troublesome problem. Elders must                 Bringing the Word of God and
and elders whenever they experi-           not dominate the conversation at             praying over the sick calls for care-
ence some little ache or pain. Gen-        the sickbed, but rather let them             ful, prayerful preparation. The el-
erally speaking, for example, mi-          guide it so as to keep it on a spiri-        ders need to know, as much as this
nor outpatient surgery or a routine        tual level.                                  is possible, what the specific need
tonsillectomy do not warrant call-             Let the elders be reminded, in           or needs of the sick are. They must
ing upon the elders for a visit. Let       this connection, of the two main ac-         select appropriate Scripture pas-
God's people use their sanctified          tivities which must take place at ev-        sages in order to address those
good judgment in this regard. In           ery visit of the sick,  viz.,  the bring-    needs. The elders must briefly ex-
the larger congregations the elders,       ing of the Word of God and prayer!           plain those passages. If need be,
and especially the ministers, are          The Word of God must be brought              they ought to jot down a few notes.
much too busy as it is. They should        to the sick. No matter the various           The elders must think about the
not be called unless the illness or        and specific circumstances of the            prayers they are to offer over the
injury is serious.                         sick, they all need the Word!                sick.
    Let the elders, when making                Elders must bring the Word of                The elders should keep the vis-
the visit itself, be very careful about    God briefly, pointedly, and simply.          its brief, but must never leave the
what they say. Undersigned knows           Briefly. The elders must not read            impression that they are in a hurry.
of an instance where a member of           twenty-five or more verses at the            The elders are not coming to the
one of our churches was comatose           bedside of the sick. Let them keep           sick to socialize with them. They
and on a respirator. The person            the passage brief. Just a few verses         are not coming to talk about the
was being taken from his room to           will suffice. Pointedly the Word             weather or world affairs or what
another floor of the hospital for a        must be brought. By this we mean             have you. The elders visit the sick
test. His elder happened to get on         that the elders ought to explain a           in order to bring God's Word to
the same elevator. Upon seeing his         verse or two as it applies to the            them and to pray with them.
parishioner, the elder remarked,           need of the sick person. And the             That's the purpose of these visits.
"He looks like warmed over                 Word must be brought simply. A               Five to ten minutes ought to be suf-
death."    The parishioner, though         sick visit is not an occasion for el-        ficient to accomplish this purpose.
comatose and unable to talk, heard         ders to launch into a long, compli-          In addition, the elders, and all of
that remark and was deeply hurt            cated, profound, and doctrinal ex-           God's people for that matter, must
by it. One more example of this            position of a passage. Simply the            not forget that the sick are weak.
sort of thing happened in Pine Rest        Word must be brought. One or two             Physically, and often emotionally
Christian Hospital (a mental health        simple truths must be laid out for           too, the sick are weak. This means
facility) in Cutlerville, Michigan.        the comfort and encouragement of             they cannot endure  a lengthy visit
An elder (not from the Protestant          the sick.                                    of thirty or forty minutes or more.
Reformed Churches) came to visit               The elders must always pray              It is much better and much more
a deeply, clinically depressed pa-         when they visit the sick. Even un-           effective that the elders visit the
rishioner. Meaning to encourage            der the most adverse conditions,             sick more frequently than that they
the woman, the elder said to her,          they must pray. Also in noisy                stay too long. This is especially im-
"Depression is not so serious, you         emergency rooms, with phones                 portant for those who are very  se-

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riously ill or recovering from ma-              and not undergoing tests, therapy,         gestions will make the elders' vis-
jor surgery.                                    etc. It is also the better part of wis-    iting of the sick much easier. Hos-
    We conclude this article with a             dom for the elders to get on good          pital staff usually recognize and re-
few practical suggestions which                 terms with the hospital staff. Re-         spect the rights of pastors and el-
this writer has found helpful in his            spect their rules and regulations.         ders to visit their parishioners.
own ministering to the sick among               Be friendly and courteous with re-         Hospital personnel have a right to
God's people. Avoid making sick                 ceptionists, nurses, doctors, and          expect Christian courtesy from the
calls during visiting hours, both at            other staff people. Ask permission         clergy and elders of God's church.
hospitals and at nursing homes.                 before entering restricted areas           And when they get that, they are
Doing this enables the elders to                such as intensive care units.              all-the more willing to help the el-
visit the patient privately and with-               Ignoring these suggestions of-         ders do what they are called to do
out a great many distractions. It is            ten makes for tension if not out-          when they visit the sick,  viz.,  bring
often wise to phone the hospital be-            right hostility between the elders         them the Word and pray for them.
fore making the sick visit to be cer-           and hospital personnel. The latter                                               cl
tain the patient will be in the room            can "make life miserable" for the                            to be continued.. . .
                                                elders.    Implementing these sug-





