The subject of the apostle Paul in this section of his letter to the Corinthian church is death and the resurrection of the body.  Paul speaks of this in very picturesque language.  He speaks of the physical body in terms of an earthly tabernacle or tent.  He describes the resurrection body as a building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  At death the earthly tabernacle of this body is dissolved.  At the resurrection we are clothed with the house made without hands.  It is Paul’s desire and hope to be clothed with that eternal house made without hands.

     In that connection Paul speaks of the earnest of the Spirit.  An earnest is a down payment that serves as a pledge of full payment at a future date.  The Holy Spirit is an earnest of sorts.  Through the Holy Spirit we have the beginnings of our salvation in Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit and His blessings are God’s down payment and pledge of greater blessings to come, blessings we will receive through the resurrection of the body.

     On the basis of this earnest, Paul expresses confidence for the future.  For the time being we are at home in the body and absent from the Lord.  But one day we will be absent from the body and be at home with the Lord. 

     This is not only our confidence but also our desire.

     And the reason is that we walk by faith and not by sight.

     A sharp contrast!

     Sight over against faith.

     By sight is meant, first, those things that we can see with our physical eyes or that are within the scope of our five physical senses.  There are many things that we cannot see.  We cannot see God.  We cannot see heaven and hell.  Neither can we see angels and devils.  These all belong to a realm that is beyond our sight.  But all that is earthly and physical we can and do see.

     By sight is also meant that which to our observation and sense of reason seems to contradict that which God has revealed in His Word.  God has revealed many things in His Word that seemingly contradict the realities that we see daily.  For example, God promises that all things work together for good to them that love Him (Rom. 8:28).   Yet many things in our lives seem to work for our ruin.  This includes the loss of loved ones, sickness, poverty, and war. Then again God speaks of the resurrection of the body.  This seems to contradict all that we see about death and the grave.  God promises blessings upon the way of righteousness.  But repeatedly the way of obedience to God seems to be the way of disaster, or at best a way void of joy.  In that context, sight refers to the way we experience and see reality, often in contradiction to God’s Word.

     And then there is faith.

     Paul is talking about true, saving faith in Jesus Christ.  It is by faith that we are saved in Jesus Christ.  This is because faith joins us to Christ, in whom is all our salvation.  This faith is not something we have naturally.  It is sovereignly worked in us by the power of the Word and Spirit of Jesus Christ.  God works this faith in the hearts and lives of all whom He has ordained to eternal life.

     One of the elements of this faith is knowledge.  The Heidelberg Catechism describes this knowledge in Lord’s Day 7 as a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed in His Word.  As we have already mentioned, there is much that God has revealed in His Word that we cannot see.  And much that He says in His Word seems to contradict what we do see.  Faith is the gift of God to believe what God says to be true, even though we cannot see it and even though it seems to contradict observable reality. 

     This aspect of faith is emphasized in Hebrews 11:1:   “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  This passage speaks of the things for which we hope and indicates that they belong to the things not seen.  This is our future, heavenly glory.  Faith is the substance and evidence of these things.  Perhaps we could say that faith is the assurance and certainty of these things. 

     Such is the nature of faith. 

     It is necessary for faith to be this in order to lead us to Jesus Christ, the fountain of all our salvation.

     An important walk!

     One will either walk by faith or by sight.

     Your walk is your whole life.  To your walk belongs your inner thoughts and desires, as well as how these express themselves in your outward actions.  To your walk belongs also your goals and aspirations in life.  Your walk also includes the spiritual direction your life takes.  There are only two possibilities.  Your life is either headed towards God or away from God. 

     Your walk will be guided and determined either by faith or by sight.  Those whose lives are guided by faith are walking by faith.  Those whose lives are guided by sight will walk by sight.

     Let’s be more specific.

     And let’s begin with those that walk by sight. 

     They believe and hold for truth only that which they can see, and they refuse to believe that which they cannot see.  For example, they cannot see the God of the Scriptures, and so they refuse to believe in Him — although some, wanting to have a god of some kind, make gods that they can see and handle.  Those that live by sight often refuse to accept the existence of heaven or hell.  Nor do they accept the fact of the resurrection of the body.  They consider death to be the end of a person’s existence,  because that is all that they can see.

     In keeping with all this, those who walk by sight seek and strive for the things that they can see.  Heaven and the resurrection of the body into glory hold no attraction for them.  Neither does life with God.  They cannot see these things.  Neither do they desire them in Jesus Christ.  Their hearts are set rather on earthly riches, earthly fame, earthly power, earthly comforts and joys.  These things they can see.  These things they pursue. 

     In keeping with all this, those who walk by sight have little concern to walk according to the law and Word of God.  Yes, they do understand that to attain their earthly goals they must outwardly abide by some of God’s laws.  Due to the remnants of natural light left in them, they understand that no one can possess and enjoy the bounties of this life should moral chaos prevail.  And so there is a certain regard for outward morality.  Nevertheless, they are much inclined to cast aside the good laws of God when, according to their judgment, the law of God stands in the way of their having and enjoying the things they can see.

