A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine

                 In This Issue:

Meditation  - Rev. Cornelius Hanko
     Saved By Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Editorial  - Prof. David J. Engelsma
     The Preterism of
     Christian Reconstruction . . . . . . . . 364

Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

That They May Teach Them
     to Their Children  -
           Herman Hoeksema
     The Duty of the Christian Mother
           in the Training of
           Adolescent Youth (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Go Ye into All the World
     Report from the Contact
     Committee  -
           Rev. Ronald Cammenga . . . . . . . . 371
     Our Foreign Mission Work  -
           Rev. Richard Smit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
     The Work of the Domestic
           Mission Committee  -
                 Mr. Don Doezema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375                                       Bethel PRC
All Around Us  -
      Rev. Gise VanBaren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Special Article                                                                                                Roselle, Illinois
      Bethel PRC
           Dedication Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380                                        Dedication: April 9, 1999
News From Our Churches  -                                                                                                             -
      Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382                                                                     See  p.  380


Vol. 15, NO.  10
May 15,1999


                                                              Saved By Grace

                                                        For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not  of  yourselves:
                                                it is the gift of God: not of works, Zest any man should boast.
                                                                                                                                      Ephesians  2:8,9


S                                                                              The Pelagian error of the free                             The covenant of grace is regarded
           cripture  is clear. We are                                   will and the Roman Catholic error                                 as a contract between God and man,
           saved by grace through faith,                                of salvation by works dominated                                   consisting of a promise and a con-
           all works excluded.                                   Yet    the church before the Reformation.                                dition, or grace and works.
throughout the ages the church has                                      Works were regarded as essential                                           The Antinomian objects to good
always had to contend with those                                        to our salvation.                                                 works only because he regards
who held to the error of salvation                                             Soon after, the Arminian error                             works as that which we must add
by works.                                                               arose, which was so strongly con-                                 in order to be saved.
        Already when Cain brought of                                    demned by the synod of Dordt,                                              Good works  are  necessary.
the fruit of the ground as an offer-                                    161%`19. Yet, ever since, this same                                        It would be impossible, nor is
ing unto the Lord he was giving                                         error has made its appearance in                                  it necessary, to cite  all  the passages
God part of the precious crop that                                      various forms. Today even the                                     of Scripture to demonstrate this. A
he had grown, with which God                                            "conservative" church-world tena-                                 few will suffice.
should be pleased and which He                                          ciously maintains that God loves                                           Psalm 1 strikes the keynote for
should appreciate.                                                      and earnestly desires the salvation                               the entire Book of Psalms. There
        Carnal Israel boasted of being                                  of all men, and freely offers His                                 we are taught: "Blessed is the man
God's chosen people, as if that                                         salvation to everyone. Faith is not                               that walketh not in the counsel of
alone was sufficient to merit sal-                                      regarded as a gift of God, but                                    the ungodly, nor standeth in the
vation for them. The Pharisees of                                       rather as an act dependent upon                                   way of sinners, nor sitteth in the
Jesus' day made law upon law, pre-                                      man's free choice. One must ac-                                   seat of the scornful. But his delight
cept upon precept, as requirements                                      cept God's proffered salvation to                                 is in the law of the Lord, and in his
to enter the kingdom.                                                   be saved. Without that, no one can                                law doth he meditate day and
                                                                        be saved.                                                         night."
                                                                               Even the common conception                                          In the Sermon on the Mount
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the                                of God's covenant of grace makes                                  Jesus declares that: "Till heaven
Protestant Reformed Churches.                                           faith a condition unto salvation.                                 and earth pass, one jot or one tittle


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362/Standard  Bearer/MaylS, 1999


shall in no wise pass from the law         applies also to every spiritual bless-    sin and guilt before the most high
(with its `Thou shalt' and `Thou           ing  - we have added nothing, we          majesty of God. Only the Spirit can
shalt not'), till all be fulfilled."       have merited nothing!                     create a godly sorrow unto repen-
Then He goes into detail to explain            Besides that, we are depraved         tance, not to be repented of. It is
the true demand of the law  (Matt.         sinners, enemies of God, self-seek-       the voice of Jesus that calls us:
5:18-48).                                  ers, proud, carnally-minded, dead         "Come unto Me, all ye that labor
    In the parable of the talents          in trespasses and sins. The carnal        and are heavy laden, and I will
(Matt. 25:14-30), Jesus speaks of the      mind is enmity against God, for it        give you rest." And we come! All
man who traveled to a far country          is not subject to the law of God,         boasting is excluded.
and entrusted his goods to his ser-        neither indeed can be. There is               The fact that is most amazing
vants. To the one he gave five tal-        none that doeth good of any sort,         is that we remain accountable crea-
ents, to another, two, and to the          no not one. All our  righteous-           tures. God is so great, beyond all
third, one, each according to his          nesses are as filthy rags in the sight    comprehension, that as His crea-
ability. Upon the master's return,         of the living God.                        tures we respond to His call  - ei-
the one who received five talents              The fathers said that if we must      ther we embrace it or we reject it.
had gained other five. The one             add as much as a blade of straw to        By nature we reject it. It is the
who received two had gained other          our salvation we are lost forever.        wonder of sovereign mercy that the
two. To each of these the master                                                     Spirit gives us the ability to believe
responded: "Well done, good and                   +++  +++  +++                      and to continue to walk in faith.
faithful servant; thou hast been                                                     We believe! We believe in God.
faithful over a few things, I will             We are saved by grace only.           We experience that God is our
make thee ruler over many things;              In Romans 11 Paul speaks of a         heavenly Father, who loves us with
enter thou into the joy of thy lord."      remnant that is saved according to        an eternal love. We confess Him
But the unprofitable servant, who          the election of grace. To which he        as our God and Father, calling
buried his talent in the earth, is cast    adds: "And if by grace, then is it        upon Him with prayer and suppli-
into outer darkness, where there           no more of works: otherwise grace         cation and thanksgiving. We know
shall be weeping and gnashing of           is no more grace. But if it be of         Christ, God's Son, as our Redeemer
teeth.                                     works, then it is no more grace:          and Lord, placing all our trust in
    Thereupon Jesus speaks of the          otherwise work is no more work"           Him. We are justified, assured of
final judgment, in which the King          (Ram.  P1:6).                             the forgiveness of our sins and the
will say to His sheep on His right             By God's grace we are saved           right to eternal life by faith only.
hand: "Come, ye blessed of my Fa-          through faith. Someone will ask:          Faith reaches out in hope, expecta-
ther, inherit the kingdom prepared         Does not Scripture require, "Be-          tion, and longing for our perfec-
for you from the foundation of the         lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and       tion in glory.
world."                                    thou shalt be saved"? Surely God              At times that faith is weak. We
                                           does not believe for us. The an-          pass through fiery trials that sorely
          +++  +++  +++                    swer to that is: True, but this does      try us, so that doubt and fears arise
                                           not mean that faith is the part that      within us. These trials are tempta-
    Yet, to be saved by works is a         we add to God's work, nor that            tions. And we do falter and fall.
human impossibility.                       faith is the condition or the pre-        But our faith never leaves us com-
    We are an utterly dependent            requisite to our salvation. Salva-        pletely, for God is faithful. He who
people, dependent upon the provi-          tion is God's gift. Faith is also         has begun a good work will surely
dential hand of the Almighty. God          God's gift. It is all through grace,      finish it in His own time and in
gives us our life, our ability to          not of works, lest any man should         His own manner. God is our ref-
breathe, our very existence. He de-        boast. As the fathers of Dordt ex-        uge and our strength, our ever
termines and directs our lives from        pressed it: God "produces both the        present Help in trouble.
the moment we are born until the           will to believe, and the act of be-
moment we pass on to eternity.             lieving  alsoN (Canons III/IV, 14).               +++  +++  +++
We cannot take one step, utter one             We are and we remain respon-              Our good works are the fruit
word, or think a single thought, ex-       sible creatures. God reveals Him-         of that grace wrought by the Spirit
cept by the sustaining hand of the         self to us in Jesus Christ as the God     in our hearts.
Almighty. All that we are and all          of our salvation. He raises us from           "The fruit of the Spirit is love,
that we have we owe to God. If it          our spiritual death and implants in       joy, longsuffering, gentleness,
were possible for us to do all that        our hearts a new life. He gives us        goodness, meekness, temperance"
God requires of us, even at best we        eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts     (Gal.  5:22,23).
would be unprofitable servants, as         to understand. The Spirit of Christ           We are united to Christ as
humiliating as that may seem. That         awakens in us an awareness of our         branches of the vine. Jesus says:

                                                                                             May 15,1999/standard  Bearer/363


"As the branch cannot bear fruit of                  our lives, our place in our family,      and through us. He gives us the
itself, except it abide in the vine;                 our own particular place in the          privilege, the desire, and the abil-
no more can ye, except ye abide in                   church and in the community. God         ity to carry out His work in this
me" (John  15:4).                                    has also ordained certain duties for     present time. It is none of self, all
     W e   a r e      a d m o n i s h e d   i n      us to perform on our pathway             of Him.
Philippians  2:12,13  to work out our                through life.                                He takes us unto Himself to
own salvation with fear and trem-                        Every day we are carrying out        love and serve Him in all the full-
bling,  "for  it is God who worketh in               those works which God has deter-         ness of His glorious, infinite per-
you both to will and to do  of  his good             mined from all eternity. In spite        fections  - His holiness, righteous-
pleasure."                                           of all our human weaknesses and          ness, grace, truth, love, and mercy.
     Paul teaches us that we are                     sins, yes, even through those weak-      We shall reflect and show forth His
God's workmanship. Each of us                        nesses and sins, God carries out         glory to the praise of His match-
is, as it were, custom-made in                       His purpose with each one of us.         less name forever, world without
Christ Jesus. He is our Head, we                     We do the works which God has            end.
are the members of His body. Even                    before ordained that we should               This is eternal life, to know
as the branches of the vine draw                     walk in them. That is, God carries       God in intimate covenant fellow-
their life and fruit from the vine,                  out His work of salvation in us and      ship and to grow in that knowl-
so we draw our life and works of                     through us. His counsel stands and       edge endlessly. Since God is infi-
faith from Christ. Each of us is cut                 He does all His good pleasure, re-       nite, all eternity will be required
out, shaped, and formed, as it                       alizing His eternal purpose in           to know more fully the riches of
were, with his own personality, tal-                 Christ Jesus to the glory of His         His grace and to experience with
ents, and gifts for his particular                   great name.                              increasing intimacy the blessedness
place, task, and purpose in God's                        The most amazing wonder of           of His covenant life. The reward
church.                                              it all is that God rewards us for the    is the reward of grace. Amazing!
     From eternity God has planned                   good works Christ accomplishes in        Amazing grace!  0





              The Preterism of Christian
                                          Reconstruction
                                                     (from a Latin word meaning                 to avoid full-blown, consistent
                                                     "past") is the heresy that teaches         preterism.
In the letters column of this is- that the second coming of Jesus This charge has provoked the
    sue of the  Standard  Bearer,                    Christ is a past event. The second
                                            two                                               angry responses from the two
    champions of Christian Recon-                    coming of Christ occurred in AD
                                                                                              champions of Christian Reconstruc-
struction take sharp issue with the                  70. The second coming of Christ
                                                                                              tion.
recent editorial, "A Timely Ques-                    was the destruction of Jerusalem.
                                                                                                  I have published both letters in
tion about `Preterism"' (SB, Feb. 15,                    The editorial charged that
                                                                                              full. This will surprise some. The
1999).                                               postmillennial Christian Recon-
                                                                                              letters stoop to personal abuse.
     The editorial answered a ques-                  struction is promoting this heresy
                                                                                              Worse, they indulge in a scurril-
tion by a reader in California                       in Reformed and Presbyterian
                                                                                              ous attack on historic, confessional,
(where the preterism of Christian                    churches today:
                                                                                              Reformed amillennialism. Were I
Reconstruction makes headway in                        This grievous heresy (that is,         to write a similar letter to the
R e f o r m e d   a n d   P r e s b y t e r i a n      preterism), postmillennial Chris-      magazine of which Sandlin is edi-
churches), asking for information                      tian Reconstruction is promoting       tor, the  Chalcedon  Report,  or to
about the "preterist view." The                        in Reformed and Presbyterian           DeMar's  American Vision publica-
editorial explained that preterism                     churches today, although it claims     tion, in defense of amillennialism

