A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine


                                                    In This Issue:
                     Meditation  - Prof. David J. Engelsma
                         The Divine Record-Book.. ............................................................... .458
                     Editorials - Prof. David J. Engelsma
                         The Running of the White Horse (2) ............................................. .461
                         New Bavinck Book by the
                           Dutch Reformed Translation Society ........................................ .463
                         DeMar  Declines Debate ................................................................... .463
                     Marking the Bulwarks of Zion - Prof. Herman C. Hanko
                         Cassianus, Faustus, and Semi-Pelagianism ( I ) . ......................... 464
                     When Thou Sittest  in Thine House - Mrs. MaryBefh  Lubbers
                         The Reformed Family:
                           Catechism .......................................................................................    466
                     Search the Scriptures - Rev. Mitchell C. Dick
                         Revelation and The Wreckage ....................................................... .469
                     Special Article - Rev. Dale  H. Kuiper
                         The Christian and Entertainment (3) ............................................ .471
                     Ministering to the Saints - Prof. Robert D. Decker
                         Caring For the Widows ................................................................... .474
                     Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Steven R. Key
                         Christ, the Head of the Covenant.. ................................................ .476
                     News From Our Churches  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger .............................. 478




Vol. 75, No. 20
September 1, 1999


                            The Divine Record-Book

                                                   Then they that feared the  LORD  spake often one to another: and the
                                           LORD  hearkened, and heard it, and a book  of  remembrance was written
                                           before him for them that  feared  the  LORD, and  that thought upon his
                                           name.
                                                  And they shall be mine, saith the  LORD  of  hosts, in that day when  I
                                           make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son
                                           that serveth him.
                                                                                                                                Malachi  3:16, 17

                                                                  tons, and Winston Churchills.                                     Malachi informs us: "a book of re-
We humans are fascinated with Schools remember their outstand- membrance was written before
           records and record-books.                              ing students and their accomplish-                                him," that is, before the LORD.
       We are diligent to keep books                              ments. What sport does not have                                            A book of remembrance is a
that record the names of men and                                  its records, and what fan does not                                book that records the names of cer-
women who distinguish them-                                       know them? There is even a                                        tain persons and their deeds, so that
selves by their achievements and                                  Guinness book of records for all                                  they and their deeds can be remem-
exploits. We love to remember the                                 kinds of extraordinary human con-                                 bered later on. Because the book is
names and deeds of the famous                                     ditions and acts.                                                 written by the LORD'S direction and
people who are recorded in the                                           Behind this fascination with                               because it is written as a book of
books, even though they died long                                 books of records are mankind's                                    remembrance "before him," it is a
ago.                                                              love of glory and, for the one who                                book whose purpose is that the
       Nations record their rulers and                            is included in the book, the desire                               LORD  Himself will remember certain
heroes with their deeds-their Wil-                                for a certain immortality. To be in                               persons and their deeds.
liam of Oranges, George  Washing-                                 the record-book is to live on in the                                       Comes a day when the  LORD
                                                                  memory of the people, nation, or                                  will look into this book: "in that
                                                                  race.                                                             day when I make up my jewels."
                                                                         The  LORD  our God has such a                              Then He will remember every one
Prof.  Engelsma is professor  of  Dogmatics                       record-book.                   There is a divine                  written in the book and his deed,
and Old Testament in the Protestant Re-
formed Seminary.                                                  book of records. So the prophet                                   his exploit.


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45&Standard   Bearer/September  1,7999


    This record-book is not in            them, e.g., the redemption from            get together and speak, not about
Washington, DC or in  Coopers-            Egypt. They spoke about God as             politics and work, not about sports,
town. In fact, it is not on earth.        their sovereign, whom they rever-          not about all the faults of the broth-
This record-book is in heaven. In         enced, and all His wonderful acts          ers and sisters in the congregation
heaven, there is a book of life, in       of power on their behalf, e.g., the        but about God and His truth, God
which are written the names of all        deliverance from Babylon.                  puts it in the book. We are doing
the elect. This book is finished. In          The subject of their conversa-         this in our Protestant Reformed
heaven, there is also another book,       tion, inevitably, was that upon            Christian Schools. What goes on
a book that is in preparation, a          which they were always thinking:           there,  often,  but this, that one-the
book in which names were being            the name of God. This was the rev-         teacher-speaks on our behalf with
written in Malachi's day and in           elation of God to them in the pro-         the others-the covenant chil-
which names are being written to-         phetic Word and, in the light of the       dren-of God's name?
day.                                      prophetic Word, in creation and                    We have the opportunity to do
    The divine record-book!               history. Centrally, it was the rev-        this in our societies and classes for
                 ***                      elation of God as the faithful cov-        Bible-study that now begin another
    Always the names of men and           enant God of His chosen people in          season. These are worthwhile as-
women are put into record-books           the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ,        pects of our church-life. There is
for certain outstanding  nets that        as proclaimed in His proper name,          the fellowship, which is also sug-
they have done, for memorable             Jehovah (translated  LORD  in the          gested in the text. There is the
feats. Similarly, the  LORD  puts in      KJV). In one word, they spoke              learning of the name of God.
His record-book the names of those        truth.                                     There is also the speaking with
who are distinguished for a certain           Their speaking was not a con-          companions about God's truth. We
act: "(they) spake often one to an-       fession to the heathen. Nor was it         have our reasons for not attending:
other." This seems not to be any          the evangelism of the straying. It         we are busy; we get nothing out of
glorious, noteworthy thing, worthy        was simply the people of God talk-         it; we dislike the leader. A reason
of a record-book, or everlasting re-      ing to each other of that which            for attending remains: speaking to
membrance.       It is no glorious        lived in their heart and filled their      each other about the LORD our God.
earfhly  deed: winning a war; con-        mind.                                                             ***
quering a dreaded disease; writing            This goes in the divine  record-               This is worthwhile!
a classic book; or even getting the       book: that men and women speak                     Speaking the truth of God with
most base hits. Nor, for that mat-        to each other about the  LORD  and         each other is a worthy activity!
ter, does it seem to be any glorious      His truth.    This act and these                   Only rare, weighty, significant
spiritual  achievement. They did not      people, God will remember.                 deeds are noted in a book of
reform the church, or expose some             The book is figurative, of             records. Even earthly record-books
heresy, or sacrifice themselves as        course, for God's remembering              do not record the ordinary, the
missionaries, or lose their lives as      such with favor for a worthy deed.         commonplace, the insignificant. Je-
martyrs.                                      Still today, God is recording in       hovah God certainly keeps only the
    This is important, for if it takes    His book our speaking with each            memorable in His book. He re-
some heroic act to be written in this     other of His name. We do this                       members in this way only that
book most of us will never be in-         in our gatherings for public
                                                              _     _                           which is worth  remember-
cluded.                                   worship. Not only does                                  ing. Our speaking about
    Their deed was just this, that        God speak to us of His           Jehovah God
                                                                               certainly           Him is worth remember-
they spoke one to another. They           name in the preaching,                                    ing.
came together and talked~with  each       but we also speak with               keeps only                   T h e   r e m a r k a b l e
                                                                          the memorable
other.                                    each other of His name          in His book....           character of this speak-
    Obviously, what they spoke is         in our singing of the                                     ing is indicated when the
                                                                           Our speaking
the reason why the  LORD  records         Psalms and in our con-                                    prophet says that Jeho-
their names in His book. The con-         fession of the faith  (Cal.          about Him
                                                                                is worth            vah "hearkened and
tent of their speech, although not        3:16). Twice every Lord's       remembering.              heard."        He paid atten-
stated, is clearly implied in the de-     Day! Like the saints of                                 tion to it. He listened.
scriptions of them:      "they that       Malachi's time, we speak                               Something was going on in
feared the  LORD";  "that thought         with each other  "often."  Daily,                   Judah that was worthy of
upon his name." They spoke about          we speak with each other in our            God, that pleased Him greatly.
the  LORD  whom they feared. They         covenant homes, reading and  dis-          God does not so hearken to the
spoke about God as their Father,          cussing Holy Scripture, praying,           bombast in Washington, DC; to the
whom they loved, and all His fa-          singing. We do this in our visiting        international             c o n f e r e n c e s   a t
therly care for and salvation of          on a Sunday evening. When we               Geneva; to the fanatical roaring in

                                                                                             September 1,1999/Standard  Bearer/459


Wrigley Field or the United  Cen-                reason for the creation of the                in "that day," that is, the Judgment
ter; or to the religious talk in the             w o r l d !                                   Day.
Vatican. But He pays attention to                       The speaking that God  remem-               Negatively, He will spare them.
the discussion of sound doctrine by              bers in His record-book is the  ex-           He will spare them the punishment
Reformed men, women, young                       pression of the fear of God by His            of damnation in hell, a judgment
people, and children in their  meet-             own elect saints in the world.  Those         that will be visited upon the nomi-
ings for Bible study. He notices                 who  fear  the  LORD  and think upon His      nal church members who never did
the meeting, listens to the  conver-             name  speak often one to another.             speak with each other about the
sation, and puts names in the book.              The speaking arises from the fear             name of God, because they did not
    For this speaking is rare.                         of God in the heart and the think-      fear Him. Implied is that those
    How much is it done?                                  ing on His name in the mind.         who spoke about the LORD will live
How much is it done in the                                 The mouth speaks of that            everlastingly. This is the immor-
p r o f e s s i n g   church?~  H o w      Speaking         with which the heart is full.      tality of the divine record-book.
much is the  LORD  God the               to each other       This is why they speak. It             Positively,     acknowledging
subject of  our  talk? How                 the truth         is not to impress people.         them as His own people and prop-
much speaking about the                    about God         It is not even to get into        erty, He will bless them with His
truth is there today?                       is rare          the record-book. But they         own life and glory in Christ Jesus.
    It was a rare thing in                  today.          reverence and love the             They will be displayed as God's
the Judah of Malachi's day.                                LORD.  The fear of the  LORD        treasures, His "jewels." This is the
The book of Malachi is a rebuke                         is precious. It glorifies the          honor of the divine record-book.
of Judah for forgetting the LORD and             LORD.  Thus also does the speaking                 That immortality and glory are
despising  His name. Judah-the                   that expresses this fear glorify the          the reward of our speaking about
Old Testament church!-forgot the                 LORD.  It is the loving service of            God is no doctrine of salvation by
name of God in their public wor-                 the heavenly Father by His child              merit. Our speaking about God
ship, in the official teaching by the            in the world, as the text suggests:           does not earn salvation. Conclu-
priests, in their marriages, and in              N. . . as a man spareth his own son           sively, the text says that those who
their giving. The result was that                that serveth him."                            spoke about God will be "spared."
most spoke  against  the  LORD,  as                     This is the worthiness of the          They merited only one thing: pun-
verse 13 charges:          "Your words           deed to be remembered in the  di:             ishment. In the judgment, they will
have been stout against me, saith                vine book of records.                                 be "spared" by compassionate
the  L                                                            ***
          ORD."    In the midst of that                                                 The              grace on the basis of the
apostasy, a remnant-a very  few-                         And to be rewarded.          remnant             cross of Jesus Christ alone.
spoke with each other about God's                        It is always the case       who fear              Besides, it is the grace of
precious name.                                   that being in a  record-            and speak             the Spirit of Christ that
     Speaking to each other the                  book brings a benefit.                are the             causes us to fear the LORD,
truth about God is rare today. It is             This is the reason why               remnant              think upon His name, and
rare in the nominally Christian                  having one's name in a             according to           speak about His truth.
churches. In perfect harmony with                record-book is desirable.          the election           Ultimately, the cause is
the fact that much preaching is ei-              Often, there are  finan-             of grace,            the book of election. In
ther blasphemy (lies about God) or               cial rewards. Above all,             and they             the Day of Christ, the
entertainment of the people, the                 there is fame, fame that              are the             names in both books, the
singing at church either echoes the              will live down the ages.              former             book of election and the
blasphemy or celebrates the people.                      The same is true of          because             divine record-book, will
The hideous din of the television                being written in the  di-          they are the          correspond exactly. The
set accompanies the family meal,                 vine record-book. We are              latter.           remnant who fear and
rather than the reading of the Bible.            remembered by the  LORD                                speak are the remnant  ac-
When the members get together, it                with a view to His rewarding                       cording to the election of grace,
is for games and physical exercises,             us. The text states that "a book of           and they are the former because
not for study of the Word.                       remembrance was written before                they are the latter.
     Speaking to each other about                him  for  them."                                   Unlike all earthly record-books,
God is also a weighty activity. It                       What the reward will be, verse        therefore, this divine record-book
is not light, frivolous, and empty,              17 informs us: "And they shall be             gives no occasion to pride;  boast-
like making money, sports, politics,             mme . . . in that day when I make             ing, and glorying in man.
winning wars, and establishing em-               up my jewels; and I will spare                     But it is incentive to our  fre-
pires. This speaking concerns the                them."                                        quent and faithful speaking  to-
name of God. That's heavy! That's                        As these people remembered            gether about God and His truth. 0
glorious for a human! That's the                 Him, the LORD will remember them