                  Confessing Our Lord (2)

                                                them be incompatible with His                  That is the exclusive lordship
                                                lordship over them. For He deter-          of Christ Jesus. That has now been
            e believe that Jesus Christ
W                                               mined that revelation and realiza-         accomplished. According to this
            is Lord. He is Lord over            tion of His covenant of grace to be        eternal good pleasure of God, the
            all. But we confess that            in and by Christ Jesus, who would          only begotten Son, the eternal
He is Lord over us, His redeemed                be Lord of all.                            Word, became flesh and dwelt
people, in a particular sense. We                   So we read of His Son, Jesus           among us.
must understand how that lordship               Christ, in Colossians  1:15ff.,  as the        John emphasizes the Godhead
was established and what it means               "firstborn of every creature." The         of the Son throughout his entire
for us.                                         reference obviously is not to Christ       gospel account. God became flesh
                                                as the firstborn from a natural            in Christ Jesus our Lord. This
Determined by God                               point of view. The reference rather        means that our Lord, whom we
    Before the foundation of the                is to Christ as the firstborn in the       had rejected, and against whom we
world God had determined to re-                 eternal counsel of God, the coun-          had rebelled, came very near to us,
veal His lordship and to be known               sel of our salvation.                      spoke to us face to face, and united
and acknowledged as the only                        And then we read this concern-         Himself with us in an inseparable
Lord. He would do so in Christ                  ing Christ: "For by him were all           union. He reached down into our
Jesus.                                          things created, that are in heaven,        misery, into our darkness of sin
    From eternity God had deter-                and that are in earth, visible and         and death, where in our folly and
mined to reveal His own covenant                invisible, whether they be thrones,        by the divine sentence of this same
life, the life of His fellowship and            or dominions, or principalities, or        just Lord we were held in the bond-
love, to a peculiar people, His elect.          powers: all things were created by         age of sin and Satan because of our
Nor would that revelation of His                him, and for him: And he is before         guilt. And He redeemed us! Jesus
covenant fellowship and love to                 all things, and by him all things          Christ, God's only begotten Son,
                                                consist. And he is the head of the         redeemed us!
                                                body, the church: who is the first-            We had rejected God's lordship
                                                born from the dead; that in all            over us by virtue of creation. In
Rev. Key is  pasfor   of  the Profesfanf Re-    things he might have the preemi-           Adam we rebelled and refused to
formed Church  of  Randolph, Wisconsin.         nence."                                    acknowledge Him as our Lord. We