     Much different is it to walk by faith, so that one’s life is guided by faith.

     Those who walk by faith believe and hold for truth all that God has revealed in His Word, whether they can see it or not.  They believe that the God of the Bible is real, even though He cannot be seen.  They believe that there is life after death and that there is final resurrection to glory.  They believe in the existence of angels and devils.  They also believe the promises of God, even when they seem contrary to all observable reality.  When disaster strikes and hard times come, they believe the testimony of God that affliction is for their profit, even though they cannot possibly see what profit may come from their affliction.  As they struggle with sin, they believe the Word of God that the way of righteousness is always the way of blessing, and the way of sin is always the way of misery.  Never mind that God’s Word often seems to contradict observable reality.  God says it, and therefore they believe it!

     In keeping with this, those who walk by faith desire and seek to attain the great treasures that God sets before them in His Word.  They desire, above all, life with God in Jesus Christ.  They want that life now, but their ultimate hope is in the final resurrection into glory.  To that end they cling to Jesus Christ.  In Jesus Christ they seek reconciliation with God.  In Jesus Christ they strive to live a godly life, which is the only way to have and enjoy God.  All things earthly and visible are important to them only inasmuch as it serves their hope and aspirations with regard to eternal life with God.

     An important calling!

     The apostle Paul makes a statement of fact:  we walk by faith, not by sight. 

     What the apostle says is true.  The saints of God walk by faith and not by sight.  This is due to the fact God has given them the gift of faith.

     However, this is not true of them at all times and in all circumstances.  Often in the weakness of faith the saints walk by sight and not by faith.  

     Consider, for example, Abra­ham.  How often he walked by faith and not by sight.  By faith he left Ur of the Chaldees to go to a land that the Lord would show him (Heb. 11:8).   In the strength of faith Abraham believed God’s promise to make of him a great nation and give him the land of Canaan, even though God gave him no seed until the end of his life and not so much as one square inch of Canaan.  In the strength of faith Abraham also looked beyond the earthly Canaan to the heavenly Canaan (Heb. 11:9, 10).   Yes, Abraham walked by faith.  But then we see Abraham also walking by sight and not by faith.  Even though God promised to keep him in safety, twice Abraham forced Sarah to lie about her identity because he was afraid for his life. 

     Consider Jacob, whose great weakness was to run ahead of the Lord instead of waiting for the Lord to keep His promise.  This is because he lived too much by sight.

     Consider Thomas, who had to see the wounds of Jesus to believe that Jesus was risen, even though Jesus had told the disciples repeatedly about His impending death and resurrection.

     And we are no different.  In time of affliction we tend to live by sight and not by faith, so that we despair of God’s mercy.  In time of temptation we tend to live by sight and not by faith, so that we are much inclined to yield to sin.  And there is always the tendency among us to seek the things that are here below, rather than the things that are above.  We live by faith, but not perfectly.  All too often faith is pushed into the background of life by our sight.

     Live by faith and not by sight.

     This requires a strong, vibrant faith.

     This is possible only by diligent use of God’s Word, through much prayer, and by seeking the company and help of those who walk by faith.  

Editorial:

Prof. Russell Dykstra 

Movies — Not a Question (3)

    We have maintained the position that drama per se is wrong.  Since God abhors all worship that is not from the heart, He can only abominate the acting out of a Christian life, including, as it must, prayer and worship.  Moreover, the holy God can only be filled with wrath against those who take His law so lightly that they deliberately mime sin, or are entertained by such acting.

Drama and Literature

     The viewing of drama is not the same as reading a fictional story, or even a play.  Some have argued that if it is wrong to act, or to watch drama, then it must be wrong to read a work of fiction.  For, it is pointed out, literary works describe sinful thoughts, words, and deeds.

     However, that comparison between books and drama is invalid.  The principal reason is that books contain writing, not acting. No one is acting out sins of stealing, lying, or idolatry.  Even when holy activity such as prayer is included in the narrative, no one bows in pretended prayer to God.  That makes all the difference in the world.  It means that book readers are not participating in sinful activities, as the audience in a theater definitely is.  Reading good literature is certainly a valid activity for the Christian.

     It should be noted that another difference between a novel and drama is that drama has far greater power to glorify sin.  Now it is obvious that not every piece of literature is proper reading material for the Christian.  Western society is awash in vile writings.  Some stories do indeed glorify sin.  All too many authors today write with the intent of eliciting sinful thoughts and desires in the readers.

     However, the thinking Christian recognizes that such books are trash.  His righteous soul is vexed as he reads, and he soon closes the book.  Who has not pushed a partially read book away, because it contained more cursing than the sanctified mind could abide?  When every irreverent use of God’s name requires the God-fearing response of condemning the sin and of hallowing God’s name in his heart, the believer soon concludes that the book is not only unprofitable, it is abominable to him.