460/Standard   Bearer/September  I,1999


            The Running of the White Horse*
                                                               (2)
                                                  Such is the victory that the            true, because the mission of the
    And I saw when the Lamb opened            rider is given the crown of victory         white horse is spiritual: the estab-
one  of the seals, and I heard, as it were    before ever the white horse begins          l i s h m e n t   a n d   e x t e n s i o n   o f
the noise  of  thunder, one  of  the four     to run in New Testament history.            Messiah's spiritual kingdom in the
beasts saying, Come and see.                  Victory is a foregone conclusion.           regenerated, believing hearts and
    And  I saw, and behold a white                Then, to the highest honor of           holy lives of all those in all nations
horse: and he that sat on him had a           Jesus Christ, it is said that the white     whom the triune God has chosen
bow; and a crown was given unto him:          horse runs, not only with the  pur-         to be citizens and for whom the
and he went forth conquering, and to          pose of conquering, not even with           Lamb was slain.
conquer.                                      the  final outcome  of conquering, but           Make Christ's mission in our
                   - Revelation  6:1,2        also and indeed  conquering at every        present age earthly, view His king-
                                              stage of its course and as  regards  the    ship and kingdom as carnal-a
            ecessary  for the church and
N                                             entirety  of  its course. The white         matter of numbers, of earthly suc-
            her ministers is the confi-       horse is never defeated. It is not          cess, of physical dominion, of po-
            dence that the powerful           defeated when the early church af-          litical power, and of social influ-
presence of Jesus Christ in the               ter the apostles is brought to the          ence-then, perhaps, you can say
world-the preaching of the gos-               stake and the arena. It is not de-          that the white horse runs with the
pel-is victorious.                            feated when the church institute            purpose  of conquering, or even with
                                              dreadfully departs in the apostasy          the  final result  of conquering, but
The Victory of the White Horse                of the Middle Ages. It is not de-           you cannot say,  "conquering."  If the
                                              feated when by the St. Barthol-             mission of Christ in history is
     How the victory of the church's          omew's Day Massacre and other               earthly, the white horse is often de-
preaching of the gospel is taught             atrocities the false church virtually       feated.      Recall the very circum-
in every possible way in the pas-             roots the true church out of France.        stances in which Christ revealed to
sage!                                         It is not defeated when men and             John the victory of the gospel.
     The white horse runs as the ex-          women reject and blaspheme the              Antichristian Rome ruled. The
ecution of the counsel of the en-             gospel on the mission field. It is          synagogue of Satan was powerful.
throned God, indeed as the execu-             not defeated when your son or               The church hid in the catacombs, a
tion of the decree that has primacy           daughter, or mine, in the sphere of         martyr-church.             Old John was
in the counsel.                               the covenant tramples the blood of          driven from his pulpit and congre-
     The white horse runs at the will         the covenant underfoot. It is not           gation and was exiled on Patmos.
and direction of the Lamb who has             defeated when at the end the two                  And the white horse was run-
authority to loose this and all seals         witnesses lie dead in the street of         ning, conquering and to conquer!
as the one who was slain and who              the great city because the beast out              For the gospel triumphs as the
now receives all power.                       of the abyss has "overcome them"            spiritual power which, according to
     There is the white color of the          (Rev.  11:7).                               the will of God as carried out by
horse, symbolic of heavenly tri-                   The white horse is the presence        the Lamb, unites to Jesus Christ,
umph.                                         of Jesus Christ in history, and Jesus       justifies, sanctifies, and preserves
     There is the great battle-bow.           Christ is invincible.                       the Lamb's people, every one, so
                                                   The presence of Jesus at His           that they all witness to Christ in
* The text of the address given at the        first coming was symbolized by the          their place in the world. In the sal-
graduation exercises of the Protestant        lowly ass. His presence now by              vation of the elect in every nation,
Reformed Theological Seminary on
June  14,1999  in Holland, MI. The first      His Word and Spirit is the all- and          all the nations are made disciples
installment appeared in the August,           ever-conquering charger.                     of Christ (see Matt.  28:19).
1999  issue of the  Standard Bearer.               This is true, and can only be                Fundamental to the triumph of

                                                                                                September  1,1999/Standard   Bearer/461


the gospel is that its goal is not the    content,  the doctrine, the truth,  of the    into this war. By virtue of his of-
salvation of all. If the purpose of       gospel. This message is sovereign,            fice, the young minister must fight
Christ with the gospel is universal       particular, efficacious grace, by             in this war. In this war, encour-
salvation, the white horse is de-         means of the Word and Sacra-                  agement is necessary for the army
feated. Many perish, never hear-          ments, according to the eternal de-           of Christ-not any encouragement
ing the gospel. Many others per-          cree of election, and a hardening             whatever, but specifically the en-
ish, rejecting the gospel in unbe-        operation of the Spirit upon oth-             couragement of the vision of the
lief. But the gracious purpose of         ers, determined by the counsel of             running of the white horse "con-
Christ with the gospel is particu-        reprobation. Only as a gospel with            quering, and to conquer."
lar: the salvation of those whose         this message does the gospel al-                  We need this encouragement,
names are written from eternity in        ways conquer. Inasmuch as the                 second, because, although the
the book of life of the Lamb (see         gospel is both a savor of life unto           white horse conquers, we often can
Rev.  13:s). It is also Christ's pur-     life and a savor of death unto death          neither see nor feel the victory, but
pose with the gospel to judge the         can the apostle exclaim, "Now                 rather suffer seeming failure and
reprobate world of the ungodly,           thanks be unto God, which always              defeat.
which is always the kingdom of the        causeth us to triumph in Christ"                  Let the young minister work in
beast. The running of the white           (II Cor.  2:14-16).                           the congregation or on the mission
horse is the first seal, and the seals        The message is the sovereign              field with his eye of faith on the
are judgments.  The.  battle-bow de-      Christ of the Reformed faith as this          huge, invincible white horse. It is
stroys the reprobate wicked:              faith is set down in the Reformed             reality. The failure and defeat of
"Thine arrows are sharp in the            confessions.                                  the gospel are only seeming.
heart of the king's enemies" (Ps.             Because the synod of the Prot-                In the running of the white
45:5).                                    estant Reformed Churches labors               horse is motivation to labor. Ev-
    The victory of Christ in the gos-     for the one, true gospel, its meet-           ery sermon, every catechism class,
pel demands, and includes, that           ing is validated and significant.             every sick call, every admonition,
Jesus Christ is  preached  as victori-    Because the young man graduat-                every faithful bringing of the Word
ous. The content of the preaching         ing from the Protestant Reformed              to the needy in the late hours of
is the conquering Jesus Christ. He        Seminary loves this gospel and is             the night, yes, and all the faithful
is to be preached as triumphant in        ready to vow faithfully to preach             preparation, is the running of the
His death and resurrection (Rev. 5).      it and energetically to defend it, his        white horse.
He is to be preached as triumphant        graduation is a joyful occasion.                  The lazy, faithless, or heretical
in His return at the end (Rev. 19).                                                     minister will not cripple the horse,
    But He is also to be preached         Encouragement of Church                       nor frustrate its running, but on his
as triumphant in the preaching of         and Minister                                  part he is guilty of the attempt, and
the gospel. This is the issue for             For the church in the world and           the hooves of the white horse will
the church in our day. Denial of          especially for a young man taking             grind him into powder.
this by affirming that the Jesus of       up the ministry, the grand vision                 Keeping his eye on the white
the gospel loves and is gracious to       of the running of the white horse             horse will strengthen the young
all hearers, sincerely desirous of        is encouragement.                             minister to endure in the ministry.
saving them all, is, as such, denial          Church and minister need this             When there is unfair criticism,
that the white horse runs "conquer-       encouragement.                                when your work seems to get no-
ing." And this is the wedge to in-            We need this encouragement,               where, when your congregation
troduce the denial of the victory of      first, because the white horse runs           seems so small, when the forces of
Jesus Christ in its entirety. To put      in battle. The white horse is the             darkness increase, when your own
it theologically, Arminianism is in-      war-horse,  the most powerful, fear-          weaknesses, "thorn," and sins bid
cipient modernism. The doctrine           some instrument of war in the                 fair to undo your ministry-then
of a "well-meant offer" is a public       world at that time. This explains             believe that the white horse con-
declaration that the white horse is       the bow in the hands of the rider.            quers, in your ministry.
often defeated, indeed, that what-        That the white horse runs in battle               And at the end of your minis-
ever victories it enjoys are due to       is implied in the words "conquer-             try, should Christ not yet have re-
the will of the sinner. So also is        ing, and to conquer." The battle is           turned in the body, this will be
the doctrine of a gracious, justify-      against the dragon and his beast,             your satisfaction and reward: "By
ing, but conditional promise of the       with the whore as ally. The battle            the grace of the Lamb who saved
gospel to every physical child of         is for the kingdom and glory of               me, my life and work were privi-
believers alike.                          Jesus Christ in the world. By vir-            leged to be one stride, short though
    The white horse does not con-         tue of her calling to preach the              it was, in the glorious running of
quer apart from the message, the          Word, the true church is plunged              the white horse."  n

462/Standard  Bearer/September 1,1999


             New Bavinck Book by the Dutch
               Reformed Translation Society
    This summer the Dutch Re-             pear in a later issue of the Standard    Society, and this cost is  sizable-
formed Translation Society (DRTS)         Bearer.                                  about $80,000. About $10,000 is
produced another book by Herman               My purpose is twofold. I call        still needed to finish the project
Bavinck in English translation.           the attention of our readers to this         The Society is already planning
This is the second put out by the         significant new book. Since the          the translation and publication of
DRTS. The first was  The Last             DRTS receives royalties on the sale      other Dutch works, specifically,
Things: Hope for This World and the       of the book, which helps with fu-        works on Reformed spirituality.
Next  (Baker, 1996). The recent vol-      ture publications, buying the book           Interested persons can support
ume is a  289-page  paperback en-         is a way of supporting the work of       the work by becoming a member
titled,  In the Beginning: Foundations    the DRTS. I also like to recommend       of the Society. For a contribution
of  Creation Theology.  As  The Last      support of the work of the DRTS          of $100 or more, one becomes a life-
Things  is the eschatology section in     in another way.                          time member of the Society. This
Bavinck's hitherto untranslated               A number of Reformed laymen,         enables him or her to buy all pub-
four-volume work of Reformed              pastors, and theological professors      lications of the Society at a 50% dis-
dogmatics,  Gereformeerde Dogmatiek,      organized the DRTS in 1994 to            count and to receive periodic news-
In the Beginning  is the section on       make important Reformed theo-            letters informing the members of
creation.                                 logical and religious literature         the ongoing work of the Society.
    The book is available from            originally published in Dutch avail-     A major donor-one who gives
Baker Books in Grand Rapids, MI           able in English translation. The So-     $500 or more-receives all DRTS
for $15.99. Baker is the publisher        ciety decided to begin with the four     publications free and a large copy
of the Bavinck translation for the        volumes of Herman Bavinck's              of an original drawing of Herman
DRTS.                                     Gereformeerde Dogmafiek (Reformed        Bavinck suitable for framing.
    The importance of the publica-        Dogmatics).  The two paperbacks              The DRTS is incorporated as a
tion is that it makes the thought of      already published by the Society         not-for-profit corporation in the
the great Dutch Reformed theolo-          are excerpts from this classic work      state of Michigan. All contribu-
gian on creation available in En-         of Reformed theology. The Soci-          tions, including the $100 member-
glish for the first time. Included is     ety plans to publish its translation     ship donation, are tax-deductible.
Bavinck's treatment of the creation       in four, handsome, hardback,                 Membership donations and
of heaven and its angels; the six         matching volumes, beginning with         other contributions, as well as re-
days of creation week; the contro-        volume I next year, God willing.         quests for more information (the
versy between creation and evolu-             The translation of the entire        DRTS has an informative brochure
tion; the creation of man; the im-        four-volume set is 90% finished.         which it will send upon request),
age of God; the covenant with             Editing of the translated material       should be sent to:
Adam; and providence.                     is about 30% finished.                   Dutch  Reformed Translation Society
    It is not my purpose here to re-          The translating, by a profes-                    P.O. Box 7083
view the book. A review will ap-          sional translator, and editing make         Grand Rapids, MI 49510.  n
                                          up the cost of the project for the