                                                                                               February 15,1999/Standard  Bearer/235


rejected His Word and subjected                                                                  ment of Christ's lordship is depen-
ourselves to the deceitful lordship       An Accomplished Lordship                               dent upon what man does with this
of Satan, under the bondage of sin             By redeeming and delivering                       supposed "offer." We grieve that
and corruption.                           us, our  Lor-d revealed His lordship                   such false teaching has made deep
    But when Christ redeemed us           as an accomplished lordship.                           i n r o a d s   e v e n   i n t o   R e f o r m e d
in fulfillment of God's eternal de-            We had been His property, of                      churches. That is not the truth of
cree, that Son of God our Lord de-        course, from eternity. That is the                     Scripture at all.
livered us from all the power of          truth of sovereign, eternal election                        On the contrary, Christ Him-
the devil, and made us His own            - which also implies necessarily                       self realizes His lordship also in us.
property. He has redeemed us,             the truth of sovereign, eternal rep-                        So unique is His lordship, that
body and soul, from all our sins.         robation.                                              even our confession of Him as Lord
Not that He paid the price of re-              But before the bar of divine jus-                 is dependent upon His sovereign
demption to the devil-for the             tice, in the way of God's righteous-                   exercise of His lordship over us.
devil had no right over us other          ness, this is how Christ became our                    For you to confess from the heart,
than what was implied in God's            Lord in the sense of which we con-                     "I believe in Jesus Christ, God's
righteous sentence of death over          fess Him now. He is our Redeemer                       only begotten Son, our Lord," is
us. But Christ, our Lord, paid the        and Deliverer of whom we confess,                      only a wonderful manifestation of
price of our redemption to the Fa-        "My Lord and my God!"                                  His mighty and sovereign lordship
ther, whose revelation He is.                  He became our Lord, not                           as executed by the Holy Spirit.
    Jesus is our Lord, because He         merely to rule over us as posses-                      That is I Corinthians  12:3: "No
bought us! You are bought with a          sions with which He may do as He                       man can say that Jesus is the Lord,
price, says the inspired apostle in I     pleases, but as a precious property                    but by the Holy Ghost."
Corinthians  6:20. He bought us           of love, even as His own body. He                           We never make Him our Lord.
with a price of infinite measure, a       obtained for Himself that right of                          No man can say that Jesus is
price that you and I could never          lordship according to which we                         Lord, but by the work of His own
have paid.                                may once more, and now in a                            sovereign Spirit.             And as Paul
    Peter expounds that truth in I        deeper sense than ever before in                       writes in Romans  8:9, "If any man
Peter  1:18,19:     "Forasmuch as ye      Adam, love Him, trust in Him, and                      have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
know that ye were not redeemed            serve Him as our Lord. So Jesus                        none of his."
with corruptible things, as silver        Christ, the only begotten Son of                            Christ exercises His lordship
and gold, from your vain conver-          God, the Lord over all by virtue of                    over us. He Himself, having de-
sation received by tradition from         creation, now also became our Lord                     stroyed him that had the power of
your fathers; But with the precious       in unfathomable love!                                  death, that is, the devil, now comes
blood of Christ, as of a lamb with-            But the question arises: How                      to visit us in our prison of sin and
out blemish and without spot."            do we ever come to confess Him                         death, and delivers us. By the
    When you read about the ap-           and acknowledge Him as our                             power of His Word and Spirit He
pearance of Jesus to Thomas, re-          Lord?                                                  dethrones the devil from our
corded in John 20, you find that               That also comes by the accom-                     hearts. By the irresistible power
the price that Jesus paid was a           plishment of Christ's sovereign                        of His grace, ministered in the
price that Thomas could not               lordship!                                              preaching of the Word, He breaks
fathom. He could not comprehend                There are those who present it                    the shackles of sin and corruption
it, even when Jesus first stood be-       far differently. Those who follow                      by which we have been held in
fore him in the appearance of His         t h e   e r r o n e o u s   t e a c h i n g s   o f    bondage. He dispels the darkness
crucified flesh! For the price that       Arminius say that this Lord of all                     of our folly, enlightening us from
our Lord paid was not from the            sends forth now the message of His                     on high. He sheds abroad in us
treasures of His creation. Though         love as an offer to all men. He of-                    the love of God. All those things
He owns all things-all silver and         fers us His lordship instead of the                    are the Lord's work in the hearts
gold, the cattle on a thousand hills,     deceitful lordship of the devil, and                   and lives of His own.
all fields and oxen-not all His cre-      asks that we be persuaded by the                            And when the Lord so works
ation would have been sufficient          sight of His beautiful love to for-                    in us, we come to Him. When the
unto our redemption.                      sake the service of Satan and to en-                   Lord so works in us, we see the
    Christ redeemed us with His           ter His service.                                       folly of our sin, the terribleness of
own precious blood. It was the                 Such teaching is a denial of the                  enslavement to the devil. When
price of eternal and infinite love!       accomplished lordship of Christ,                       the Lord so works in us, we begin
And so He accomplished for Him-           and actually exalts man to the place                   to love Him, to long for Him, to
self the right to make us His prop-       of Lord alongside of Christ. By                        cry out to Him from the depths of
erty.                                     such a teaching the accomplish-                        our hearts. In adoration, with

236/Standard  Bearer/February  15,7999


humbleness of heart, we cry out,           of it also has a powerful influence                    we die, we die unto the Lord:
"My Lord and my God!"                      in our lives. "For whether we live,                    whether we live therefore, or  die,~
    That truth and our confession          we live unto the Lord; and whether                     we are the Lord's" (Rom.  14:8). 0