     Notice, though, that when a novel does include sinful acts or words, the reader can pause and ponder the dreadfulness of sin.  The regenerated heart recognizes the deceitfulness of sin and the destructive power of sin as it unfolds in the story.  Proper, sanctified reading demands this.  Clearly, it is sin to the reader if he approves the vengeance, or the stealing, or the rebellion of the characters in the book.  Yet, sanctified by the Word of God and prayer, books written by the ungodly can be received with thanksgiving (I Tim. 4:4, 5).

     On the other hand, with a drama, the viewer is not able to pause and contemplate the right response to the actions and words displayed — not at least until it is over.  Consider how impossible is a proper response, merely with regard to the sin of an actor taking God’s name in vain.  One who views the drama becomes guilty of violating the third commandment.  It is not sufficient after the movie is over to try to recall all the incidents of this sin in the movie and condemn it.  That would be not unlike a woman sitting in a restaurant who hears a man behind her curse, but she says nothing to the blasphemer.  However, after the man leaves, she concludes that the man sinned, and she should have rebuked him.  Too late by far.

     Likewise, the moviegoer has become guilty of violating the third commandment by his silence, by his failure to rebuke the actor.  Yet, violation of the third commandment is but one sin among the hundreds that will be acted out.  The drama carries the audience along to the end, stamping the images and sounds upon the soul of each viewer, even as it entertains through the sins portrayed.  Along the way, the moviegoer becomes guilty of the sins that he witnesses and — by his continued viewing — approves.

The Power of Drama

     The power of drama far exceeds the power of a book.  Much of drama’s force arises out of the fact that it appeals to both sight and hearing, two vital senses.  Virtually everything we learn or experience comes though our eyes or ears.

     Consider the importance of sight.  We believe what we have seen with our own eyes.  Movies make the actions, the lifestyle, and the message portrayed real, and thus believable.

     Additionally, we enjoy what is appealing to the eye.  Movies showcase attractive, well-dressed, well-coiffured men and women, and the pictures taken present them at their best.  Movies display for the eyes the glitter, the material wealth, and the ease of life of the rich and famous.  Countless hours go into creating the right background, and the special effects — from the gigantic fireball to the fantastic physical feats of the characters.  All to please the eye.

     Add to that the dialogue.  Although, from what I have read, much of today’s drama has degenerated to the level of the crude and the juvenile, yet the dramas of the Greeks and of such playwrights as Shakespeare contained much striking, even stirring speech.  Still today, the dialogue of drama is at least entertaining, and surely appeals to something in the viewers’ souls.

     Yet there is another element in movies often overlooked, namely, its music.  Music itself has a powerful effect on the soul.  In movies, music sets the mood for the action.  When anger is displayed on the screen, the music is violent.  When the chase is on, the music is swift.  When the script calls for romance, the quiet music sets the mood.

     The masterfully produced movie is arresting.  Watching the action, following the dialogue, and stirred by mood-setting music, the viewer, to a large extent, experiences the thrills, the terrors, the lust, etc. portrayed so realistically on the screen.

     The powerful effects of drama are well documented.  Numerous studies, for instance, have connected violent behavior in people of all ages, with frequent exposure to violence on television and on the silver screen.  Child psychology associations warn parents of the dangers involved in allowing their children to watch violent programs.  Music videos are particularly powerful, and vile.  The same associations caution that the common themes of such videos — violence, suicide, drug use, and perverted sex — have profound influence on the youths who watch them.  Other studies conclude that if you are after “romance,” you had best see a romantic movie on your date.

     One of the most frightening effects on people, especially children, is that after less than a minute of watching television, they progress into a state akin to one hypnotized.  They focus exclusively on the television, and readily accept the content into their souls.  Any parent who has tried to get the attention of his children who are watching television knows the truth of this.

     Does this drama affect behavior and set attitudes?  If it did not, companies would not spend untold billions annually on televised advertisements.  In addition, the government would not have banned television advertisements for cigarettes and liquor.  They know that it can create powerful desires, mold opinion, and change lifestyles.

     Let us face reality, fellow believers.  Drama is an extraordinarily powerful tool of Satan.  By it he is developing and promoting a culture that is anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-church.  He shows the world what is important in life — fun and money — and entices all to follow it.  He powerfully demonstrates “the good life” that all should be seeking for “true happiness.”  He makes the harlot to appear gorgeous and homosexuals normal. Rebellion of children is entertaining, even funny.  The workplace is for eight hours of perverted and crude talk, and the pursuit of sex (i.e., fornication).  The television is one huge propaganda machine, and astoundingly effective.

     Newscaster Ted Koppel once said that the modern day tower of Babel is the television antenna.  He is correct.  Television is uniting the human race by molding the thinking, the morals, and the opinions of men, women, and children all over the globe.  And the final product is vile indeed.

