Vol. 81; No. 9; February 1, 2005
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Each issue of the Standard Bearer is available on cassette tape for those who are blind, or who for some other reason would like to be able to listen to a reading of the SB. This is an excellent ministry of the Evangelism Society of the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church. The reader is Ken Rietema of Southeast Church. Anyone desiring this service regularly should write:
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Meditation - Rev. Ronald VanOverloop
Editorial - Prof. Russell Dykstra
All Around Us Rev. Kenneth Koole
Day of Shadows Goerge M. Ophoff
Grace Life: for the Rising Generation -- Rev. Mitchell Dick
All Thy Works Shall Praise Thee Mr. Joel Minderhoud
When Thou Sittest in Thine House Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma
Marking the Bulwarks of Zion Prof. Herman Hanko
Book Reviews:
· Light for the City: Calvins Preaching, Source of Life and
Liberty by Lester DeKoster. Grand
Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004. 139pp. (paper).
$20.00. [Reviewed by Prof. Barrett L.
Gritters.]
· The Pastor
in Prayer, C.H. Spurgeon. Carlisle, PA:
Banner of Truth Trust, 2004 (Based on the second edition, London, 1893). 184 pp. (cloth).
$15.99. [Reviewed by Prof. Barrett L.
Gritters.]
News From Our Churches Mr. Benjamin Wigger
Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church in Byron Center, Michigan.
And
that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our
salvation nearer than when we believed. The
night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness,
and let us put on the armour of light. Let
us walk honestly, as in the day; Romans
13: 11-13a.
The apostle Paul is presenting an argument for a godly walk. He had begun the practical part of
his epistle in chapter 12. Here at the end of
chapter 13 he is, with some urgency, encouraging the newly converted Christians in the
church at Rome to keep the several admonitions he has set before them. The urgency is found in the fact that it is
high time and that now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
The call to walk honestly can be
heard and kept because the saints at Rome know the time. Paul assumes that with conversion comes a
knowledge, and a part of this knowledge is that one is able to know the time. The idea is that believers have a special view of
time, and therefore of history. Those to whom
the Lord has not given faith do not have this knowledge.
For them time is merely a succession of days, weeks, months, and years all
without apparent purpose. But those given
faith are able to know time and history.
They know that history is
Gods story of His work of saving unto Himself a people in Christ; and they know that
all those who are not saved, and all the rest of creation, serve this central purpose. Believers know that history is determined by the
sovereign counsel of God, according to which all things are worked (Eph. 1:11) and
according to which every detail in the life of every believer is guided (Ps. 73:24). Believers know that time is progressing to an end
already determined by our sovereign God (Is. 46:10; Acts 15:18). Believers see Jesus Christ at the very center of
history and of time. There is the time before
He came. Then there is the time He came. And finally there is the time He is coming back. We are living in the time when He is coming back,
the time between His first coming and His return. When
Jesus comes again, then time will be no more. This
means that our time is the last days (II Tim. 3:1; Heb. 1:2), the last
time (I John 2:18), when the ends of the world are come (I Cor. 10:11). New dispensational believers know that they are
living in the last period of earthly history.
These believers also know that
the time in which they are living is characterized by night and
darkness. While those without the
gift of faith may speak of the age of enlightenment and of advances in enlightenment,
believers know that the world of this time is in darkness (John 3:19; 8:12; Col. 3:13; I
John 2:8,9). This darkness is that of
spiritual ignorance, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the
life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their
heart (Eph. 4:18). They are in the dark
concerning God and concerning all human life and its purpose. Jesus declared, The light of the body is
the eye: ... if thine eye be evil, thy whole
body shall be full of darkness. If therefore
the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matt. 6:22,23). This present world is dark because it is under the
wrath of God, becoming increasingly ripe for judgment.
Believers know that the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean is a precursor of the
final judgment of God.
Paul is teaching that this
knowledge of time ought to inspire Christians to godliness.
When believers are given to know the time, then they are not in
darkness, but are the children of light, and the children of the day (I
Thess. 5:4,5). This makes us spiritual
strangers and pilgrims in a dark world, but we are on the way to an eternity of light. We have been called out of darkness and have been
brought into Gods marvelous light (I Pet. 2:9).
We are followers of Him who is the light of the world (John 8:12). Our conversation is in heaven; from whence
also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:20).
Even though it is still night,
we are to walk honestly, as in the day. The
word honestly means in a seemly or appropriate manner. Those given faith are in the day, so their walk
should be as in the day. It would
be dishonest or inappropriate for them to walk as in the night. That is why the newly converted Christians in
Ephesus were admonished not to walk anymore as the other Gentiles walked (Eph. 4:17). It would be very inconsistent for those who
profess to be in the day to continue living and behaving as if they were in the night. Walk honestly.
And believers know that
now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. This reference to salvation obviously refers to
complete and final salvation with glorification (confer 8:18-23; I Pet. 1:9). Salvation in this sense will be realized when
Jesus comes again. He will bring
glorification for His people. This is nearer
than when we first believed. God frequently
admonishes His people to live their lives accordingly. We do not know how much more time
we have. But we do know that the end is
nearer than when we first believed. So
seek those things which are above, set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth, mortify therefore your members which are on the
earth (Col. 3:1-5). Give
diligence to make your calling and election sure: ...
for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Seeing
ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot,
and blameless (II Pet. 1:10,11; 3:14). Every
man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure (I John 3:3).
How dishonest for us to walk as
if we are still in darkness. Christ did not
come so we could live in sin! If we say that
we are Christians, but we continue to live in darkness, we are liars (I John 1: 5,6).
Instead, we are called to
realize that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. High time means that we are in an hour
when we should be awake and no longer asleep! Sleep
is a figure of speech. It refers to a
condition of spiritual lethargy. The five
foolish virgins were sleepy, that is, they were careless, lacking watchfulness and
preparation (Matt. 25:1-13). There is an
ever-present danger for Christians, especially for those who have been raised all their
life in the sphere of the church. This
serious danger is that they take their faith for granted that they are not
constantly diligent in watching and praying. Peter speaks often of giving diligence. It is so easy to drift along, being influenced,
rather than being an influence.
Because our salvation is nearer
than when we believed, the believer must constantly rouse himself. He must shake himself out of the condition of
sleepiness and lethargy. One who is given
faith must exercise this faith, examining himself whether he is being governed by
Gods Word. We are wise to realize the
terrible danger of assuming that we are all right simply because we are members of the
church. We must spur ourselves on, to have
our lives regulated by our faith.
This rousing of ourselves so
that we awake out of sleep is accomplished in the way of our casting off the works
of darkness and putting on the armour of light. This casting off and putting on are actions that
are to be done repeatedly.
The figure is that of clothing. When one casts off some clothing, then he puts on
others. The works of darkness are not merely
to be taken off, but they must be cast off.
Pull them off yourselves, and do so quickly.
Take them off completely, not partially. And once they are off, cast them as far
from you as possible.
These works of darkness are not
on us simply because we are in the dark world. No,
they come on us from the inside. They are a
part of our human nature natural to us. It
is like a layer of skin that develops on us, and we must actively scrape it off and get
rid of it as quickly and as completely as we possibly can.
The apostle lists three groups of the works of darkness in verse 13: rioting and drunkenness,
chambering and wantonness, strife and envying. The previous lifestyle of these newly converted
Christians in Rome had not been good. And it
was hard for them to break from the habits of this lifestyle. Thanks be to God alone, this lifestyle was not
that in which most of us were raised. Nevertheless,
these works of darkness are not completely foreign to us.
On the contrary, they are natural to us. Rioting
and drunkenness refers to partying to excess, either with alcohol or with drugs, so
that we do things we would never do in our right mind. And chambering and wantonness refers
to sexual promiscuity and unbridled lust, which result in filthy words and stories,
indecent body movements and dress and unchaste actions.
We must not stick our heads in the sand and say that these works of darkness are
out there in the world of darkness or done only by the young people. Such is most definitely not the case!!
The third group of the works of
darkness that are to be cast off is strife and envying. This refers to fighting and quarreling, usually
because we are sure that we are right (the stronger, cf. the first verses of
the next two chapters). Envying
refers to backbiting, jealousies, lying one to another.
Notice that here, as well as elsewhere in Scripture, this category of the works of
darkness is made equal to drunkenness and sexual promiscuity. Those who would consider the first groups of sins
to be utterly repulsive often jump at opportunities to gossip and criticize, causing
strife in the home and/or church. But the
same spirit gives rise to all of these works of darkness.
And anyone who will look at the church in her history will conclude that more and
greater harm is done to the church and to the cause of Christ by strife and envy than by
drunkenness and sexual promiscuity! These
works of darkness are to be cast off!
And we are to put on the
armour of light. In heaven we will have
the robes of righteousness. But as long as we
who are in the day walk in the night, we must wear armor.
This is the primarily defensive protection of the gospel. Jesus, who is the light of the world, gives us in
His salvation the perfect helmet, in His righteousness a great breastplate, in His truth a
wonderful girdle, in His gospel of peace the best sandals, in the gift of faith the
perfect shield, and in His Word the right sword. As
believers we are soldiers in a tremendous battle. Life
for us is constant warfare, and we must seek always to fight the good fight of faith.
Know the time and know that you
are of the day. It is still night
though it is far spent and salvation is near. Until
the day is realized, let us rouse ourselves by casting off every sin that besets us and by
putting on the knowledge of the finished work of Jesus Christ. He is our strength!
Let us know that when, at any moment, we are not rousing ourselves unto watching
and prayer, the works of darkness are attaching themselves to us. Let us give all diligence to do everything we can
to keep ourselves spiritually alert and not take our spiritual life for granted. Let us walk honestly.
In western society, if not in the world, drama is king of entertainment. In the U.S. and Canada, 99% of the homes with
electricity have at least one television. Moviegoers
in the U.S. spent 9.4 billion dollars at the box office in 2004 (and that does not include
renting or purchasing these movies!). In
England, movies took in over eight hundred million pounds in the last year.
Drama is so appealing to us
sinful people because it is fashioned after the depraved mind. Whatever is the fancy of the crowd, the moviemaker
will produce it (and brazenly claim it is for cultures sake!). The depravity of man manifests itself in a
multitude of vices, and the movies can satisfy virtually all. For the violence-loving man, there are war or
gangster movies awash with blood. The movie
industry satisfies the really hardcore blood-and-guts fan with such trash as a chainsaw
wielding crazy chopping up bodies. For the
wife secretly seeking a romantic escape from her plain marriage, romances may
satisfy, for a while. One inclined to sexual
desire can choose from a smorgasbord of movies with sexual content, from the merely
suggestive to the downright perverted. If
ones chief god is mammon, he can easily find movies to tickle his fancy with huge
displays of wealth. And the movies about
sports or speedy cars, or depicting death-defying stunts, satisfy the desire for thrills
in still others.