                                           lieve that the common grace con-                       maintaining of the great truths of
                                           troversy should be ignored. It is                      what today is called the Reformed
                                           our hope that, after years have                        faith.
Ready  To  Give an Answer: A Cat-          gone by, and some of the emotion-                          The last part of the book is an
echism  of  Reformed Distinctives, by      alism and subjective criticism have                    appendix. It is a reprint of the
Herman Hoeksema and Herman                 cooled down, a more objective                          "Declaration of Principles" drawn
Hanko. Grandville Michigan: Re-            evaluation of the position set forth
formed Free Publishing Association,                                                               up by the Protestant Reformed
1997. 238 pages. $24.95 (hardcover).       by Rev. Hoekesma and others who                        Churches in the midst of the 1953
[Reviewed by Rev. Arie denHartog.1         loved the truth which he stood for                     controversy. This declaration was
                                           can be made, for the benefit of the                    made in connection with mission-
We commend the Reformed cause of the truth and the truly Re- ary policy for the work of home
      Free Publishing Association          formed church. It cannot be de-                        missions being done at the time
for the publication of this book and       nied that Rev. Hoeksema gave his                       among immigrants, especially
thank Prof. Herman Hanko for his           life for the defense of the central                    those coming to Canada from the
contribution to this work. The larg-       and most glorious truth of the gos-                    Liberated Churches in Holland.
est part of the book is a reprint of       pel, namely the truth of God's won-                    The declaration has often been
materials found in a long  out-of-         derful, sovereign, and particular                      criticized for being some sort of ad-
print book by Rev. Hoeksema,               grace in saving His people in Christ                   ditional confession appended to the
titled  The Protestant Reformed            Jesus.                                                 three forms of unity, which are the
Churches  in America.  This part of the         Prof. Hanko follows this same                     confessional basis of many conti-
book presents the doctrinal issues         catechism format to detail the doc-                    nental Reformed churches. The
of the common grace controversy,           trinal issues involved in the con-                     Protestant Reformed Churches
which in the Lord's providence led         troversy of 1953 that very seriously                   were and are criticized for doing
to the beginning of the Protestant         affected the Protestant Reformed                       something which they had no right
Reformed Churches. It is written in        Churches. Prof. Hanko does an ex-                      to do when they adopted this  dec-
an interesting catechism format of         cellent job in showing how this
questions and answers.                     controversy involved basically the
    We believe that it is valuable         same issues of sovereign grace as
to have this material available in a       the history of 1924. Whatever may
new book. It is of value for the           be said about what took place in
members of the Protestant Re-              the turbulent years of controversy
formed denomination. It is also of         i n   t h e   P r o t e s t a n t   R e f o r m e d
value for those outside of these           Churches in the early  195Os,  it is
churches who are interested in             clear that at stake were the pre-
reading what we believe is an ex-          cious doctrines of sovereign grace.
cellent defense of doctrinal issues        We are not ashamed of these doc-
that continue to be of great impor-        trines. I had the great privilege of
tance for the Reformed churches            being a student for my seminary
and the preservation of the truths         years in the church history classes
of God's Word which should be the          of Prof. Hanko. I have no doubt
basis of these churches.                   that the excellence of Prof. Hanko
    Reading this material refreshed        in teaching New Testament Greek
my appreciation of what a great            exegesis was equal to his outstand-
theologian Rev. Hoeksema was. He           ing ability in teaching church his-
was outstanding in his ability to          tory. The greatest virtue and wis-
reason carefully and sharply in de-        dom of his church history instruc-
fense of the truth. Above all, his         tion was his ability to trace the his-
reasoning was based on extensive,          tory of the church of Jesus Christ
penetrating, and careful exposition        as it was bound up with the clear,
of the Word of God. We do not be-          bold, and courageous defense and

                                                                                                       February 75,1999/Standard  Bearer/237
                                                                                                                       . .


laration. May this part of the book       better to judge whether the  decla-        doctrine of the creeds. We believe
also help, after the dust of  histori-    ration is a new creed or nothing           the latter is definitely the case. The
cal controversy has settled, so that      more than a clear and necessary            copious recitation of references
some, hopefully many, will be able        setting forth of the truly Reformed        from the creeds proves this. Cl




                                                                                                         January  13,1999
                                                                            Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church