The Effect on the Christian

     But our primary concern is with the Christian.  What is the effect of the world’s drama on the soul of the believer?  Consider that the believer has a huge spiritual battle on his hands already. Not only does he have a host of enemies in the ungodly world and the fallen angels.  Every believer is also locked in a mortal combat inside his own soul — the spiritual battle between the old man and the new.  Paul captures this battle within the regenerated man in Romans 7:19 — “The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”

     This spiritual warfare is due to the two powers, two principles, within the believer.  He has the life of Christ planted in him.  Nonetheless, he is still prone by nature to hate God and his neighbor (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. & A. 5).  He confesses that he is “so corrupt that [he is] wholly incapable of doing any good and inclined to all wickedness” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. & A. 8, emphasis added).

     Do you, Christian reader, recognize the Heidelberg Catechism’s picture of yourself?  And do you experience that violent battle within between the power of sin and the power of holiness?  And do you not also cry out with the apostle, in Romans 7:25, “O wretched man that I am: who shall be able to deliver me from the body of this death?”

     Having done that, do you then willfully place yourself before the television set and drink deeply of the sinful poison of drama?  Will you sit and enjoy sins acted out, where the wages of sin is cleverly blocked out, or at least put in the shadows?  Where fornication is glorified, and has virtually no negative consequences?  Where God’s name is profaned repeatedly?  Where everything that is holy is held up for public ridicule, and all that is corrupt is approved?

     Worse still, fathers and mothers, will you rent the videos for the covenant youths — those even less experienced in spiritual warfare and thus more vulnerable?  And will you use the television to “baby sit” the little ones, God’s children, who sit mesmerized by the flickering images as the music carries the anti-Christian messages into their tender souls? God forbid!

     What devastation this works in the soul of a believer!  A man who indulges in viewing drama aids and abets the enemy within, his own evil nature.  He foolishly permits the devil and the world to flood his soul with all the wickedness to which he is already prone by nature.  The distressed cry of Romans 7:19, if it is heard at all, is but a faint echo in his soul.  He willingly surrenders to the enemy, to God’s enemy.

     You can be sure that this affects a man’s life.  Continued exposure to sin for the sake of entertainment wears a man down spiritually.  Initially he and his family are shocked or at least uncomfortable when the children in the sitcom openly mock their “parents.”  However, the discomfort wears off, and the disrespectful attitude rubs off.  If this sin is not checked, similar insolent behavior will appear in his own home.  By then, perhaps, he will shrug it off — all families are like that, the television reassures him, and the children will turn out fine.  He takes sin lightly.  Eventually he is unmoved by the blasphemy of his fellow workers — he hears the same on television frequently, perhaps nightly.  And how long will it be ere he is tempted by an attractive woman at work, and the way is open to adultery — but everyone does this, and, the television whispers, it is consequence free.  This is not to say that every man who watches movies regularly will yield to this temptation by committing adultery physically.  (Though we had better recognize that the just God can and does give over into this sin a man who seeks such sensual entertainment.)  However, even if a man does not physically commit the sin, on the one hand he has been polluted by watching the sins, and on the other he has made his own battle against temptation much, much harder.  The world’s drama cripples the new man within, hardens the heart, destroys covenant family life, and corrupts holy living.

     There is no question about drama — it is sin.  Sin incurs God’s righteous judgment.  Watching it makes one a partaker of the sins, gives strength to the enemy, and, but for the grace of God, results in spiritual ruin.

…to be concluded  

Marking the Bulwarks of Zion:

Prof. Herman Hanko

Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.

 Charles Darwin and Evolutionism

Introduction

One of the great battles in which the church is engaged today is the battle to defend the doctrine of creation against evolutionism.  If it were only secular and unbelieving science that promoted evolutionism as an explanation of the origin of the creation, the church would not be unduly threatened; nothing of any value for the church comes from unbelief.  But the church itself has sold out to this destructive heresy.  One cannot find a major denomination that has not made its peace with evolutionistic theory.  This is disturbing and unsettling, for it is hard to imagine how a church that confesses that its faith is found in Scripture can so cavalierly and wickedly sell its birthright for a mess of distasteful and inedible pottage.  But the fact remains true, and it brings the church that is faithful to Scripture into conflict with secular humanism, ungodly scientism, and apostate Christianity.  It is well, therefore, that we give some consideration to this subject of evolutionism and its evils.

Charles Darwin, Evolutionism’s Founder

     It is actually not correct to call Charles Darwin the “founder” of evolutionism.  Some thinkers prior to Darwin had already suggested that life developed here on earth through slow processes over long periods of time.  But their views were never widely accepted, partly because they were abstruse and difficult to understand, and partly because such thinkers had never given any good explanation of how such processes took place.

     Furthermore, Darwin’s theory did not spring from his head without other previously developed ideas by earlier scientists who profoundly influenced him.  An example of this, and probably a most important example, is Charles Lyell, who developed the theory of uniformitarianism.  I will discuss this idea a bit more later, for it enters into our discussion at critical points.

     Yet, Darwin popularized the theory, made it widely known, and gave the first explanation of how evolutionary processes take place.  He is, therefore, rightly given the credit for discovering evolution.