The question is, how ought the
believer respond to this proffered entertainment? Acceptance
is definitely the easier way. If he accepts
the delightfully entertaining medium, the theological justification is
prepared for him in advance. On the one hand,
negatively, to reject all drama is Anabaptist, i.e., legalism and world flight, he will be
assured. It harks back to the asceticism that
led to constructing monasteries. We are,
after all, called to live in the world. Positively,
the justification is common grace, as has been noted previously. The way is open to enjoy drama, though the more
cautious may urge discrimination at least in how you watch it.
And if the believer is yet
unconvinced that he may rightly partake of the worlds sinful drama, there is
this last ace-in-the-hole, namely, Make your own drama. Redeem the movie.
Take it over for Christ and His kingdom. Produce
drama that is God-glorifying, where sin, though portrayed, is not made glamorous, and
where the cause of right always triumphs over the cause of evil.
The theological
arguments are well established and almost universally approved, if a little faulty. The Christian who enjoys drama will have all the
support in the world. His neighbors will
approve. The church will probably endorse it. Even his ministers sermon illustrations will
be recognizable, drawn from the movies of the day. And
his own sinful flesh will feast on the depravity on display.
But will the movie-going
Christian have Gods approval? And
will He be convinced by the theological arguments? That, in the end, is all that matters. Will the holy God of heaven and earth, too pure of
eyes to behold iniquity (Hab. 1:13), sanction His children feasting their eyes and filling
their souls with sins acted out? The believer
knows better.
The only God-approved choice is
a rejection of drama, this acting out the lives of others with all the sins that
necessarily accompany life in this sin-cursed world.
The sanctified antithetical life demands that drama be rejected. The antithesis is the line that separates the holy
from the profane. It separates all that is of
God from all that opposes Him.
Living the antithesis is, first
and foremost, positive. It is living in a
covenant relationship with Jehovah God. His
redeemed, adopted children live for God. He
is their joy. In His favor is life. Gratitude draws the Christian to seek Gods
face and to live in obedience.
However, there is a negative
side to the antithesis. The child of God
rejects all that is opposed to his God. He
becomes the enemy of those who show themselves Gods enemies. Knowing the truth of
James 4:4, that whosoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God,
he does not invite ungodly actors into his home via the television set. Nor does he visit in their parlor, the theater. Conscious of Gods command to be holy as He
is holy (I Pet. 1:15, 16), the believer refuses to be entertained with an unholy pastime.
That is the answer to the
problem of drama.
No doubt it is a problem. Drama is a captivating and addicting form of
entertainment. It has almost universal approval. Besides,
who can escape it? The televised variety
invades restaurants, airports, waiting rooms everywhere, and
the homes of most
Christians.
The problem is not solved by a
church deciding that drama is legitimate culture, and exhorting her members to judge
between good movies and bad. Some would urge
the PRC to follow the path of the Reformed Church and the Christian Reformed Church. They resisted the lure of drama for a while, but
capitulated to the pressure of the members who were going to the movies no matter how
vehemently the church papers inveighed against them.
The correct solution for the
PRC, and for any godly church and family, is not to cave in under pressure. On the other hand, it is not right either to
condemn movies (officially or unofficially), and still imbibe the godless entertainment
week after week. That is a glaring
inconsistency, if not hypocrisy. Likewise is
it incongruous for a preacher to condemn the Three Points of common grace but ignore the
evidence that members of the flock tread the common-grace path to the theater regularly.
The Reformed minister is called
to preach the antithesis. God commands every
preacher of the gospel Preach the word,
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all
long-suffering and doctrine (I Tim. 4:2). Such
preaching lays the solid foundation of Reformed doctrine squarely upon Christ crucified
and risen. It then applies that doctrine to
the lives of Gods people.
The most serious danger for the
Protestant Reformed Churches (and others who with us reject common grace) is not that we
be labeled hypocritical as injurious as inconsistency is to our witness. The greater danger is that while we condemn common
grace at the front door, we allow it to slip quietly in the back door to guide our
thinking and everyday life. For common grace
is powerful and pervasive! It will not rest
until it has perverted all areas of doctrine and life!
Might the practical outworking
of common grace sap the churchs strength and destroy her will to fight the battle
for sovereign, particular grace? Obvious
inconsistencies between walk and doctrine will reduce preacher and member alike who
once faithfully decried common grace and its bitter fruits to an embarrassed
silence. That is serious, for the truth must
be proclaimed over against the lie.
There is more. A serious conflict between doctrine and walk
cannot continue indefinitely. A mans
walk flows out of his doctrine, out of what he believes.
There must be harmony between faith and life.
However, if the walk contradicts what is confessed, something has to give. And it will.
Let the ministers be aware of
this great evil that threatens the spiritual lives of the sheep. Pointed instruction and admonition is the need of
the hour. By means of sharp admonitions,
such as I heard in the preaching in my youth, God confers grace to repent and walk in
obedience by the power of the cross (Canons III, IV, 17).
Not that television and movies
ought to become the preachers weekly or monthly hobbyhorse. But if he will not preach against drama in a right
and forceful manner, then the antithetical life required in entertainment will be
seriously compromised. Look at the sad
spectacle utterly sad of churches that years ago stopped preaching proper
Sabbath observance. Look at the congregations
and families in the denominations where the instruction and admonition about marriage for
life has not been heard for years. This lack
in the preaching is devastating. The
antithesis must be preached if it is to be lived.
Still more is required. Elders are duty bound to bring the word to bear on
family visits. Knowing the powerful threat
that drama poses to the Reformed home, surely elders will inquire into the use of the TV
and VCR player if these are present in the home. Surely
they will ask the youth what they do for entertainment, give pointed instruction, and,
where needed, rebuke.
It also behooves parents to take
a close look at the entertainment they themselves enjoy, and what they allow in the lives
of their covenant children. How quickly it
can become habit, unthinking, easy habit, to click on the TV. Weekly, nightly perhaps, the drama pours into the
living room like so much spiritual garbage. With
regular partaking, the family become hardened, not noticing the gradual spiritual decline.
Movies. They are not a difficult question really. May I go to the movie? Ought we to watch this TV show? When examined in the light of Gods Word, the
answer is obvious.
Yet the doing is hard,
for the appeal is powerful. For this reason
the believer seeks daily help to battle the old man of sin.
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? we cry with Paul
(Rom. 8:24).
Then we add with him, I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord (v. 25).
For the forgiveness of sins in His blood. For
the power of the cross. For deliverance.
Rev. Koole is pastor of
Grandville Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan
The recent national election (US) prompted quite a stir among those who backed the losing
candidate and his cause, too much of one to be ignored completely in the Standard
Bearer. I have an idea that victory by the
other candidate and his party would have triggered more of a reaction in our
circles and been the occasion for more analysis concerning what it portended for the
immediate future. Be that as it may, we do
not want to pass by the outcome in silence. Much
was at stake. We realized that. Those on the other side of the fence did too.
As an aside, I realize that that
last sentence you just read assumes something, namely, that I have put the SB and
Protestant Reformed members on the Republican side of the fence in this recent election. Not necessarily in every election past or future,
but in this election.
As Protestant Reformed, we are
not party dedicated. We are not
GOP by allegiance. But I will go on record as
maintaining that no Christian in good conscience should have voted for Senator Kerry and
his cronies. Anyone who supports abortion,
would appoint judges who are pro-abortion (read - pro-murder of the unborn),
would veto legislation forbidding it, and would support homosexual unions and marriages,
ought not be in office. And if such a one is
in office, it ought not be because the righteous helped vote him in. Such a one is openly an enemy of God and all
righteousness. Such a one must not hold rule
due to our support and approval. Submit to
such a one someday we will have to (and by that time he may be the Republican candidate),
but not because we have knowingly helped put such Nero-like rulers into office.
I do not say Christians should
have voted for President Bush. Who says one
has to vote at all? But not for men like
Senator Kerry, men without a moral compass. It
is one thing to be numbered among the unbelieving and unrighteous. It is another thing to be
anti-Christian and anti-biblical by conviction and record (as an
increasing number in the Democratic party are these days).
But I digressed there was
much at stake in this election. Not only we
knew it, so did those on the other side of the political fence. Witness the reaction of one Wendy Smith to the
election results, written in a column in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Nov. 8
issue). It came under the interesting title
Can We Save This Country From Its Leaders?
When
I woke up on Nov. 3 and switched on the radio, the realization hit me like a ton of
bricks. Contrary to my predictions, we had
had a relatively fair election and the American people (or something over half of them)
had democratically voted for an extremist Christian regime.
Note the description of our
present administration. A regime
is bad enough, and an extremist one at that; but, more to the point, an extremist
Christian regime. Christianity
(that is, any form of it that actually has the courage to call certain abominations sinful
and immoral) by definition is numbered with the extremist, the talibans of
this world. It is a cancer and a threat to
all. They want to excise such
Christianity, dont think they dont.
But if the Bush administration
is numbered with extremist Christianity, where do you think thorough going Calvinism
stands!
Ms. Smith goes on. Listen to her rant.
I had the radio tuned
to NPR [National Public Radio kk].... [A]
woman from Pennsylvania
stated that she simply couldnt understand people who
had voted for Bush. These people want to control what happens in my bedroom, in my
body, but they are A-OK with us having killed 100,000 Iraqis, and mounting. I just dont get them.
That was when the
bricks hit. I felt lost. I knew what I was planning to do in case of a
stolen election (civil disobedience in the service of saving our democracy) [sic!
kk]. I knew what I was going to do if Kerry
won.... But I had no idea what to do now.
For months, Kerry has
been conspicuously going to church all over the country and shooting ducks and geese like
crazy in between all in an effort to convince the people in the red states that he
gets them.
It was all in vain. No amount of avian carcasses would have helped.
Half the people in
this country believe in a god [sic!] who forbids stem cell research but seems to have
forgotten his own First Commandment.
In the
other America, we believe that killing all those Iraqis (not to mention
Afghanis and indirectly, Palestinians) is not only wrong, but also terribly hazardous to
our own security. We have different
moral values. And we dont
give a ***** [vulgarity kk] what other people do in their bedrooms.
But we, my friends,
are not in the majority.
We in that other
America had better learn to speak our own morality, which is a humanistic one, in an
emotionally convincing fashion. More
important, though, we had better take a good hard look at what is happening in the
Christian extremist America, dissect it, and try to understand it from the inside out.
I say [this] because
we had better get a grip on what we are facing, in order to figure out how to save our
country (and the poor, suffering rest of the world) from the crusade on which America is
embarked.
The above is a representative,
post-election reaction by supporters of liberal candidates.
Of interest, #1, is reference to
our own morality, which is a humanistic one....
This simply acknowledges that, As for Gods divine laws, which define
true morality, we hate them.
And #2, the above piece
identifies Christianity as the primary reason for the Republican victory and the hated
President Bushs reelection. It is a
call for people in places of influence and power to focus attention on Christianity, to
identify it as the threat to world peace and safety, to say nothing of national
prestige and security, and to do whatever is necessary to see to it that this Christianity
is silenced and removed from having a say-so again. The
stark enmity is palpable.
When those with Ms. Smiths
perspective get (back) in power, speakers of biblical truth watch out. The end of our freedom to speak and preach and
teach will not be far off.