364/Standard  Bearer/Mayl5,1B99


my letter would never see the light                    plicitly Manichean amillennial-                  have to do with the Christian Re-
of day.                                                ism"; "lie about what people actu-               construction explanation of Mat-
     But I am not doing them a fa-                     ally believe"; "very poor scholar-               thew 24; the Christian Reconstruc-
vor by publishing their letters. It                    ship"; "embarrassing"; "why don't                tion understanding of the New
is my purpose that these defend-                       you do substantive exegesis?"                    Testament's teaching that the re-
ers of Christian Reconstruction be                          The question about preterism                turn of Christ is "near"; and Chris-
permitted to expose themselves, as                     to which I responded in the Febru-               tian Reconstruction's having its
they insist, and that the preterism                    ary 15, 1999 issue of the  SB  was               heart set, not on Jesus' return but
of Christian Reconstruction be es-                     occasioned by a series of editorials             on the carnal kingdom of its
tablished beyond any shadow of                         defending (Reformed) amillen-                    dreams. Until Sandlin and DeMar
doubt.                                                 nialism against the postmillennial-              demonstrate, or make some effort
     One thing that becomes plain                      ism of Christian Reconstruction.                 at demonstrating, that these
from the letters is that, although                     These editorials ran from January                grounds are false, the charge
Christian Reconstruction is good at                    15, 1995 through December 15,                    stands.
handing out criticism, it has a very                   1996. Soon after I began the se-                      DeMar should not appeal to
thin skin when it comes to taking                      ries, one of that bellicose  crowd-              Charles H. Spurgeon's endorse-
criticism. For 30-odd years now,                       a lawyer-threatened legal action                 ment of James Stuart Russell's
R. J. Rushdoony and his disciples                      if I did not cease criticizing                        preterist book,  The Parousia.
have been mercilessly excoriating                      Christian Reconstruction.                                   For one thing, the bad ex-
Reformed amillennialism. Con-                               All of this bluster has                                    ample of another is no
s i d e r   t h i s   c o n d e m n a t i o n   o f    the tendency, if it is not           Amillennialism,              justification of one's
amillennialism and amillennialists                     designed, to frighten              as God's own truth-             committing the same
by Rushdoony, patriarch of the                         off all would-be oppo-                   vitally                    evil.      For another
movement:                                              nents of Christian Re-              important truth-                 thing,           placing
                                                       construction. Who is               about the last days,              Spurgeon's recom-
  Amillennialism . . . (is) in retreat                 eager to be taken to                must be defended                 mendation in the
  from the world and blasphe-                          c o u r t   b y   a   s h a r p                                      earlier editions of
  mously surrender(s) it to the devil.                                                     against Christian
                                                       young lawyer? Who                                                   Russell's book was
  By its very premise . . . that the                                                       Reconstruction's
  world will only get worse . . . it                   relishes being lam-                wicked attack on it             misleading, if not de-
  cuts the nerve of Christian ac-                      pooned by the mighty                 as "blaswhemu."              ceptive.       Spurgeon's
                                                                                                   I         d
  tion.... (With  premillennialists)                   exegetes, logicians, and                                        full-review  of Russell's
  they (amillennial believers-DJE)                     theologians of Christian Re-                                 The Parousia  was  critical,
  are . . . the most impotent segment                  construction? The result is that                      not commendatory. Only the
  of American society, with the least                  opponents timidly retreat from the               last line was qualified recommen-
  impact on American life. To turn                     field, leaving eschatology in the                dation of the reading of the book.
  the world-conquering word of the                     hands of Christian Reconstruction.               To lift that line out of the critical
  sovereign, omnipotent, and triune                         This must not happen. The                   review and make it an endorse-
  God into a symbol of impotence
  is not a mark of faith. It is blas-                  postmillennial eschatology of                    ment was dubious at best.
  phemy ("Postmillennialism versus                     Christian Reconstruction is false                     There is more to  DeMar's  ap-
  Impotent Religion," in the Journal                   doctrine.        It must be exposed.             peal to R. C. Sproul. Sproul has
  of Christian Reconsfrucfion, 3, no. 2                Amillennialism, as God's own                     r e c o m m e n d e d   R u s s e l l ' s   T h e
  [Winter, 1976-771: 126, 127).                        truth-vitally important truth-                   Parousia.  This is the book, remem-
                                                       about the last days, must be de-                 ber, that puts all of the eschatology
     The Rev. Sandlin's letter illus-                  fended against Christian Recon-                  revealed in the Scriptures, with the
trates the relentless attack on and                    struction's wicked attack on it as               exception of the millennium of
ridicule of amillennialism by Chris-                   "blasphemy." This is our calling.                Revelation 20, in the past. This is
tian Reconstruction over the years:                         Much of the contents of the two             the book that denies any revelation
"your own highly defeatist and im-                     letters can be answered quickly.                 of a future coming of Jesus Christ.
plicitly Manichean amillennial-                        Neither Sandlin nor DeMar ad-                    Sproul's recommendation is glow-
ism."                                                  dresses my grounds for charging                  ing: "Russell's work is one of the
     But let a Reformed amillen-                       that, although (as I recognized)                 most important treatments on Bib-
nialist venture a criticism of Chris-                  Christian Reconstruction protests                lical eschatology that is available
tian Reconstruction, and the Chris-                    that it wants to retain a future com-            to the church today." Sproul has
tian Reconstructionists react with                     ing of Christ, in fact Christian Re-             since written a book of his own on
vitriolic, personal abuse: "twisted                    construction is committed to a con-              eschatology in which he expresses
depiction"; "guilty of slander";                       sistent preterism (see the Feb. 15,              strong attraction to preterism as
"your own highly defeatist and im-                     1999  SB,  p. 223). These grounds                taught by Russell. It is all too  evi-

                                                                                                                   May 15,1999/Standard  Bearer/365


  dent that he has been powerfully                       That these important and busy              At the humble SB, we operate
  influenced by Russell. The Chris-                  men do not take the time to read           differently. We require that the
  tian Reconstructionists have not                   the SB is understandable. But it is        "lie" be precisely identified and
  been slow to hail the popular                      not wise. Humble though the  SB            then that the charge of falsehood
  Sproul as their ally.                              may be in comparison with the              be proved.
      And with right.                                learned tomes over which these                 No doubt, DeMar refers to the
      T h i s   m a k e s   e x p o s u r e   o f    mighty exegetes, logicians, and            charge of preterism.
  preterism as false doctrine all the                theologians pore, it is the one                DeMar recommended James
  more necessary.            Exposure of             magazine today that boldly de-             Stuart Russell's book, The Parousia.
  preterism becomes necessary for                    fends historic amillennialism.             This  book~is devoted to the propo-
  the sake of Reformed and Presby-                   Their own cohort, Gary North,              sition that every single  eschato-
  terian Christians among whom R.                    made this observation in the pref-         logical prophecy in the Bible, save
  C. Sproul is influential.                          ace to his recent commentary on            only the millennium of Revelation
      DeMar urges me to do "sub-                     Numbers. Explaining why he de-             20, has been fulfilled in A. D. 70.
  stantive exegesis" of Scripture on                 votes so many pages to a consider-         That is, all of the last things is past.
  the issues. Alas, he is ignorant of                ation of Protestant Reformed writ-         Christ came then, and there is no
  the exegesis that I have done on                   ing on eschatology, North says that        future coming of Jesus Christ to
  the pages of the  SB  of several of                Protestant Reformed men "are               look forward to. Russell's book is
  the passages of Scripture that are                 among the very few remaining               preterism. It is preterism  with a
  crucial in the debate: Matthew 24;                 Dutch-American Calvinist defend-           vengeance. It is full-blown, con-
  Isaiah 65; and Revelation 20. The                  ers of traditional amillennialism          sistent preterism. It is preterism
  reason for his ignorance is that he                who are willing to go into print on        that destroys the Christian hope. It
,; does not read the  SB.                            the topic." He adds:                       is as much a denial of the second
      Both Sandlin and DeMar are at                                                             coming of Jesus Christ as is the lib-
  pains at the very beginning of their                 But so few theologians today are         eral doctrine that the corpse of
  letters to inform me that they them-                 ready to defend with real convic-        Jesus (if ever He lived) lies  mold-
  selves did not know of my edito-                     tion and enthusiasm the original         ering  in the dirt of Palestine.
  rial on preterism to which they re-                  amillennial pessimism  (sic!),  that     About this book, on the back cover
  spond. A "friend," in one case, and                  (the Protestant Reformed men)
                                                       have staked out a kind of opera-         of the 1996 reprint edition, Gary
  a "member of our editorial com-                      tional monopoly: the last really         DeMar says:
  mittee," in the other case, had to                   enthusiastic defenders of the older
  bring the magazine to their atten-                   Dutch  amillennial  tradition  (Sanc-      H o w   m a n y   t i m e s   h a v e   y o u
  tion. They do not read our maga-                     tions and Dominion: An Economic            struggled with the interpretation
  zine.                                                Commenta  y on Numbers, ICE, 1997,         of certain Biblical texts related to
      This is perfectly understand-                    pp. xxviii, xxix).                         the time of Jesus' return because
  able.                                                                                           they did not fit with a precon-
                                                                                                  ceived system of eschatology?
      The readers of the  SB  should'                    Sandlin and DeMar might find             Russell's  Parousia  takes the Bible
  know that these are important and                  it worth their while to read the one         seriously when it tells us of the
  busy men.                                          vigorous, unabashed defense of               nearness of Christ's return. Those
      They cannot be expected to                     amillennialism being published to-           who claim to interpret the Bible
  read such a humble magazine as                     day.                                         literally often trip over the obvi-
  the SB.                                                All of these matters may have            ous meaning of these time texts
      But then neither should DeMar                  their importance, but the central is-        by making Scripture mean the op-
  allege my failure to do substantive                sue is my charge that Christian              posite of what it unequivocally
  exegesis of the Scriptural passages                Reconstruction's doctrine of the             declares.      Reading Russell is a
                                                                                                  breath of fresh air in a room filled
  in the debate between Reformed                     last things is preterist. This must          with smoke and mirror  herme-
  amillennialism and Christian Re-                   be the charge that DeMar castigates          neutics.
  construction postmillennialism.                    as a "lie." He never tells us what
  The fact is that a good part of my                 the "lie" is. Much less does he                One who has recommended
  series, "A Defense of (Reformed)                   prove  that anything in the editorial      Russell's book cannot cry "lie"
  Amillennialism," a series occa-                    is a  "lie." Apparently, busy and          when an amillennialist charges
  sioned by a long letter by Gary                    important  scholars need not con-          "preterism!" Nor can he cry "lie"
  DeMar, dutifully printed in the  SB,               descend to such details. For them,         when the amillennialist alleges that
  consisted of exegesis that claimed                 it is sufficient to declare on their       Christian Reconstruction postmil-
  to refute the postmillennial posi-                 own authority that an entire article       lennialism is promoting the griev-
  tion and to ground the position of                 in general is a "lie." This verdict        ous heresy of the consistent
  amillennialism.                                    must then be accepted as decisive.

  366/Standard  Bearer/MaylS, 1999


preterism of James Stuart Russell.         evitability about it. In theology, po-       demonstrate, mainly from the writ-
This is exactly what DeMar did, in-        sitions that began as inconsistent           ings of Gary DeMar, that Christian
tended to do, and is doing by his          embrace of an error invariably be-           Reconstruction is preterist. That is,
recommendation on the back cover           come  consistent  embrace of the er-         first, Christian Reconstruction er-
of the book.                               ror.                                         roneously explains important
    What DeMar ought to have                       But let this be. In the editorial    events of biblical eschatology that
written about Russell's  The  Parousiu     on preterism, I acknowledged that            are future as past events. Second,
is that it is a damnable denial of         Christian Reconstruction "claims to          Christian Reconstruction is guilty
the whole of the Christian hope of         avoid full-blown, consistent                 o f   m a k i n g   m o s t   o f   b i b l i c a l
the second coming of Jesus Christ,         preterism." I acknowledged that              eschatology a thing of the past.
including the bodily resurrection,         Christian Reconstruction protests            Third, Christian Reconstruction is
the final judgment, and eternal life       "that it wants to retain the hope of         bound by its own theology to re-
in the new world. He should have           a future coming of Christ and a fu-          gard all of eschatology as past
added that it is a wicked, foolish         ture resurrection of the dead on the         event.
dissolving of the glorious promise         basis of a few New Testament                         But I would like the Rev.
of the Day of Christ into the day of       prophecies that still apply to the           Sandlin and Mr. DeMar to read my
the destruction of a second-rate city      church today, that is, that it wants         response to their letters in this and
in the distant past.                       to hold an  `inconsistent  preterism."'      the following issue of the SB.
    DeMar will object that, al-                    But I added that there are three             May I ask the friend of Mr.
though he is a preterist, he is no         reasons why this is impossible,              DeMar and the member of the edi-
hyper-preterist.                           three reasons why Christian Recon-           torial committee of  Chalcedon   Xe-
    This is also Sandlin's defense:        struction is committed, willy-nilly,         port  who brought the editorial of
Christian Reconstruction rejects           to full-blown, consistent preterism.         February 15 to the attention of
"consistent preterism." It may be          These three reasons, Sandlin and             these men to do the same with
noted in passing that consistency          DeMar have not touched. They                 these issues.  tl
is a jewel. It also has a certain in-      must do so.                                                                           - DJE
                                                   In a following article, I will




                                                                                        edition. Why didn't you mention
I Christian Reconstruction                 tide who's telling the truth. As-
                                           sign them  Last Days Madness.  Let's         Sproul and his preterist conference
on the Attack                              see if they come to your conclu-             with nearly 4,000 in attendance?
                                           sions. They should also read Ken             Are you afraid that your entire case
A friend sent me a copy of your Gentry's Before Jerusalem Fell.                         would be considered suspect if
     February 15,1999,  issue of the               I did not use Russell for my re-     people learned that Sproul holds a
Standard Bearer  on the subject of         search. I was most influenced by             similar position and stood with a
preterism.                                 the Hebraist scholar John Lightfoot,         number of reconstructionists on
    To raise a standard one must           one of the participants at the               this issue?
have a standard. It's one thing to         Westminster Assembly. He, along                      Why don't you do substantive
disagree with a position and those         with many other commentators,                exegesis instead of name-calling.
who hold it, it's another thing to         showed that Matthew 24 and II                        You state that Jesus' coming is
lie about what people actually be-         Thessalonians 2, to name just two            "near." What do you mean by
lieve. The ninth commandment is            passages, have a preterist fulfill-          "near"? You never tell your read-
still in force. Your editorial is an       ment. If you read my Last Days               ers.
example of very poor scholarship.          Madness  and follow its arguments,                   Hope to read better arguments
It's embarrassing to think that it         you might not be so quick to mis-            in the future.
was written by a seminary profes-          represent a brother in Christ. Will                                           Gary DeMar
sor who is supposed to be prepar-          you also attack C.H.  Spurgeon for                      President, American Vision
ing students for ministry and truth        his endorsement of Russell? (See                                              Atlanta, GA
telling. I will be using it as an ex-      the first reprint edition by Baker.)
ample for my students how not to           What about Baker Book House for
argue. You do your cause no fa-            twice reprinting it? And then
vor by printing such half truths.  ~~~~                                                 A member of our editorial com-
                                           there's R.C. Sproul and his en-                      mittee alerted me to your Feb-
    Let's have a debate at your            dorsement. In fact, he wrote the             ruary 15 editorial, "A Timely Ques-
seminary. Have your students  de-          foreword to Baker's latest reprint           tion About `Preterism."' It was so