                  DeMar Declines Debate
    In a letter published in the May      lenged  me to a debate.                  a letter published in the March 15,
15, 1999 issue of the  Standard                This was not the first challenge    1995 issue of the  Standard Bearer,
Bearer,  Christian Reconstruction         thrown out to me by this leading         Mr. DeMar wrote:
postmillennialist Gary DeMar  chal-       advocate of postmillennialism. In

                                                                                       September 1,1999/Standard  Bearer/463


  Why not open the campus of the                                                         this large portion of prophetic ma-
  seminary of the Protestant Re-                                     July  28,1999       terial is nailed down. Since the
  formed Church  (sic)  to a debate           David Engelsma                             majority of  Lasf Days Madness
  on the topics of "the last days"            Protestant Reformed Seminary               deals with the Olivet Discourse,
  and "postmillennialism"? I would            4949  Ivanrest  Avenue                     then this will be the topic of the
  be willing to pay my own way to             Grandville, MI 49418                       debate.
  participate in such a debate. How                                                        I am not interested in having
  about it, Prof. Engelsma?                   Dear David,                                you come to Atlanta. My initial
                                                Since  I  do not get the  Sfarzdard      challenge to you was to come to
     I accepted the challenge sub-            Bearer  in subscription form, I do         your seminary and present my
ject to three perfectly reasonable            not always know what you write.            case before your students. Your
conditions: the topic of the debate           Friends periodically send me por-          circle of influence is too small for
w i l l   b e    amillennialism vs.           tions of your articles or e-mail me        me to spend too much time on this
postmillennialism; the basis of the           telling me things you have writ-           matter. Please don't take offense
debate will be Holy Scripture as              ten. You write: "I expected that           at this. I'm considered small po-
                                              Mr. DeMar would get in touch               tatoes in dispensational circles.
summarized in the Reformed con-               with me, to arrange a time for the         It's a matter of the proper alloca-
fessions; and the debate in Grand             debate. But I heard nothing more           tion of limited resources.
Rapids will be followed by a de-              from him." How would I know                  Since I do not have a subscrip-
bate in Atlanta (see "Acceptance of           to get in touch with you? The po-          tion to the  Standard Bearer,  please
the Challenge to Debate," in the              lite and official thing to do would        send me all the articles that you
Standard Bearer,  June, 1999).                have been to send me a letter.             have written on the  topizand  any
     We notified Mr. DeMar of this              And why do you get to set the            book that represents your views.
acceptance of his challenge by cer-           conditions? You state "Everything          While I am extremely busy, I will
tified mail.                                  depends upon the right under-              take time to read them.
                                              standing of Matthew 24." If there                                     Sincerely,
     Now Mr. DeMar informs us                 is a debate, then it will be on this                               Gary DeMar
that he declines to debate after all.         passage. Hours can be spent on               President, AMERICAN VISION
     What follows is his  "bedankje"          this very significant portion of                               Atlanta, GA  0
in full without any editorial com-            Scripture. I don't want to go  hop-
ment.                                         scotching through the Bible until




                 Cassianus, Faustus, and Semi-
                                           Pelagianism (1)

                                            church.     He was its greatest            sharp, the divisions too deep. A
Introduction
T                                           thinker; he was its soundest theo-         doctrine of "one, holy, catholic
         he attack against the doc-         logian; he towered over his age like       church" required a statement on
         trines of sovereign grace          a colossus. But what he believed           this divisive issue of sovereign
         which had been made by             and taught, while influential in the       grace.
Pelagius and his disciple Celestius         lives of many others, could not be-            If one knew nothing about the
were answered by the great bishop           come official church dogma until           outcome of the controversy and
of Hippo, Augustine. But August-            the church adopted his position.           had no idea of what the church ul-
ine was only one individual in the              Would the church do this?              timately decided, one could almost
                                            That was the crucial question of the       certainly predict that Augustine
                                            age. Sooner or later the church was        would lose, his views would be re-
                                            going to have to say something             jected, and his position repudiated.
                                            about the matter. It could not turn        And so it happened. There is an
Prof.  Hanko is professor  of  Church       its eyes the other way and act as if       irony here: Rome has canonized
History and New Testament in the            the controversy did not exist. The         Augustine; in Rome's book of
Protestant Reformed Seminary.               differences of opinion were too            saints, Augustine's name is  writ-

464/Standard   Bearer/September I, 1999


ten in large letters. But he is ap-                    by themselves, very interesting or        monk who starved himself than
parently, according to Rome, a                         important men. Not a whole lot is         with the hard working laborer who
saint who had his theology all                         known of their lives, nor did they        enjoyed his evening meal, then
mixed up.           He goes down in                    contribute anything substantial to        some works merited favor in God's
Rome's annals as one who attained                      the history of the church of Christ       sight.     The determinative word
sainthood in spite of terrible her-                    or the history of the development         here is "favor." In other words,
esies. This anomaly Rome has yet                       of the doctrine of Scripture. Their       out of monkery came the idea of
to explain.                                            importance lies strictly in this: they    the meritorious value of good
     The story of how and why                          both were sharp opponents of              works. Monks, quite generally, be-
Rome repudiated Augustine is a                         Augustine's doctrines.                    lieved they were meriting with
long one. It cannot be told in one                         A word or two about their lives       God. So did John Cassianus.
article. It extends over 400 years.                    will suffice.                                  But more about that at another
But it is an interesting story that is                     John Cassianus was born in or         time.
worth telling. I can think of at least                 near Marseilles in southern France.            After seven years in Egypt,
three reasons why the story is so                      Although he received some educa-          John and  Germanus traveled to
interesting. One is that the struggle                  tion in his hometown, he soon trav-       Constantinople. Nothing much
was long and bitter, and indeed                        eled to the East, where he entered        hapdened  here of importance, ex-
ended in the brutal murder of one                      a monastery in Bethlehem. In              cept two things: one was that John
of Augustine's most eloquent de-                       Bethlehem he came under the tu-           met Chrysostom, the  golden-
fenders. A second reason is the fact                   torship of Germanus, the head of          tongued preacher, and studied un-
that, when one carefully considers                     the monastery, and an extremely           der him. Chrysostom also or-
the problem Rome faced, he sees                        influential man in Palestine and          dained John as a deacon. The other
that Rome really had little choice                     Egypt-                                    event was that, when Chrysostom
but to repudiate Augustine's views.                        Apparently both Cassianus and         was exiled because he attacked the
Rome could not be Augustinian                          Germanus  were fascinated with the        wickedness of the empress, John
and remain Rome. This was true                         whole concept of monasticism, be-         a n d   G e r m a n u s ,   f r i e n d s   o f
already in Augustine's lifetime, but                   cause they traveled together to           Chrysostom, thought it the better
it became more abundantly clear in                     Egypt to visit with the Egyptian          part of wisdom to leave.
the centuries following Augustine.                     monks. They stayed on for seven                John returned to Southern
We shall have to examine why                           years and learned the theory, prac-       France (Gaul, as it was known in
what I say is true. And the third                      tice, and doctrine of monasticism.        those days) and spent the rest of
reason why the story is interesting                        At this point I must say some-        his life in his hometown.
is that the controversy shows, in                      thing which needs to be explored               John's name has gone down in
an astonishing way, how the issues                     more fully at some later point. The       Roman Catholic history as the real
that faced the church a millennium                     fact is that monasticism was based        founder of monasticism in the
and a half ago are issues which still                  on a certain theology, although the       West. He had learned his lessons
divide the church today. Pushing                       theology was primarily ethical.           well in Bethlehem and Egypt.
aside for the moment many differ-                      Monasticism taught that one who           Upon returning to France, he
ent questions that were discussed,                     practices celibacy, self-denial           founded two monasteries, one for
we can say with certainty that the                     through various ascetic practices,        men, one for women. The one for
real issue was this: Is the grace of                   and poverty lived on a higher level       men became in time one of the
Almighty God sovereign or resist-                      of holiness than the child of God         most famous monasteries in Eu-
ible? And, in this same connection,                    who married, brought up a family,         rope, the Abbey of St. Victor. Over
it is interesting to observe that the                  and earned a living. Because these        these monasteries he exercised his
defenders of, e.g., the well-meant                     monks (and nuns) lived on this            rule, and for these monasteries he
offer of the gospel, raise today the                   higher plane of holiness, closer to       drew up a set of rules.
same objections to the view held                       heaven and God, they were saints               The dates of John's birth and
i n   t h e   P r o t e s t a n t   R e f o r m e d    of a higher caliber. It is not diffi-     death are obscure. He was appar-
Churches which the enemies of Au-                      cult to see that such thinking would      ently born around 360, although
gustine raised in his day against                      inevitably lead to the notion that        even that is in question. He died
Augustine's teachings.                                 such saints, practicing such self-de-     anywhere from 435-448; but he is
     With that, let us get on with                     nial, were more pleasing to God           said, by at least one historian, to
the story.                                             than the ordinary run-of-the-mill         have died when he was 97 years
                                                       Christian who struggled with rais-        old. Some quick figuring will show
John Cassianus and                                     ing his children, loving his wife,        that the dates do not come out very
Faustus of Riez                                        and earning his daily bread. But if       well.
     These two men are not, taken                      God was more pleased with the                  Faustus of Riez was, like

                                                                                                      September 1, lQQQ/Standard  Bearer/465


Pelagius himself, a native English-             empire intact. Faustus loved poli-         washy conditional reprobation, a
man. He was born around  410, and               tics.                                      reprobation based on God's predic-
he chose also the monastic life. He                      But enough of that.               tion that man would reject the gos-
soon moved to Brittany, and from                                                           pel. Augustine taught a sovereign
Brittany to Southern France. He is              A Brief Statement                          reprobation which reflects God's
said, by his contemporaries, to                 of Augustine's Views                       own purpose and will - not man's
have been a very pious and  self-                        We would probably call Au-        unbelief.
sacrificing man who devoted his                 gustine a Calvinist if he had lived            Perhaps by way of a footnote,
life to helping others. His reputa-             in our day  - at least as far as the       I could add here that I have
tion as a pious man, a preacher,                truth of God's grace is concerned.         searched many of Augustine's writ-
and a writer soon earned him a                  He held firmly to the five points of       ings to learn what his teachings on
bishopric in Riez. One outstand-                Calvinism, although he lived over          predestination were. I have in my
ing event in his life (in our judg-             1000 years before Dordt. August-           file numerous quotes in which Au-
ment, at any rate) was the fact that            ine not only taught total deprav-          gustine speaks emphatically and
at the synod of Lyons he was in-                ity, but specifically denied the free-     unequivocally of reprobation. The
strumental in having a certain                  dom of the will and the whole con-         conclusion I have come to is the
Lucidus  condemned for his views                cept of merit. He insisted that, be-       conclusion of other scholars of Au-
on predestination. Lucidus fol-                 cause man is totally depraved,             gustine as well, even some who
lowed Augustine closely, and that               grace is absolutely essential for sal-     disagree violently with Augustine's
kind of adherence to Augustine                  vation. God has to take the initia-        position.
could not be tolerated. In fact,                tive, for man can do nothing of                It nevertheless remains a fact
Faustus has the dubious honor of                himself. Grace is irresistible in its      that Augustine, while believing in
persuading  Lucidus  to retract his             operations, so that God's intentions       all the truths of sovereign grace
"heresy."                                       and purposes are always accom-             from the beginning of his contro-
     Other honors came his way.                 plished. And grace is particular,          versies with Pelagius and Celestius,
Faustus was chosen by the emperor               rooted in the eternal decree of pre-       sharpened and clarified his posi-
to engage in negotiations with                  destination.                               tion when Cassianus and Faustus
Euric, king of the Visigoths. The                        Some have challenged the as-      attacked him and he defended him-
barbarians had already made sev-                sertion that Augustine taught              self against their attacks. This be-
eral successful incursions into Italy           double predestination, i.e., election      came known as the Semi-Pelagian
and had even sacked Rome. Ef-                   and reprobation. There can be no           controversy.
forts were being made to keep the               doubt about it that he did. Nor                But our discussion of this must
                                                did Augustine teach some  wishy-           wait till next time.  Kl





                                               The Reformed Family:
                                                Catechism
                           "Feed my lambs, Feed my sheep."
                                           John 21                                         In just a few weeks, catechism
                                                                                              classes for the instruction of
                                                                                              children in the Protestant Re-
     "I am persuaded that the use of a good Catechism in all our families                  formed churches will begin. The
will be a great safeguard against the increasing errors of the times. Those                same questions and answers which
who use it in their families or classes must labor to explain the sense; but               we and our parents and grandpar-
the words should be carefully learned by heart, for they will be under-                    ents learned will be resounded
stood better as years pass."                                                               (echoed down) to the children.
                                                                         C.H.  Spurgeon    "That ye may tell it to the genera-
Mrs. Lubbers is  a  wife and mother in the                                                 tion following" (Ps.  48:13b).
Protestant Reformed Church  of  South~Hol-                                                     My earliest memories of cat-
land, Illinois.                                                                            echism begin with Rev. Heys in the