And that is really what was at
stake in this recent election the present retention of our freedom of speech, the
right to express biblical convictions concerning immorality and sin. Those of the Blue crowd who prate so
much about tolerance, are and will prove, when power is theirs, to be the most
intolerant people imaginable Their vitriolic
reaction to the outcome of this recent election proves it over and over again.
Meantime, we as believers
realize that this past election is not a victory for righteousness (while laws that remove every mention of God from
the public square are the accepted rule of the day?), but a temporary
reprieve. We and others may still speak our
minds. Meantime, the assault on
righteousness, with legal backing, continues on every side.
The recently elected
administration is not our savior. It is
however a temporary restraint placed by Gods good providence upon our present wicked
society for the churchs sake.
For this present reprieve, we
are thankful to God.
I must admit that when I hear
the liberals rant over the past election results I have a hard time not thumbing my nose
at them, like Luther mocking the devil. But
that must not be. What we are involved in is
no game. It is mortal combat.
The
lengthy quotation that follows (lifted from an article by Chuck Colson, entitled
From a Slippery Slope to an Avalanche Euthanizing Children) is familiar
to many of our readers, I realize. It has
made the rounds in the Grand Rapids area. Regardless,
I feel compelled to quote it anyway. What
Colson reports and comments on is another proof positive that for all the liberals
talk about having a morality too, be it a humanistic one, what they espouse is, in very
fact, a diabolical one.
Liberals look at Christians and conservatives, and profess they do not
understand what we are afraid of. They cannot
understand why we will not vote for their peace-loving candidates, so filled with
compassion for the underprivileged and those out of a job.
Theirs are the candidates filled with compassion for the diseased and interested in
the health of future mankind. Thats why
they are interested in funding and promoting stem-cell research. It all has to do with love.
Though they may support abortion
on demand, they are really harmless, truly compassionate human beings. Dont you see that? There is no slippery slope. You have nothing to fear.
Nothing to fear? Read on. What
we have to fear, once those without principles are the law of the land, is
frighteningly, gruesomely plain.
For all the horror stories weve heard about
euthanasia in recent years, there are still many people who think of it as mercy
killing. Those people need to take a
long, hard look at whats happening in the Netherlands right now. Its very difficult to find anything
merciful about what Dutch doctors are doing to children and infants.
According to Wesley J. Smith in the Daily
Standard, Groningen University Hospital in the Netherlands now officially allows doctors
to euthanize children under twelve, if the doctors believe their suffering is
intolerable or if they have an incurable illness.
That includes non-fatal illnesses and disabilities.
Whether or not the child can consent is irrelevant what child under twelve
would have a clear idea of what he or she was consenting to?
As Smith writes, For anyone paying attention
to the continuing collapse of medical ethics in the Netherlands, this isnt at all
shocking
. Doctors were [already]
killing approximately 8 percent of all infants who died each year in the Netherlands. That amounts to approximately eighty to ninety per
year.... The study found that a shocking 45
percent of neo-natologists and 31 percent of pediatricians who responded to questionnaires
had killed infants. Smith adds that at
least a fifth of the killings were performed without parental consent. [sic! kk]
Remember those gruesome statistics the next time
someone tries to tell you that euthanasia doesnt hurt anyone, that its just a
way of helping people die with dignity. That
argument is flawed in itself because killing destroys a human life created in Gods
image. No matter how humanitarian
the reason, killing is by definition harmful....
Wesley Smith puts it this way: Why does accepting euthanasia as a remedy
for suffering in very limited circumstances inevitably lead to never-ending expansion of
the killing license? Blame the radically
altered mindset that results when killing is redefined from a moral wrong into a
beneficent and legal act. If killing is right
for, say, the adult cancer patient, why shouldnt it be just as right for the
disabled quadriplegic, the suicidal mother whose children have been killed in an accident,
or the infant born with profound mental retardation?
There can be little doubt anymore that the
slippery slope of euthanasia has turned into an avalanche. As Ive said before, once this kind of
attitude starts to spread, as it did in Germany in the 1930s, to the worlds
horror, and as it is spreading in America as well as Europe today no one is truly
safe. It can be only a matter of time before
lawmakers and doctors determine that none of us needs to have any say in whether we or our
loved ones live or die.
That what Colson reports on is
happening in the Netherlands, what we of Dutch descent once called the mother
country, makes it all the more shocking and evil. The
Dutch pride themselves in being the most civilized and tolerant of nations. They have deliberately legalized every evil in the
name of broad-mindedness. Permit it, let it
go, it will do no harm.
No harm? What you have just read above is where this
promoting of immorality in the name of toleration leads, namely, those in places of
authority killing, without a qualm, in the name of mercy.
Going about it like robots, like cold-blooded serpents, with scarcely a blink. This is the end of the liberal road a
conscience seared and gone. Cold-blooded
killers, but by their own definition and propaganda, the very lovers of humanity and
angels of mercy. What does the apostle Paul
say in II Corinthians 11:14? Look it up. But Satan remains the angel of darkness for all
that.
This is all part of the agenda
of the liberal university instructors and their political protégés. And they wonder why we live in mortal dread of
their mercies and being the law of the land!
George Ophoff was Professor of Old Testament Studies in the Protestant Reformed Seminary in its early days. Reprinted here, in edited form, are articles that Ophoff wrote at that time for the Standard Bearer.
Previous article in this series: January 15, 2005.
One
of the institutions of Paradise, so it was pointed out, was the tree of life. This tree was good for food, and it nourished
mans frame at its fountainhead. It was
capable of maintaining in man the powers of an endless life. However, man soon forfeited his privilege of
eating of the fruit of this tree. He did so
when he ate of the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, whereupon
disobedient man was expelled from the garden of Eden.
And the way of the tree of life was kept by the cherubim with the flaming sword,
which turned every way. But there was also
the promise of a seed that would gain the ascendancy over the malice of the devil. It was declared to fallen man that life eternal
would again be his portion. But he was made
to look for the promised good from new quarters, for the way of the tree was kept. Thus the tree of life became the symbol of grace
and the schoolmaster training the believers to Christ.
These are the matters upon which we dwelt in our previous essay.
With respect to the tree of
life, there are still other matters to which we should attend. We will now retrace our steps and inquire into the
full meaning of this tree, and attempt to lay hold on its significance in its relation to
man, both as an inhabitant of the garden and as an exile from it.
Life-giving
properties
The garden of Eden was a garden
of life. Everything radiated vitality. Every tree there was laden with food. The productions of the garden were nourished by
streams of water flowing through it and keeping it in perpetual healthfulness. Numerous animals roamed amidst its bowers.
Eden was the garden of a life of
delight. The glories of God were upon every
creature. And there was peace. The wolf and the lamb dwelt together, and the
leopard lay down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together. The inhabitants of the garden were not made to
tremble by the voice of God thundering marvelously. Instead,
there was the cool of the day in which the voice of God walked in the garden. To live there was a joy.
Also the tree of life, which
stood in the midst of the garden, was a tree of life, and that in a very unique
sense. It did what no other tree could do: it nourished mans frame in such a way as to
maintain in him the powers of an endless life. Its
fruit was very invigorating. It nourished and
stimulated man and gladdened his heart as no other tree did.
The tree of life was a life
source. To be sure, its life-giving
properties had been created and were being maintained by God, who is the ultimate fountain
of all life. Yet, in a creaturely sense, this
tree was a life source. There are, among
things creatural, fountains. Scripture even
compares regenerated man to a fountain of living water.
Said Jesus to the woman of Samaria: But
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water
that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting
life (John 4:14). So this tree. It was a life source, and as such served as a
sign or symbol of God, the ultimate source of all life the Lord God, by whose word
man liveth. This tree was eminently capable
of rendering this service, since it maintained in man his powers perpetually.
This tree, then, as do all
things creatural, showed man knowledge of God and uttered speech day by day. And the speech that it uttered was that God is
the true bread of life. For this reason the
trees of life constituted the inner sanctuary of the garden, which means that they were
very closely associated with God. In this
grove it was, that He communicated with man. To
dwell in the grove of the trees of life meant to dwell before Gods face. To eat of these trees was expressive of the desire
to be nourished by Him.
The tree of life, then, was a
symbol of God. All things creatural are that,
in a greater or lesser degree, for the reason that upon every creature God impressed
something of His own image. Thereupon the
poet could sing, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his
handiwork. So the tree of life. It was made to appear for the purpose of
exhibiting unto man that he lives by the word that proceeds out of the mouth of the
Almighty.
Yet it would lead to confusion
to apply the term sacrament to this particular tree, for the word sacrament is used to
signify those signs the institution of which was necessitated by sin.
Mans
awareness of the
We may be sure that Adam, in the
state of righteousness, understood the speech of creation, and in particular the speech of
the tree. To maintain the contrary is equal
to maintaining that holy man regarded the tree as an independent source of life and,
hence, as a second God. In that case Adam
would have been an idolater. But idolatry and
sinlessness of life and conduct do not go well together.
We conclude that the ears of holy man were attuned to the speech of the tree of
life.
But what was there that
compelled man to conclude that the tree of life was but a channel or vehicle of power and
vitality and that the ultimate fountain of life was God?
The knowledge that this tree, as well as every other tree of the garden, was a
creation of the Almighty, and that the ultimate source of power is God. The tree pointed to its Maker, as all things
creatural do, and aided man in contemplating God as the true bread of life.
Further, this sign was
accompanied by the spoken word. There was
that other tree the tree of knowledge of good and evil, concerning which the Lord
God had said, The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Hence, eating from the tree of life, man lived. Yielding to the temptation of eating from this
other tree, man died. Add to this that man
was aware of the fact that these two trees were the handiwork of the Almighty. Armed with this knowledge, he could not escape the
conviction that, of life, Gods will is the creative cause, and, of death, the
necessary cause. Having been brought
in contact with the two trees and having heard God speak, man knew now that he lived by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Not
by bread alone
Let us attend to this last
assertion. It is found in Deuteronomy 8:3
and reads, And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with
manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know
that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of the Lord doth man live. This
utterance of God, and the event that it signifies, is a divine protest. All the thoughts of the wicked are that there is
no God. He refuses to admit that God is the
efficient cause of the appearance, existence, and subsistence of things creatural, and in
particular of the bread that he eats. In
other words, depraved man declines to acknowledge that every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights. Bread, the wicked substitutes for God and worships
as God.
To counteract this lie, the Lord
God fed His people, while they were in the desert, with manna. Its appearance means that God had departed from
His usual way of providing His people with food. For
we do not read that the manna was a product of the soil of the desert. That is to say, all indications that this food was
of the herb yielding seed after its kind are lacking.
It is asserted, on the other hand, that the Lord rained this food from heaven. Then said the Lord God unto Moses, Behold, I
will rain bread from heaven for you (Ex. 16:4).
The rationalist sets aside this
Scripture and insists that this food was a product of the wilderness. He identifies the manna with the sap of the
Tamarisk and other trees, still collected in the desert of Arabia.
He who is bent on honoring the
sacred record will reject this view. The
manna was rained from heaven, and for this reason its appearance could serve to
demonstrate that man lives because God speaks or so wills.