                                                                                                   May 15,1999/Standard Bearer/367


twisted in its depiction of the          heresy ("consistent preterism") of-                    are churches singing the psalms
Christian Reconstructionist posi-        fers a convenient issue by which                       only. Rev. Cammenga even writes
tion that I prefer to assume you are     to dismiss our consistently Re-                        that, "This is still today the posi-
simply misinformed for, certainly,       formed approach to the Faith, and                      tion of the Protestant Reformed
one would otherwise be guilty of         to advertise your own highly de-                       Churches."         The truth is that the
slander to so egregiously misrep-        featist and implicitly Manichean                       Protestant Reformed Churches do
resent the documentable view of          amillennialism. In any case, if you                    not hold the position of exclusive
Christian Reconstruction. For ex-        are committed to attacking our po-                     psalmody. They do not do so theo-
ample, David Engelsma sweep-             sition, please have the courtesy to                    retically, nor as a rule do they do
ingly declares: "Christian Recon-        attack our distinctives: orthodox,                     so practically.
struction is committed, willy-nilly,     catholic, Reformed Christianity;                            They do not do so in theory
to the full-blown, consistent            VanTilian  presuppositionalism;                        precisely because of their Church
preterism that strips the church         biblionomy; postmillennialism; and                     Order. The churches, through Ar-
and the Christian of all hope and        dominionism.                                           ticle 69, mandate the singing of
all salvation."                               Preterism has never been a dis-                   other songs besides the "150
    This is flatly wrong. Christian      tinctive of Christian Reconstruc-                      Psalms of David." This article does
Reconstruction and "consistent           tion.                                                  not promote exclusive psalmody at
preterism" are antithetical posi-             Your readers deserve to hear                      all. At best it insures inclusion of
tions, and we made this point cat-       the facts of this letter.                              the psalms with the exclusion of
egorically in the July, 1997 issue of                       (Rev.) Andrew Sandlin               man-made hymns (and we should
the  Chalcedon Report.  Christian Re-                    Editor,  Chalcedon Report              appreciate the article for this). But
construction embraces the orthodox                                      Vallecito, CA           it cannot be said that the article is
Christian Faith, crucial aspects of                                                             mandating exclusive psalmody.
which the "consistent preterists"                                                                    Perhaps there are Protestant
deny. Some Christian  Reconstruc-        n  Exclusive Psalmody                                  Reformed Churches that practice
tionists hold that certain parts of      in the PRC?                                            exclusive psalmody in the face of
Matthew 24 and the Apocalypse                                                                   the Church Order. Such would be
were fulfilled in AD 70, but all of                                                             the exception. The rule as yet is
them affirm the future physical          I appreciated in part the contri-
                                           bution of Rev. Cammenga en-                          that a doxology of some sort is
Second Advent of Christ, resurrec-       titled "Congregational Singing"                        sung as the service begins, and this
tion of the just and unjust, and fi-     (Standard Bearer,  April 1, 1999).                     doxology is not a psalm. Another
nal judgment. That is, all are or-       The encouragement to appreciate                        doxology is sung at the close as
thodox eschatologists. If they were      psalm-singing and fidelity in the                      well. Sometimes it, too, is not a
to adopt "consistent preterism,"         worship of the true and living God                     psalm. A church that sings songs
they would thereby abandon Chris-        of the Scriptures is continually                       other than the psalms cannot claim
tian Reconstruction  - and, for that     needed.         I also commend the                     t o   b e   p r a c t i c i n g   e x c l u s i v e
matter, orthodox Christianity.           Reverend's recognition that our                        psalmody. Perhaps it would be
    Nobody at Chalcedon is a             1914 Psalter is not perfect. Along                     better if we re-wrote the Church
preterist  - certainly not as this is    with the author I would wish for a                     Order rather than the dictionary.
today defined. Rushdoony and I           committee to review our psalter                        We readers of the  Standard Bearer
hold that most of Matthew 24 and         and fix it up where it lacks. But I                    have seen other articles in recent
the Apocalypse describe events of        cannot agree when the author con-                      years written by PR pastors pro-
much of the interadvental era, in-       tends that, "The mention of these                      moting the principle of exclusive
cluding, to be sure, the destruction     other songs that were in use in the                    psalmody on one hand, while re-
of Jerusalem. (I myself think Mat-       churches at the time that the early                    explaining Article 69 on the other.
thew Henry's view is quite on tar-       church orders were written cannot                      It seems that to re-word the Church
get.) You assert that Russell's view     be construed as a setting aside of                     Order to read, "In the churches
in locating the Second Advent at         t h e   p r i n c i p l e   o f   e x c l u s i v e    only the 150 Psalms of David shall
AD 70 is heretical. We agree, and        psalmody."            Undeniably these                 be sung," would be far easier (and
do not in any way endorse his per-       church orders did just that, and so                    more conscionable) than spilling a
nicious work,  The Parousia.  While      does the current Church Order of                       lot of ink interpreting church or-
some Christian Reconstructionists        the Protestant Reformed Churches.                      ders to say something that they
have more recently accepted a                 With such writing in the  Stan-                   clearly don't.
mild, orthodox form of preterism,        dard Bearer  in favor of exclusive                                              D. Scott Connerley
this interpretation is in no way en-     psalmody, one might infer that                                                  South Holland, IL
demic to our position.                   the Protestant Reformed Churches
    Perhaps to you the Hymenaen

368/Standard  Bearer/Mayl5,1999


R E S P O N S E : .   i  ; .  ..-.  I`i,.`.  -r:.t.                          is exercised  .in its. ,application. To                          ody. We do. Just as much as ad-
It is not accurate to say-that .Ar- say that Article 69 -sets aside the herence. .to the principle of exclu-
  title 69 of the Church  .Order,sets                                        principle of exclusive psalmody                                  sive psalmody does not necessar-
aside. the.  ,principle  -of exclusive                                       would:  mean that a  se1f:c.onsciou.s                            ily demand that the Psalms them-
psalmody. That is.  misconstrui.ng                                           decision was made prom-oting the                                 selves literally be sung, but a  ver-
the history and not doing justice to                                         singing of other songs. This is                                  sification of them, so adherence
the language of  the:arficle..  Rather                                       clearly not. what Article 69 is  do:                             to the..  .principle of exclusive
it is the case that the principle of                                         ing. The article is not, promoting,                              psalmody does not mean that no
exclusive psalmody is being pro-                                             but allowing and permitting.                                     allowance may be made for the
moted in the churches, while  ret;                                                Neither is it accurate to say that                          singing of the doxology and the
ognizing that for. a very long time                                          the Protestant Reformed Churches                                 few special songs referred to in Ar-
other songs have been sung.. The                                             do. not  <practice exclusive psalm-                              ticle69.                                      .._~
principle is adhered to, but wisdom                                                                                                                              ~-Rev,  R o n   Cammenga





                 -" -.'
                 ,_1.  The
                            ,~r                            Duty Of the Christian Mother
   : ., : .i.ul the .Tm.inir@ of Adolescent Youth (2)*

                     .        :->.        .s.*     ,..,                                                       /  -  .    --
                                                                             motherinthe  training  i;f those ado-                            have given them in their childhood.
                                                                             lescent  c h i l d r e n ? '   ..  ~=
                                        _..                                                          -.    ~. -...                            You cannot start when they get to
At the end  of  the  pre&ous  installment,"  -                                    Of  course,~`the  general calling                           be -thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen
                                                                                                                                              -..-ri.i  _
Herman Hoeksema had just observed                                            is `very plain.  `Parentsl:~m$hers,                              years old. It is too late. Let me
that "there is, from without especially,                                     bring up your children --`also your                              sound a note of warning that you
the danger of falling into wrong hands: -- adolescent children  --in the fear
                                                                                                            .  iiil._  .:                     must start the training of your ado-
Especially under the  influences~~of~~                                       -and  admontiion  of~the  Lord. That
                                                                             jeans that Loti. musi .~;;/Y;c~-`y!&                             lescent children when they are chil-
                                                                                                                                               `..Pii  _..._
worldly and corrupt companions,  a%-`.-                                                                                                       dren, not when  %ey are  adoles-
lescents, who `are in`the`nature`of  the                                     m  the fear of the Lord: You must                                cait3. f....,.  I.
case easily moved aid i&t&d ti && _~ _ p&$ for the:@,-et&  `Thos'e a%&i-                                                                      -  '  `In the' `third place, though  -`I
that very life, will  find~`al1 kinds                                                                                                         have been asked to speak specifi-
                                                                   yf  ~-    `ply general things Which you must
                                   <                                I
opportunity to  e+ress themselves in                                         never  for&et  and that do not'  per-                            cally on the duty of the Christian
evil ways." That set the stage for the                                       tain  part&larly'to  the training of                             mother,  let me emphasize that, es-
third question which he had promised                                         our adolescent  children,`but to the                             pecially at this age, there must by
to address.                                    -.~                  .-.      training of .ou.r children at any age.                           all means be the greatest confi-
                                                                             I am not; however,  cailing`specific
                                                                                             _.     *_ .  :  *1                               dence and cooperation between the
                                                                             attention to that.
Whatto do about it - that                                                                                                                     mother and the father. Do not try
               is my last question.                                               In the second place, I want to                              - especially at that age'- to keep
               What is the duty of a                                         make this plain, that you must not                               the training of your children in
                                                                                                                                                                                    /  ;...;
Christian teacher or Christian par-                                          imagine that if you have neglected                               your own hands: Do  id try to
ent,  specifically"of"a~`di;`ri&an                                           the'traininti~ofvour~childrenbefore
                                                                                  .                                                           keep from  -your' husbands  any-se-
                                                                             that age,  jr"du   Gan begin it now. It                          Crets`in regard to what the children
                                                                             is too late.  `When'1  `talk  about'the                          reveal. Usually, you are with your
                                                                                                                                                                                 .'  .`..  -i  I
                                                                             duty &the -mother in r&g&d' to-the                               children more  than'their father  is.
                             _  .                                            training of her adolescent children,                             You are with them in the daytime,
Herman  Hoeksema was f&e firs't editiob;`of                                  I do not mean-to abstract~and~sepa-                              when the father is gone. You may
the       Standard Bearer.                         '       ~`.     .:'           .~I
                                                                             rate    ...j
                                                                                   the ed;&hii;n  .hf <A& a;;.g,m                             find a tendency in  your'heart   not
        * This is the transcript  of  a speech                               the preceding one. The  tra[nmg  of                              to tell father, and simply conceal
given by Herman Hoeksema at a Ladies'                                        your adolescent children  should'be                              things from him and make it  &i-
League Meeting in  Hudsonville,  MI on                                                                                                        possible for him to know.. -Don't!
April 29,1943.                                                               based upon the training which you
                                                                                                                               . . . . . .    _,~,.~.  ,..  li.,i              .:/ _..;. ;... 1