     Darwinian evolution, as it is sometimes called, has been modified a great deal since Darwin published his famous work On the Origin of Species.  To describe Darwin’s theory, therefore, is to open oneself to the criticism that Darwin’s views are outdated, that what he said is no longer applicable to evolutionistic thought, and that one who criticizes his ideas is purposelessly waving arms in the air.  Nevertheless, the fundamentals of all evolutionary thought are to be found in Darwin’s books, and we are interested in these articles in the fundamentals, not the details.  We deal, therefore, with Charles Darwin.

Charles Darwin’s Life

     Charles Darwin was born of Robert and Susannah Darwin on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.  His mother died when Charles was eight years old, and he was raised by his sister Caroline.

     Although he developed early an interest in collecting all sorts of things, pebbles, pieces of string, odds and ends found here and there, he was a very poor student in the local school in Shrewsbury.  His father sharply reprimanded him for his disinterest in his studies:  “You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.”

     The reprimand seemed to fall on deaf ears, even when Charles was sent to school in Edinburgh, Scotland to study medicine.  He failed his courses, far preferring to collect marine animals, go trawling with fishermen for oysters, and skin and stuff birds.

     In desperation, Charles’ father did what so many parents in similar circumstances did: he sent Charles to Cambridge to study for Orders in the Church of England.  He was destined to become a prelate in the Established Church.  Even here his professors left little mark on him, for Charles never did much studying, preferring rather to spend his time with his cronies riding and hunting.

     There was, however, one exception: one professor of botany sparked in Charles an interest in natural history.  This was to be a turning point in his life.  While continuing his careless or care-free ways, he did give himself to a diligent study of natural history, although much of his study was done on his own initiative.

     Charles succeeded in making himself so well acquainted with this subject that when a call went out for a naturalist to sail on a government-sponsored expedition to collect scientific data, Charles applied, and, with the help of others, managed to get the appointment.  In 1831, at the age of twenty-two, he sailed on the HMS Beagle to the coasts of Patagonia, Tuera del Fuego, Chile, Peru, and some Pacific Islands.  The five-year long journey of the Beagle brought him also to Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, and Brazil.

     It was while the ship was at the Cape Verde Islands that Darwin read Lyell’s writings and learned of the principle of uniformitarianism, a principle that was to form the foundation for all his theories.

     Darwin was extremely busy on the entire trip.  He collected specimens of species of all kinds: sea creatures, land animals, beetles, birds, vegetation, flowers, etc.  He also went on many long expeditions into the interior of the countries visited by the Beagle.  These expeditions were frequently dangerous, but, riding on horseback with others, he collected specimens of all kinds and indulged in his lifelong love, shooting.  Yet, when he discovered a poor bird wounded because his shot had not been fatal, he vowed never to shoot anything again, a vow which he kept.  During this long expedition Darwin wrote a number of books.  Most of his books have been forgotten.

     Returning from the expedition, Darwin worked for twenty years until, in 1856, encouraged by others, he began work on his On the Origin of Species.  He finished it in 1859 and it was an immediate success.  The first edition was sold out in a few months, and by 1872 six editions had been published.

     Darwin married and had ten children, two of whom died in infancy and one at the age of ten.

     Darwin died of an undiagnosed disease.  By a study of the symptoms that his doctors recorded, physicians today are sure that he died of Chagas Disease, an infection that involved extreme fatigue, heart blockage, and intestinal discomfort.  The infection was most likely brought on by a bug he caught while in South America.  He died on April 19, 1882 at the age of seventy-three.  The esteem in which he was held can be measured by the fact that he was buried in Westminster Abbey in London.

Darwin’s Views

     It is beyond the scope of these articles to explain and discuss the whole theory of evolution.  I am, in any case, unable to do that, for I have never had the opportunity to take the courses in science that one must take to learn the intricacies of this theory.  Nor is such a study necessary for our purposes.

     Darwin’s evolutionary theories were much more limited than today’s elaborate defenses and descriptions of evolution.  Darwin knew nothing of the so-called Big Bang theory, and was not, in fact, concerned with the universe prior to the appearance of life.  His work was limited to the development of life on our planet, from early and simple forms of life to later and more complex forms of life.

     Darwin was interested in explaining natural history, that is, the history of living creatures.  He was convinced that this history could be explained only in terms of natural development of lower and simpler forms of life into higher and more complex forms of life.  The question was:  How did this take place?

     Darwin’s answer was basically twofold.  The first principle he described was the principle of natural selection or, as it is sometimes called, “the survival of the fittest.”  By this principle, Darwin meant that creatures that possessed certain characteristics were best able to survive in a hostile environment, while creatures without those characteristics were less able to survive and quickly perished.  Those who survived were thus able to pass on to their posterity those characteristics that enabled them to survive the longest.  The result was a strengthening of these characteristics and a kind of improvement of the species, at least insofar as their ability to adapt to their environment is concerned.