For in providing His people with this food, He did not avail Himself of the
husbandmen among Israel. He did not set them
to work tilling the soil, for there was no soil to be tilled. To the contrary, this food was rained from heaven. It was clearly demonstrated to the people that
bread, this bread, together with its nourishing properties, is a creation of the Almighty.
Having been made to see that
bread is Gods handiwork, the children of Israel knew that if it nourished them, it
did so because God so wills, because the Almighty speaks.
Thus it was exhibited unto them that bread is but a vehicle of strength, a means,
and that the source and sustainer of life is God.
In a word, they were made to see that man lives by every word that proceeds out of
the mouth of God.
This does not mean that God is
not the author of food that is the product of the soil.
For the soil and its tiller, together with rain and sunshine, are His creations as
well. The soil, too, produces only when God
speaks. And that which thou sowest,
thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of
some other grain: but God giveth it a
body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body (I Cor. 15:37, 38).
In fine, depraved man hates God
and sets Him aside, and deifies the means and instruments of God, including himself. The wicked one then says in his heart, My
power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. In respect to the manna, however, there were no
known means to be deified. This corn was made
to rain from heaven. Hence we read, And
he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know(Deut. 8:3).
But Adam, in the state of
righteousness, cannot be charged with the sins described above. He assigned creation, and in particular the tree
of life, to its proper place. He heard its
speech, uttered day by day, and glorified God.
Now the garden of Eden, and in
particular the trees of life, constituted the sanctuary of Paradise. There God dwelt.
Hence, if man would live, he must abide in the garden. He must dwell in the presence of God, for to live
apart from God is death. Man must eat of the
fruit of the garden, and in particular of the fruit of the trees of life. Eating of these trees was at once an act of faith. The act indicated that man recognized and desired
God as the true bread of life. As often as
man entered the garden, so often did he enter the sanctuary of the Lord God, where the
beauties of the Lord were exhibited to him. And,
pressing on to the center of the garden, he stood in the presence of his God. As often as he ate of the fruit of its trees he
said, Thou art my God.
Rev. Dick is pastor
of Grace Protestant Reformed Church in Standale, Michigan
A
little late, I realize, for New Year reflections. Especially for you Grace Life readers who read
this some time in February. By now we might
have broken fifty-three resolutions. And
maybe we are thinking already of spring. Bear
with me
.
Imagine you are with me as I
write this, and it is New Years Eve, and you are not particularly interested that
some ball is going to drop, but you might be a bit concerned that some bomb will soon
drop, and you are looking ahead and wondering if this next year will be more of the same,
and how you will be the same or different, and if this will be the year you meet Mr. or
Miss Right, and your ship will come in
.
Or maybe even, besides thinking
of losing weight, you are thinking of how this year you will lay aside the weight that
does so easily hinder your running a particularly grueling but blessed race
.
Hear now
.
The
News
At the beginning of a new year
we think of things, well, new. New,
first ever, will be January 1, 2005. Every
day this next year as new as a filly, and new sonnets, new joy, new life, new tidal waves,
new sadness, new deaths
.
The prospect of things new is
grist for the grumpy thoughts of the pessimist. Bad
knees this year. Two thousand and five will
be a backache. Tsunami today. Volcano tomorrow.
Right in my back yard.
Optimists, however, relish the
new, and the new year too. Sweetheart shipped
a dozen roses in January 2004. Two thousand
and five my ship will come in. War today. Peace tomorrow.
All over the world.
Believers think of the new in
light of Gods Word. The result is an
outlook surely not sourly pessimistic, nor pie-in-the sky-optimistic. Could it be something like optipessimism? Call it realism.
For, on the one hand, Scripture
itself speaks of hopeless and ugly thingsall sorts of them. Things which have always been. Things which are.
And things which, no doubt, will dance disgracefully into this new year, and leave
a peculiar odor of hellfire in whatever theatre, museum, laboratory, university, or church
they wiggle and jiggle and giggle and finagle.
For the Bible speaks of sin. It speaks of a whole world that lies in
wickedness. Yes, it really does! And
therefore vanity of vanities, all is vanity, says the Book.
And earthlings building towers making a name for themselves. And Athenians spending all their time with new
philosophies. And men doing with men that
which is unseemly.
And so it shall be! 2005? More vanities.
Bigger towers. Wiggling theologians
and theologies of jelly. Giggling
parishioners with itching ears. Democrats. Throw it on the wall and call it art. Funny laws for wicked marriages. Broken home after broken home. And earthquakes and waves which are condemnation.
On the other hand, many are the
beautiful and lovely things of which Scripture speaks.
God our Savior. Wonderful. Counselor. The
Mighty God. The Everlasting Father. The Prince of Peace. The fairest of ten thousand. The Sun of Righteousness. Predestination. Creation. Providence. Israel. Bethlehem. The Cross. Blessings
in heavenly places. Forgiveness of sins. Fruit of the Spirit. Though thou passest through the waters I will be
with you. Church. Mission. Heaven. God shaking the earth to save. And wave upon wave of grace
.
Many, too, such is the written
revelation, are the new and lovely and hopeful things. Things like these: the new covenant of God with us
in Jesus; a new creature by virtue of the new birth; a new man; a new heart; a new spirit;
a new commandment of love; a new name given in heaven; a new heaven and earth and
Jerusalem of glory; and God will do a new thing.
These good news things,
revelation from heaven, the old and the new news of God and salvation in Jesus, we have now. And truly they shall be coming in this
next year!
Hear
Now
Well
then, in 2005 the prospects are equally dismal for those who wish they all could be
California girls, for those whose gospel is tolerance, and for all cultured despisers of
God and His Truth. Two thousand five will be,
for all such, a year of further and hastening judgment.
It will be one year nearer the time when men and women and societies and especially
apostate churches and Calminian colleges and seminaries, all of whom either began with God
and chose for Man, or who have never ceased from Man, will cast their idols of silver and
of gold and of theology to the moles and to the bats to go into the clefts of the
rocks
for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to
shake terribly the earth (Is. 2: 20-22).
But what a great year ahead of
us, Gods people! He who spared not His
own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us
all things (Rom. 8:32)?! Come what may in
this year, shall not our Lord be coming, and that, right quickly? When we sin in 2005, when we show ourselves
unworthy of the least bit of divine favor in 2005, shall not God lead us to repentance,
and enable us to overcome our pride, our tempers, our lusts, our bad habits, and our own
disgraceful dancing with death? In whatever
we may experience, whatever trial or disease or distress, and though we be persecuted for
righteousness sake, will not the Lord our Lord be making us more than conquerors,
and ever keeping us in His love, and continually guiding us
to glory (Rom.
8:31ff.; Ps. 73:24)?
That is the news, dear reader! Do we hear it now?
If we hear it, we shall be
Listening. Listening and Reflecting. Listening and more meditative. Putting down cell phones more. Picking up Bibles more. Thinking, not just doing. Comfortable with quiet. Not worried that the rats or cancer or both are
winning. Renewed by the power of the True and
truly Good news. Not needing to know what
internet junkies know. And then...
Believing. When there is a hearing of the news of God, a
hearing that bends the ear, a hearing that loves to hear, this is the hearing of
faith. And for faith. And for, therefore, a keen interest and delight,
even in this our idolatrous and sensuous age, in the things not seen, the joys of
spiritual blessings, the music from heaven. And
therefore...
Singing. Oh yes, Grace Life!
Two thousand and five! Let it find
us
singing!
For with the news from God
our Father for Jesus sake has come a new song. Hear it? Heavens inhabitants sing itits Elders
(Rev. 5:9), and its tabernacle choir of the 144,000 (Rev. 14). Jesus sang it when He came to do the will of His
Father (Ps. 40:3,7,8). Composed it with the
Father from everlasting did He. Came cooing
it in Bethlehems manger did He. Soloed
on the cross, did He. Preaches it in the
great congregation, does He. And has written
the score of the gospel on our heart, has He!
So we. The new song.
Of worthy is the Lamb! Of God with us
and grace now and forever! Gods news. For the new song put in our hearts and on our
lips. And for our life, a song of praise. For the new year, and every day in it, beloved in
Christ! Such a song!
Sing it! So you can hear it, and do live it. Yes, so that your life is a song and, yes, a
dance, a lovely dance.
For the better song and gladness
and godliness of your fellow tenors and second sopranos.
So that others still stuck
singing a song to Self hear you, see you, and behold your God in you, and are saved to
sing and to join the choir.
So God and angels and just men
made perfect hear it. And clap.
Grace Lifefor singing
in the new year!
Happy, song-full great glad news
year!
See you there. Sing you there!
Mr. Minderhoud is a
teacher in Covenant Christian High School and a member of Hope Protestant Reformed Church,
Walker, Michigan.
With
winter weather about us, God leads our thoughts to consider again His handiwork in the
snow. We must marvel at this aspect of
creation and stop to consider the wondrous works of God.
We see that God brings a particular freshness, beauty, and joy to our world when He
sends snow. Many of us have awakened to a
world transformed overnight. Dead leaves and
dirt are covered in a blanket of pure white snow. Frost
and snow lie upon the branches of the trees, and the thick snowy blanket upon the ground
makes the home especially cozy. The blanket
of snow absorbs much of the sound waves and hushes the hustle and bustle of our world. Snow-piles invite our children to jump, wrestle,
and tunnel among them. And for those who are
privileged to experience a crisp and cold winter, there is the crunch of the
snow underfoot as you briskly make your way. Unfortunately,
our childlike love for snow is often dampened by the extra work associated with it
shoveling, working in deep snow, getting stuck, bundling up, less than ideal driving
conditions, and the like. Yet, snow ought to
have an enjoyable place in our lives, and we are to learn to appreciate it as a gift from
God. In particular, we see it as a gift from
God, in that we recognize snow as another means by which we might know Him. While snow has many facets, it is the purpose of
this article to focus on only one how snow crystals are formed and what this
teaches us about our God.
Snow
Without God?
This article was prompted by my
discovering a new book entitled: The
Snowflake: Winters Secret Beauty. I
quickly read it, finding much of it exciting and fascinating. Yet, even after only a few paragraphs, it was
clear that something was missing. Where was
God? Throughout the entire book there was no
reference to God, only to nature. How
disappointing! Unbelievable effort must have
been exerted to leave the Creator totally out of His creation! Yet, the facts that were presented about snow, and
the clear, powerful writing, vivid pictures, and diagrams are fascinating when read with
the proper perspective. So I kept the book
and hope to share some of its findings with my students.
What is so interesting about snow is all the variety of snow crystals that can
exist and the fascinating ways in which God forms them.
What is greatly disappointing, however, is the worlds denial of the hand of
God in this work. An entire book, dedicated
to explaining how snow crystals form and the beauty and diversity in these snow crystals,
sadly begins and ends without mention of God.