                                                                                                                                                             May 15.1999pSandard Bearer/369


There should be the greatest  coop-            mean authority with discretion,  es-                     age, will lead to the discard of all
eration between the Christian                  pecially in view of the fact that they                   authority. Be firm; but be discreet.
mother and the Christian father.               do not like the authority of  child-                              In the third place, by all means
And remember, the stronger hand                hood anymore. Do not treat them                          get into the life of your children
of the Christian father may often              as small children, because they do                       and guide them. Give them ad-
be needed in the training of the               not like it. Nevertheless, use your                      vice  - advice as to their com-
adolescent children. Do not forget             authority.       By wise authority I                     plaints, advice as to their literature,
it.                                            mean that you must make a  dis-                          advice as to their amusements. Do
       As to the specific calling of the       tinction between what is really                          not merely condemn something,
Christian mother, who is with                            good for them and what is                      but explain.
the adolescent children                                    just merely a notion on                               In the fourth place, do three
more than the father is, I             . . . you must        your part. When they                       things. Inculcate in your children
would just make a few               start the training        come and ask, "May I                      a love to be at home, so that they
remarks, for by right my                  of your             do this, or may I go                      like to come home with their
time is up already. Let             adolescent children       here?" or when they                       friends, with their companions, and
me be brief. First of all,            when they are           come and say, "May I                      do not like to be on the street.
by all means try to gain                 children,            stay out a little longer                  Make home pleasant for them, so
their         confidence.               not when              tonight?" do not decide                   that they like home and make it
Rather, let me say, keep                 they are            that question merely by                    their center of interest.
their confidence. Their                adolescents.          a   s t a b l e   l a w   o f   t h e               Inculcate in their hearts also a
attitude is such, naturally,                               Medes and Persians, but                      love for the church and for the ac-
that they are inclined to                                ask yourself the question,                     tivities of the church. It is good
close up their hearts. That is true            not  how  long  are  they out,  but  where               for young people that they find a
especially of boys, but to a certain           me they.  It is already a great gain                     Christian social center in the
extent also of girls. They are go-             if at that age your children let you                     church. Instead of going all over,
ing to have secrets. They should               know where they are and you                                   they should enjoy being in
not. In order to be intimate with              can be assured that they are                                         young people's society, or
them, you must have their confi-               where they tell you they                                               in whatever activity may
dence. You must make them feel                 are. If there is a rule that                           Try               be going on. Church life,
that they can get rid of their prob-           they must be in by ten                        to exercise                 also for our adolescents,
lems and that they can have a sym-             o'clock, but you know                      your authority                 should be more than
pathetic reception for any problem             that they are at a pro-                     in such a way                  Sunday services. Be
that may be in their heart when                gram and cannot possi-                         that your                   careful what you say
they come to mother  - and they                bly be home until  11:30,                     adolescent                  about the church and
do that with mother more easily                by all means give your                     children do not                about the pastor. By all
than with father. So then, be sym-             consent. You understand                     know you are                 means, do not blame the
pathetic in order to keep their con-           that the matter of time is                      doing it.                children when they  criti-
fidence. By all means do not be                relatively unimportant, but                                            cize, if your comments
rude with them. You had the same               where  they are is the essential                                     about the church are always
problems when you were their age.              thing. It is much better to be at a                           negative.
Maybe you look now upon every-                 good place until twelve o'clock                                   And inculcate in them, in a
thing they do as a tendency to evil.           than at a bad place until ten. Use                       very wise way, and above all, the
It is not so. Consider their natural           your authority, but by all means                         fear of the Lord. Of course. Ac-
characteristics before you condemn             use it with discretion. Do not al-                       cording to their age, meet their
everything that they do and ask                ways deny. Do not always say                             problems. Answer their questions.
and are inclined to do. Be sympa-               " n o . " Try to exercise your author-                  If it is possible.
thetic. That in the first place  -             ity in such a way that your adoles-                               I realize all these things are dif-
that they may express their hearts             cent children do not know you are                        ficult. It is not easy to educate chil-
to you and not be distant from you.            doing it. Exercise your authority                        dren. They require wise, patient
No doubt their minds are filled                in such a way that the child will                        study. And they require, perhaps,
with a lot of secrets. Give them               do what you tell him to do, but                          more time and leisure than you
the impression that you expect                 doesn't feel the yoke of authority.                      have. They require, above all,
them to confide in you.                        Be firm. By all means be firm.                           prayer, and the example of a godly
       Secondly, let me advise that,           When you have made up your                               mother who herself lives a godly
when your children are that age,               mind that a certain thing is correct,                    life.
you exercise a wise, gentle, yet firm          do not let it go. To do so, espe-                                 I thank you.  0
authority.      By wise authority I            cially when the children are at that

370/Standard  Bearer/MaylS, 1999


         Report from the Contact Committee
                                                                                                                   Rev. Ronald Cammenga

                                                         volved in the Bible School that the                    tablishing sister-church relation-
                                                         ERCS is in the process of establish-                   ships. One of the members of our
T                                                                                                               Contact Committee, Rev. Kenneth
         he Preamble of the Constitu-                    ing. We must continue to remem-                        Koole, was included in the delega-
         tion of the Committee for                       ber Rev. Kortering and his faithful
                                                                                                                tion sent this year to Northern Ire-
         Contact with Other Churches                     wife in our prayers.                                   land in order to discuss the matter
expresses the conviction of the                               Rev. Kortering's term as min-                     of  sister-church relationships with
Protestant Reformed Churches that                        ister-on-loan expires in 2002. Al-                     the consistory of the CPRC NI.
it is their "sacred duty to manifest                     ready the Contact Committees of                            The Contact Committee will be
the true unity and catholicity of the                    the PRC and the ERCS are begin-                        proposing to synod 1999 that sis-
church on earth in as far as that is                     ning to work on securing Rev.                          ter-church relationships be estab-
possible, not only in our denomi-                        Kortering's replacement. In all                        lished provisionally with the CPRC
national fellowship but also in con-                     likelihood the attempt will be made                    NI this year and finalized by synod
junction with all churches which                         to call a man in 2001 so that there                    2000. This will provide our sister
have obtained like precious faith                        will be a year of overlap, provid-                     churches in Singapore the oppor-
with us, both domestic and for-                          ing for a smooth transition.                           tunity to indicate whether they
eign." On behalf of the churches,                             One of the significant propos-                    have any legitimate objections to
the Contact  Committee.carries out                       als the Contact Committee will be                      our establishing sister-church rela-
this sacred duty.                                        presenting to synod 1999 is that                       tionships with the CPRC NI. Two
      This past year has been a very                     Prof. Herman Hanko be sent to la-                      elders from the consistory of the
busy one for the Contact Commit-                         bor for at least six months in                         CPRC NI, Mr. Brian Crossett and
tee. Much work has been done de-                         Singapore.          The ERCS has re-                   Mr. Jonathan  McAuley,  plan to be
veloping the contacts that we al-                        quested this so that Prof. Hanko                       present at synod in June. We very
ready have. Effort has also been                         can assist them in the development                     much look forward to the visit of
put forth to develop new contacts.                       of their Bible School.
                                                              All of the PR Churches have                       these two brothers.
The Evangelical Reformed                                 been made aware of the fact that                       The Evangelical Reformed Church
Churches in Singapore                                    Covenant Evangelical Reformed
                                                                                                                of Australia
      Our minister-on-loan, Rev. Ja-                     C h u r c h   w a s   n o t i f i e d   b y   t h e        The Contact Committee contin-
son Kortering, continues his ener-                       Singapore government that the use                      ues to develop our contact with the
getic labors in our sister churches                      permit for their church building                       Evangelical Reformed Church of
in Singapore. His monthly reports                        would not be renewed. They are
                                                                                                                Australia.      Over the years our
have kept us informed of the many                        still in the process of finding a new                  churches and people have had a
labors in which he is involved.                          meeting place. Collections are be-                     great deal of contact with the saints
There are all of the labors in the                       ing taken in our churches. Their                       down under. This small denomi-
churches themselves in Singapore.                        need is great and we must continue                     nation needs the prayers and sup-
There are his labors on behalf of                        to bring the need of our sister                        port of the PRC. At present the
missions, both for the ERCS and                          church before the throne of grace                      EPCA has one student, Mr. Mark
t h e   P R C ,   i n   M y a n m a r ,   I n d i a ,    in prayer.                                             Shand, attending our Protestant
Nepal, and the Philippines. Rev.                                                                                Reformed Theological Seminary.
Kortering is also extensively  in-                       Covenant Protestant Reformed
                                                         Church in Northern Ireland                                 Sadly, the Contact Committee
                                                              Rev. Ron Hanko continues his                      of the EPCA informed us that be-
                                                                                                                cause of circumstances within their
Rev. Cammenga is pastor  of  Southwest                   faithful labors as missionary pas-                     denomination they would be un-
Protestant         Reformed          Church in           tor in the congregation in North-
Grandville, Michigan, and the secretary                  ern Ireland. The focus of our la-                      able to attend a conference that we
for the Committee  for  Contact with Other               bors with the CPRC  NI this past                       had planned with them the first
Churches.                                                year has been on the matter of  es-                    part of June, just before the  con-

                                                                                                                        May 15,1999/Standard Bearer/371


vening of our synod. Plans are be-          ference is Common Grace.                 Hungarian Reformed Seminary in
ing made now to hold the confer-                    A conference is also planned     Papa, Hungary. Rev. Kontos is in
ence in the year 2001. In addition,         for June 2 with the Committee for        the United States for several
the Contact Committee is working            Ecumenicity and Interchurch Rela-        months assisting the American
to bring a delegation from the              tions of the Orthodox Presbyterian       Hungarian Reformed Church in
EPCA to the United States in June           Church. -This-will  be a preliminary     _ _A!$ Park, f$$-@g.~ _$e_ meet-
of 2000 in order to attend our              meeting  eat which we will discuss -:'  ing  was informative and the Con-
synod, participate in the gradua-           the reasons why synod 1998 felt          tact Committee will continue to ex-
tion of their student, and attend           constrained to cease sending ob-         plore ways in which our Protestant
our denomination's  75fh  anniver-          servers to  NAPARC.  We will also        Reformed Churches can be of help
sary celebration.                           pursue the possibility of discussion     to the Reformed Churches in Hun-
                                            of the significant issues that divide    gary*
Additional Contacts                         us, including especially but not ex-         The work this past year has
    In line with the decisions taken        clusively the free offer of the gos-     been~exciting. The Lord gives  @r
by synod 1998, the Contact Com-             pel.                                     churches many opportunities to be
mittee has pursued contact with                     This year the Contact Commit-    of service to churches and  den&r&
the United Reformed Churches in             tee has made an effort to develop        nations around the world who are
North America. An all-day con-              our contacts with the Hungarian          struggling to maintain the Re-
ference is planned for Tuesday,             Reformed Churches. On March 26           formed faith.. May He `continue to
April 27 at our seminary between            the Contact Committee met with           give us the wisdom needed as we
our Contact Committee and the               Rev. Laszlo Kontos. Rev. Kontos          endeavor to carry out our sacred
Committee for Ecumenical Rela-              is a minister in the Hungarian Re-       duty on behalf of, the unity- and
tions and Church Unity of the               formed Churches who also serves          catholicity of His church in the
URCNA. The subject for the con-             as the librarian and archivist of the    world.  0


             Our Foreign Mission Work
                                                                                                  Rev. Richard Smit

T                                           FMC does not intend to duplicate         that it is possible and, we believe,
       he Foreign Mission Commit-           efforts in the regions where our sis-    preferable for us to enter Ghana in-
       tee continues to work in be-         ter churches have work. In the sec-      dependently.
       half of our Churches for the         ond place, in the Lord's providence          As a result of this decision, the
cause of the spread of the Re-              the FMC has been given work only         FMC advised Hull PRC to resume
formed faith in foreign lands.              in Ghana, in the Philippines, and        calling a missionary to Ghana. Hull
Synod 1993 assigned to the juris-           with a handful of scattered indi-        adopted the advice of the FMC and
diction of the FMC the foreign              viduals throughout Africa, Asia,         immediately formed a trio. Hull
lands including Africa, Asia, India,        and Central America. About that          extended the call to Rev. Richard
the Middle East, South America,             work in the past year, here follows      Moore. Rev. Moore accepted the
Central America, Mexico, and the            a brief summary.                         call and preached his farewell on
Caribbean. Indeed this is an enor-                                                   March 7, 1999.         He was subse-
mous jurisdiction. However, in the          Ghana                                    quently installed as our foreign
first place, we must remember that                  The FMC was busy investigat-     missionary to Ghana on March 19,
our sister churches of the Evangeli-        ing the requirements of "sponsor-         1999, in Hull PRC.
cal Reformed Churches in Sing-              ship" for sending a missionary to            This is something new for our
apore are doing mission work in             Ghana. In January 1999, the FMC          churches. For the first time in our
Myanmar, Nepal, and India. The              decided no longer to pursue spon-        history we have a missionary who
                                            sorship but rather to send a mis-        will labor on the continent of Af-
                                            sionary independently. The main          rica in Ghana. Though we begin a
Rev. Smit is pastor  of  the Protestant     reason for deciding against spon-        journey as churches in this new
Reformed Church  of  Doon, Iowa. Rev.       sorship was that this would involve      work, we strongly desire that we
Smit is also the secretary  of  the For-    us in compromise of our beliefs and      walk down the old path of obedi-
eign Mission Committee.                     practices. The FMC determined            ence to Christ in preaching purely