                                          the appeals of the two brothers to         Doezema, C. Kuiper (SW), D.
                                          synod with the advice that synod           Lotterman, D. Ondersma;  Secundi-
    Classis East met in regular ses-      reject their appeals.  Classis for-        J. Engelsma, D. Gunnink, C.
sion on Wednesday, January 13,            warded the appeal of the  con-             Kamstra, D. Kregel, S. Miedema, Jr.
1999 in the Byron Center PRC.             sistory to synod with the advice           Rev. C. Terpstra was elected to a
Rev. Barry Gritters was the chair-        that synod not treat this appeal be-       three-year term as  primus  delegate
man for this session. Each church         cause, in the judgment of  classis,        ad examina  and Rev. R. Cammenga
was represented by two delegates.         no protest had been filed with the         to a three-year secundus term. Rev.
    This was a lengthy session of         classis  prior to this appeal.             R. VanOverloop was elected to a
classis.  Classis had several issues          Third,  classis heard two ap-          three-year term on the Classical
on its agenda that warranted con-         peals from a brother dealing with          Committee. Elected as church visi-
siderable discussion.                     decisions taken by his council/            tors were the Revs. Dale Kuiper
    First, Rev. R. Flikkema ap-           consistory. The first appeal asked         and K. Koole, with Rev. R. Van
pealed the decision of Covenant           that his consistory be instructed to       Overloop as alternate. J. Huisken
PRC not to transfer his ministerial       give him a letter that, in his judg-       was appointed to another  three-
credentials to his home church, the       ment, touched this case.  Classis          year term as stated clerk.
Faith PRC.  Classis considered this       sustained this appeal on the                   Subsidy requests for the year
matter to be illegally before it on       ground that all documents that             2000 of $19,000 for Kalamazoo and
the ground that this matter was not       touch a case should be given to a          $37,500 for Covenant were ap-
finished in the minor assemblies.         member who requests such. The              proved and forwarded to synod.
    Second, two brothers and a            second appeal from this same               Classis also approved and for-
consistory are appealing to synod         brother asked  classis to instruct his     warded to synod the request of
1999 a decision of  classis  taken on     consistory to answer his protest           Covenant to reallocate $5,000 of its
their protests by the September 9,        more fully and completely.  Classis        1999 subsidy for evangelism to the
1998 session of'classis. It is diffi-     did not sustain this appeal, rather        pastor's salary. Classis also ap-
cult to report extensively on this        deciding that the consistory had in-       proved and forwarded to synod
matter since part of the procedures       deed responded to the protest in           Grandville  PRC's request for a re-
for this matter occurred in closed        question.                                  duction of $5,850 in 1997  synodi-
session at the May 13, 1998 and               Classis heard the reports of its       cal assessments and $5,200 in 1998
September 9, 1998 sessions of             stated clerk, its church visitors, and     assessments due to loss of families.
classis. The matter under appeal          the Classical Committee.          The      Grandville was also instructed to
deals (1) with divorce and the un-        church visitors were mandated to           give further evidence to synod of
derstanding of how legal separa-          discuss with Covenant PRC its con-         the economic hardship caused by
tion relates to divorce and  (2) with     tinuing large subsidy as a small           this loss of families.
whether a member of the church            church as communicated to  classis             The expenses for this session
may consent to an unbiblical di-          by the synod of 1994.                      amounted to  $1,499.53.  Classis will
vorce. The brothers contend that              In voting matters, the follow-         meet next on May 12,1999 at Grace
classis was in error in its decisions     ing: Elected as delegates to synod:        PRC.
taken in a case dealt with at the         M I N I S T E R S :   Primi-W.   Bruin-                Respectfully submitted,
May  13,1998   classis.  The brothers     sma, R. Cammenga, Dale Kuiper,                              W.S. Jon J. Huisken,
protested that decision,  classis did     J. Slopsema, R. VanOverloop;                                         Stated Clerk
not sustain their protests, so now        Secundi-M. Dick, K. Koole, Doug
the matter is being appealed to           Kuiper, A. Spriensma, C. Terpstra;
synod.  Classis decided to forward        ELDERS:       Primi-J.  Buiter, D.