     The second principle of Darwin’s theory was that new species could be produced by earlier species.  This, claimed Darwin, was possible partly because the stronger a species became through their ability to adapt to their environment, the greater was the likelihood that these stronger species would become new species.  But new species also developed because, over long periods of time, genetic mutations took place, which produced new characteristics in certain individuals in the species.  Mostly these changes were for the worse, and those who carried such changes soon perished.  But if these mutations or changes increased a creature’s ability to survive, they were passed on to the descendants, and gradually new species emerged.  Hence all living creatures developed from lower forms of life and, very far in the distant past, from one common ancestor.

     These ideas, found in his On the Origin of Species, are the basic building blocks of all evolutionary theory.

Darwin’s Atheism

     Such theory quite naturally led Darwin to abandon the Christian faith.  The Encyclopedia Britannica best describes Darwin’s spiritual decline.

  The former candidate for Holy Orders had come to see that the Old Testament, “from manifestly false history of the earth, … and from its attributing to God the feelings of a revengeful tyrant, was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos, or the beliefs of any barbarian.”  The New Testament did not fare any better, and he could “indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so, the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother, and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished.  And this is a damnable doctrine.”  The key to understanding Darwin’s thinking is his horror of the imposition of suffering — on slaves by their masters, on animals by men, and by “the clumsy, wasteful, blundering, low and horribly cruel works of nature,” as seen in the suffering caused by parasites and in the delight in cruelty shown by some predators when catching and playing with their prey.  If God is as almighty, omniscient, and possessed of inexhaustible compassion as He is painted, “it revolts our understanding to suppose that his benevolence is not unbounded.”  So Darwin became a reverent agnostic.  

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In His Fear:

Rev. Richard Smit

Rev. Smit is pastor of the Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada.

Daily Concern for the Churches

    Does a daily concern for the churches press upon your soul?

     In II Corinthians 11 the apostle Paul mentions many things that illustrated his faithfulness as an apostle.  Outstanding among them is the mark mentioned in II Corinthians 11:28.   In addition to those things that he mentioned in the preceding verses about his persecutions, perils, and painfulness (a long list to which he could have added much more), there was one mark of importance that proved his faithfulness as an apostle and a believer.  That mark, which weighed heavily on his heart and mind, was this:  “the care of all the churches.”

     Among all the things that mark you as a faithful officebearer or faithful believer, things which you have suffered for the sake of Christ, does this care of all the churches also weigh on your soul?

     The apostle Paul had a deep concern for the churches in which he had personally labored.  Because of his apostleship, he was concerned also for all of the churches established in the early New Testament.  He was concerned for the church of Jesus Christ as she was locally manifested in many different places and regions, each with its own unique set of circumstances and tribulations.  Ultimately, he had deep, spiritual concern for the church of Jesus Christ throughout the New Testament age until the final appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

     For the churches, Paul was full of godly concern.  His concern was not whether the churches were prospering in the world and whether they were making a name for themselves among men. Earthly prestige and earthly fame was of no concern to the apostle.  His concern was for the spiritual prosperity of the churches in the apostolic truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  His concern was that they resist the false teachers and heretics that beset the church with sly and crafty attacks.  His concern was also that the churches, and particularly the Corinthians, not backslide into the sins from which they had been delivered.  His concern was that they remain faithful, and that in their faithfulness they continue to prosper spiritually.

     This concern arose out of a true love for the churches.  Primarily, it was a love for Christ the Great Shepherd of the sheep, who with His own precious blood has bought us to be His sheep and who dwells in us by His Spirit.  The love wherewith Paul loved Christ was also the love wherewith he learned to love all the different and unique sheep that the Lord graciously gathers into His flock.

     Out of that same love, pastors, elders, deacons, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, teachers, young people, aged saints, and even covenant children are filled with a godly concern for all the churches.  That concern is for the catholic church of Jesus Christ wherever she is manifest in the offices of the church under the preaching of the Word.  We are concerned for our sister churches in Singapore.  We are concerned also for those churches with whom we have contact in other countries.  And, of course, we have a great concern for our own local congregations and for our denomination, the Protestant Reformed Churches.

     Essentially, that concern is no less than or any different from the apostle’s concern.  Our concern is that our congregations grow spiritually in the knowledge of the Reformed faith and in a godly life to adorn that faithful confession.  Our concern is that they maintain and rejoice in the preaching of Christ crucified and risen again as it reveals the wonder of God’s sovereign, particular grace.  We desire that our covenant children may prosper and grow up in the fear of the Lord. Our concern is that the wayward be rescued by our great Shepherd and be returned to the path of life.  We desire that our churches be preserved from apostasy and remain steadfast against temptations — temptations, on the one hand, to become radical or, on the other hand, to modernize and liberalize.  Our concern is that our churches may remain faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ through troubles, tribulations, and trials of whatever sort the Lord sovereignly brings upon us.  Our concern is whether we will have sufficient preachers for our churches and future generations.  Our concern is that we not only remain faithful to the Lord in our duty in our local congregations and on the mission fields, but also that we remain consciously aware of our total dependence upon Christ and our total unworthiness to be used by Christ as instruments for His cause and glory.