372/StandardBearer/MaylS,  1999


and without compromise the glo-           bless his work, gather His saints                              terview the candidates and recom-
rious gospel of our Lord Jesus            under his preaching, and cause the                             mend to the Hull council and FMC
Christ and  Him- crucified. We be-        gathering to grow spiritually and                              whom to select as volunteer  assis-
lieve that such gathers  `His eter-       in numbers.                                                    tants. There was a pleasant  prob-
nally chosen church into the fellow-           Rev. and Mrs. Moore are  cur-                             lem of having a large list of  candi-
ship of the gospel. In distinction        rently busy  making   prepara-                                          dates from which to choose.
from many today, we narrowly de-          tions to move to Accra,                            *                  _i Hull council, upon recom-
fine mission work as only the offi-       Ghana. They have sold                                                       mendation            o f   R e v .
                                                                                                  Though
cial preaching of the church by an        most of their belongings,                          w e   b e g i n           Moore, selected Mr.
ordained and sent minister of the         put some into `storage,                            ti journey  .'            .and Mrs. John  Bouma.
Word. We believe such is scrip-           squeezed the rest into                            as churches                 The FMC concurred
tural. We realize that because we         8. number of boxes                         in this new work,                   with that decision.
do not make humanitarian projects         which they will take --                                 r-  we;-z='   ..  .-.  ~.---`The-  Boumas plan to
and economic advancement part of          with them  one the                             strongly desire                  join our missionary
our denominational mission work,          flight to Accra. The                                    that we            a n d   h i s   w i f e   o n   t h e
our mission work will not be popu-        Moores have received                              w&k down                      field in about  Octo-
lar and will not attract droves of        the necessary  immu-                             the old path.              dli ber. The costs of the
people. Nevertheless, we believe          nizations. They have                             Of                             volunteer assistants
                                                                                                   obedience
that when the Word is preached            begun work  msecur-                            ..  t o   C h r i s t        ( i m m u n i z a t i o n s ,
purely, in faithfulness to Christ (II     ing suitable housing                     1-n preaching purely                   housing, utilities;
Tim.  4:1,2), the Lord uses such to       in Ghana with the  as-                           and without                    food, transportation)
gather the church out of every na-        sistance of one of our                           compromise                     will be entirely  sup-
tion, tribe, and tongue. Thus, in         contacts in Accra, Rev.                                                     `I ported by  .donations
                                                                                   the glorious gospel
Accra, Ghana, we desire to preach         Gabriel Anyigba. They                          of  our Lord Jesus              and by collections
the Word, and then wait patiently         have begun the applica-                        Christ and Him                -from our congrega-
upon the Lord to grant the increase       tion  piocess for visas.                          -crucified.                tions. At this time, the
according to His eternal good plea-       Rev. Moore has said that                                              :  : FMC estimates that the
sure.                                     with all the moving and                                                ~~ cost of the volunteers- will
    Our approach to working the           preparations; he has been kept                                  -.     be about $20,000  -Peru  year.
field in Ghana is first to establish a    very busy to keep plans on track                              The FMC  plans  `to keep the  con:
gathering under our preaching and         for their departure date.                 j                    gregations informed about the fi-
teaching in the capital city of                In addition to all the prepara-                           nancial position of  them"Ghanaian
Ghana, Accra. Much of this work           tions, Rev. Moore also plans to  de;                           Missionary Assistants Fund" in or-
will be among those who have              velop some awareness of his work                               der that our volunteers have suffi-
heard the gospel. Accra is full of        by visits to our Canadian churches                             cient support in Ghana. The FMC
churches of varying faiths. Our           i n   A l b e r t a ,   C a n a d a ,   a n d   o u r          is thankful to the congregations for
mission work will concentrate ini-        churches in the Northwest and                                  the financial support of our volun-
tially in working with those who          Midwest of the United States. Af-                              teers thus far. The FMC is also
have heard the gospel, but now de-        ter all the preparation and promo-                             thankful for the desire and willing-
sire the Reformed faith. When the         tion of the field in our churches,                             ness -of the Boumas to face the chai-
mission work is established in            the Moores plan to depart from                                 lenges of living in a new environ-
Accra, the Lord willing, then there       North America on June 16 and ar-                               ment and assisting the missionary
may be opportunities to labor in          rive in Ghana on June 17. We pray                              in practical work which is not di-
other regions, even possibly among        the Lord will grant them safe travel                           rectly the  -official  work of the mis-
tribes in the northern regions.           to the field.                                                  sionary. We also thank the others
    The FMC and Hull council are               Perhaps you wonder about the                              who responded to the request for
very thankful to God for provid-          volunteer assistants. Perhaps you                              volunteer assistants.
ing us with a man to be our mis-          have already even given in the col-                                   Because our missionary is not
sionary to Ghana. We are thankful         lections for the "Ghanaian Mission-                            on the field, we have nothing more
to God that Rev. Moore and his            ary Assistants Fund," but you won-                             to report at this time. We desire to
wife have expressed such willing-         der what is happening. Who was                                 keep the churches informed of de-
ness and eagerness to do this work.       chosen? Will they be leaving in                                velopments on the field with regu-
The change will not be not easy.          June, too? We can answer those                                 lar reports either in the  Standard
The challenges are immense. The           questions you may have.                                        Bearer  or in newsletters directly
work will be exhausting. However,              You will recall that the FMC                              from our missionary via the FMC.
our sincere desire is that the Lord       sent out a request for volunteers.                            We covet your prayers on behalf
will strengthen our missionary,           The FMC asked Rev. Moore to  in-                               of Rev. Moore and his wife, Hull

                                                                                                                   May 15,1999fitandard  Bearer/373


Protestant Reformed Church and              leave for the Philippines. They            sionary will need a sponsoring
her council, and your FMC in its            have planned to meet in the Phil-          group in the Philippines. A mis-
denominational work in Ghana.               ippines on May 20 and continue             sionary could not immigrate to the
                                            there until May 31. The brethren           Philippines without a sponsoring
Philippines                                 also plan to have their wives ac-          group. Such a sponsoring group
    The FMC has also devoted                company them. Their work will in-          is one which is registered with sev-
much time and effort towards our            clude instruction and preaching on         eral agencies of the government.
contacts in the Philippines. We             the Lord's Day of May 23 in Daet           At this time our contacts would not
have maintained regular corre-              among the groups who are associ-           meet the immigration requirements
spondence and contact with the              ated with Pastor Tanierla. Then            to sponsor a missionary from our
people there. In October 1998, Rev.         during that week the brethren will         churches.
Arie  denHartog and Rev. Richard            move to Bacolod and work among                 In light of these considerations,
Smit worked for a couple of weeks           the Convenors of Historic Chris-           the FMC is proposing to synod
among our contacts in Davao,                tianity in Bacolod. By the end of          1999 that another delegation be
Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, and Ma-            the week, the men plan to work             sent to the Philippines to nurture
nila. They taught and preached,             among the Bible Study Fellowship           our relationship with our contacts
visited families there, met with the        in Cagayan de Oro. On the Lord's           by further instruction and preach-
leaders of the respective groups,           Day of May 30 they will both               ing. We desire that our proposals
and also found time to investigate          preach among the BSF in Cagayan            to synod may meet the approval
immigration requirements and liv-           de Oro. In addition to work with           of our churches, and above all the
ing costs for a possible missionary.        the BSF, the men also plan to meet         approval of the Lord of the har-
The FMC believed that this work             with recent and very interested            vest.
was very profitable to understand           contacts from Davao, who will
better the physical, spiritual, and         travel to Cagayan de Oro for that          Other
ecclesiastical conditions of our con-       purpose. Finally, before their de-             Although the bulk of our time
tacts in their respective locations.        parture home, our delegation plans         has been spent with Ghana and the
Much correspondence and further             to include visits in Manila with           Philippines, yet the FMC has re-
good interaction with the contacts          several new and old contacts there.        ceived and responded to corre-
have resulted from this work. We                    We pray the Lord will bless        spondence from other countries in
pass along to you the deep appre-           these efforts to evaluate further the      Africa and other countries as, for
ciation from the contacts for the           direction of our future involvement        example, India. We continue to
willingness of our churches to do           among our contacts in the Philip-          distribute literature, cassette tapes
even this type of work. The con-            pines.      The FMC believes that for      of sermons and lectures, and RFPA
tacts expressed that they would be          now we must continue in the mode           books in an effort to spread the wit-
grateful for additional contact and         of evaluation and development of           ness of the Reformed faith. We
instruction in the future, if it is pos-    our contacts in the Philippines.           have also found that the technol-
sible for us to provide that.               That does not mean there is no             ogy of electronic mail has greatly
    There is one area which the             positive development among our             enhanced our communication with
FMC has yet to investigate, and             contacts. We have witnessed posi-          foreign contacts who have that
that is the area near Daet (on the          tive progress among our contacts,          same communication capability.
main northern island of Luzon). In          for which we are thankful, but in          We trust that the Lord will bless
this area, the FMC has contact with         light of that encouraging progress,        our efforts in this way, too.
the main leader, Percival Tanierla,         we must not be hasty in commit-                In conclusion, the FMC covets
who with his people has a desire            ting ourselves as a small denomi-          your prayers. We desire that the
to learn more about our faith and           nation with limited resources to an-       Lord will grant us much wisdom
practice. The FMC at this point             other foreign field. Indeed, we            and strength to serve the churches
does not know much about the con-           must move forward in faith and             well in our work of foreign mis-
ditions there and what our future           obedience to fulfill our duty to           sions. We desire that you will con-
with the group is. To that end, the         spread the Reformed faith of the           tinue to make our need for wisdom
FMC plans to send a second del-             gospel in foreign lands. However,          and strength known before the
egation on behalf of our churches           we must move forward in wisdom,            Lord in your prayers in our behalf.
later this month. This also was             too.                                           May we be accounted faithful
mandated by synod 1998.                             Another practical aspect to our    by the Lord in our work for the
    Currently, Rev. D. Kleyn and            future involvement is the immigra-         cause of the Lord's kingdom and
Rev. J. Kortering are preparing to          tion requirements. The FMC has             covenant.  0
                                            documented evidence that a mis-


374/Standard  Bearer/hfaylS,  1999


                                                  The Work of the
                       Domestic Mission Committee
                                                                                                                Mr. Don Doezema

                                                         main of the FMC. All the rest be-         1993's drawing of  geographical  lines
Ladarba I-bnedmin kollha dinbu longs to the DMC. And that in- - as much as possible along the
     f'Adam....                                          cludes Malta.                             lines of the  practical  distinction
     That's the beginning of Artiklu                         Obviously, the distinction be-        which had governed the division
1 ,   i n   a   b o o k l e t   e n t i t l e d   IL-    tween foreign and domestic mis-           of labors since 1962. In keeping
QWENEN  TA' DORT  (traduzzjoni                           sions is not geographical. With re-       both with 1962 and with 1993,
ta' Paul Mizzi).                                         spect to the continent of North           Malta is "domestic." It's the DMC,
     The only English words in the                       America, which is the home of the         therefore, that has had the privi-
publication come at the very end                         PRCA, Malta and the Philippines           lege of contributing, in a small
of the INTRODUZZJONI:  "...                              are, geographically, equally for-         way, to a humble stand for the
Homer Hoeksema,  The Voice of Our                        eign. "Foreign," in the history of        truth of the Word of God in that
Fathers,  (Reformed Free Publishing                      PRC missions, came to apply to            faraway land in which there is an
Association, Grand Rapids, Michi-                        those peoples who in their genera-        overwhelming consensus against it.
gan,  1980)."                                            tions were not Christian; and "do-        One cannot, in fact, help but be im-
     The language is Maltese. Per-                       mestic," to those who were. The           pressed by how closely the effort
haps you have already guessed the                        distinction, thus, has to do less         of the Trinity Evangelical Church
name of the publication. In the in-                      with the place of the work than with      of Malta mirrors our own. Their
troduction the translator, Paul                          the  nature  of the work. The latter      "outreach" includes, presently,
Mizzi, gives credit to Homer                             is a useful distinction. One of the       evangelism in a neighboring island.
Hoeksema's commentary on the                             difficulties, however, is that it         They have, according to a recent
Canons of Dordt published by the                         stretches the  usus   Zoquendi  of the    newsletter of Pastor Mizzi, visited
RFPA. The Maltese of the first sen-                      words to the point where one feels        all thirteen of its towns. No large
tence, therefore, is the well-known                      obliged to explain why the coura-         rallies producing mass conversions.
beginning of the first article of the                    geous stand of a Paul Mizzi over          "Two men showed an interest in
First Head of Doctrine: "As all                          against the Roman Catholicism of          searching the Scriptures, but so far
men have sinned in Adam.. . ."                           a little island off the coast of Italy    they have not come to our ser-
     Interesting. But what does all                      should be the concern of the DMC,         vices." And by that they are en-
that have to do with an article in                       and why the DMC decided to un-            couraged.    Encouraged to press
the SB on missions? And, if we                           derwrite the printing cost of  IL-        ahead, with a weekly radio broad-
grant the connection of the Re-                          QWIENEN  TA' DORT.  It's because          cast, dissemination of literature,
formed creeds with Reformed                              of Malta's history. Interestingly,        and letters to the editor in a Catho-
evangelism, how does Malta figure                        Pastor Mizzi identifies Malta, on         lic paper which is the most widely
in the work of a  domestic  mission                      the heading of his quarterly news-        read newspaper in Malta. Samples
committee, which is the burden of                        letter, as "the Island of Acts 28."       of the latter demonstrate that these
this article?                                            Whether or not the shipwreck of           are well reasoned, biblically
     If you read the SB from front                       the great apostle to the Gentiles did     grounded exposures of the lies of
to back, you've just finished Rev.                       indeed mark the beginning of a            Roman Catholicism. This, for in-
Smit's informative article on the                        Christian church on Malta (Melita),       stance: "How can she (Mary), be-
work of the  PRC's Foreign Mission                       the fact is that the Christian tradi-     ing a finite creature, listen to the
Committee. In it you learned what                        tion is long on the island. Apply-        prayers of millions? Popular
parts of the world are in the  do-                       ing the above distinction, then, it's     Marian devotion implicitly at-
                                                         plain to see that Malta belongs in        tributes omniscience to a creature,
                                                         the domain of the DMC.                    even though the Bible declares that
                                                             Not always is that the case.          God alone knows the hearts of all
Mr. Doezema, a member  of  Southwest                     That is, not always is it so plain.       people (see I Rings  8:39)."
Protestant Reformed Church in                            The history of some nations and re-           Tracts, the little Reformed
Grandville,  Michigan, is secretary  of                  gions of the world makes classifi-        church in Malta distributes door to
the Domestic Mission Committee.                          cation difficult.     Hence synod         door. Not so, the Canons.  II-