466fitandard   Bearer/September  1,1999


poorly-lit basement of the old                     Riverbend woods that evening to              that gavel has to be embedded in the
white clapboard Hope Church.                       teach us a sobering lesson about re-         table, as it is in our memories, to this
How impressed we were that a                       spect.                                       day.
minister could play the piano! We                      With the three examples in the                   Proclamation: ". . . the catechete
always began catechism class by                    paragraphs following, I hope to il-          must take his work as seriously in
singing Psalter number 53, and we                  lustrate three essentials which              the catechism class as he does on
always ended the class with Psalter                should characterize a Reformed               the pulpit. Rev. Hoeksema writes:
number 65. "Grace and truth shall                  catechism class. These could also            `Instruction of the children and the
mark the way." Those two virtues                   be summed up as  The Pedagogy of             early adolescents is no less impor-
became closely associated with cat-                Three  Professors.                           tant than the preaching of the
echism, and grew dearer and more                       Discipline:  "Discipline has an          Word. It is the ministry of the
meaningful as the years rolled by.                 important place in catechetical in-          Word for the coming and growing
    I thought memorizing ques-                     struction. In fact, without disci-           church. And this is of greatest sig-
tions and answers would always be                  pline, instruction soon breaks               nificance; Even  ~the  preaching of
a cinch.                                           down completely"  (Cafeckefics,  p.          the Word depends on the work that
    Q. "Who made the world?"                       31, Prof. H. Hanko).                         is done in the catechism class. The
    A. "God."                                          A former catechumen remem-               minister therefore must not take his
    Q. "In how many days did                       bers it this way.                            catechetical task too lightly. The
God create the world?"                                 We thundered down  the church            temptation is not imaginary that
    A. "In six days."                              steps to the basement where Professor        while he faithfully prepares him-
    T h a t   w a s   e a s y .   A n d   w h o    Decker (then, Rev. Decker) sat at the        self for the pulpit, he soon imag-
couldn't understand it? When Dad                   head of the fable in fhe catechism room.     ines that he can go to the catechism
sat down to check my catechism                     We were only first and second grad-          class without preparation. This is
memorization at the end of the                     ers, and with all the boisterousness  of     a serious mistake"'  (Catechetics,  p.
week, I remember telling him that                  unbridled colts we scrambled for             38, Prof. H. Hanko).
I would recite both the questions                  chairs, scraping them noisily across                 Former catechumens recall
and the answers! That was in 1947.                 the floor as we began the setfling down      their young adult catechism expe-
Just 10 years later, and those six                 process.                                     riences this. way.
days to which I so glibly responded                    So far, our new minister and cat-                These were the "glory days" of our
in 1947 were infused with new                      echism teacher had not spoken a word,        catechism life. We were teenagers. We
meaning by the popular theolo-                     and even if he had, we scarcely would        had jobs.  We  were involved in sports
gians of the day  - and the ques-                  have heard him. Gradually, the  skuf-        programs. There were birthdays and
tions had much more difficult an-                  fling and noise subsided. Still, no          anniversaries celebrated in our fami-
swers. (See H.C., Q and A  26.)                    word.  If  we had had any sense at all,      lies. But very little deterred us from
Now, I was asking Dad for just a                   we would have perceived the ominous          attending the catechism classes.  We
little start, and all sorts of assists             stillness emanating from the head  of        w a n t e d   t o   b e   t h e r e .    Professor
here and there.                                    the table. Then, with eyes flashing          Engelsma's (then, Rev. Engelsma)
    Sometimes Rev. Heys wasn't                     lightning, and no ceremonious "good          classes were highly structured and in-
able to lead catechism. Then we                    mornings," Professor Decker reached          tensely personal.                  "Sometimes I
were taught by one of the elders.                  for the heavy wooden gavel lying             thought I was the only teenager in the
When we were in the  gfh grade, an                 handily nearby, and brought it down          room, and he was talking to me alone."
old, unschooled  - but learned and                 on the fable with all the force of a lum-    Old doctrines came alive with new
wise  - elder taught the lesson                    berjack. With aufkoritative words and        practical implications for living out
about Philip and the Ethiopian eu-                 in the sternest  of voices, he warned us     one's salvation in the modern age. He
nuch. Only, he spent the entire                    once and for all that cafeckism began        answered our typical teenage questions
hour calling him the Ethiopian                     just outside the church building; he         and addressed our concerns, slaying
Enoch.  Like us, I don't think he                  never  wanfed  to hear that din again;       heretical dragons with rapier wit and
knew precisely what a eunuch was.                  let us open with prayer.                     aplomb.
But no one laughed. No one so                          For the remainder  of  Professor                 Nor was he  nai've abouf young
much as cracked a smile. No one                    Decker's stay in South Holland we            people. I remember the boy who was
showed a hint of amusement. We                     crept down those sfairs and into that        unable to answer the catechism ques-
knew better than to let such a re-                 catechism room as silently as a Chi-         tions, e x p l a i n i n g   t o   P r o f e s s o r
port reach our fathers' ears. Only                 cago  fog.  Professor was always sif-        Engelsma that he had a learning dis-
when we were walking home later                    ting at his customary place at the head      ability when it came to memorizing.
that night did we double over with                 of the fable when we arrived. He never       Professor asked him, "Do you have dif-
laughter. To our eternal good for-                 got up to head us off at the pass. He        ficulty writing?" Well,  no. No prob-
tune, no she bears came out of the                 didn't have to. And the dent from            l e m   w r i t i n g .   " W e l l ,   t h e n , "   s a i d   ~~

                                                                                                        September 1,1999/Standard  Bearer/467


Engelsma, "you stay after class, and          (Catechetics,  pp. 48, 49, Prof. H.           fession of our faith if we adhered to
we'll decide how many times you'll            Hanko).                                       any part  of  this false doctrine, we un-
write the questions and answers each              I recall it so.                           derstood the terms clearly.
week. ,, That catechumen's memory                 The year was 1959. Professor                  As it turned out, we all did make
improved  markedly.                           Hanko (then, Rev. Hanko) had ac-              confession of  our  faith that  spring.
    Professor Engelsma taught by this         cepted the call to Hope PR Church,            Nor did Professor let us down: the
axiom: "Know your  stuJf, know whom           Walker, Michigan, right from semi-            last question asked to each of the five
you are stuffing, and then stuff the          nary. Several of us in his Wednesday          young people was as he had promised,
children elegantly."        When   t h a t    night catechism class were freshmen           "Do you believe in the period theory?"
"stuff" is the Word of God echoed             in the local Christian college.  We           Each answered firmly, "No." I know
down by one who "shows by his ac-             planned to make confession of our faith       this is true because we asked each as-
tions and words tkat there is nothing         that spring, and often spoke  of  that        pirant for full church membership as
quite so important in all life as the         commitment walking home after cat-            he came out of the consistory room.
knowledge  of  God whom to know is            echism. I speak for all  of  us when I        My turn was last. I had convinced
life  eternal" (Catecketics,  p.  38), and    say that we loved Professor's classes.        myself that I could honestly  answer
when the children are not just any            This was our fourth year under his            "No," but hold to a few unspoken res-
children, but rather, children of the         tutelage, and the stimulating discus-         ervations. Professor Hanko, and the
covenant, then the "stuffing" is truly        sions that took place night  after  night     elders, asked all the routine questions
elegant.                                      were one of  the reasons why we were          about the doctrines of grace,  the chain
    Refuting Heresy:  "The in-                not eager to make confession of faith.        of salvation, and did I attend movies?
struction which he (the  catechu-                 But, as I said, we were collegians        Then came the question for which I
men,  MBL) has received and is in             now  - challenging the system and             was now prepared, "Do you believe in
the process of receiving must be-             testing the waters.  The waters in the        the period theory?" Without hesita-
come his own in such a way that               church world that year were the tkeo y        tion, I answered, "No." Without bat-
he receives it, not because anyone            of theistic evolufion, taught openly in       ting an eye, Professor looked up and
else has said that this is true, but          the college which we attended. Our            asked,  ,,Wky not?,, I couldn't believe
because he is convinced that it is            catechism lessons that fall centered on       my ears. Professor caught me com-
the truth of the Word of God. It is           the doctrine  of  creation. Week after        pletely off guard. He had not required
precisely for this reason that youth          week, with variations on the same             this response from any of fke others.
during this period in their lives are         theme, we baited Professor Hanko  -           In spite of myself, but with added re-
so often questioning. This has a              rather poorly, I now am convinced  -          spect for this wily interrogator,  Iflaw-
way of frightening parents and                with questions gleaned from our sev-          lessly and with conviction gave back
teachers because the impression is            eral college courses. "Wky did it mat-        to him the six reasons that he had so
often left that the child wants ev-           ter how long each creation day was,           carefully taught us why the period
ery conceivable heresy under the              as long as we believed that God cre-          theory  must be condemned.  They  are
face of the heavens. And, indeed,             ated?,, "Why did a day have to be a           in my catechism notes to this day.
if such a child is not given guid-            24hour  day?" "Isn't it just possible         And I never knowingly tinkered with
ance and is not brought repeatedly            that the first few days might have been       the glorious  docfrine of creation again.
to the Word of God, this is the time          great, long periods  of  time?`, And,         The time had come to defend the faith,
of life when such a one will quickly          then, the particularly annoying ques-         rather than to continue attacking. I
go astray, running after every                tion posed by teenagers: "Are you im-         have only one remaining question:
promise of men and being pushed               plying  that  a person can't  be  saved if    "How did Professor know 40 years ago
by every wind of doctrine. The                he believes this theory?!,, Patiently,        that tampering with the doctrine  of
catechete must not be unduly                  but without compromise, Professor             creation would lead to a full-scale de-
alarmed by the many questions                 Hanko explained the heresy implicit,          nial of any and all Scrip fure?"
which are asked. He must treat                and the path down which this error                I think I speak for hundreds of
them all patiently and seriously.             would eventually lead. Professor was          God's saints everywhere when I
He must not quickly wring his                 not the avuncular fellow which some           say  thanks to all the faithful minis-
hands in despair when many of the             mistakenly might think him to be to-          ters  and elders for the wonderful
questions seem to suggest hereti-             day. He never smiled until  Ckrist-           catechism classes. How can we
cal opinions on the part of his  cat-         mas. He brooked no "`free" memoriza-          ever thank you enough? Some, un-
echumens. But the catechete must,             tion of the H.C. Every preposition -          doubtedly, have sat under this
above all, lead these youth to the            every "of," every  `*in',  - musf be re-      means of grace, and then left the
fountain of all truth and empha-              cited verbatim. So, when after weeks          church altogether. God will be the
size times innumerable the obliga-            we were forced to move on in our treat-       judge of that, although such ones
tion of God's people to bow before            ment of the catechism with the warn-          will never escape or shake off the
the authority of God's Word"                  ing that we would nof be making  con-         instruction which they have  re-

46t?/standard  Bearer/September 1.1999


ceived.       A faithful remnant by          dren learn their questions and an-      spect your catechism teachers as if
grace, however, will continue to             swers word for word as much as          you are sitting at the feet of Christ
use the Scriptures to instruct their         they are able. Only on very spe-        Himself. For you are. Learn your
covenant children and bring them             cial and rare occasions should they     questions and answers thoroughly
to a conscious faith in and saving           ever skip catechism. It's that im-      as if it is your very life's blood. For
knowledge of Jesus Christ.                   portant. The times are evil, lax,       it is. Above all, reverence the
        What a heritage!                     and indiscriminate. We, therefore,      Scriptures.
        Parents, make it your primary        must be especially pure, strict, and            Pray for all our catechism
concern that your children and               discerning.                             teachers because "Grace and truth
young people be instructed in cat-               Children and young people, re-      shall mark the way." The way that
echism. Make sure that the chil-                                                     leads to heaven.  CI





              Revelation & The Wreckage
                                                   (John 20)