The publisher (Voyageur Press)
writes on the inside cover of the book that The snowflake is a fleeting, mysterious
work of natures [emphasis mine] art that has long fascinated humans. They, herein, show no recognition of God in the
work of forming the snow. The writers also
show their unbelief as they deny the Creator and show honor to the creation rather than to
God. So where is the creative genius,
capable of designing snow crystals in an endless variety of beautiful patterns? It lives in the ever-changing wind (p. 47). They credit an ever-changing wind, rather
than the changeless God, for the creation of snow.
The symmetrical patterns demonstrate the spontaneous generation of complex
structures in the physical world (p. 104). All
crystals demonstrate an amazing organizational ability they assemble
themselves (p. 38). The writers claim
that the beautiful symmetry observed in snowflakes arises spontaneously and that the
crystals assemble themselves into the orderly arrangement that they are observed to have. How true and plainly obvious is Gods word in
Romans 1, when we see the unbelief of the world in these quotations. God teaches us that the world recognizes that God
exists and that He must be served as God alone, but they glorified him not as God,
neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was
darkened (Rom 1: 21).
We must humble ourselves,
because if it were not for the grace of God that changed our hard heart into a heart of
flesh, that opened our blind eyes to see God, we would, because of our depraved nature, do
the same foolish things as the world. Without
Gods grace we would believe the evolutionary teachings of the world. Thanks be to God that He gave us eyes to see and
ears to hear the truth of the gospel. Thanks
be to God that He has turned us from being wise in our own minds and made us to be the
babes who have received the revelation of God. At
that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes (Matt. 11: 25).
Formation
of Snow Crystals
The books publisher takes
note of the fact that even today at the beginning of the twenty-first century, we
cannot fully explain how snowflakes are created. The
mystery remains unsolved. This reminds
us of Gods speech to Job, when God showed His might by asking Job questions such as,
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Hast thou entered into the treasures of the
snow?
Canst thou send lightnings, that
they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are? (Job 38: 4, 22, 35). Man is feeble and nothing in the sight of God
apart from Christ, and, for all his technology and developments, knows nothing about the
creation if he does not know God who created it and upholds it each day. We know not a bit more than what God allows us to
know, in what our puny, finite minds can hold. So
much remains and will remain a mystery to us.
Yet, through a careful study, we
observe the characteristics of snow crystals and categorize them into two basic types of
crystals: multi-branched snow stars, and long
columnar or needle-like crystals. Although
physicists and snow-watchers have classified snow crystals into 80 categories, we can
consider all of these categories to be summarized into those two basic crystalline types. Snow star crystals, sometimes called stellar
crystals, usually have six primary branches, with each of the branches having its own
side-branches. Many times the side-branching
on each original branch is symmetrical, although not necessarily. This is the kind of snow crystal most people
picture when they think of snow intricately branched snow crystals. The other type of snow crystal is the column-type
or needle-like crystals. These are hexagonal
prisms of ice. Imagine the typical wooden
pencil that has six sides. Columnar crystals
are thin columns of ice, usually in this hexagonal form, as pictured by the wooden pencil.
Snow crystals form in the upper
atmosphere when water in the vapor form turns into water in the solid form. If the water vapor first turns into liquid water
(rain) and then into the solid form, the precipitation formed is called sleet. Snow crystals, on the other hand, are formed when
water vapor, under the correct temperature and atmospheric pressure, forms into solid
water crystals. Any time a gas or liquid is
cooled the molecules move slowly enough that they begin to crowd each other and make bonds
with each other, forming a solid. As more
water vapor lands on the ice crystal, the ice crystal slowly enlarges, and, in the case of
stellar snow star crystals, more branches and side-branches appear on the ice crystal.
The complexity of the snow
crystal depends on two main factors: temperature
and humidity. These are the means God uses to
form each snowflake into the particular, unique snowflake that is formed. Certain types of snow crystals form under certain
atmospheric temperatures. At 28oF
and below, just below the freezing point of water, thin plate-like crystals form. At 23oF
through 6oF,
long thin needles form. At 5oF
through -12oF,
thin plate-like crystals form again, and at -13oF,
thick plate columnar crystals form. The level
of moisture in the atmosphere also contributes to the shape of the snow crystal formed. More moisture in the atmosphere (high humidity)
results in complex patterns of snow crystallization because more water vapor is available
to join the already forming crystal. Low
humidity results in more simple patterns forming.
The authors of The Snowflake:
Winters Secret Beauty, explained snowflake formation this way: The precise morphology of each falling
crystal is determined by its random and erratic motions through the atmosphere. A complex path yields a complex snowflake. And since no two crystals follow exactly the same
path to the ground, no two crystals will be identical in appearance (p. 47). With dozens or hundreds of distinct
features, each in a particular location, it soon becomes extremely unlikely that two
crystals will ever have all the same features in all the same places (p. 103).
By contrast, we maintain that
the snow crystals do not fall by some random erratic movement, but that God, in His
providence, guides and directs the path of every single snowflake that is formed. We also believe that every snowflake is unique,
not because of the improbability of any two snowflakes falling the same path with the same
humidities and temperatures, but because the sovereign God is almighty, powerful,
infinite, and incomprehensible, and He chooses a particular path for each snowflake. In His power He forms every detail of each
snowflake as He causes each to move in the path He has willed for it. Confessing Belgic Confession Article 12, which
states that God gave to every creature its being, shape, form, and several offices, we
maintain that God forms each snow crystal. As
God has formed everything else in the creation with such intricacy and detail, so He
creates snow. And our God, whose ways are so
far above our ways, always works and operates in an orderly way and, as in the case of
snow formation, uses very simple techniques and variables (humidity, temperature, and time
in the air) as means to form the snow. We do
not deny what the scientist has observed, namely, that humidity and temperature are
factors that make the snowflake have the appearance that it does. But we emphatically maintain that the sovereign
God has ordained the snowflake formation to occur in this way, and each time He sends
snow, He is immanently active in the formation of each particular snowflake. Thus, Gods power is clearly seen as we
observe the detail in the snowflakes. We
marvel at the minute details of snow crystal formation and confess, as Job had to, that we
have not entered into the treasures of the snow.
Clear
as Crystal
Although much could be written
about snow and what it teaches about God, we limit ourselves to only one aspect here
its crystal formation. Certainly we
know that the Bible talks about snow, as relating to its whiteness, as a
picture of the washing away of our sins. But
since this and other important spiritual truths have been dealt with already in other
articles in the Beacon Lights and the Standard Bearer, we mention the purity
of snow only in passing.*
As mentioned previously,
Gods providence is clearly observed in the study of snow crystal formation. These snow crystals do not form at the
whim of the wind, or by mere chance, spontaneously generating and assembling
themselves. Each crystal is perfectly formed
and fashioned according to the infinite wisdom of God.
Each crystal is uniquely formed so that God reveals to us His majesty and power. In that, God is glorified. In His wisdom, He forms each crystal in the
particular way He does with the goal that that particular formation show magnificently His
glory.
Although the Bible does not
specifically mention snowflakes as crystals, it does speak of other crystalline
substances. Think, for example, of Revelation
21, which pictures the church as a temple made up of many different and beautiful stones,
or crystals.
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal and the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. (Rev. 21: 10-11, 19-20).
Each precious stone, each gem, each crystal (snowflake or otherwise) has a beauty of its
own because of the wonder of its marvelous creation.
Each gem is intricately designed and sculpted on the molecular level to give it its
own beauty of color and shape for the purpose of the splendor of the whole. A glorious figure it is of a glorious
church. Every member of the body of Christ is
fitted perfectly in that temple, each in his own place, each made beautiful by the blood
of Christ, each equipped by the Creator with gifts and abilities to be used for the
benefit of the body. Yes, in their beauty
and diversity, and with their multitude of shapes and forms, snow crystals, too, testify
of the marvelous diversity in the body of Christ. May
we be reminded of that glorious reality when we contemplate the treasures of the snow.
Snow crystals, particularly
their formation, teach us one more thing about the church and its members. Just as God carries each snowflake through a
particular path to the earth a path necessary to bring about its beauty and
intricacy (as it passes through different humidities of air and different temperatures of
air, it forms into its own unique structure), so too God carries us through our particular
path here on the earth. Each of us is formed
and made into a particular member of the body of Christ, each with special abilities,
characteristics, and beauty, by Gods shaping hand as He directs our pathway here
below. We are brought through many diverse
afflictions for the express purpose of God forming and trying us to make us
perfect, lacking nothing, so that we are equipped for our particular place in
heaven (James 1:2-4; I Pet. 1: 6-7). All of
us are born into the family we have, into the church community of which we are a part,
into the schools we attend, so that we are molded and shaped for our place in the kingdom
of heaven. All of our experiences are planned
and directed by God as best for us in order that we be formed for our eternal place
in glory.
This brings us unspeakable
comfort and joy. Herein lies, at least in
part, the answer for why we receive what befalls us in this life. Sometimes we cry out with the Psalmist, Hath
God forgotten to be gracious? (Ps. 77: 9). The
answer is a resounding, NO! God
remembers and loves us. In His love for us He
makes and molds us for our particular, unique place in heaven. Whatever way He has chosen for us, we go on in
faith, knowing it is the best and only way to make us into the unique members of His body
that He wants us to be in order to glorify His good and gracious name to the fullest. Rejoice, then! Rejoice in the Lord always! For we
see the providential hand of God, that directs all events in our lives so that we are
shaped and formed into exactly the beautiful members of the body of Christ that we are and
ever shall be. Thanks be to God for the
treasures of the snow that so vividly picture this reality!
* For more reading on the spiritual significance of snow read:
Huizenga, John. Beacon
Lights: Ice Crystals Through the Spectacles
of Scripture. Jan. 1999, Vol. 58, No. 1,
pp. 13-14.
Lubbers, Mary Beth. Standard Bearer: Standing Before His Cold. Vol. 75, No. 11, pp. 250-1.
Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
In
our last article on the subject of working mothers (December 15, 2004) we included a
letter written by a sister in our Edmonton Protestant Reformed Church. We included that letter because, first of all, it
expressed in a very positive way the desire of a godly mother to be a keeper of the
home. The glorious task of caring for a
family is all but forgotten in our society! It
is refreshing to hear that mothers in the church see their labor in the church not as
degrading and ignoble, but as lofty and challenging.
But we also included this letter
in our last article because it raises a matter that needs further clarification. It seems that the sister (and I am sure that she
is not alone) struggles with the question: Is
it a sin for a mother to earn money by working outside of the home. She asks this question in her letter: The last question is: do you place this in the realm of Christian
liberty? Or is it commanded? Although different matters are brought to the
foreground in her letter, they in essence center in this one question.
Before considering this
question, we would do well to reread the article I wrote that is being questioned. This article appeared some time ago, in the April
1, 2004 issue of the Standard Bearer, entitled Working Mothers. In that article I called attention to the attitude
expressed by some who wish to lay down a law to govern this matter: There is that eleventh commandment, you
know, that we must abide by in every instance, Mothers, thou shalt not work outside
the home.