                                                                                                           May 15,7999/Standard Bearer/375


Qwienen  ta'  Dorf  they put "in the             RWH on WORD radio and the PRC                   desired to have contact with us but
hands of those who are ready to                  mission work  inPittsburgh. It's too            were convinced that they  had fo do
read and consider sound doctrine."               early to tell what the fruit of that            so as a matter of principle. They
And they'd like to do the same                   effort will be, but during the past             therefore asked us for help, with
with the Heidelberg Catechism..
                      =  ;i  :.  .i  a  -:  z    few months no fewer than  seven: __
                                                            & ;.. - & & z i - .; z ..- : r; I    the understanding that such would
                                                                                                  -  ~~~-~   r-z*,:-  _
Pastor Mizzi has on  hrs shelves                 @o&sing contacts have been made  1  -be a mission effort on the part of
Ursinus' commentary on the Cat-                  due entirely to the radio  messages             the PRC.
echism, as. well. as  IHoeksema's                of Rev. Carl Haak on the RWH in                      Rev. Miersma had already be-
Triple Knowledge.  He has, he says,              that area.                                      come persuaded of the potential for
become a "firm believer in the util-                 Reasons to be encouraged. The               work in the Spokane area, and hav-
ity of the Heidelberger and other                Lord gives us those, we think, so               ing come also to know and appre-
literature that has withstood the                that we will not be discouraged                 ciate the members of the SGRC  a's
test of time and has proved a bless-             when the results of  ours efforts are           a solid foundation on which to be-
ing in the edification  ~of God's elect          not always in harmony with our                  gin such a work, our missionary
children.`! Pastor  -Mizzi  therefore            desires and intentions. Sometimes               was ready to advise that "we have
already translated the Catechism                 a Northwest Chicago Mission be-                 a calling and work to do in Spo-
into Maltese; and the DMC in its                 comes a Bethel PRC (cf. p. 380 of               kane as churches." The calling
last meeting decided to inform him               this issue), and a Covenant Re-                 church (Loveland PRC) and the
of its willingness to. assist fin-an-            formed Fellowship becomes the                   Mission Committee agreed, and at
cially in the printing of it too.  -             CPRC  NI seeking sister-church re-              t h e   b e g i n n i n g   o f   A p r i l   t h e
    There-  is-no doubt that litera-             lations with the PRCA (cf. p. 371               Miersmas made the move from
ture is a large part of the  PRC's               in this issue). But there are also              Colorado to. Washington.
witness to the truth. That a pas-                the Modestos, Birminghams,                           Moving a missionary family
tor-missionary in Malta benefits                 Jamaicas  . . . and now the San Luis            can be an expensive proposition  -
from  The Triple Knowledge,  or that             Valley in Colorado. Not easy for                especially if, instead of renting a
the SB has a subscriber in the coun-             the few who are left behind . . . or            house, it becomes necessary to buy.
try of Slobodan Milosevic, no                    for the missionary. Yes, it tears at            The required down payment can
longer surprises us. The Lord has                the heart of a missionary. Nor is it            tax a small denomination's re-
seen fit to use our literature in most           easy for the calling church and the             sources. We would be remiss were
remarkable ways and unexpected                   Mission Committee. But, like Pas-               we not to take note of the fact that
places. More often than not it's the             tor Mizzi, we learn to be content               the move to Washington was made
literature of the PRC that sparks                when we cover thirteen towns and                easy for us, in that respect, by the
the interest which leads eventually              there are but two people who want               members of the group we were
to work for the DMC. And our                     to hear more. Content . . . for it is           leaving in Alamosa. So generously
missionaries make extensive use of               the Lord who opens hearts (cf. Acts             had they supported the work dur-
literature in carrying out their                 16:14).                                         ing the past few years that there
work. The San Luis Valley (CO)                       Rev. Miersma is our western                 was in the end a considerable sum
Courier  and the Ballymena Guard-                home missionary. He therefore                   of money in their fund. And they
ian have carried many articles writ-             cultivated contacts elsewhere in the            chose to give it all to the Domestic
ten by Missionaries Miersma and                  west at the same time that he was               Mission Committee. There was,
Hanko respectively. Rev. Hanko                   concentrating his efforts in the San            therefore, more than enough
and the Covenant Protestant Re-                  Luis Valley. A work in Spokane,                 money on hand to make a sizable
formed Church of Northern Ireland                WA became the main focus of his                 down payment on a house for the
sold $5,000 worth of books last year             labor outside the Valley. For over              Miersmas in Spokane. The gift
and distributed nearly $2,500                    a year, in fact, he traveled to Spo-            from the SLV Mission thus became
worth of pamphlets. Radio, too,                  kane on a monthly basis. His work               part of an investment which will
has been used by the DMC for                     was with the Sovereign- Grace Re-               become available to us every  time
many years. The Reformed Wit-                    formed Church of Spokane. Once                  we relocate our home missionary
ness Hour was broadcast in the San               Arminian Baptist, the congregation              to another base in the western U.S.
Luis Valley for a year  or  so prior             had, over the years, become Re-                 And we're happy to report that the
to our leaving that field, and is cur-           formed, and in the process lost a               same thing holds true for eastern
rently being broadcast in `Pitts-                good deal of her membership  - to               home missions. Southeast PRC re-
burgh. Rev. Mahtani and the Pitts-               the point where there are now but               cently received a substantial gift
burgh Mission have arranged for                  four families and a couple of indi-             from the estate of a late member of
professionally-produced spot ads,                viduals. Finding themselves to be               their congregation. Part of it was
to be broadcast three times a day                in agreement with all the basic                 designated for mission work. And
for three weeks, promoting the                   teachings of the PRC, they not only             Southeast decided to give it to the

376/StandardBearer/Mayl5,1999


DMC specifically for use in obtain-      ginning, the Lord willing, of an in-       tain the faith once delivered to the
ing missionary housing. Again, a         digenous denomination in the UK.           saints." They are, however, widely
gift which met an immediate need         The latter is their fervent desire         scattered. The absence of a geo-
with regard to a missionary house        and a strong motivator in their            graphic base led Prof. Hanko to
in Pittsburgh, but at the same time      work of evangelism. This accords           conclude, and Missionary Hanko to
one that will continue to be of ben-     with what has always been our              concur, that it's "too early to call a
efit to the PRC in their work of         own purpose for being there. Our           missionary full time." They ad-
home missions for a long time to         focus, surely, was the work in             vised that we continue to try to ar-
come.                                    Larne/Ballymena, but the scope             range for men to work in Wales for
    That there was a need for mis-       was broader. And it remains so             two or three months if at all pos-
sionary housing in Pittsburgh so         today.       It gives the DMC great        sible, and that Rev. Hanko go there
soon after synod 1998 approved           pleasure, now, to be able to work          as often as he can.
calling a missionary to the eastern      with (that is, along side of) the               Releasing a congregation's min-
U.S. was really quite remarkable.        CPRC toward a common goal in               ister for an extended period of time
Southwest's very first call was ac-      the British Isles. What, after all,        is n o t   s o m e t h i n g   t h a t   a n y
cepted, and by the middle of Au-         could be more gratifying for a mis-        consistory does lightly, no matter
gust Rev. Jaikishin Mahtani was al-      sion committee than to have for a          what the cause. We were glad that
ready hard at work in the field.         partner in the great work of mis-          Grandville PRC considered this
Very soon thereafter, however, the       sions one of the fruits of it. The         cause of sufficient importance to
Lord, for His own good purpose,          establishment of sister-church re-         warrant depriving themselves of
touched our missionary so that he        lationships will of course bring an-       the service of their pastor for six
could not carry out his work. First      other change in status and involve         weeks. That was during March
it was physical sickness, and then       another  synodical  committee in the       and April. At the time of this writ-
a severe case of depression. At          workings of the relationship. But          ing we are eagerly awaiting his re-
Southwest's request, Kalamazoo           as long as the Lord gives to the           turn and report.
PRC agreed to let their pastor, Rev.     PRC an "open door" for work in                  Such has been the work of the
Bruinsma, spend alternate week-          other parts of the UK, the DMC             DMC this past year. For what pur-
ends (Wednesday to Monday) in            hopes to remain a part of that rela-       pose do we recall it? Allow me to
Pittsburgh for the past several          tionship.                                  borrow a line from Pastor Mizzi,
months to preach, teach all classes,         Promising contacts, especially         who declares concerning his own
and help Rev. Mahtani in any way         in Wales, prompted synod 1998 to           reporting of new developments in
he could. With thankfulness to our       approve our sending someone pe-            mission work,  "... I mention them
God we can report that our mis-          riodically to the British Isles to help    in order that glory, honor, and
sionary has been granted a good          Rev. Hanko develop the work there          thanksgiving may redound to our
deal of recovery. He has been able       - "with a view to determining              Almighty God and Father of our
gradually to take up more and            whether or not to recommend to             Lord Jesus Christ. We are nothing
more of the labors of the field. Rev.    synod in 1999 that a second mis-           but earthen vessels; the building of
Mahtani's testimony: "God is             sionary be called to the British           His church and the success of His
good."                                   Isles." Twice we have been able to         counsel belong to Him." a
    One other field belongs to the       do that. Prof. Hanko was the first
work of the DMC. That's the Brit-        to go on our behalf. As one of the
ish Isles. The work of Hudsonville       two professor-lecturers at every
and the DMC and of Missionary            one of the biennial family confer-
Hanko and the CRF came to frui-          ences sponsored by the British Re-
tion, under the blessing of God, in      formed Fellowship, Prof. Hanko
the organization of the CPRC NI          had come personally to know many
in 1996. In the States, the organiz-     of the  CPRC's  contacts throughout
ing of a church from a mission field     the British Isles. For that reason,
would bring an end to the work of        and others, we were delighted that
the Mission Committee in that            he was able to spend much of July,
place. Not so, in this instance, in      August, and September in Wales
Northern Ireland. When the Cov-          last year. -In reflecting on that
enant Protestant Reformed Church         work, he observed that, in this land
organized it did not become a            where spiritual lethargy prevails,
member of the Protestant Reformed        there are still those who yearn for
denomination. It is an indigenous        biblical and confessional preaching
church, the CPRC  NI, and the be-        and who are determined to "main-

                                                                                              May 15,1999/Standard Bearer/377


                                               failed to deliver what we thought                       world, not just the next election
                                               it promised. Conservative Chris-                         cycle.
                                               tians are increasingly frustrated
                                               that the cultural viruses of abor-                         Amen!!
                                               tion and drugs have proved                                 The same journalist wrote in
H  "Not.of This World"                         largely immune to political inocu-                     the Loveland  Reporter-Herald,
                                               lation. Too many conservatives
C                                                                                                     March 24, 1999, a column titled:
         al Thomas is a well-known po-         b e c a m e   o b s e s s e d   w i t h   B i l l      "Facing the immoral majority." In
         litical writer with strong lean-      Clinton's impeachment, and the
                                               establishment GOP is now trying                        it he again concedes that the Moral
ings to the "religious right." He              to distance itself from its believ-                    Majority had it all wrong. Their
often comes out with some  hard-               ing base. Meanwhile, true believ-                      attempt to change society through
hitting articles pointing to the cor-          ers - including me - are beginning                     their political muscle just didn't
ruption so often seen in govern-               to sense that the kingdom of this                      work. They thought that their ef-
ment and in society at large. There            world, which regularly demands                         forts would awaken the "sleeping
was a time when this journalist                compromise, cannot be reconciled                       giant," the "moral majority" of
believed that a "moral majority"               to a kingdom not of this world                         people. They discovered that there
was almost ready to take over our              that allows for no compromise.                         was no moral majority at all. So
society and establish once more a              Jesus understood this. Consider
                                               John  15:36, when Jesus tells Pilate:                  Thomas calls for a different plan
nation that honored the laws of                " M y   k i n g d o m   i s   n o t   o f   t h i s    of action:
God.                                           world...my  kingdom is from an-
    But Cal Thomas has become                  other place." His is not a realm                           We are calling for a different
very disillusioned.                            that needs soldiers to establish or                      strategy articulated by a different
    In two recent articles he con-             defend it.                                              -King who presides over a differ-
cedes that "the religious right is                                                                      ent Kingdom which He said is
going wrong by focusing on poli-                  He  continues in the article, af-                     "not of this world."
tics instead of prayer." He writes            ter pointing out other instances                            While we believe that all Chris-
                                                                                                        tians  - liberal or conservative  -
in Newsweek, March  29,1999,                  where Christians took on a wrong                          along with people of other faiths
                                              mission:                                                  have a right, even an obligation,
    The day after the 1980 election,                                                                    to participate in the political life
  those of us associated with what                The lesson: by and large, the                         of their nation, we think "Chris-
  came to be called the "religious             Christian mission should be to                           tian" political lobbying groups are
  right" - I was working for Jerry             change hearts, not laws.                                 counterproductive, not only to the
  Falwell's Moral Majority  - thought             Does this mean conservative                           primary cause of spreading the
  we saw a revelation from God.                Christians should completely                             Gospel, but because they also
  Not only had Ronald Reagan won               withdraw from politics? Abso-                            muffle the church's prophetic
  the White House, but five liberal            lutely not: faith has been the driv-                     voice in an increasingly pagan and
  Democrats had been swept from                ing force behind huge leaps for-                         materialistic world....
  the Senate. The message? The                 ward in American life....                     But          The authentic Christian  message
  marriage of church and state was             preachers, whether they be Jesse                         becomes contaminated when it is
  looking better all the time. If God          Jackson or Falwell, should step                          joined to political positions of any
  was slow bringing about the re-              out of partisan politics. Reserv-                        stripe. The unvarnished message
  forms we sought, perhaps we                  ing their right to speak on issues,                      of Jesus  - not the Republican or
  could help him out a little. The             they should refrain from endors-                         Democrat Jesus  - is contaminated
  hymn "Onward, Christian Sol-                 ing or opposing politicians.                             when it is married to a series of
  diers" took on an entirely new                  For Christians, the vision of                         "correct" political positions.
  meaning.                                     worldly power is not a calling, but                        Conservative Christians should
    That was 20 years ago. Now                 a distraction. It is a temptation                        not withdraw from politics and
  the movement appears dispirited,             Jesus rejected, not because it was                       culture and emulate the prohibi-
  even despondent.         Politics has        dangerous, but because it was                            tionists and the Anti-Cigarette
                                               trivial compared with his mis-                           League at the beginning of this
                                               sion....                                                 century.    They should instead
                                                  Our eyes should be lifted sky-                        awaken to the power they already
                                               ward  - toward the company of                            possess  - the power to transform
Rev. VanBaren  is pastor of the Protestant     heaven. The time has come for                            lives from the inside. This is dif-
Reformed Church  of  Loveland, Colo-           believers to focus on the next                           ferent from political power that
rado.