                                             and casting down His God Son?                   Think how little their faith was
                                             Who can believe the death of the        to begin with! They were con-
        Some thing has just happened.        Son of God? And that, after His         stantly missing the point of our
        A great storm.                       death, He will live again?              Savior's teaching. They remained
        Some destructive thing.                  What kind of a God is-this any-     so carnal in their expectations of
        Did you hear about it?               way? What kind of a religion is         the kingdom. And though they
        Hurricane Calvary!                   being demanded of us anyway?!           had boasted of their loyalty, yet,
        And awful wreckage.                      The man who appeared to be the      when the going got really rough,
    Do you see it?                           Savior of Israel, the Life-Giver, is    they had all run away from their
    Jesus died! Jesus dead!                  dead, and is buried. Thus, to all       Master. How little the faith of the
        The thing, the storm  and-the        appearances, according to EKG's,        disciples seems compared, for ex-
wreckage, is recorded in John 19             stethoscopes, and medical examin-       ample, to the Old Testament wor-
and the other gospel accounts.               ers, according to everything ob-        thies of faith who, not having re-
    There it is: the great wrath             servable and measurable of life and     ceived the promise, nevertheless
wind from God Himself; then the              death, the cross was the end of         believed.  Just how would these weak
still, lifeless body of the Lord. And        Jesus. The storm of Calvary seems       disciples believe,  who, having re-
His being buried.                            to have carried away our Lord and       ceived the Promise, just saw Him
                                             deposited His soul forever in hell.     die!
                   x-x-***                   It appears to have broken His body
    That truth-that killing, and             beyond hope that there was any-                              *****
that death-is a real test of faith.          thing for Him now besides corrup-               Revelation, I say.
    I believe in other storms. And           tion and becoming dust.                         The only way. Revelation.
it is impossible to deny  their  wreck-         How will faith look past this?               Revelation is God above mak-
age.                                         How will the first disciples be able    ing Truth known here below.
    But  this?  Who can believe such         to see anything more in the cross               Revelation is absolutely neces-
a Good God Father so casting off             than defeat, and anything more in       sary for faith.
                                             Jesus than a failure? How will they             God speaking. God unveiling.
                                             be able to think anything better of     And the masterpiece, the Wisdom
                                             Jesus than that He was either just      and Salvation of God being known
Rev. Dick is pastor  of  Grace Protestant    another deluded visionary or a          then. That is revelation.  Then,
Reformed  Church in Standale, Michigan.      flimflam man?                           something having been revealed,  will

                                                                                             September 1,1999/3tandard  Bearer/469


be faith-if ever there is to be faith.     better divorce. Their heroes tempt-          there, this revelation. Not now in
    But what, in this wreckage, in         ing us to trust in them, to believe          human form, but in written. It ap-
this  death of Jesus, after this im-       in them. Their things, their plea-           pears there, in the Holy Bible. In
possible thing has occurred, is to         sures dulling us to things unseen,           the sacred Spirit Word. It is the
be revealed? What, I say,  can even        and exciting us more than plea-              book about Jesus who died for our
God say?!                                  sures of the heavenly kingdom.               sins, and is risen for our justifica-
    Here is what. Hear:  Resurrec-             Revelation. Even in our wreck-           tion. It is the book of the Justice
tion!                                      age. Louder, more mighty than the            and Love  in the Storm Calvary.
    Friday. Saturday. Dead. Sun-           whole world.                                 Love of Father for the Son. Love
day.  Risen!  Hell could not hold               But  hozu can we believe?! Dis-         for the many sons and daughters
Him. Men might not exterminate             ciples,  we, as the first ones:  of  such    He will call His own. Love for His
Him. His own stopped heart, col-           little faith!                                own glory. It is the revelation so
lapsed lungs, and bloodless and                 Here is how.-~                          wonderful that to know  it,  to be-
cold body could not keep the life               Now  to US the risen One comes.         lieve  it,  is to know  God,  and be-
out of Him. On the first day of the        He does not appear. We do not                lieve  God!
week, having been dead and in              see. But there it is the same: rev-                Listen. "These things are writ-
Joseph's tomb for parts of three           elation! Special,  gospel revelation.        ten that ye might believe that Jesus is
days, Jesus our Savior lives again!        God speaking to His own of God               the Christ, the Son  of  God"  (John
    And now this resurrection will         with us in and through the cruci-            20:31).
be  revealed.  No one will and may         fied and risen One, Jesus of                       Blessed is he that has not seen,
see the resurrection itself. But           Nazareth, Jesus of God, Jesus Son            and believes the revelation of God.
there will be  appearances,  appear-       of God.                                            Blessed is he that reads, and
ances of Jesus for forty days be-               Where? Where this revelation,           hears the word, this revelation.
fore His ascension to heaven. No           that I might find it! 0, that I  knew              Revelation in the wreckage.
ordinary appearances, these. But           where I might find it, and find Him                Rejoice!
revelation!       Indeed, infallible       through  it!                                       And hope for the day when, as
proofs of the Truth of God and of               It is in a book, my friend.             revealed,  as written,  the wreckage
the death of death and of the Liv-         Look. Listen. Read. It appears               will be no more.
ing One and our living too. Things
for faith to see. Appearances
which work the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. Appearances. Revealing
ones. Special ones indeed! That
the disciples might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing they might have         1. The Resurrection of Jesus                 purpose of Jesus' appearing to His
life through His name!                          What evidences does Scripture           disciples for the forty days after
                                           give that Jesus rose from the dead?          His resurrection?
                  X-X-***                  What texts, Old Testament and                      What kind of body did Jesus
    And . . . the wonder continues!        New Testament, prophesy and                  have when He appeared on earth?
    Across the ages, across the            prove that Jesus rose from the               How was it the same/different
miles, across culture, from eternity       dead? What does the resurrection             from the body of His humiliation?
to time, from infinity to our little       of Jesus declare about Jesus' sacri-
place, from Good to sinners.. .  there     fice on the cross and our salvation?         3.        Jesus' appearance to Mary
is still this revelation!                       Study the great creeds of the           Magdalene (John  20:1-18)
    What? Yes.  Even in our wreck-         church and discuss what these say                  From the various gospel ac-
age!  Lives devastated by sin. Mar-        about Christ's resurrection.                 counts be able to tell the order of
riages destroyed by lust. Disease               How does the truth of Christ's          events that resurrection Sunday.
wracking bodies. Death on every            resurrection influence our life?                   What does the Bible say about
side. And we and ours dying in             How do we show that ours is res-             Mary Magdalene?
the midst. Life.  Wreckage!                urrection life? Resurrection hope?                 Why does Jesus appear to Mary
    And world wanting us to be-                                                         first?
lieve in  it. Their counselors offer-      2. The Appearances of Jesus                        What does this appearance re-
ing to peel away the hurts, to lift             List in order the appearances           veal of Jesus?
us up, to put us back on our feet,         of Jesus to His disciples.                         Why may not Mary touch Jesus
to get us a quick and all-for-the-         What does Acts  1:3 say was the              (v.  17)?

47O/Standard   Bearer/September  1,1999


4. Jesus' appearance to the dis-                 taining sins." How do we explain                           6. Perspective (John  20:31)
ciples that first day (John 20:19-               this in light of the fact that the Bible                          Appearances of Jesus recorded
23)                                              teaches elsewhere (where?) that                            in Scripture. Important! What sev-
       How did Jesus appear to them?             only God forgives sins or holds                            eral virtues do they show of Jesus,
       What is the "peace" Jesus con-            people to account for their sins?                          Son of God?
veys to the disciples at this time                                                                                 Appearances of Jesus. How do
(vv.  19,21; cf. other references in             5. Jesus' appearance to Thomas                             these confirm  OUY  faith?
Scripture to the "peace" of Jesus)?              (John  20:24-29)                                                  Appearances of Jesus-today?
       At this time Jesus reminds the                 Doubting Thomas! What was                             To  us? By vision? By voice? In
disciples that He has sent and is                the problem Thomas had which                               us?
sending them (v. 21). The Greek                  prevented him from believing the                                  Appearances. How do these
word for "send" means "send offi-                resurrection of Jesus?                                     compare to revelation? What is
cially" as ambassadors of Christ, to                  When Jesus appears to the dis-                        revelation? Is it special? Natural?
commission one for a special work.               ciples with Thomas present He                              (Cf. Belgic Confession, Art. 2.)
What does Matthew  2818-20,  Acts                again preaches, "Peace be unto                                    Blessed are those who, having
153, and other passages have to say              you"  (v. 26). Why did Jesus speak                         not seen, believe that Jesus is the
about the commission of the dis-                 this again?                                                Christ, the Son of God! Blessed are
ciples of our Lord?                                   Upon seeing Jesus and hearing                         those who, believing, have life
       What great gift are the disciples         Jesus' words, Thomas believes!                             through His name! What is a bless-
given at this time in order to dis-              What is the significance of Thomas'                        ing you receive through this rev-
charge their office? How does this               confession at this time (v.  28)?                          elation of the appearances of Jesus?
gift compare with that given on                       After Thomas' confession, Jesus                       D-o you experience this blessing in
Pentecost?                                       says, "Blessed are they that have                          the midst of the sufferings, even
       Jesus speaks in verse 23 of the           not seen and yet have believed" (v.                        the wreckage of this present age?
disciples "remitting sins," and "re-             29b). What is Jesus saying by this?                                                                   0





             The Christian and Entertainment
                                                                    (3)

I                                                cannot worship in our Protestant Re-                       Sabbath holy and vacationing. We
       t was suggested that the ques-            formed Churches?"                                          confess that we do not know the
       tions submitted in writing after                Can we observe the Sabbath while                     answers to all the questions that
       the speech at First Church in             on vacation?                                               come up in this regard. We are
April, and the answers given to                        What are your thoughts concern-                      aware that at least two consistories
them, be included in this final ar-              ing vacationing over Sunday away                           have addressed pastoral letters to
ticle on entertainment. The dozen                f r o m   o u r   P r o t e s t a n t   R e f o r m e d    their members, warning them
or so questions fall into four dis-              Churches?                                                  against this trend and pointing out
tinct categories.                                      What type of discipline should be                    the dangers that are involved.
                                                 taken in the Protestant Reformed                           These issues are also addressed
A.  What about vacations where we                Churches for members who are absent                        regularly in the preaching of the
                                                 for months at a time?                                      gospel: the delight of the Sabbath
                                                                                                            properly kept is set forth, and the
                                                       These questions show that                            evil of Sabbath-breaking is warned
Rev. Kuiper is pastor  of  Southeast  Profes-    there is a real problem in the                             against. By some these warnings
fanf Reformed Church in Grand Rapids,            churches in regard to keeping the                          are being ignored.
Michigan.

                                                                                                                   September  1,1999/Standard   Bearer/471


    This situation presents great          Protestant Reformed Churches?"                          knowledge of those who are who
difficulties for the elders. The first     Doesn't the answer to that ques-                        knows where.
difficulty concerns consistency.           tion mean that we are in our                                 5.May we never be gone from
How can the elders call upon those         churches as much as  hossible?                          our congregation?             We would
whose church attendance is spotty               3. Those long absences prevent                     never want to make such a rule.
when everyone knows there are              the faithful use of the sacraments.                     Certainly we may visit with rela-
others who are elsewhere for two,          The Lord's Supper is celebrated in                      tives from time to time, perhaps
four, or six months a year? The            the congregation. Babies are born                       worshiping with them on the Sab-
second         difficulty      concerns    and presented for baptism. But                          bath. There may be the need to be
officebearer nominations.  How can         these important signs and seals of                      elsewhere for medical treatment, or
men be nominated for the offices           the righteousness that is by faith                      one's health requires a warmer,
if they are not present in the con-        are often missed by some. Further,                      drier climate for a time. But those
gregation to do the work required,         we hear reports that some mem-                          who are absent from the congrega-
and to be good examples to the             bers take communion in other                            tion month after month, as a mat-
flock? Anything that strikes at the        churches. This is wrong! One im-                        ter of choice, must be warned
well-being of the congregation and         plication of our practice of guard-                     sharply against this practice by the
interferes with the marks of the           ing the holy table from being pro-                      elders.       And if the necessary
true church (faithful preaching,           faned by exercising "close com-                         changes are not made, they must
proper partaking of sacraments,            munion" (allowing non-PRs to par-                       be disciplined for neglect of the
and Christian discipline) is clearly       take with us only after an interview                    means of grace. And those who
wrong.      The problem of poor            with the elders to examine confes-                      are repeatedly absent for shorter
church attendance must be ad-              sion and walk) is that we do not                        periods  - a couple of weeks here
dressed, the evil must be rooted           partake in other churches either.                       and a couple of weeks there  -
out, and this can best be accom-           How can we individualistically                          ought to reexamine this practice in
plished on the individual, personal        partake with others who cannot                          the light of Isaiah 58:13, 14.
level. Perhaps the following will          partake with us at home? How can
be helpful:                                we partake with those who work                          B.  Do the Protestant  Reformed
    l.Long  absences from the con-         on Sunday, or are union members,                        Churches actually have a stand we
gregation remove one from the su-          or are divorced and remarried, or                       must abide by regarding movies, or do
pervision or oversight of the elders.      disagree with our doctrinal posi-                       we consider it up to the Christian him-
Although the promise is made at            tions? Is this lack of good order,                      self  - the same as with dances?
confession of faith that one will          perhaps a chafing under our prac-                               What you mention about drama
submit himself to the government           tice of Nclose communionN?                              is what some simply write off as bad
of the church, some willingly place             4.Long absences from the con-                      drama. Can good drama (that is to
themselves in a position where this        gregation do much damage to the                         say, school skits and religious movies)
becomes impossible. The elders are         communion of the saints.                 "But           be lumped into the same category or
caretakers of our souls. Through           now God has set the members ev-                         not?
them Christ works our spiritual            ery one of them in the body, as it                           Ls there any drama that is whole-
welfare and safety.                        h a t h   p l e a s e d   h i m "  (I Cor.                      some, or that teaches any moral
    2.Long  absences from the con-         12:18). Although the apostle                                     good?
gregation deprive one of the pure          has in view the body as the                      WhY                 Is it fair to liken  television-
preaching of the Word of God. We           church of Christ in all ages                    do we               viewing (drama) to  Baal wor-
find it ironic that when some re-          and places, his teaching                       need an              s h i p ?
turn home from their long vaca-            also applies to the local                official stand
tions they remark how good it is           congregation as a manifes-                    by  classis            Why do we need an  offi-
to hear sound, Reformed preach-            tation  o f   t h e   b o d y   o f            or synod              cial stand by  classis or
ing again. Or we find it discour-          Christ.      There  God has                    to  atioid            synod to avoid those sins
aging when others talk about the           placed  us; there we  are to                  those sins             which are so clearly  con-
good preaching they have heard in          suffer and rejoice with  fel-                 which are              demned by Scripture?
churches which differ radically            low believers. But when                       so clearly            Doesn't a little sanctified
from ours in doctrine, life, and           we are elsewhere, saints                      condemned             wisdom show us that
worship. Have they no discern-             are hospitalized and  unvis-                      bY                viewing movies and  tele-
ment? Do they not care? Let those          ited by us. Saints die and                    Scripture?           vision leads to impure
who find it easy to worship in any         families are not comforted by                                     thoughts, improper  lan-
church where they happen to be             us. Babies are born, marriages                                  guage, silently partaking in
ask themselves the question, "Why          entered into, confessions of faith                      the blasphemy of others,  discon-
do I have my membership in the             made  - all of this without the                         tented attitudes, and wicked  be-