To this statement our sister
takes exception. She writes in her letter,
This statement came off sounding rather sarcastic, leaving me with the impression
you were about to embark in a whole different direction than your previous article
(cf. Standard Bearer, March 1, 2004,
Gods Command to Mothers). She
also took exception to this statement I made in the article Working Mothers: There are conceivably times when a mother
will work outside the home and family. All
this indicates that the basic question she is grappling with is: Does Gods Word lay down a law according to
which we can conclusively say it is sin for any mother to work outside of the home? Or, may a mother at times, when necessity dictates
it, find work to supplement the income of the family?
Before answering this question,
I want to make it clear that in the article Working Mothers I did not approve
of career women who neglect their families in order to pursue their own goals in the work
force. I stated that the Bible does not give
its approval of those women who find little or no satisfaction in the home and family
raising children but can find fulfillment only outside of the home pursuing a
career. That was clear enough in the article. The issue in question here then is that of women
who, together with their husbands, have considered finding some work that will help
supplement family income, without jeopardizing time spent with children. This is the matter in question.
In these instances the question
is raised: Is a mothers working outside
of the home expressly forbidden by the Scriptures or is it a matter of Christian liberty? The answer is:
It is a matter of Christian liberty.
There seems, however, to be a
misunderstanding of the concept of Christian liberty.
The idea seems almost to be that placing something in the realm of Christian
liberty gives license to people to live the way they want to live, with no regard for the
way that God wills for them to live. This
misunderstanding reveals itself in the letter of the sister. If something is not a command of Scripture, if it
is not a black and white issue, then it is fraught with indecision and no clear
direction from God. If I indeed insist
that the matter of working mothers be placed in the area of Christian liberty, she asks,
will not there be mothers who now feel they have just cause to pursue work outside
the home since Rev. Bruinsma has given them the ok?
Placing a matter in the area of
Christian liberty does not leave us without clear direction from God. And God forbid that placing a matter in the area
of Christian liberty gives anyone a right to follow what a mere man says, rather than what
the Scriptures clearly point out. The matter
of a mother working outside of the home is indeed governed by Scripture! The Bible very clearly sets forth the principles
by which we ought to live in this area of daily living.
We made a point of setting forth those principles in the article, Gods
Command to Mothers. The Bible draws the
picture of a mother in the home in Psalm 128:3. She
is a vine by the sides of the house. Paul
commands younger widows in I Timothy 5:14 to marry, bear children, guide the
house. The Word of God in Titus 2:4, 5
instructs older women in the church to teach the younger women to be keepers at
home. It is obvious from the Word of
God that the principle that a mother ought to follow is to be a keeper of the home.
Yet, in none of these passages
is a law set forth: It is sin for a
mother to work outside of the home. We
do not read that anywhere in the Word of God. Neither
can this be inferred from any of the commandments that are given us in the Decalogue. This can be done, of course, in other instances,
where the Bible clearly ties an exhortation together with a commandment. For example, we believe that unlawful divorce is a
sin because the Bible expressly teaches that it is a violation of the seventh commandment. The same is true of remarriage when ones
spouse is still alive. It violates the
seventh commandment. The Bible is clear in
these instances. But there are other times
when the Bible sets forth the principles of godly living and gives them over into the
hands of Gods people to live them out, by the grace that dwells in them.
The Bible is equally clear
concerning the idea of Christian liberty. In
Philippians 2:12, 13 the apostle gives us important instruction in this area. As Gods people we must be deeply aware that
it is God that works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. On that basis we are called to work out our
salvation with fear and trembling. We are
called to take the principles of Scripture and, without a law dictating exactly what we
must do, live out of that new life of Christ that God has worked in our hearts. The apostle gives similar instruction in Titus
3:8, 9, This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm
constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and
contentions, and strivings about the law [emphasis mine WGB]; for they are
unprofitable and vain. The idea that
the Word of God sets forth here is clear. We
are called to walk in all good works by applying unto ourselves the principles of
Gods Word. But at the same time we must
do this without enslaving ourselves to a law that the Scriptures do not give.
When the apostle Paul exhorted
the Galatian church with these words in Galatians 5:1, Stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of
bondage, he did not mean that we were free from law.
He did not mean that Gods law and commandments serve no more function in the
life of a child of God. They do! We are not lawless.
But what Paul meant here is: do not entangle yourselves with all kinds of laws that
the Bible does not make. Live in your
liberty. Take the principles of Gods
Word and apply them diligently to your life so that you walk in a way that pleases God and
not self.
It is not true that the way of
Christian liberty is fraught with indecision and no clear direction. Neither does the way of Christian liberty destroy
the antithetical life. But the way of
Christian liberty allows each child of God to take the principles of Gods Word and
work them out prayerfully in his own life in a way he believes is in keeping with
Gods Word. When the Bible teaches us
the principle that a mother ought to be a keeper of the home, it allows freedom to a
husband and wife, in whom God has worked to will and to do of His good pleasure, to work
that out in their lives. That will indeed
vary somewhat from one home to another. But
that is okay too. There ought not to be
strivings about the law in this matter.
The problem that arises in
connection with this area of Christian liberty is that our sinful flesh so often wishes to
control it. When this happens, two extremes
can show their ugly faces. On the one hand,
there are those who will use their liberty in order to satisfy their flesh. Such mothers will indeed take the attitude: Well, Rev. Bruinsma has given us permission
to go out and work, so we can do this. These
do not take into consideration the principles of Gods Word. They are not concerned about the effect that their
working might have on their children. They
have their eye on money and will stretch their liberty to satisfy their covetousness. To these, Paul writes in Galatians 5:13,
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an
occasion to the flesh
. Or again,
in verse 16, This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust
of the flesh.
But there is another extreme
that all too often shows itself. It is
equally ugly and sinful. Instead of living
that life of liberty in those areas of godly living, there are those who wish to make a
law in every area of life (sounds like the Pharisees, does it not?) and force everyone to
live by that law. Here, they contend, is the
hard and fast rule: all women who work outside the home sin! It is wrong!
Such is the position they take. I
believe that the only difference between this and the opposite extreme is that this
extreme sounds so much more pious. These seem
to base their position on what they glean from the principles of Scripture. The Word of God says that a woman must be a keeper
of the home, therefore all those mothers who work outside of the home sin. It does not take much to see the sin involved here
too. This binds heavy burdens and grievous to
be borne on mens shoulders (Matt. 23:4) and it boxes the child of God in so that he
no longer is given the freedom to live out of the life of Christ that dwells in his heart. Let my husband earn the living for my family. Even if it requires of him two jobs, maybe three,
to keep us above water financially. But then,
is not my husband shirking his responsibility to be in the home too? (See Standard Bearer, January 1, 2003,
Gods Command to Fathers.) What
becomes of the principle that a wife is a help to her husband in all things? It does not apply in this instance? By whose law does it not apply? Who is going to determine whether one hour of work
for which I am paid is wrong, or three hours? Who
is going to determine whether working for free (volunteer labor) outside of the home is
permissible but working for money is wrong? Who
is going to determine what is actually working outside the home and what is not?
When we go to this extreme, then
everyone becomes suspicious of the other. That
person is not living as godly a life as I am. I
abide more closely to the rule than she does. When
we make a law, then we begin to determine whether we are a better mother than someone else
because I abide by that law more faithfully than that other mother does. We set ourselves up as judges in the church and we
become highly critical of other peoples lives without even giving thought to the
struggles and burdens that perhaps that other family is bearing but which are not evident
to the eyes of others. This extreme too is
wrong.
In summary, we have been given
the Word of God. It teaches us about godly
living in the home and family. As believers
we must apply our hearts to that Word of God. We
must study it and know how it applies to our lives. As
believing mothers and fathers who have within us the Spirit of our risen Lord, we must be
deeply conscious of the need to be with our children in order to nurture them in the
things of God. We desire that, do we not? We are not those who are governed by the evil
society in which we live a society that has no idea how to raise children properly. Then as believers we must prayerfully take
Gods Word in hand and follow after its instruction to us. Each of us as married couples must determine for
ourselves our calling before God and live out our salvation in the home and family with
fear and trembling. Then we will not use our
liberty to satisfy the lusts of our flesh. But
neither will we bind each other so that every home and family must conform to a standard
not required in the Bible. God grant us to
live in our freedom!
Prof. Hanko is
professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed
Seminary.
Previous article in this series: January 15,
2005.
Introduction
Charles Darwin, after his
five-year long journey on the HMS Beagle, developed his ideas of biological evolution,
ideas that form the basis for all subsequent evolutionistic theory. His work On the
Origin of Species had more influence on subsequent thought than any other book of
human writing, even though all the influence was bad.
It was an extraordinarily clever tool in the determination of wicked men to drive
God, the Creator of all, out of His own world. No
longer was a Creator needed: evolutionism could explain how all things come into being
without God.
Evolutionism has spread through
the whole world and has been accepted by almost everyone who thinks about these things at
all. In fact, so all-pervasive has
evolutionary thought become that the church, called to defend the scriptural doctrine of
creation, lives in an extremely hostile environment, an environment in which it is
fiercely threatened.
Evolutionism has developed far
beyond Darwins description of it. All
things that exist, not only living creatures, are due to evolutionary processes, it is
said. The whole universe, blown apart by one
big bang, has developed into its present form through evolution. Planet Earth, in all its rich diversity, has come
from one infinitesimally small speck; and life itself was brewed by some natural processes
when the first one-celled creature emerged from the soup of a primordial swamp. Powerful are the forces of darkness; small in
number are those who still stand for Gods truth.
Theistic
Evolutionists
Many in the church, and their
numbers are legion, are convinced that evolution is perfectly compatible with the
Christian faith. Such thinking goes back a
long way. Even during Darwins lifetime,
some thought that Darwins views constituted no threat to the church.
The Presbyterian tradition in
this country, even in its days of strong Calvinism, was open to evolution. Even J. Gresham Machen would not commit himself on
the question, arguing that the matter was one of science, not theology.
In Reformed circles the same has
been true. The result is that today very few
denominations can be found where evolutionism has not made its inroads. Some Synods and General Assemblies have openly
gone on record as favoring some sort of evolution. One
must go hunting with a strong flashlight to find Creationists in todays churches.
In Eerdmans Encyclopedia
of Christianity several conclusions are drawn from a discussion of the subject.
Contrary to some opinions, Christian theology has been engaged with evolutionary ideas for two centuries, although that engagement has in many instances been implicit, rather than explicit. In the 20th century that engagement has reached a high level of explicitness and sophistication.
Most important, even though there is a staggering variety of style and disposition among the thinkers in this survey, there is also one pervading concern and theme: that evolutionary ideas not be restricted to the materialist and reductionist interpretation that proponents of scientism tend to propound. Theologians in the main are convinced both that Christian theology can take the measure of evolution and that the idea of evolution is congenial to interpretations that bring ultimacy, transcendence, purpose, and moral earnestness into play. Scientific humanists deny this proposal, joined, ironically, by creationist thinkers; both groups insist that evolution is nothing but a materialist interpretation of the world. Interestingly, the theologians who offer a broad interpretation of evolution are joined by humanists and others of a naturalist bent who will not settle for a narrow, one-dimensional interpretation of evolution (II, 235).
In another paragraph such a
synthesis of creationism and evolutionism is explained more in detail when the views of
Teilhard de Chardin, the French Roman Catholic paleontologist, are discussed.