37&%andard  Bearer/MaylS,  1999


 changes no minds and transforms                             bling has on the lives of partici-            Having lost the pot on private
 no hearts.            T h e   b e a u t y   o f   a         pants. I found rather striking an           gambling, how can we win the pot
 "bubble-up" instead of a  "trickle-                         article in the Denver Post, March           on state-advocated gambling? An-
 down" morality is that it is the                            30,1999,  by William Safire, another        swer: For this political argument
 only process that actually works....                                                                    on public policy, we need the lib-
                                                             political journalist. He states:
     . ..Conservative              Christians                                                            erals. Conservatives cannot effec-
 should continue to vote intelli-                                                                        tively make the argument that the
 gently for candidates who reflect                               You have to know when to hold           lottery is a regressive tax, a rip-
 their views. They should pray for                             `em and when to fold `em. On              off of the poor.
 all those in authority, regardless                            the issue of casino gambling  - its         Does Jesse Jackson know that
 of party, which is a biblical man-                            promotion of a false  something-          blacks spend four times more than
 date. But they should be under                                for-nothing philosophy, its cor-          whites per capita on lotteries,
 no illusion that either party will                            ruption of both parties' politics         thereby using the dollars of poor
 usher in a moral revival....                                  with millions in Big Gambling             blacks to subsidize wealthier
                                                               cash-1 am folding my hand.                whites? Does Ted Kennedy, from
     One would hardly expect such                                That's because we moralizing            the gambling-crazed state of Mas-
                                                               saps have been rolled over by the
writings from one who formerly                                                                           sachusetts, know that 5 percent of
                                                               chiseling champions of chance.
was a leader in Falwell's "moral                                                                         lottery players account for 51 per-
                                                               Ten years ago gambling was legal          cent of total lottery sales in the
majority."         Still-facts are facts.                      in two states; today only three           nation, and that these frequent los-
Large numbers of "Christians" will                             prohibit it.    The business has          ers are not the rich? Is no pro-
not provide the "power" to change                              mushroomed fivefold in that  time         gressive policy maker in the
society. There is no "moral major-                             to well over $50 billion a year.          Clinton Interior Department
ity." It remains true, even as in                              Candidates for governor who try           troubled by the massive payoffs
past ages, that there is but a rem-                            to restrict gambling, lose to the         on both sides of the Indian casino
nant that is saved. It remains true                            gamblers' candidates.                     grab?
                                                                 An extensive national study
today, even as in past ages, that                                                                          Lefties: Now that the poor are
                                                               conducted at the University of
change is not something that can                                                                         being victimized, what's become
                                                               Chicago for the National Gam-             of you?
be imposed by force, but begins in                             bling Impact Study Commission
the regenerated heart. It remains                              found that 2.5 million Americans              How  true!! But the remarks
true today, even as in past ages,                              are "pathological" gamblers. Ho          of Thomas apply here as well. It
that the Kingdom is heavenly. We                               hum: That's only 1 percent of the        will not be the power of the voting
are not to set our hearts on the                               population (not including mere           booth, it will not be by persuasion,
things of this earth. It does one's                            "problem gamblers"). Who cares
                                                               if these compulsives go down the         however logical the argument may
heart good to hear one publicly ac-                            drain, and take their families with      be, but only by that change of the
knowledge  that his former ap-                                 them? A piddling $5 billion a year       heart that will make one turn from
proach was ineffective, even                                   goes to legal fees for divorce, court    this ungodly sin.  tl
wrong. Let us also, then, hold to                              and jail costs for arrests, lost
the truth that our King is in heaven                           wages and bankruptcy; though
and His Kingdom is finally real-                               many of these costs are borne by
ized when He returns on the clouds                             the general taxpayer, nobody's su-
of glory.                                                      ing.

                                                                 Safire continues by pointing
n  Legalized gambling:                                       out that the argument for state-sup-
                                                             ported gambling is that the pro-
It's a sin                                                   ceeds are given for education and
E                                                            other public projects. Presumably,
     ven the unbeliever is beginning                         this reduces the need to tax the
     to realize that the evils of this                       general populace for these projects.
age are overwhelming. When gov-                              Safire, however, argues that when
ernment supports these evils, the                            the government uses gambling
state of the nation is in peril. When                        moneys to support education, it
clever ads are used to seduce more                           simply deflects the "saved" taxes
into the sin of gambling, the con-                           for other unnecessary works. He
sequences are sure to follow. Now                            calls gambling "state-sponsored
there are some, though few, who                              plundering of the poor."
c o n d e m n   g a m b l i n g - n o t   o n   r e l i -         He concludes his arguments:
gious  grounds but simply on the
basis of the sad consequences gam-

                                                                                                                  May 75,7999/Standard  Bearer/379


       Bethel Protestant Reformed Church
                                   Dedication Service
                                                 April 9, 1999

                                              History of Bethel
                                                                                                  Mrs. Alice Stob

                                           strength to take leave of the CRC          We became known as the
Bethel! House of God                       and become members of the PRC.          Northwest Mission. At the morn-
    rom the earliest memories we
F                                          It was not easy leaving their former    ing worship service we would hear
     see the providence of God in          church.    They had never antici-       the minister pray for the mission,
the "beginnings" of Bethel Protes-         pated such a thing happening; but       that God would cause it to grow.
tant Reformed Church.                      "for the love of the truth" (which      The evening service was held in
     In 1974 a young navy man vis-         was the title of the first lecture      each other's homes and we would
ited relatives in South Holland, IL.       given by Rev. Engelsma) it was          listen to taped sermons. The South
He accompanied them to church              made easier.                            Holland consistory granted that
and there first heard Rev. David               In 1982, Rev. Engelsma con-         Rev. Engelsma begin preaching ser-
Engelsma preach. He never forgot           ducted a Bible study twice a month      vices for us twice a month. These
that Sunday morning and the good           at the home of one of the members.      were held at St. Bede's Episcopal
preaching.                                 (Later on, the home next to this,       Church in Bensenville. We were
     In 1981-82 members of an ex-          out of all the houses in Elk Grove,     thankful that all this was done for
tended family who were all mem-            was to become our parsonage! God        us, so few people. We appreciated
bers of the Christian Reformed             would have us remember the way          that Rev. Engelsma would give of
Church in Des Plaines, IL were be-         He led us!) We studied the Can-         himself to preach three sermons
coming        uncomfortable        and     ons of Dordt. How good and prof-        each Sunday. Mileage was quickly
alarmed with the changes taking            itable this experience was!             increasing on that car! What could
place in their church. At that time,
Rich Reyenga remembered the PRC
in South Holland. He and his fam-
ily started attending regularly. It
was not in God's plan at this time
to have any others follow them,
and they returned to attending DP
CRC. In 1983 three of the families
started attending services at South
Holland PRC, and on May 1, 1983
a fourth family came. The father
and mother of the family (who
were in their late 70s) were to re-
main at DP CRC for some time yet.
Eventually they too received the


Mrs. Stob is a member  of  Bethel Prot-
estant Reformed Church.

3SO/Standard Bearer/MaylS, 1999


we say but to thank God for it all.                     teen families in 1989. We grew not      the lot, but everything fits per-
     Rev. Engelsma suggested that                       only in numbers but also spiritu-       fectly. It all seems much bigger
we ask the Domestic Mission Com-                        ally during his time here, and we       than we thought.. . .
mittee for a missionary. After all                      are very thankful for his guidance          It has been seventeen years
the procedures and meetings it was                      during that time.                       since many of the families have
decided         t h a t   R e v .       Ronald             Rev. Haak accepted the call to       worshiped in their own church
VanOverloop would come to be                            become our pastor and came in the       building. We eagerly awaited wor-
our missionary. In 1984 he and his                      fall of 1994. May God continue to       shiping our God in it. What an
family came here from Alabama.                          use him as our "spiritual builder,"     exciting and joyful day it was when
In October we started having two                        that we may be built up in that         on March 21,1999  we held our first
services each Sunday at St. Bede's                      "most holy faith." Currently,           services in our own sanctuary.
Episcopal. We met right after their                     Bethel has twenty-one families, as          It is our prayer that God will
morning service, then had refresh-                      well as many steady visitors to its     give a reward of His grace to all
ments, and returned to the sanctu-                      worship services.                       the Protestant Reformed Churches
ary for the second service. We                             We have met in various places,       for their prayers, care, and labors
were favored always with the love                       including a high school gymna-          over us, in that this church  -
and support of the South Holland                        sium, a Lutheran church that was        Bethel  - may ever be a joy and
people in their faithful visits.                        in a trailer, a day-care center, and    blessing to the whole denomina-
     I n   1 9 9 4 ,   G o d   c a l l e d   R e v .    for four years in a hotel conference    tion.
VanOverloop to be the pastor of a                       room. In August of last year we             May God bless the  PRC de-
sister-church in Michigan. He                           began construction of our church        nomination in that it will ever bear
served faithfully at Bethel for ten                     building. There were many delays        the marks of the true church. God
years, five as our missionary and                       and frustrations in obtaining the       is building His church! His name
five as our pastor. Under Rev.                          necessary permits, but finally we       be glorified!
VanOverloop's ministry we ex-                           were on our way. There were                 "Hitherto hath the Lord helped
panded from the core group of five                      doubts that a church and an area        us" (I Sam. 712).
families and organized with thir-                       for parking would actually fit on


                                                        Dedication Reading*

                                                        sovereign majesty, and to impel         in the hearts of the hearers, so that
                                                        their hearts to more devotion and       they may perceive and know what
Purpose of Dedication                                   humility in His service. Such dedi-     they ought to believe and how they
     Beloved in the Lord: devout                        cation projects our heavenly Father     ought to live, and that they may
and holy men of God under the Old                       has accepted. Let us not doubt but      have grace and strength to do all
Covenant as well as the New Cov-                        that He will also favorably approve     the will of God.
enant have been moved by the                            our consecrated purpose in setting          We dedicate this house to the
Holy Spirit and motivated by His                        apart this place in a solemn man-       end that holy baptism, which is a
command to erect houses for the                         ner, for the continual worship of       sign of God's covenant, may be ad-
public worship of God. They sepa-                       the triune God and the pure             ministrated to the children of be-
rated them from all common and                          preaching of the glorious gospel of     lievers and to adult converts, and
worldly use to the holy use of                          the Lord Jesus Christ.                  that all who are thus consecrated
Christ's church. They did this that                                                             to God in baptism may grow in
men's minds might be filled with                        The Dedication                          grace and in the hearty confidence
greater reverence for His glorious                          We dedicate this building to        that they are and forever shall re-
                                                        the name and praise of Almighty         main living members of Christ.
                                                        God, God the Father, God the Son,           We dedicate this place to the
                                                        and God the Holy Spirit, one eter-      end that God's covenant youth may
                                                        nal God in three divine persons.        make glad confession of faith, so
*                                                           We dedicate this place to the       confirming their baptismal cov-
     This piece, read at Bethel's dedica-               reading and study of the Word of        enant, taking their God-given place
tion, was written by the late Rev. Robert               God, the preaching of the whole         in the church, and by divine grace
C. Harbach for the March 13, 1969 dedi-                 counsel of God, and to the end that
cation  of  the first church building  of                                                       avoiding all those things that are
Lynden,  WA PRC.                                        the Holy Spirit may graft His truth     contrary to their good confession,

                                                                                                         May 75,7999/Standard Bearer/38 7


and living in all good works which                      We dedicate this house to the                   ways be preached, where the great
God has before ordained that they                    end that whoever shall here draw                   Reformed confessions, the Heidel-
should walk in them.                                 near to God to give thanks for the                 berg Catechism, the Belgic Confes-
        We dedicate this edifice to the              benefits which they have received                  sion, and the Canons of Dordt, to-
end that the Holy Supper of the                      at His hands, to set forth His most                gether with that brief exposition of
Lord may here be properly admin-                     worthy praise, to confess their sins               these confessions which we call the
istered, that all who commemorate                    unto the Lord, to ask such things                  Declaration of Principles, shall be
the death of Jesus Christ, may come                  as are necessary for body and soul,                faithfully taught, explained, and
to the Lord's table feeding on                       may do so with steadfast faith,                    upheld. So may the plain truth of
Christ by faith, in love and repen-                  with seriousness, affection, and de-               Scripture be preserved in the hearts
tance, and have fellowship with the                  votion of mind, that they may be                   of God's people, God's holy name
only true God and with His Son                       accepted of God, and receive from                  worshiped in truth and purity, and
Jesus Christ our Lord.                               Him according to His wisdom what                   the gospel of God preached from
        We dedicate this earthly taber-              shall be for their glory and good.                 generation to generation.
nacle to the end that it may be a                    May they be enlightened more and                       "The glory of this latter house
place where Christian men and                        more with the light of the everlast-               shall be greater than of the former,
women may be joined together in                      ing gospel, increase in the love of                saith the Lord of hosts: and in this
holy matrimony, may faithfully                       the truth, and by divine mercy be                  place will I give peace, saith the
perform the marriage covenant                        kept in the same.                                  Lord of hosts" (Haggai  2:9).
made between them, and may re-                           We dedicate this place to be a                     "Ye also are  builded  together
main together in love, the bond of                   lighthouse of the Reformed truth,                  for an habitation of God through
perfectness, unto their lives' end.                  a place where the gospel shall al-                 the Spirit" (Ephesians  2:22).  Q