472/Standard   Bearer/September  1,1999


havior? No, movie attendance is           hours, I can't pray at night." An-          grateful lives, are not converted to
not a matter of Christian liberty,        other man said, "Watching televi-           God?" And it answers, "By no
nor is social dancing, which is men-      sion causes me to lose my judg-             means, for the holy Scriptures de-
tioned in the same question.              ment of things." How true. Let us           clare that no unchaste person,
    We get off on the wrong foot          be warned. For further reading on           idolater, adulterer, thief, covetous
when we try to judge this issue on        this matter, we recommend the               man, drunkard, slanderer, robber,
the basis of content: good drama          pamphlet "The Christian and the             or any such like, shall inherit the
or bad drama, moral lessons or im-        Film Arts," by Prof. H. Hanko,              kingdom of God." Biblical proof
moral teaching, constructive influ-       available from all our evangelism           for that answer is I Corinthians  6:9,
ence or destructive examples. Cer-        societies. We recommend also a              10; Galatians  5:19-21;  Ephesians
tainly the content of almost 100%         series of articles in the  Standard         5:5,6;  and I John 3:14,15.
of dramatic productions (movies,          Bearer  by Rev. Barry Gritters en-              Can professional athletes be
television programs, plays, skits,        titled "Renewing the Battle:                converted to God? Of course they
operas) place these things out of         Drama, Television, Movies" (Vol.            can, if God wills it and works it.
bounds for the Christian. Besides,        69,70 of the SB).                           But then they are no longer profes-
how do you know what the con-                                                         sional athletes, but ex-athletes who
tents and influences are until you        C. Could you clarify what you mean          mortify the old man, and with joy
have viewed the drama? Too late           by saying that professional athletes are    of heart live according to the will
then! Are we going to look to the         cursed: What Scriptures help us here?       of God in all good works.
world, the world at its most de-              I was wondering  if  passages such          As to  Paul being a sports fan,
praved and ungodly state, to teach        as Philippians  3:13,14; Hebrews  12:l;     we really have no idea. The Scrip-
us moral lessons? Why cannot we           and  II Timothy  4:7 might also inform      tures are silent on this matter. He
take the Catechism to heart when          your position on sports? It seems to        was a studious and industrious
it teaches us that all images are to      me that the apostle Paul may have           man, filled with zeal for his work,
be condemned, and "God will have          been a bit of a sports fan.                 both before and after his conver-
His people taught not by dumb im-                                                     sion. I rather doubt he spent any
ages, but by the lively preaching             The remark was made that pro-           time watching sporting events.
of His Word"  (L-D.  35)? Scripture       fessional sports of every kind, and         But that's really not the question
is sufficient!                            99 if not 100% of professional ath-         in regard to those quotations cited.
    But content is not the root of        letes, are under the curse of God.          As the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul
the issue. The question that must         We could have included much of              wrote to those who were  acquainted
be asked is, "Is acting right or          college sports, the entire movie and        with the Olympic Games and other
wrong?" Men more capable than I           television industries, and those            contests. With that familiarity in
have shown conclusively that act-         who are engaged in popular "mu-             mind, he used figures from the
ing itself is sin. The distinction be-    sic."  Professional sports are under        games such as fighting and running
tween  imitation  and  impersonation      God's curse because they produce            to illustrate the truth of the Chris-
must be appreciated. We may  imi-         nothing truly worthwhile for God,           tian life. Keep in mind, too, that
tate  those of pure moral character:      man, or beast. They are merely the          Paul was inspired by the Spirit of
God, Christ, the apostles, the            opiate of the masses, rather suc-           truth to use these figures. And that
saints. But  we  may never  imper-        cessfully drawing men's attention           means that sports, games, and
sonate  anyone! To impersonate is         away from the issues of life, and           races are not per se wrong.
to pretend you are someone else,          fleecing them of their money in the
good or evil, and to induce those         process.     The athletes, though           D.  Do you have suggestions as to
who watch you to believe that you         splendid physical specimens, are            how I would go about changing my
are someone else, good or evil.           actually among the most depraved            home  from  the  entertainment-centered
That's playing around with person-        in our society. They are all Sab-           type to the dining room table type?
ality, which is a distinct and unique     bath-breakers.       They are heady,
creation of God; and that's playing       high-minded, proud, and boastful.               We will try. First of all, know
around with corruption or holiness,       Among them are found adulterers,            that such a change is possible.
both of which are terribly serious        whoremongers, union members, al-            Your question indicates a desire to
before God. Acting is simply hy-          coholics, substance-abusers, di-            have your family life more closely
pocrisy. By the way, the Greek            vorced and remarried individuals,           conformed to the biblical model.
word for actor is hypocrite.              all in higher percentages than in           Sometimes when we look at how it
    We recall two interesting re-         the general populace.                       goes in our families, we almost de-
marks made on family visitation               The Catechism asks, in L.D. 32,         spair of making the necessary
some years ago. A man said, "If I         "Cannot they then be saved, who,            changes. But we are assured in
watch television for a couple of          continuing their wicked and  un-            Philippians  4:13 that we can do all

                                                                                          September 1,1999/Standard  Bearer/473


t h i n g s   t h r o u g h   C h r i s t   w h o     the fact that for a long time we          spiritual motive this has been done.
strengthens us.                                       have made television-viewing, bad         And they discovered that more
     Secondly, praying about these                    music, lack of worthwhile family          worthwhile activities filled the
changes is absolutely essential.                      devotions, and failure to commu-          void. How much more is this pos-
Prayers by the father and the                         nicate a part of our daily lives. We      sible, permanently, with those who
mother in the quiet of the night                      are all but stuck in a deep rut. And      possess the power of the Spirit and
when all alone with God. Prayers                      the difficulty is especially great        grace of God!
about these very things with the                      when older children and young                 Finally, make every effort to
children in family devotions. The                     people are involved. Generally,           have at least the evening meal to-
fervent prayers of the righteous                      their concern for holiness and spiri-     gether. Read and discuss the Word
availeth much (James  516). As we                     tual growth is not very lively.           of God. Reflect on the sermons that
confess to God our failures as par-                   Their abhorrence of the world is          were preached on the Sabbath.
ents, our inconsistencies in instruc-                 not fully developed. Some would           Speak words of encouragement
tion and discipline, as we express                    rather listen to friends than to their    and correction. And make plain
to Him our longing to have strong,                    parents. So you may experience            as parents what Joshua made plain
covenant homes, God forgives us                       sharp opposition from them when           to Israel: as for me and my house,
for Jesus' sake, and grants us our                    steps are taken to root out worldli-      we will serve the Lord!
holy desires. But then pray for wis-                  ness, and to make of the home a               We speak and write these
dom to initiate these changes too.                    citadel of holiness and truth. Even       things in love for the church of
This is possible to accomplish, but                   so, this can be done. Occasionally        Christ, in love for the Protestant
not easy.                                             we read of families that have suc-        Reformed Churches, and in love for
     Thirdly, the difficulty lies in                  ceeded in turning off the TV for a        the church of the future. 0
                                                      month or a year. Even without a





                        Caring For the Widows

Mr                                                    calling to care for the widows ap-        cious compassion for the widows
               en in this article we con-             plies also to their care of the wid-      in many of the psalms. God is a
             centrate on the calling of               owers.*                                   Father of the fatherless and a judge
             t h e   e l d e r s   o f   G o d ' s        Widows are mentioned often in         of the widow  0%.  68:5). Among
church to care for the widows, we                     Scripture.    The Israelites were         the great sins for which the wicked
do not mean to deny the need of                       warned in no uncertain terms not          are judged is that "they slay the
the widowers, nor do we mean to                       to afflict any widow or fatherless        widow and the stranger and the fa-
minimize the elders' calling to care                  child. The punishment for doing           therless" (Ps.  94:6). And the in-
for them as well. Widowers mourn                      so was the supreme penalty, death         spired psalmist writes, "The Lord
the loss of their wives and they are                  (Ex.  22:22-24).  Scripture says the      relieves the fatherless and widow"
lonely. They too need to be com-                      Lord must be feared and obeyed            (I%.  146:9).
forted by the Word of God, and the                    because He is a great God, and, "he           God, through the inspired
elders must see to it that these are                  doth execute the judgment of the          prophet, calls His people to "plead
brought the Word of comfort. In                       fatherless and widow" (Deut.              for the widow" (Is.  1:17).  The Lord
addition, much of what we shall                       10:18). The Israelites were called        warns us that the widows must not
have to say concerning the elders'                    to support the widows with their          be oppressed and we are not to do
                                                      tithes (Deut.  14:29;  24:17). The one    them violence  (Jer.  7~6;  22:3).
                                                      who perverted the judgment of the             We find these same emphases
                                                      widow was cursed by God (Deut.            in the New Testament Scriptures.
Prof. Decker is  professor  of Practical  Tke-        27~19).                                   One of the sins for which Jesus con-
ology in the Protestant Reformed Semi-                    The Lord expresses His gra-
nary.                                                                                           demns the Pharisees is "devouring