     As with the apostle Paul, according to II Corinthians 11:28, this concern for God’s church militant becomes for us a daily concern.

     The apostle compares this spiritual concern to a mob of people who surround a man on every side and begin to close in on him.  The result is that the man cannot escape the tightening press of the people. 

     Similarly, the concern of all the churches pressed upon the apostle’s soul from all sides.  The concern wrapped around his soul and held him in an inescapable grip.

     This was quite different from the other things he suffered according to II Corinthians 11.   Being stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, hungry, robbed, imprisoned, and slandered were very difficult to endure, but they did not last.  However, his concern for all the churches was with him daily and affected him constantly.

     Does not that care of all the churches affect you daily to one degree or another?

     After the officebearer makes his vows and takes up the work of the office, very soon there envelops his soul a heavier concern for the churches.  The care of the saints in the congregation and the concern for the churches become for the pastors, elders, and deacons, a unique and weighty burden.  Such a weight on the soul often causes sleepless nights and other physical effects.  Pastors carry that weight on their soul to the pulpit.  Saints in a congregation, deeply shaken by tribulation, bear the heavy weight of spiritual concern for the cause of Christ and His church in their midst.  Believing parents bear that weighty concern upon their souls when they think of their children after them and the increasingly wicked world in which their children must live.  As the day of Christ swiftly approaches, more and more acute becomes the concern for the gathering and preservation of that eternally chosen church of Jesus Christ here below.

     That concern motivated the apostle Paul to do two things.

     First, it motivated the apostle to instruct and admonish the churches.  For example, motivated by his deep concern for the churches, Paul admonished the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20:28 to take heed to the flock of God and to guard it against spiritual wolves.  Again, the apostle in II Corinthians 11:20-21 sharply exhorted the Corinthians not to turn again to their former sins of strife, tumults, fornication, and other sins, but to keep themselves in godliness and peace.

     Similarly, the concern for the churches ought to motivate us to instruct and admonish.  Office­bearers must lead and instruct the congregations in all the truth and the way of godliness.  Parents must act out of that desire for the future church’s spiritual prosperity by instructing their covenant youth to the best of their ability in the truth of the Reformed faith.  The wayward brother must be sought out and called to repentance.  This godly concern for the churches ought to motivate young men to seek the ministry of the gospel for a lifetime of faithful service to Christ and His church.  This deep concern is used by the Lord to impel His faithful servants to the pulpits each week to proclaim clearly, faithfully, boldly, and antithetically the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

     In a sermon on II Corinthians 11:28, Martin Luther similarly explained that Paul’s concern motivated him unto faithful admonition and instruction. Luther said,

  Paul would say: “I exert myself, I have a continual care, I urge and admonish constantly, that offenses and false doctrine may not invade and destroy my planting; may not violate and ruin weak consciences.... such is his vigilant anxiety to guard them from the tempter...” (p. 115, volume 4.1, The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 2000).

     Secondly, this deep, daily concern for all the churches motivated the apostle unto fervent prayer.  He took that godly care and cast it into the Lord’s hands daily (I Pet. 4:7).   For example, we find in I Thessalonians 3:10 that Paul prayed night and day exceedingly to see the Thessalonians in order to “perfect that which is lacking in your faith.”  At the end of that chapter, he offered up the petition for the spiritual prosperity of the Thessalonians.  This example illustrates Paul’s concern and prayers for all the churches.

     Likewise, we must bring our deep, daily concerns for the welfare of the churches before the Lord in prayer daily.  Only He has the strength to carry that burden and to carry us with that burden through our tribulations.  He has the mercy and grace to cause us to labor with that burden on our hearts.  He knows what we need to bear up under that weight because He puts that spiritual concern upon us.  He does that in order to make us more fervent in prayer to Him and more conscious of our total dependence upon Him to save His church by His grace alone. 

     In prayer, cast also this spiritual concern for all the churches upon the Lord because He cares for you.

     Will that concern be met by the Lord? Will the Lord grant prosperity to His church?  Will the Lord answer our prayer and bless our labors that are motivated by this deep concern?

     The answer is rather urgent, especially so when often the Lord sovereignly leads His church through controversy, strife, hard battles against false teachings and sin, persecution, perplexing tribulations, shortages of pastors, or through the sharp consequences of our sins.

     Our hope that the Lord will answer our prayers and bless our faithful labors is expressed in Hebrews 13:20-21.

  Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

     That prayer expresses both our concern for the churches, and also the foundation of our hope and of our prayer offered in light of that deep concern. 

     Our concern is that the people of God will do God’s will and keep His Word faithfully. 