                                                     labor there in 1984. Rev. Van                      their  own  sanctuary. We add our
Congregation Activities                              Overloop served for five years as                  prayer to theirs when we humbly
Friday evening, April 9, the con- their missionary and then, after or- ask our heavenly Father to bless
        gregation of the Bethel PRC in               ganization in 1989, for five more                  Bethel that she may continue to be
Roselle, IL gathered together with                   years as their pastor. Under his                   a joy and blessing to our whole de-
many friends and well-wishers to                     ministry Bethel grew from five                     nomination.
dedicate their new church building.                  families to thirteen at organization.                  The consistory of the Immanuel
They dedicated it to the worship                         Rev. C. Haak accepted the call                 PRC in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada
of Jehovah God, to the pure preach-                  to become their pastor and began                   has given their approval to the
ing of the gospel, to the adminis-                   his ministry there in 1994, after                  town of Lacombe to annex their
tration of the sacraments, and to                    Rev. VanOverloop left for the                      property, along with other prop-
fellowship in the risen Lord. Rev.                   Georgetown PRC in Hudsonville,                     erty in the land to the west of
R. VanOverloop, Bethel's only                        MI. Currently Bethel has  twenty-                  Immanuel. Development is sched-
former missionary and pastor, led                    one families as well as many steady                uled this year.
their dedication service by speak-                   visitors attending its worship ser-                    Building progress continues at
ing appropriate words from the                       vices.                                             the Georgetown PRC in  Hudson-
Holy Scriptures found in I Peter                         Over the past years they have                  ville, MI. On April 17 the last of
2:4, 5. Their choir, the young                       met in various places; including a                 the scaffolding was removed from
people, and the Sunday School also                   high      s c h o o l   g y m n a s i u m ,   a    the auditorium. The center portion
participated in that evening.                        Lutheran church that was in a                      of the ceiling is now completely
        Bethel first became known to                 trailer, a day care center, and, for               painted, and the high walls and
many of us when it was the North-                    the past four years, in a hotel con-               arches in the center ceiling have
w e s t   M i s s i o n   a n d   R e v .   V a n    ference room. It has been seven-                   their first coat. Work also contin-
Overloop and his family came to                      teen years since many of the fami-                 ues on the dry wall and exterior
                                                     lies of Bethel have worshiped in                   brick.
                                                     their own church building. They                        The Byron Center, MI PRC con-
                                                     testify to their joy and excitement                cluded their season of Monday
Mr.  Wigger  is an elder in the Protestant           on being able again, beginning                     evening catechism classes with
Reformed Church of Hudsonuille,  Michi-              March  21,1999, to hold services in
gan.                                                                                                    what has become their annual

382/standard  Bearer/Maylti,  1999


kickball game. Parents were re-                        Session has decided to use the                   a half weeks of teaching a seminar
minded to have their children                          place for one year, until July 2000.             in Myanmar. There will be 53 par-
dressed appropriately, indicating                      Meanwhile, their committee is still              ticipants in the seminar, including
that perhaps, after 25 weeks of cat-                   keeping an eye open for a place                  pastors from six different churches.
echism lessons, this last Monday                       that they can purchase.
would be a little more physically                                                                       Minister Activities
active than the first 24.                              Mission Activities
                                                       The San Luis Valley Mission in Rev. C. Hanko, our oldest
                                                                                                                emeritus pastor, was recently
Sister Church Activities
0                                                          Alamosa, CO officially closed                hospitalized for diverticulosis and
      ver the past few months the                      on Sunday, April 4, with our west-               pneumonia. He was transferred to
      Covenant Evangelical Re-                         ern home missiqnary,  Rev. T.                    Brookcrest Nursing Home in
formed Church of Singapore has                         Miersma, preaching there for the                 Grandville, MI in mid April, to
been busy trying to secure a                           last time. Since then, he and his                stay there until he is strong enough
place for their temporary occupa-                      family have moved to Spokane,                    to return home.
tion since, come July, they will                       WA, where he intends to begin la-                        Our Hull, IA PRC formed a trio
have to move out of their present                      bors with the Sovereign Grace Re-                consisting of Revs. Gritters,
place of worship. Thankfully, it                       formed Church of Spokane.                        denHartog,  and Key. At a congre-
now appears that a suitable place                           Rev. R. Moore and his wife                  gational meeting on April 19, they
has been found. It is the Bible So-                    plan to arrive in Ghana on June 17,              extended a call to Rev. Key.
ciety of Singapore (Bible House).                      D.V. Until then they are planning
Covenant's Relocation Committee                        to visit their children and some of                           good  nor Thought
believes this will serve their pur-                    our churches.                                            "It is possible to give without
poses for at least the time being,                          Rev. and Mrs. J. Kortering left             loving, but it is impossible to love
while they continue to look for a                      Singapore on April 17 for three and              without giving."
more permanent place. Covenant's                                                                                      -Richard Braunstein  m





       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                                            CALL TO SYNOD!!
     On May 26, 1999, our parents and                                                                           Synod 1998 appointed First Protes-
grandparents,
     GLENN and BETTY  KOOIKER,                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                     tant Reformed Church, Holland, Ml the
                                                                                                        calling church for the 1999 synod.
will celebrate their  351h anniversary. We,            The council and congregation of the
                                                                                                                The consistory hereby notifies our
their children, would like to thank them               Southwest Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                                                        churches that the 1999 synod of the Prot-
for all their years of Christian love, guid-           extend their Christian sympathy to Mr. and
                                                                                                        estant Reformed Churches in America will
ance, and godly instruction they have                  Mrs. Darrel Huisken and their children in
                                                                                                        convene, the Lord willing, on Tuesday,
given us. We are thankful for Christian                the death of their father and grand-father,
                                                                                                        June 8, 1999 at  9:OO 
parents who have fulfilled their covenant                          Mr. Henry Huisken,                                             A.M.  in the First Prot-
                                                                                                        estant Reformed Church, Holland, Michi-
vows in raising us with His Word and by                a long-time member of the First Protes-
                                                                                                        gan.
their faithful example. We pray that God               tant Reformed Church of Edgerton, MN.
                                                                                                                The Pre-Synodical Service will be
will continue to bless them and keep them              May they be comforted by the promises
                                                                                                        held on Monday evening, June 7, at  7:30
in His care. "For this God is our God                  of God's Word. "I have fought a good
forever and ever: he will be our guide                 fight, I have finished my course, I have         P . M .  Rev. Gise   VanBaren,  president of
even unto death" (Psalm  48:14).                       kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up      the 1998 synod, will preach the sermon.
                                                                                                        Synodical delegates are requested to meet
* Carlos and Kristin Tavera                            for me a crown of righteousness, which
                                                                                                        with the consistory before the service.
% Very1 and Kandace Heynen                             the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give
                                                                                                                Delegates in need of lodging should
       Kassandra, Heath, Kolette,                      me at that day: and not to me only, but
                                                                                                        contact Mr. John VanUffelen, 860  PawPaw
       Kalista, Karina, Dalton, Collin                 unto all them also that love his appear-
*    Kimmy and Cheryl Kooiker                          ing." II Timothy  4:7, 8.                        Dr., Holland, MI. Phone: (616) 396-8498.
                                                                                                                                         Consistory of
       Christina, Brady, Rochelle, Shania                             Rev. Ron Cammenga, Pres.
* Kerwen and Catherine Kooiker                                       Mr. Bill  DeKraker,  Vice-Pres.                         First PRC, Holland, Ml
                                                                                                                            John VanUffelen, Clerk.
                                     Sheldon,  Iowa





                                                                                                                    May 15,1999/Standard Bearer/383


     Bi9arer                                                                                                                  PERIODICAL
                                                                                                                              Postage Paid at
     P.O. Box 603                                                                                                              Grandville,
     Grandville,   M I   4 9 4 6 8 - 0 6 0 3                                                                                  Michigan


          WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                               NOTICE                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
       On May 30, 1999, our parents,                          The Association for Protestant Re-              The Martha Ladies' Society of the
     THOMAS and JESSIE SPRIENSMA,                         formed Secondary Education, in Lansing,         PRC of Hull, IA express their sincere
will celebrate their  510'~ wedding anniver-              IL, is seeking experienced educators will-      Christian sympathy to fellow member
sary. We rejoice with them in the pre-                    ing to work on a consultancy basis during       Reka Andringa and family in the death of
cious gift of love God has given them                     the summer of 1999. The work involves           her brother,
these many years and give thanks to our                   the further development of curriculum, poli-                HERMAN VAN DYKE.
heavenly Father for His great faithfulness.               cies, and other items relating to the es-           May the God of all grace comfort
We are thankful to our parents for their                  tablishment of a Protestant Reformed high       them with the confession of the psalmist,
godly nurture and for their example of                    school in the area, D.V., the fall of 2000.     "As for me, I will behold thy face in righ-
faith, hope, charity, and perseverance.                   For particulars, contact Education Chair-       teousness; I shall be satisfied, when I
Our prayer is that the Lord will continue                 man, Barry Warner at (219) 322-9773             awake, with thy likeness" (Psalm  17:15).
to keep them in His loving care.                          [barry.warner@henkel-americas.com]   o r        Jan Westra, Vice-President
       "The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is               Board Chairman, Don Terpstra at (219)           Marjean Buys, Secretary
thy shade upon thy right hand. The Lord                   838-3600  [dwterp@juno.com].
shall preserve thy going out and thy com-
ing in from this time forth and even for-
ever more" (Psalm  1215, 8).                                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
% Ike and Jeanne Spriensma                                     On May 25, 1999, our brother and                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
          Michael and Becky Spriensma,                    sister and uncle and aunt,                          The Martha Ladies' Society of the
         Amie, Steven                                              HENRY C. and GLADYS                    PRC in Hull, IA express their sincere
&      Peter and Dorothy  VanDerSchaaf                                    LUBBERS,                        Christian sympathy to fellow member
          Eric and Jessica  VanDyke, and Aaron            will celebrate their  55" wedding anniver-      Joyce Kooiker and family in the loss of
          Delia, Katie, Dowie, Audrey,                    sary. We are thankful to our heavenly           her husband, their father and grandfather,
          Susan, Sara, Thomas                             Father for giving them to one another and                   WILLIAM KOOIKER.
%      Rev. Audred and Alva Spriensma                     to us. We pray that God may continue to         Also to  Johanna  Westra and Clarine
          Thomas, Esther, Andrew,                         bless them in their marriage in the years       Kooima and families in the death of their
          Alisha, Jessica                                 to come. An open house celebrating this         brother,
%      Howard and Eileen Pastoor                          happy event will be held May 25, 6:30-                      WILLIAM KOOIKER.
          Heidi, Rachael, Julie, Laura,                   9:00 p.m. at the Holland PRC. "Therefore             May they be comforted with the words
          Thomas, Daniel, Michael                         shall a man leave his father and mother,        from John  14:2,  3, "In my Father's house
% Randy and Sue Spriensma                                 and shall cleave unto his wife; and they        are many mansions: if it were not so, I
          Gabrielle, Calib, Joshua, Hannah                shall be one flesh" (Genesis  2:24).            would have told you. I go to prepare a
%      Phil and Helen  VanderWall                                                                         place for you, I will come again, and re-
          Jacob, Joshua, Rebecca,                                                                         ceive you unto myself, that where I am,
          Rachael, Elizabeth, Anna                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                    there ye may be also."
                                   Jamestown, Michigan         The Martha Ladies' Society of the                          Jan Westra, Vice-President
                                                          PRC of Hull, IA express their sincere                             Marjean Buys, Secretary
                                                          Christian sympathy to fellow members
                                                          Hildred Hoekstra and Pauline Kroese and
                                                          families in the loss of their mother and
              TEACHERNEEDED                               grandmother,                                                      NOTICE
       Hope Protestant Reformed Christian                              ABBY DOCTOR.                            The Protestant Reformed Scholarship
School is in need of a Protestant Reformed                     May they be comforted in the words         Committee is offering scholarships for the
music/band instructor for the 2000-2001                   of Scripture from II Corinthians  1:3, 4,       199912000 school year for students study-
school year. For information, please di-                  "Blessed be God, . . . the Father of mer-       ing in the field of education or ministry.
rect inquiries to Mike Lotterman, 1382  Su-               cies, and the God of all comfort; who           Please contact Joyce Holstege (616) 662-
Lew, Walker, Michigan 49544 (616)  453-                   comforteth us in all our tribulation."          501 8 for application forms and essay top-
4106 or the administrator, Ron Koole,                                     Jan Westra, Vice President      ics. Entries are due June 15.
(616) 453-9717.                                                             Marjean Buys, Secretary
384/standard  Bearer/May14 7999