474/Standard  Bearer/September 1,1999


widows' houses" (Matt.  23:14).  The     that love which made them one             ask at home" concerning matters
office of deacon was instituted in       flesh in the Lord (Gen.  2:24; Matt.      going on in the congregation. This
the church of the New Testament          19:4-6) is lost. That most intimate,      is one of the reasons why the el-
so that the Grecian widows would         wonderful, and profoundly beau-           ders must take the time to "come
not be neglected in the daily min-       tiful relationship, the union of one      to the aid" of the widows of the
istrations and to enable the apostles    man and one woman in the bond             congregation. If the widows are
to busy themselves with the              of marriage is lost when the hus-         visited by the elders on a regular
preaching of the Word (Acts  6:1-        band dies. Who can adequately             basis, once per month and more of-
6). That this received God's ap-         describe or appreciate the pain ex-       ten if necessary, there will be ample
proval and blessing is evident from      perienced by a godly widow?               opportunity for the widows to ask
the very next verse, which reads,            Still more, the widow has lost        their questions and express their
"And the word of God increased;          the one who was her head (Eph.            concerns for the affairs of the con-
and the number of the disciples          5:23). As the head of his wife the        gregation. Family visitation ought
multiplied in Jerusalem greatly..  ."    husband is responsible for her care.      not be reserved for this.
(Acts  6:7).                             The husband is to provide for her                 Let the elders of Christ's
    According to the Epistles the        earthly needs: food, shelter, cloth-      church be sensitive to the great loss
church is called to honor widows         ing. This may not be  as- keenly felt     experienced by the godly widows
who are widows indeed (I Tim.            today in our affluent society as it       of the congregation. With the sym-
5:3). Widows must trust in God           was a number of years ago. How-           pathetic understanding of God's
and continue in prayer. They must        ever that may be, in the death of         love, the elders must bring to the
be provided for by their relatives,      her husband the widow has lost her        widows the comfort of God's
and if these `are unable to do so        head.                                     Word. This, after all, is the only
the church must provide for the              More than this, however, is the       source of comfort for the Christian.
widows. Widows are called to             fact that the widow has lost her          Nothing else than the Word of
walk in good  works,.lodge strang-       spiritual head and her family's           God's grace, mercy, and love in
ers, wash the saints' feet. The          spiritual leader.  -Her  husband's in-    Jesus can comfort the widows.
younger women ought to marry             struction, his encouragement, his         And, again, let the elders remem-
and bear children (I Tim. 5:3-16).       guidance, his wise counsel for the        ber that God's Word is always ef-
To cite no more, part of pure and        children and his discipline of them,      fective. God's Word never returns
undefiled religion before God our        all this and more are lost when the       void. It always accomplishes God's
Father is that we visit (the Greek       Lord takes a husband and father           purpose!
verb translated "visit" by the A.V.      from his wife and family.                         The Word of comfort must be
means "come to the aid of") the fa-          This last point was brought           brought as soon as possible after
therless and widows in their afflic-     home to me when a widow ex-               the death of the husband. And the
tion (James  1:26-27).                   pressed some criticism concerning         Word-of comfort must be brought
    These passages (and more             what I had written regarding fam-         in the weeks and months follow-
could be cited) certainly indicate       ily visitation in an earlier article.     ing the funeral. These are the most
that the Lord has a great concern        In that article I stressed that the       difficult days for the widows. The
for the widows of His church. And        elders should control the visit and       busy activities of the funeral are
Christ, the Chief Shepherd of the        bring the Word. The widow's criti-        over. The days are long and the
sheep, takes care of the widows          cism was that this would deprive          nights are even longer for the
primarily through the elders of the      her of her only opportunity to learn      lonely widows. They need to hear
church!                                  about what is happening in the            from God's Word that God is al-
    Consider what the believing,         congregation and, as well, the op-        ways good. They must submit in
godly widow has lost. She has lost       portunity would be lost to let her        their sorrows to the Lord and His
her husband, i.e., the man who           voice be heard. After all, the Bible      way for them. God did it after  aII!
loved her just as Christ loved the       does say, "Let your women keep            "God took your husband," the
church and gave Himself for it           silence in the churches: for it is not    widow must be told. He is the sov-
(Eph.  5:25). She has lost her godly     permitted unto them to speak; but         ereign Giver of life and He is the
husband, who loved her sacrifi-          they are commanded to be under            sovereign Taker of life. Widows
cially and unselfishly and with all      obedience, as also saith the law.         must not complain or rebel against
his heart. Her husband, to whom          And if they will learn anything, let      the Lord. They must submit to His
she submitted in love just as the        them ask their husbands at home:          way and learn to be content also in
church submits to Christ, she has        for it is a shame for women to            the state of the widow (Phil.  4:11,
lost  (Eph.  5:22-24). The love, the     speak in the church" (I Cor. 14:34-       12).
bond of perfectness, which they          35). This widow's point was of                    Is this easy? Absolutely not!
had for each other in their hearts,      course that she had no husband "to        This is incredibly difficult! No, this

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is impossible! Apart from the grace           emphatically not all there is.            tabernacle of God is with men, and
of God in Christ, this is impossible.         There's more, much more! Life on          he will dwell with them, and they
Godly widows cannot bear the loss             this earth, and all that belongs to       shall be his people, and God him-
without God's grace. And God's                it, also marriage, is a pilgrimage.       self shall be with them, and be their
grace is given by means of the                Everlasting life! Perfect, everlast-      God. And God shall wipe away
Word! God loves us with eternal,              ing fellowship with all the saints        all tears from their eyes; and there
unchanging love in Christ Jesus.              in Christ Jesus. And in Christ Jesus      shall be no more death, neither sor-
God is our all-wise Father who                perfect communion with God our            row, nor crying, neither shall there
knows what is good for us. Even               Father. Fellowship with God in            be any more pain; for the former
though we may not be able to un-              Christ and with all the saints in the     things are passed away. . . . these
derstand God's way, God is good               wonderful glory of the new heaven         words are true and faithful" (Rev.
in all His ways. In His infinite              and earth. This is the end of our         21:1-5).
goodness to us in Christ, God                 earthly pilgrimage!                                This is the great comforting
causes all things, also the loss of               This is what the apostle John         hope of the widows and of all the
our spouses, to work together for             has given to us. Under the inspi-         saints in God's church. In this hope
our good and salvation.                       ration of the Holy Spirit John            they will never be put to shame!
    Think of that! The widow's                wrote, "And I saw a new heaven                                                 0
loss is great. A cause of agonizing           and a new earth: for the first
grief and terrible loneliness is her          heaven and the first earth were
loss. But widows do have God as               passed away; and there was no             * We are aware of the fact that the
their heavenly Father for Jesus'              more sea. And I John saw the holy         deacons too are called by God to care
sake. Their sins `are `washed away            city, new Jerusalem, coming down          for the widows and widowers of God's
in Jesus' shed blood. Widows have             from God out of heaven, prepared          church. We leave this subject for our
been given new life by the power              as a bride adorned for her hus-           colleague Rev. Douglas Kuiper, whose
of the resurrection of Jesus.                 band. And I heard a great voice           assignment is to write on the deacon's
    This earthly life, therefore, is          out of heaven saying, Behold, the         office.





            Christ, the Head of the Covenant

A                                             covenant. When the covenant is            but a bond or relationship of inti-
         s we continue our consid-            defined as an agreement or contract       mate fellowship and love which,
         eration of Christ in relation        between two parties, namely, be-          first of all, characterizes the life of
         to the covenant, we find             tween God and His people, it is           the triune God.
from Scripture that not only is               hardly possible to speak of Christ                 God is a covenant God. He
Christ the Mediator  of the covenant,         as the Head of the covenant. That         lives a life of perfect fellowship and
but also the Heud  of the covenant.           Christ is  Mediator  of the covenant      love within His own divine Being.
This is a truth that has raised con-          is not difficult to understand, if the             But in addition, God has re-
siderable opposition and discus-              covenant were a contract. But how         vealed His grand and glorious pur-
sion through the years, primarily             could He possibly be viewed as            pose of establishing with His
because of a common misunder-                 Head  of that covenant?                   people that same covenant relation-
standing as to the nature of the                  The difficulty is removed, how-       ship.
                                              ever, with a proper understanding                  He does so by taking them into
                                              of the covenant of grace.                 the fellowship of His own covenant
                                                  Writers in the  Standard Bearer,      life, and establishing with them the
                                              this one included, have repeatedly        friendship and intimate love that
Rev. Key is pastor  of  the Protestant Re-    demonstrated from Scripture that          He enjoys within His own divine
formed  Chtmh  of Randolph, Wisconsin.        the covenant is not an agreement,         life.

476/Standard   Bearer/September  1,199s


     He does so by the wonder work                possibility for our entering into                   truth that we can even be partak-
of His grace.                                     covenant fellowship with God, and                   ers of the covenant of grace. Our
     He  does  so  ipI Christ.                    that is that the guilt of our sin be                legal Head removed our guilty
     It is important that we be re-               taken away.                                         stains, and opened the way of fel-
minded of the fact that when                              But how is  that  possible? We              lowship with God that had been
God reveals to us the  cov-                                   can't do it. All we can do              lost in our fall in Adam.
enant  life that He lives                    When              is increase our guilt! Even                In the second place, Christ is
w i t h i n   H i m s e l f ,   H e       God reveals          daily we add to our debt               the Head of His people  organically.
doesn't do so merely by                     Himself             by the multitude of sins              As Adam was also the organic
telling us something                    by establishing         that we commit.                       head of the human race, so that all
about His own covenant                   His covenant                  The only possibility           came forth from him, so Christ is
life. The revelation of                     of  grace            for that fellowship with             the organic Head of His people.
the covenant of grace is                                         God is through Jesus
                                        with His people,                                              Scripture makes clear that this is
not merely that God                       He does so             Christ who paid for all              true because His people are grafted
g i v e s   u s   a   c e r t a i n      in such a way           our sins.                            into Him by the living bond of
amount of information                    that He takes                 T h e   L o r d   J e s u s    faith, and thus become members of
about how He Himself                      His people             Christ paid for the sins             His body.
lives in perfect covenant                   into the             of His people. He did so               Scripture reveals that truth in
fellowship within  Him-                   ve y essence          by offering Himself as the            a very wonderful way, with figures
self. There is much more                  of  His own           perfect sacrifice (Heb.               and expressions that demonstrate
to it than that!                           covenant            7:26,27;   H e b .  9:26b-28).         the beauty of this relationship be-
     W h e n   G o d   r e v e a l s          life.            He did so as the Head of               tween Christ and His people.
Himself by establishing His                                   His people. He did so,  ac-             Ephesians  4:15,16  speaks in terms
covenant-of grace  with His                                cording to God's sovereign                 of Christ being the Head: "From
people, He does so in such a way                  purpose, as the Head of the cov-                    whom the whole body fitly joined
that He takes His people into the                 enant.                                              together and compacted by that
very essence of His own covenant                          Christ is the Head of His                   which every joint supplieth, ac-
life. He makes them His  friends,                 people. He is the Head of His                       cording to the effectual working in
and embraces them with His cov-                        people in a twofold sense.                     the measure of every part, maketh
enant love. He does so in such a                           In the first place, He is Head             increase of the body unto the edi-
way that our knowledge of that                         of His people  regally.  That is the           fying of itself in love."
covenant life is not merely a mat-                     emphasis of Romans 5, verses  12-                  The beautiful relationship of
ter of having some information                         18. Just as Adam was the legal,                holy marriage is reflective of the
about it. But we enter into the en-                    representative head of the whole               intimacy of the relationship be-
joyment of and experience the                          human race, so Christ stands as the            tween Christ and His church. "For
blessed reality of fellowship with                     legal, representative Head of all              the husband is the head of the wife,
God! The God of our salvation is                       His people.                                    even as Christ is the head of the
our heavenly Father!                                       Christ represented His people              church: and he is the saviour of the
     Bear in mind, God establishes                     legally before the tribunal of God.            body"  (Eph.  5:23).
that covenant with us who are mis-                     He became totally and completely                   Because Christ is the organic
erable sinners. He takes those who                     responsible for them judicially. He            Head of His people we become His
are desperately wicked, corrupt                        took all the guilt of all His people           body, bone of His bone and flesh
and depraved sinners, and brings                       upon Himself. He assumed re-                   of His flesh, partakers of His life.
us into His own fellowship!                            sponsibility for the full penalty  -           And therefore we come as close to
     How is that possible?                             and that penalty was the everlast-             God as is possible for us to come
     When the prophet Habakkuk                         ing and full wrath of the just God.            - in Jesus Christ our Head. This
addressed God in Habakkuk  1:13,                       When on the cross He endured that              is the way in which God takes us
he said, "Thou art of purer eyes                       infinite wrath of God for the sake             into His own covenant life  - in
than to behold evil, and  canst not                    of His people, He did so as their              Jesus Christ our Head.
look on iniquity." Jehovah is the                      legal Head, which means also that                  Still more, when we see Christ
Holy One. Because of His very na-                      all the righteousness that He                  as the Head of the covenant, we
ture, and because of His holy love                     earned is now the righteousness of             come to a clearer understanding of
for Himself and His own glory, He                      all those for whom He died. His                the truth that God established His
can have no fellowship with a sin-                     righteousness is imputed to His                covenant with Christ  first.  He es-
ner, but must certainly drive him                      people, exactly because He stood               tablished His covenant not first
out of His presence.                                   in their place, as their legal Head.           with Adam or Noah, or in a more
     There is, therefore, only one                         Again, it is only because of this          general sense with believers and

                                                                                                          September I,  1999/Standard  Bearer/477


their seed. But God established His                    then are ye Abraham's seed, and              Through Christ God has taken
covenant first with Christ. As                         heirs according to the promise."         us into the fellowship of His own
Colossians  1:15 and following                            Christ is our way into God's          covenant life of perfect love.
teaches, in the eternal counsel of                     covenant. He is so as Head of the        Through Christ our Head God has
God Christ was first. "And he is                       covenant.                                given us to enjoy and experience
the head of the body, the church:                         Because God dwells in Christ          the amazing wonder of being part
who is the beginning, the firstborn                    in all the fullness of the Godhead       of the family of God! In Christ as
from the dead; that in all things he                   bodily, and because the church is        the Head of the covenant this fel-
might have the preeminence" (Col.                      the body of Christ, God and His          lowship is perfectly accomplished.
1:18).                                                 people dwell together in perfect              Therefore the covenant is ab-
     That is confirmed from a little                   covenant fellowship. That is true        solutely sure.
different perspective in Galatians                     - let us not forget  - because of             God has established it.
3:16,  where we read, "Now to                          the work which our Lord Jesus                 God realizes it through Christ
Abraham and his seed were the                          Christ performed, His perfect            Jesus His Son, our Lord.
promises made. He saith not, And                       work, His amazing accomplish-                 God maintains and perfects His
to seeds, as of many; but as of one,                   ment of perfect obedience and per-       covenant. He does it all through
And to thy seed, which is Christ."                     fect sacrifice, even to the death of     Christ, the Head of the covenant.
Then we read in verse 29 of that                       the cross. He is the One who, as              Believing this, we shall show
chapter, "And if ye be Christ's,                       the Mediator of the covenant, has        forth His praise!  CI
                                                       reconciled us unto God.