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                                             pastor, Rev. R. Smit, of his and Rev.                      their web page on the Internet. A
Mission Activities
0                                            A.  denHartog's recent trip to the                         recent contact wrote Loveland to
         ur readers may remember             P h i l i p p i n e s   o n   b e h a l f   o f   o u r    ask some very thought-provoking
         that, back in the summer of         churches' FMC.                                             questions concerning the Reformed
1997, questions arose concerning                                                                        faith. The writer asked if the Bible
our churches' possible work in               Young People's Activities                                  says "that God hated Adam after
Ghana. At that time our Foreign              Looking over recent bulletins,  I his sin or does it say that God hated
Mission Committee learned that                    was reminded of some unusual                          Adam's sin." He also asked if God
the  Ghanaian  government had                and interesting topics for discus-                         created some men to damn them
changed their procedure for the im-          sion considered by several of our                          to hell. He also wondered if God
migration of our missionary to               churches' Young People's Societies.                        could have created a totally de-
Ghana. Because of these changes,             One considered, "How do I handle                           praved man capable of turning to
and the many implications of them            a sinning friend?" Another looked                          Him, and finally what Jesus means
for our work, it was necessary for           at "Should Christian young people                          when He says, "I stand at the door
the FMC to investigate whether               witness to their faith by wearing                          and knock." All good questions,
there was a biblical and ethical way         WWJD and FROG bracelets?" And                              atid Rev. G. VanBaren, pastor at
for us to send a missionary to               yet another society looked at the                          Loveland, evidently thought so too,
Ghana without compromising the               topic of "Christian College vs. Pub-                       because he asked his Essentials
truth that we would bring. While             lic University."                                           Catechism class to answer those
these questions were being an-                     We have also seen several                            questions. Besides that, he also in-
swered, our FMC also advised the             church bulletins in the Chicago, IL                        vited anyone else in his congrega-
Hull, IA PRC, the calling church             area ask young people if they are                          tion to do likewise. He promised
for a missionary to Ghana, to de-            interested in inexpensive airfares to                      to put the best answers in up-com-
lay calling one to serve in Ghana.           O n t a r i o ,   C a l i f o r n i a   f o r   t h i s    ing bulletins. So consider, how
        Now, thankfully, the FMC has         summer's Young People's Conven-                            would you answer those questions?
been able to come to a determina-            tion. Doesn't warm sunny Califor-
tion regarding this whole matter.            nia sound good about now?                                  Denomination Activities
After a lengthy investigation of the               Speaking of this summer's con-
questions of sponsorship and of en-          vention reminds me that the young                          0 n Sunday evening, January 17,
                                                                                                                 an overflow crowd gathered
tering Ghana independently, they             people of Hope PRC, this year's                            at the First PRC in Holland, MI to
have decided to advise Hull PRC              host society in Redlands, CA, re-                          hear what I believe was the first
to resume calling a missionary to            cently organized a sub-sandwich                            public program by the quartet
Ghana with a view to entering                fund-raiser for that convention.                           "One in Hymn," a group of four
there independently as synod of              More than six hundred subs were                            young ladies, Holly and Amanda
1996 initially decided. Soon after           sold, which means, if our 1998                             Ondersma, Lindsey Pipe, and
this decision, Hull's council con-           Yearbook is correct, that they made                        Michelle Streyle, accompanied on
curred with that advice of the FMC           enough subs for each man, woman,                           the piano by Mary Velthouse. Also
and immediately formed a trio of             and child in their congregation to                         accompanying them on one song
the Revs. M. Dick, R. Moore, and             have three.                                                and providing a couple of special
A. Spriensma. Hull was to call, the               On December 28 the post-high                          numbers was a Brass Quartet. All
Lord willing, on January 25. We              young adults in the Grand Rapids,                          in all, it was a very nice way to
ask that you remember the FMC,               MI area invited family and friends                         bring  a- Lord's Day to a proper
our Hull PRC, and the pastor to              alike to join them for an evening at                       God-centered conclusion. I hope
whom a call is extended, that they           the Sports Exchange. Included                              we hear from them again in the fu-
all might be guided by the Spirit            were pizza, swimming, basketball,                          ture.
to discern God's will for this field.        volleyball, soccer, and mini-golf.
        The Adult Bible Society of the       Proceeds were to benefit the young                         Minister Activities
Doon, IA PRC hosted a slide pre-             adults' retreat this year in Love-                         In early January, Rev. G.
sentation on `January 10 by their            land, CO.                                                    VanBaren submitted to his
                                                                                                        consistory in Loveland, CO a re-
                                             Evangelism Activities                                      quest for honorable emeritation as
Mr. Wigger is an elder in fhe Protestant     The Evangelism Committee of of August 31, 1999. This request
Reformed Church  of  Hudsonville,  Michi-         the Loveland, CO PRC contin-                          has been forwarded to  Classis
gan.                                         ues to get a good response from                            West, which meets in Redlands, CA