Teilhard comes as close as any thinker to a Trinitarian synthesis: the origins of the cosmos lie in God, who has set evolution into motion, giving it direction and meaning in Christ; the evolutionary process is in itself the providential working of God, who brings all reality, including what we call evil, to a divine consummation that is coincident with what is revealed in Christ. Teilhard invoked the cosmic Christ tradition, which is epitomized in Col. 1:17 according to which Christ himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. No other Christian thinker has used evolutionary ideas more powerfully and fashioned so full a Christian synthesis on the basis of evolution. Although his architectonic proposals are at points hardly more than a sketch and sometimes highly ambiguous and controversial, they rise as a monumental achievement of constructive Christian theological engagement with the idea of evolution (II, 233).
As Del Ratzsch points out in his
book, Battle of Beginnings: Why Neither Side is Winning the Creation-Evolution Debate,
while creationist and naturalistic evolutionists agree on very few things, [they] do
seem to agree that theistic evolution is woefully even perniciously
confused. Surprisingly enough, their reasons
sometimes overlap (p. 180).
In short, theistic evolutionists
try to have their cake and eat it too. They
cave in completely to modern evolutionary thought, while still trying desperately to hold
on to the biblical doctrine of creation. They
persuade themselves that they succeed in doing so by teaching that, while evolution is an
adequate and correct view of the origin of the universe, God controlled evolutionary
processes.
Theistic
Evolutionists
Especially in conservative
Reformed and Presbyterian circles such a theistic evolutionism has to be justified with
Scripture. In spite of the fact that Darwin
himself considered this absolutely impossible, todays theologians, one after
another, take their turn at attempting this hermeneutical legerdemain or sleight of hand.
Some scientists simply separate
their scientific activity from their religion. They
claim to be evolutionists in the laboratory or observatory as they study the stars, but
they are believers in Jesus Christ and in His Word while in church on Sunday. This was the position of Howard VanTill in his
book The Fourth Day. If scientific
theory and religion conflict, it is of no consequence because science and religion need
not harmonize, and life can, apparently, be easily compartmentalized. It is something like the
Sunday-go-to-church Christianity practice of so many.
Theistic evolutionists claim
that it is necessary to believe in evolution because science has conclusively proved its
validity. They point to the fact that this
present creation is created by the Word of God and is, therefore, itself a Word of God.
Gods Word appears in two places: Scripture
and creation. Because God is one, His Word is
one, and, therefore, His Word in creation cannot contradict His Word in Scripture. Since His Word in creation speaks of a very old
world (somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 billion years old), and since the creation
tells us in every nook and cranny of it that things came into existence by development
from lower and simpler forms of existence to higher and more complex forms of existence,
therefore our understanding of Scripture must be wrong.
Scripture must, obviously, be reinterpreted.
It is something like a case of
an honest God-fearing grocery store owner being robbed at gunpoint by a murderous crook. Investigating the incident, the police are told by
the crook that the owner of the store gave him everything he now has in his possession
from that store; while the owner speaks of the threatening of his life and the bold
robbery of the criminal. The police, content
to adopt the version of the crook, tell the storeowner that his description of the robbery
cannot be taken literally. The owner, they
say, really meant that his gift to the robber can be construed as robbery because his
conscience so smote him when he saw the poverty of the crook that he felt compelled to
give him some of the stores contents. So
theistic evolutionists are ready to sell out Scripture for evolution and they do it
by explaining that the scriptural narrative of creation cannot possibly be taken
literally.
The numerous ways in which the
scriptural narrative of creation in Genesis 1-3 is misinterpreted are more than we can
describe here in this article. It seems that
every few years a new idea comes along by means of which Genesis 1-3 can be explained
away. My first experience with this sort of
thing was via the gap theory, i.e., that a gap of millions of years existed between
Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. Then came the period
theory, in which the days of Genesis 1 were interpreted as long periods of
time. This was during my college years. Following the period theory came various theories
that explained Genesis 1 as a doxology of praise to God for His participation in the work
of creation. Genesis 1 was not the recitation of actual history; it was a symbolic hymn. Then we were told that the first chapters of
Genesis were an attempt to give a Christian construction to ancient pagan myths concerning
the origin of things. Ralph Janssen taught
something like this before he was expelled from the Calvin Theological Seminary. Howard VanTill introduced us to the packaging
theory of Genesis 1. And now along comes the
Framework Hypothesis.
I am sure that some fertile mind
will propound yet another theory before we are very much older.
Light for the City: Calvins Preaching, Source of Life and Liberty by Lester DeKoster. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004. 139pp. (paper). $20.00. [Reviewed by Prof. Barrett L. Gritters.]
Calvin
scholar Lester De Koster has produced a small work whose
thesis, apparent in the title, comes out more clearly in his Forewarning, as
he puts it. First he lets Calvin speak: It certainly is the part of the Christian
man to ascend higher than merely to seek and secure the salvation of his own soul. Then De Koster, rhetorically:
Merely the soul? Yes, so he said. And higher than soul-salvation? His word, too. Higher! To build, say, community called city?!
Preached from off the pulpits for which the Church is divinely made and sustained, Gods biblical Word takes incarnation in human selves and behavior, creating the community long known in the West as the City. Calvinist pulpits implanted the Word even now flourishing in the great democratic achievements of the Western world [emphasis is De Kosters].
Lester
De Koster contends that Calvins goal was not church building, but City building. He speaks of Calvins courageous
determination to preaching into a faction-ridden chaos the lineaments of the City
(p. 21). He bemoans the absence of
adequate, on-going pulpit nourishment. And
he asks,
Doesnt the citizenrywhile its presumed leadership looks busily some other wayseem to wait well-nigh breathless upon the appearance of another Calvin borne upon a tide of divine circumstance? (p. 22).
No one writes quite like
DeKoster, professor emeritus of speech at Calvin College, and former editor of the
Christian Reformed Church periodical, the Banner.
Using the English language in ways that delight, stretching the rules of grammar
like few others would be permitted by editors to do, DeKoster will keep you reading. Also because its about Calvin. And preaching.
And history.
De Koster quotes Marx,
lets Cromwell speak via Carlyle, reaches back to St. Benedict in the sixth century,
and reflects on the opinions of obscure historians of the early 1900s, all of which gives
color and flavor to this new study of the man God mastered for the preservation of His
church.
Reading lines like:
Oh yes, he was up to itErasmus, move over!
and
then,
Calvin remembered vividly every page he ever read, Beza says. And once, in the boot camp he thought his first Geneva experience, he totally humiliated a reckless ex-monk named Bolsec by quoting perfectly from memory, to his purposes, Church Fathers his critic had tried to use against him. Bolsec never forgot, nor forgave, and fathered a school of Calvin-vituperation, which has to this day its own history (p. 27)
made
me put up my feet and settle in for the short 130 pages.
De Koster got his thesis half
right: The power of God to create what He
designed is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
No other instrument has the power that the preached Word has. Nothing is like preaching as the dynamo to
produce what God wills to form. This is
Calvin. Its also Scripture.
The critical other half of De
Kosters thesis is unconvincing, although it is popular these days.
The thinking runs like this: Gods ultimate goal in the world in human
history is not the gathering of His church but the reformation of the world. The cities of the world will become the city
of God. Politically, culturally,
socially, they must (and will) be transformed. (Favorite
text among those who reason this way is Jeremiah 29:7, where Jeremiah calls the people of
God to seek the peace [shalom] of the city, that is, of Babylon.) The instrument by which this transformation will
take place is the church. Through her
preaching and diaconal ministries (thus, the emphasis on diaconal ministries in mission
theory today; although DeKosters emphasis is on preaching), communities will be made
new and be the pleasure of God.
His argument is neither Calvin
nor Scripture.
First, the alternative of
merely to seek and secure the salvation of his own soul is not to build
community called city. The
highest aspiration of wisdom, old and new and divine, according to DeKoster,
is the City! (p. xv). But Calvin did
not believe that the City of God Augustine described was Geneva Christianized,
or Los Angeles Christianized (p. xv). Its
a simple logical fallacy to claim that one either preaches a crusadist
gospel or a word of sermon and city and that the alternative
to offering Jesus as savior is preaching him as Lord who creates earthly
cities (see pp. 44,45).
Worse, De Koster denigrates (we
hope inadvertently) the church, beloved body of Christ, by elevating the city
to the status of the goal of the churchs work.
for John Calvin the Church is in the world to create the social
structure long called City (p. 66). Jesus
is not as interested in His bride as He is in the City.
This is commonly done in Reformed circles today, where the church is considered
merely (!) a sign of the kingdom. So
the church of the nineteenth century, in the face of Marxism, should have promoted social
justice in lieu of Are you saved, brother? (p. 56). And
For John Calvin, Jesus came to live, to die, and to rise again to take rule in human history as King, for the creation through the Word declared by the pulpits, of a model community weve been calling City and the Kingdom, which is illustrated in the world of the West.
That Calvin taught extensively regarding civil life, and intended Geneva to be a city where the Word of God was honored and King Jesus acknowledged cannot be denied. To go from there, however, to making the City the goal of Jesus coming, death and resurrection, and that according to Calvin, is a different matter altogether.
The Pastor in Prayer, C.H. Spurgeon. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2004 (Based on the second edition, London, 1893). 184 pp. (cloth). $15.99. [Reviewed by Prof. Barrett L. Gritters.]
My
first acquaintance with Spurgeons The
Pastor in Prayer
was in the early years of my ministry when I was first looking for books on pastoral
prayer. Pilgrim Publications of Pasadena,
Texas was re-issuing all of the sermons and works of Spurgeon, this choice selection
of C.H. Spurgeons Sunday Morning Prayers included (1971). One copy made its way to the used book shelf at
Bakers, where I snatched it up and read a prayer a week, late each Saturday evening,
taking notes as I went, to avoid the pitfalls of repetition or stale clichés in the
congregational prayers.
Banner of Truth brings out a new
edition, re-typeset, and with a new appendix from Spurgeons Lectures to My
Students.
The Reformed pastor will be
enriched by Spurgeons gift of prayer. The
elder who will be required to lead the worship in the pastors absence will be helped
here. This man who, at the youthful age of
twenty-one, was able to communicate his early sermons in a stunning and colorful way, was
also a master at using biblical language and bringing out biblical figures of speech in
his (these transcribed) prayers. The reader
who is uncomfortable with addressing God in the vernacular you and
your will be put at ease with Spurgeons King James English. The reader who is not will have no problem with
the old English.
The twenty-six prayers, each
about five or six pages, are rich in devotional piety; in expressions of Gods
sovereignty; in hearty confessions of sinso rare in prayers today (we are not
willing to confess our own sinfulness until Thou dost show it to us
); in
petitions that make the believer eager for heaven (our spirit triumphs in the
anticipation of the time when all thine enemies shall be destroyed, and death and hell
shall be cast into the lake of fire, and God shall be all in all), and in obvious
sympathetic unity with the people under his care (Grant to Thy dear children who are
by any means depressed because they feel the serpent at their heel, that they may bless
the dear name of Him whose heel was bruised before, but who in the very bruising broke the
serpents head). The pastor could
do worse than read Spurgeons congregational prayers.