                                                       trols, mounting one at the rear of       their phone number is 219-865-
                                                       the auditorium and one on the side.      1108.
Congregation Activities
T                                                      It is hoped that the improved qual-           The First PRC in Grand Rap-
     his past summer the congrega-                     ity of these tapes will allow future     ids, MI encouraged women in their
     tion of the Hudsonville, MI                       broadcasts over the local Public         congregation to join together for
PRC met twice to consider impor-                       Broadcast Station. Since these cam-      four successive Wednesdays in
tant proposals from their council.                     eras are digital, it is possible that    June for a Women's Summer Bible
In late May they met to approve a                      some day Hudsonville could send          Discussion.         Bible lessons were
p r o p o s a l   t h a t   w h e n   R e v .   G .    its church services directly into the    based on John  6:22-40, "Jesus' Ser-
VanBaren  retires from the minis-                      homes of shut-in members or any          mon on the Bread of Life."
try in August, he be hired on an                       other interested party anywhere in            June 27 First also sponsored an
hourly basis to assist Rev. B.                         the world by way of the computer         enlightening presentation by Mr.
Gritters, Hudsonville's pastor, with                   and the Internet.                        Donald  VanderKolk  concerning the
his heavy work load.  Hudson-                              Work continues on the sanctu-        Puritan Reformed Prison Ministry
ville's council anticipated that                       ary of the Georgetown PRC in             that he has been conducting at the
some of Rev.  VanBaren's  duties                       Hudsonville, MI. All the exterior        Kent County Correctional Facility
would be to preach occasionally,                       brick work is now done, and the          the past five years.
teach afternoon catechism classes,                     much anticipated placing of the               In February, 1996, the congre-
possibly lead a society, and visit                     steeple on the roof of the building      g a t i o n   o f   t h e   G r a c e   P R C   i n
the elderly.                                           was completed in early July.             Standale, MI met to approve the
        Hudsonville met again in late                      Pastor-elect Nathan Brummel          purchase of property for a future
July to consider five different pro-                   and his wife, Paula, planned on          building site. Though the property
posals, the most interesting of                        moving from Michigan to Dyer, In-        was purchased, those plans for a
which was a proposal to update                         diana in mid-July, while they await      church home were never realized
their video system. Part of this up-                   the next meeting of  Classis East        because Grace was able to purchase
grade would consist of two new                         early this month to approve his ex-      an existing church and parsonage
digital cameras with remote  con-                      amination and give Cornerstone           from the Grand Valley OCRC. This
                                                       PRC approval to proceed with his         summer Grace was able to sell that
                                                       installation as their first pastor.      property and apply the receipts
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant               Their address is 2258 Sandcastle         from the sale to pay off notes and
Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michi-                 Drive, Dyer, Indiana 46311, and          eliminate their total debt.
gan.

47&%andard   Bearer/September I, 1999


Mission Activities                                    spiritual direction for their future
T                                                                                                     Minister Activities
     he Evangelism Committee of                       existence.
     the First PRC in Grand Rapids,                       Rev. R. Moore and his wife                  Rev. W. Bruinsma declined the
                                                                                                           call he had been considering
MI sponsored a Mission Emphasis                       found a suitable home in the area               from the Loveland, CO PRC.
meeting on July 38. Jack and Judie                    where they  will be laboring. Their                 The council of the Hull, IA PRC
Feenstra, w h o   a r e   g o i n g   t o             mailing  aadress is: Private Mail               presented to their congregation a
Singapore to help in the work,                        Bag  #15,  Madina, Ghana, West Af-              trio of the  ~Revs. B. Gritters, Dale           -
made a presentation about what                        rica.      Phone is 233-21-51-0353.             Kuiper, and K. Koole. In mid-July
that work would involve.                              They began preaching services in                they extended a call to Rev. B.
     Rev. J. Mahtani, our mission-                    their home in mid-July with four                Gritters.
ary in Pittsburgh, was able to ex-                    people in attendance. At the Bible
change pulpits recently with Rev.                     Study on the following Tuesday,
M.  VanderWal,  pastor of the Cov-                    two additional people attended.                           Good-for Thought
enant PRC in Wyckoff, N.J. Rev.                       Now that they are almost fully
Mahtani also spent a weekend in                       settled in their  house,- they antici-               "Understanding is the reward
e a r l y   A u g u s t   p r e a c h i n g   i n     pate more time to contact others                of faith. Therefore seek not to un-
Fayetteville, NC for a group of Re-                   they met on former trips. Continue              derstand that `thou mayest believe,
formed believers, the Fayetteville                    to pray for the Moores, and all our             but believe that thou mayest un-
Reformed Fellowship, who have                         other missionaries, and take                    derstand."
                                                                                              time
requested our help as they seek                       to write them a note of encourage-                                 - St. Augustine Cl
                                                      ment.




                                                                 TEACHERNEEDED
                                                          Hope Protestant Reformed                            MINISTER EMERITUS
                                                      Christian School is in need of a
     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                              Protestant Reformed music/band                          Rev. GISE J. VAN BAREN
     On September 18, 1999, our                       instructor for the 2000-2001 school             will become an emeritus minister, the Lord
parents and grandparents,                             year. For information, please di-               willing, September 1, 1999.
     LEON and  VlCKl GRIESS,                          rect inquiries to Mike Lotterman,                    The Loveland consistory and congre-
will celebrate their  30th wedding an-                1382 Su-Lew, Walker, Michigan                   gation are thankful to our covenant God
niversary. We thank our parents                       49544 (616) 453-4106  or the ad-                for His sustaining mercies in providing the
for their many years of godly in-                     ministrator, Ron Koole, (616) 453-              Protestant Reformed Churches with the
struction, and pray that our heav-                    9717.                                           faithful preaching and ministry of Rev.
enly Father will continue to uphold                                                                   VanBaren. He has served our churches
them and bless them in the remain-                      REMINDER TO PARENTS OF                        for forty-three years and has been the be-
der of their pilgrimage here on earth                           COLLEGE STUDENTS                      loved pastor of the Loveland church for
as husband and wife. "Blessed is                          If your young adult is going to             the last five years.
every one that feareth the Lord; that                 be away from home while attend-                      Our prayer is that the Lord will con-
walketh in his ways" (Psalm  128:l).                  ing college, please inform the  Stan-           tinue to bless and be with Rev. VanBaren
%& Shon and Brenda Griess                             dard Bearer Business Office of the              and his wife Clara as they return to the
        Jesse and  Amber                              address to which we can send the                Hudsonville congregation.
& Julie Wilkerson                                     copies of the  SB.                                   The Loveland congregation is plan-
        Brianna                                                                                       ning to have a farewell program the
I% David and  Christi  Stains                                          NOTICE!!                       evening of August 27, 1999.
        Bradi, Brittany, and Samantha                          Men's and Ladies' League                    "For we preach not ourselves, but
I% Craig and Tiffany Poortinga                                   September 21, 1999                   Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your
        Alexis                                                           8  P.M.                      servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who
$3 2  in glory                                          First PRC of Holland, Michigan                commanded the light to shine in the dark-
                                                                       Speaker:                       ness, hath shined in our hearts, to give
                                Loveland, Colorado
                                                                Rev. Audred Spriensma                 the light of the knowledge of the glory of
                                                                         Topic:                       God in the face of Jesus Christ" (II
                                                               "The  Zeal for Bible Study"            Corinthians 45, 6).
                                                                        Offering:                                             Larry Nelson, Clerk
                                                          Rev. Moore's work in Ghana

                                                                                                          September  I,  1999,6tandard  Bearer/479


        Fe
Standard
  Scarer                                                                                           PERloDICAL
                                                                                                   Postage Paid at
   P.O. Box 603                                                                                    Grandville,
  Grandville, MI 49468-0603                                                                        Michigan


              RESOLUTION                                                    The  75th Anniversary Committee is
           OF SYMPATHY                                                  pleased to announce the progress being
        The congregation and                                            made on the upcoming 75th Anniversary Cel-
consistory of the Loveland PRC                                          ebration. The  75th Anniversary is scheduled
extends its sympathy to Mr.                                             for June  19-23,200O  and is going to be held
John Heys and his wife and                                              on the campus of Calvin College in Grand
family in the recent death of his                                       Rapids, Michigan.
sister,                                    CHURCHES                         The celebration is being set up with
  MRS. JOYCE NIEMEYER.                                                  many spiritual activities. The children will
May God grant grace and                                                 start their day at breakfast with their fami-
strength to sustain them in this         lies and then off to Children's Bible School. This includes singing, sto-
time of grief. May their assur-          ries, and interactive discussion and crafts. The adults will meet after
ance be that all these things            breakfast and have discussions and  sectionals which will include infor-
work together for good to them           mation regarding various missionary fields and activities of the Protes-
that love God (Rom. 8:28).               tant Reformed Churches. The theme for the Celebration will be Living
            Mr. Larry Nelson, Clerk      Ouf  of  Otrr Heritage, based on Psalm  16:5, 6. The evening meetings will
                                         begin on Tuesday, with Rev. Jason Kortering speaking on "A Beautiful
               NOTICE!!!                 Heritage" and continue on Wednesday evening with Prof. David Engelsma
        The Annual RFPA Meeting          speaking on "A Present Necessity." The final message will be delivered
will be held in Hope PRC                 by Rev. Carl Haak on Thursday evening and will be on "A Sure Light for
(Walker) on September 30 at 8            the Future."
P.M.       Rev. W. Bruinsma will             Along with the spiritual activities there will be many recreational
speak. Also, election of new             activities. The activities for the adults on the field day will include orga-
board members will be held               nized competition in 16" coed softball and coed volleyball. For the chil-
from a nomination of Cal                 dren there will also be monitored events, such as soccer and relay races.
Kalsbeek, John Kalsbeek, Jr.,            Besides the monitored events there are many unstructured events which
David Kamps, Joel Minderhoud,            will include horseshoes, frisbee golf, closest to the pin, crazy putting, and
Jon Rutgers, Tom  Schipper,              many more.
Gord Terpstra, Matt Van                      The Family Fun Day will include fun activities like: Moonwalk, Kids
Overloop. Members and non-               Inflatable Maze, Kids Caterpillar, Bungee Run, Giant Slide, a Rock Climb-
members, young and old, men              ing Wall, and many other activities. The pool will be open every after-
and women are invited to at-             noon for your family's enjoyment. Some  of the leisure activities will
tend this meeting.                       include a Church Tour of Historical Buildings, an Organ Recital, contrib-
                                         uting and helping with items to send to Myanmar, story time, nature
               SEMINARY                  walks, trips to the local museums  (VanAndel  and Gerald R. Ford), a trip
           CONVOCATION                   to Frederik Meijer Gardens, golf, and time enjoying company of new
        The PR Seminary will hold        friends.
its Convocation on September                 One of the best benefits of the celebration may be the good Christian
7 at  7:30  P.M.  in Southwest           fellowship that will be enjoyed with believers from throughout God's
PRC. Prof. H. Hanko will give            creation, including, the Lord willing, from Singapore, Australia, and other
the address. Please mark your            parts of the world. We hope that the 120-page book of the Protestant
calenders and plan to attend.            Reformed Churches and video of the week will capture the wonderful
                                         experience of the Celebration, but being a part of the event will be the
                                         experience that individuals will talk about for years to come.
                                             The Celebration is set up to have something for everyone. That is
                                         why we recommend setting this week aside with your family and taking
                                         the opportunity to grow spiritually with fellow believers. Through this
                                         we pray that God may strengthen our churches for His work in the future
                                         and that we may truly celebrate,  Living Out of Our Heritage.
                                                                                    The  75th Anniversary Committee
4SOfitandard  Bearer/September 1,1999