                                                                                                            February 15,1999@tandard  Bearer/239


           Fe
     Standard
       Bearer                                                                                                                             PERlODlOU
                                                                                                                                          Postage  Paid at
         P.O.  Box 603                                                                                                                    Gran&Me,
        Grandville, MI 49468-0603                                                                                                         Michigan


     on March 3, then on to synod,                                    Food For lhougtit                            Christian; but a Christian minister
     which meets at First PRC in  Hol-                           "Three things," says Luther,                      needs three more, talent,  applica-
     land, MI in early June.                                "make a Divine - prayer, medita-                       tion, and acquirements.
                                                            tion, and trials." These make a                                         -Charles Simmons  0





              TEACHERSNEEDED:                                    Hope Christian School of                                      CALL TO ASPIRANTS
                                                            Redlands, CA  is in need of a                                        TO THE MINISTRY
          Heritage Christian School  is                     teacher for the intermediate grades                            All young men desiring to begin stud-
     seeking applications from persons                      (3  &  4)  for the 1999-2000 school                    ies in the Theological School of the Prot-
     interested in one full-time teaching                   year. The grade assignment, how-                       estant Reformed Churches in the 1999  -
     position in the junior high and two                    ever, is flexible, with the possibility                2000 academic year should make appli-
     full-time positions in the upper el-                   instead for an elementary position                     cation at the March 18, 1999 meeting of
     ementary or intermediate grades,                       (grades 1  & 2). Interested persons                    the Theological School Committee.
     beginning in the fall of 1999. Ap-                     are encouraged to send an appli-                               A testimonial from the prospective
     plicants must be confessing mem-                       cation to Hope Christian School,                       student's consistory that he is a member
     bers of a Protestant Reformed                          Attn: Ed Karsemeyer,                                   in full communion, sound in faith, and up-
     Church and qualify for a Michigan                                1309 E. Brockton Ave.                        right in walk; a certificate of health from a
     Teaching Certificate. Interested                                 Redlands, CA 92374.                          reputable physician; and a college tran-
     persons may call Jerry Kuiper at                       You may also phone school  (909-                       script must accompany the application.
     home (616-669-5427) or at school                       793-4584),  Bill Feenstra (909-793-                    Before entering the seminary, all students
     (616-669-1773); or Mr. Ken Elzinga                     3597), or Mike Gritters (909-793-                      must have earned a bachelor's degree and
     (616-878-9657).  R&urn& or let-                        4439).                                                 met all of the course requirements for en-
     ters of inquiry may be sent to Jerry                                                                          trance to the seminary. These entrance
     Kuiper at                                                                                                     requirements are listed in the seminary
            Heritage Christian School                                                                              catalog available from the school.
                 4900  40ih Avenue                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                       All applicants must appear before the
              Hudsonville, Ml 49426.                             The council and congregation                      Theological School Committee for inter-
                                                            of First PRC, Grand Rapids, ex-                        view before admission is granted. In the
                                                            press Christian sympathy to Rev.                       event that a student cannot appear at the
                                                            George Lubbers, Miss Agatha Lub-                       March 18 meeting, notification of this fact,
          The  Hull Protestant Reformed                     b e r s ,   a n d   M r .   a n d   M r s .   T o m    along with a suggested interview date,
     School of Hull, IA  will need a                        Newhof, Jr., with their children and                   must be given to the secretary of the
     teacher for the 1999-2000 school                       grandchildren in the passing away                      Theological School Committee before this
     year.       Inquiries or applications                  of Rev. Lubbers' wife,                                 meeting.
     s h o u l d   b e   m a d e   t o   M r .   P e t e           MRS. RENA LUBBERS,                                      All correspondence should be di-
     Brummel, Principal, 218 School St.,                    on December 24, 1998. "And I                           rected to the Theological School Commit-
     Hull, IA 51239, (712-439-2490) or                      heard a voice from heaven saying                       tee,
     (712-439-I  308),  or to                               unto me, Write, Blessed are the                                     4949 lvanrest Avenue
                  Mr. Brian Kroese                          dead which die in the Lord from                                     Grandville, Ml 49418.
                   301  Second St.                          henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit,                                          Jon Huisken, Secretary
                                                                                                                                *  *  *  *  *  *  *
                    Hull, IA 51239                          that they may rest from their
                  (712-439-1699).                           labours; and their works do follow                             The Protestant Reformed Seminary
                                                            them" (Revelation  14:13).                             admits students of any race, color, and
                                                                           Rev. J. Slopsema, Pres.                 national or ethnic origin.
                                                                                   Ron  DeVries,  Clerk

     24@Standard   Bearer/February 15,1999
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