Regularly, Pastor Spurgeon would
pray for their College, the pastor-training school.
Let every brother sent out be clothed with power, and may the man sons of this church that have been brought up at her side, preach with power today. It is sweet to think of hundreds of voices of our sons this day declaring the name of Christ. Blessed is the church that hath her quiver full of them, she shall speak with her adversaries in the gate .
Often, Spurgeon asked for
blessings on the Orphanage, for the colporteurs going from house to house, for
missions in foreign lands and missions in the heathendom at home (remember
mid-nineteenth century London), for plenteous prosperity to all the hosts of His
Israel, and that the Lord would graciously gather in the unconverted:
And, Lord, gather in the unconverted: our prayers can never conclude without pleading for the dead in sin. Oh, quicken them, Savior! and if any one here has a little daughter that lieth dead in sin, like Jairus may they plead with Jesus to come and lay His hand upon her that she may live.
My estimation is that Spurgeon
was at his best when he was bringing the minds of the people before the glorious throne of
God, and when he was leading them to a godly confession of sin.
We have looked upon every act of our lives and desired that in all things we might be conformed to Thy will, and Thou knowest this makes us walk very tenderly at times, and with much brokenness of spirit before Thee, because the more we look into our lives, the more we see to lament; and in proportion as Thou dost make us holy, in that very proportion do we spy our unholiness, and find nests of sin where we never dreamt that the loathsome things had been. Father, cleanse us from secret faults. Purge us! Thou hast purged us with hyssop once, and we are clean; now wash us with water, even as Thou, blessed Jesus, didst wash Thy disciples feet, and make us clean every whit, that we may be Thy priests and kings, sanctified wholly; and make us a people zealous of good works.
His Our Public
Prayer (appendix 2 from his Lectures to my Students) is a fine read about
congregational prayer, as well as (almost incidentally) a beautiful defense of preaching
as the heart of the churchs worship.
Mr. Wigger is a
member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.
Young
Peoples Activities
Saturday, December 11, the young people of the South Holland, IL PRC enjoyed an afternoon
of ice-skating at Millennium Park in downtown Chicago.
Skating started in mid-afternoon, after which the young people went to a nearby
restaurant for dinner and then back to church and home.
The members of the Young
Peoples Society of the Peace PRC in Lansing, IL were able to take part in and enjoy
a progressive dinner on December 21. After
stops at two homes for appetizers and the main meal, the young diners ended the evening
back at Peace for Christmas carols, games, and dessert.
December 29 the young people
from the Hull, Iowa PRC enjoyed an afternoon of tubing down snow-covered slopes. Afterwards they enjoyed an evening of pizza.
The Young Peoples Society
of the Edgerton, MN PRC invited their congregation, as well as congregations from nearby
Iowa PRCs, to join them for their Christmas/New Years Singspiration on Sunday
evening, December 26. A collection was taken
for the 2005 Convention.
School
Activities
The students of the PR Christian Grade School in South Holland, IL presented their annual
Christmas program to family and friends on December 16 at Cornerstone PRC in Dyer,
Indiana. The students developed the theme,
Jesus Our Shepherd.
The Loveland, CO PR Christian
School program was scheduled for December 14. Students
at Loveland told the Christmas story using Scripture from Isaiah 11:10 and taking for
their theme, Jesus Christ: Jesses
Root and Branch.
Students from Covenant Christian
High School in Walker, MI presented a combined choir and band concert of Christmas music
on Sunday evening, December 19, in the auditorium of Grandville High School.
Each year several of our
Christian schools select a school or a mission need in our denomination and give an
opportunity to teachers and students to contribute toward that cause. This past Christmas season two of our grade
schools, Hope Christian in Redlands, CA and Heritage Christian in Hudsonville, MI took
collections to assist needy families with whom Rev. A. Spriensma is working in the
Philippine mission. Money raised was intended
to purchase spiritual books and study material.
Mission
Activities
In mission news from the Covenant of Grace PR Fellowship in Spokane, WA, we read recently
that the month of December marked the tenth anniversary of the ordination of Rev. T.
Miersma as Western Home Missionary. We, along
with the members of the Spokane mission, give thanks to God for supplying this faithful
servant for the cause of missions over these past years.
There have been many joys and sorrows in the work, but the Lord has sustained him
and his family. Let us pray that God will
continue to bless the work of Rev. Miersma and his family as our denominations
missionary to Spokane.
Rev. J. Mahtani, along with his
wife, visited the saints in the PR Fellowship in Fayetteville, NC the week of January 3. Rev. and Mrs. Mahtani hoped to visit with the
saints there, as well as to pursue some new contacts.
They planned to follow up on some old contacts made earlier. Rev. Mahtani also planned to preach for the
Fellowship on January 9.
Congregation
Activities
In early December the congregation of our Peace PRC in Lansing, IL received an early
Christmas present. They began to sing in
their worship services using a newly purchased organ.
Not only did our congregation at Peace enjoy singing using a new organ, they also
had the added pleasure of hearing members of their Choral Society present a Christmas
program and singspiration for them, using that same organ, on December 26.
The Choral Society at Peace was
not the only one of our church choirs to present programs this past Christmas season. The Choral Society of Faith PRC in Jenison, MI
presented a program of thanksgiving and Christmas songs for their congregation on December
5. The combined choirs of the Doon and Hull,
Iowa PRCs gave their concert on December 5 at the Doon PRC.
The Choral Society of the South Holland, IL PRC gave their Christmas Program
Singspiration on Sunday, December 12. On
December 12 the congregation of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, MI was invited to stay after
the evening service and hear a program given by their Womens Choir and Men Singers. That same night, about a mile south of Trinity,
the Choral Society of the Hudsonville, MI PRC gave their annual Christmas program
entitled, Come and Worship, for the spiritual enjoyment of their congregation. And on Sunday, December 19, members of the
Georgetown PRC Choir in Hudsonville, MI presented their Christmas program.
Young
Adult Activities
The Young Adults Retreat Committee of the Loveland, CO PRC hosted a singspiration
Sunday evening, December 19. There was a
collection for this years Spring Retreat scheduled for March 14-17 at the YMCA of
the Rockies in Estes Park, CO.
The Young Adults of Hope PRC in
Redlands, CA also hosted a Christmas Singspiration on Sunday evening, December 19. This singspiration served as a fundraiser for
their anticipated Young Adults Retreat in July.
Minister
Activities
Rev. Doug Kuiper, pastor of the Randolph, WI PRC, received the call to serve as pastor of
the Doon, Iowa PRC. Rev. Overway declined the
call from First PRC of Edmonton, AB Canada. Hudsonvilles
new trio is Rev. Allen Brummel, Rev. Arie denHartog, and Prof. David Engelsma. Bethel has extended a call to Rev. denHartog.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
TEACHER
NEEDED
Eastside Christian School,
Grand Rapids, MI is seeking applicants for 2005-2006 for a teaching position in a
multi-grade classroom (Grades 1-3). Those
applying should be members of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. Send applications and a resume to Agatha Lubbers
at Eastside Christian School, 2792 Michigan St. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506. Telephone: (616) 942-2939.
Classis West of the
Protestant Reformed Churches will be hosted by Bethel PRC in Roselle, Illinois on
Wednesday, March 2, 2005 at 8:30 a.m. All material for the agenda should be in the hands
of the stated clerk by Monday, January 31, 2005. An
office-bearers conference is planned for Tuesday, March 1, the Lord willing, on the
subject of Reformed Evangelism.
Rev.
Daniel Kleyn
Stated
Clerk, Classis West
RESOLUTION
OF SYMPATHY
The council and congregation
of the Hull PRC express their sincere Christian sympathy to the Mr. Lee Vink family on the
passing away of Lees father,
MR. ALBERT
VINK.
May they find their comfort
from Gods Word in Psalm 23:6, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life: and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord for ever.
Rev.
Steven Key, President
Brian
Kroese, Asst. Clerk
WEDDING
ANNIVERSARY
Lord willing, on February
11, 2005,
GORDON and
MARILYN WASSINK
will
celebrate their 50th wedding
anniversary. We, their children,
grandchildren, and great grandchildren, rejoice with them and give God thanks for their
covenant instruction, parental care, and godly walk of life.
It is our prayer that God
will supply all their needs in the future as He has in the past, and grant them many more
years together with us. For thou, O
God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me
the heritage of those that fear thy name (Psalm 61:5).
d
Deane and Donna Wassink
d
Darle and Colleen Wassink
d
Tim and Linda Mowery
d
David (in glory)
d
Doug and Kathy Wassink
d
Ryan and Karla Feenstra
26
grandchildren
10 great
grandchildren
Holland,
Michigan
The council and congregation
of Kalamazoo PRC express their Christian sympathy to Mr. & Mrs. Mel VanDyk on the
passing away of his mother, and also to Mr. & Mrs. Jon VanDyk on the passing away of
his grandmother,
MRS. DONNA
VAN DYK.
May they
find their comfort from the words of our Savior in Matthew 5: 7&8, Blessed are
the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed
are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Rev.
Wilbur Bruinsma, President
Mr.
Tom Kiel, Clerk
All students enrolled in the
Protestant Reformed Seminary who will be in need of financial assistance for the coming
school year are asked to contact the Student Aid Committee secretary, Mr. Jeff Kalsbeek
(Phone: (616) 453-6455). This contact should
be made before the next scheduled meeting, February 28, 2005, D.V., at Southwest PRC, 7:30
p.m.
Student
Aid Committee
Jeff
Kalsbeek, Secretary
CLASSIS
WEST OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCHES
Bethel
PRC, Roselle, IL Tuesday, March 1, 2005
Reformed
Evangelism
Go
ye therefore, and teach all nations... Matthew 28:19
KEY NOTE
9:00 a.m.
The Churchs
Duty to Preach the Gospel Indiscriminately
Rev. Douglas Kuiper
Pastor
of the Randolph PRC, Randolph, WI
SECTIONALS
10:30 a.m.
Equipping Our
People for Personal Evangelism
Rev. Jaikishin Mahtani
Eastern
US Missionary in the Protestant Reformed Churches
1:00 p.m.
Keeping Busy in
Congregational Evangelism
Rev. Mitchell Dick
Pastor
of the Grace PRC, Grand Rapids, MI
2:45 p.m.
Remembering That
The Work and Fruit is of the Lord
Rev. Ronald VanOverloop
Pastor
of the Byron Center PRC, Byron Center, MI
All past and
present officebearers, as well as all interested people, are invited to attend. Lunch will be provided, and a free-will offering
will be taken to defray expenses.
Reformed
Witness Hour |
||
Topics for February |
||
Date | Topic | Text |
February 6 | Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit | Matthew 5:3 |
February 13 | Blessed Are They That Mourn | Matthew 5:4 |
February 20 | Blessed Are the Meek | Matthew 5:5 |
February 27 | Blessed Are They Who Hunger |
Matthew 5:6 |
Last modified: 07-feb-2005