     Our hope is that the blood of the everlasting covenant was not shed in vain.  The sheep of Christ have been purchased by His blood for His everlasting inheritance.  That shed blood of Christ guarantees that by His Spirit He will gather, feed, and protect His flock unto the end.  It assures us that Christ will in His mercy be pleased to gather and feed His flock, even by the faithful labors of His servants who labor in and out of this godly concern for His sheep.

     Because of Christ there is hope that God will bless and preserve His people through trial and tribulation, which is  the humanly impossible way of this life.   In His sovereign way and time, He will cause His people to experience the peace established by our Savior’s precious blood, the blood of the everlasting covenant of peace.

     This truth is reflected in Psalter 273, stanzas 2 and 5, where we sing in the fear of Jehovah:

O Lord, regard the prayer of those

Who love the walls of Zion well,

Whose hearts are heavy for her woes,

Who sad amid her ruins dwell.

The Lord has heard and answered prayer

And saved His people in distress;

This to the coming age declare,

That they His holy Name may bless.  

All Around Us:

Rev. Gise VanBaren

Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches.

The Sin of Gambling

    The evils of this present world abound and continually increase.  Wickedness has been present since the fall of Adam.  Perhaps there are truly no sins present today that have not been present since Adam’s time.  We see forms of these sins today as never before—but the sin is essentially that of pride.  It was so in Adam.  Man today, as Adam originally, will determine for himself what is good and what is evil.  The corrupted nature of fallen mankind is such that man chooses the evil—unless he sees that it might be harmful to him in his present situation.

     It is difficult to point to one or another of the evils about us and claim it is the worst of all.  There is the sin (and addiction) of drunkenness.  There is the sin of lust, together with the enjoyment of that through the drama of this world.  There is the sin of violence and the enjoyment of that vicariously through television and movie presentations as well as by video games and over the Internet.  There are other sins of addiction to which often even children of God succumb. 

     Then too there is the terrible sin of jealousy, envy, and the love of money.  This explains the rapidly growing evil, in our own day, of gambling.  Once, not so very long ago, public gambling was possible only in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Today there are gambling casinos in virtually every state.  Not only that, some of the states themselves have adopted games of gambling—supposedly to help pay for the cost of education of the children or to lessen the burden of regular taxation. 

     And, more recently, “Indian” tribes operate many casinos.  These have sought to build ever more and larger casinos.  A new “Indian” casino is planned for the area of Dorr, Michigan—just south of Grand Rapids.  Many of the citizens in the area oppose this.  Rev. Doug Kuiper, when still minister in the Byron Center (MI) Protestant Reformed Church, gave a public speech in opposition to gambling.  He emphasized the sin of this activity. 

     What about “Indian” casinos?  An article by Rich Lawry that appeared in the National Review, August 25, 2004, states:

  American Indians have always occupied an outsized place in our imagination, usually as a noble people at one with a pristine North American continent.  It’s time to upgrade the image.  Forget buffalo, eagle feathers, and tribal dances.  Think slots, Harrah’s and dirty politics.

  The California recall is providing the nation an intense education in contemporary American Politics, and high on the list of lessons is that Indian tribes have, lucratively, sold their souls to gambling and can buy off or defeat anyone who might want to stand in their way.  California tribes make some $5 billion a year in gambling revenue, and have poured more than $120 million into state political campaigns since 1998.  It’s much the same story across the country.

  It’s time to ditch the fiction of tribal sovereignty, and recognize the tribes for what they are: good, old-fashioned, all-American sleaze merchants and scam artists.  They should be fully welcomed into the American family like used-car salesmen, Hollywood, and telephone marketers.

  A 25-member California tribe, the Cabazons, kicked off the explosion of Indian gambling by winning a 1987 Supreme Court decision letting tribes run gambling operations that otherwise would violate state law.  Congress soon passed legislation saying that gambling must be allowed on reservations, and states should reach “compacts” with tribes over the details.

  In California, then-Gov. Pete Wilson was a tough bargainer with the tribes, so they took matters into their own hands: They spent tens of millions to pass two propositions opening the state to more Indian gambling, and they bought new Gov. Gray Davis ($1.8 million in tribal cash for his re-election last year), who cut a generous compact with them in 1999.  California is now on the way to becoming the West Coast’s Las Vegas.

  Indian gambling is an ill-disguised scam.  Some so-called tribes have 30 people or less.  They basically rent their names to Las Vegas casinos that run their gambling operations for as much as a 40 percent cut of the take….

     The article concludes:

  The ultimate answer to the Indian scam is to end the fiction of tribal sovereignty.  If tribes are sovereign nations, why are they allowed to interfere in U.S. elections by contributing huge amounts of money?

  When another sovereign nation, like China, pours money into U.S. politics, as it did in 1996, it’s a national scandal and cause for an FBI investigation.

  Sovereignty has not only allowed tribes to make an end-run around laws against gambling, but has perpetuated arbitrary third world-style government on reservations that makes it impossible for businesses to operate there….

     There appears to be some progress made against the growing evil of gambling.  In Michigan there was a voter-initiated law passed that limits this state’s right to introduce additional gambling games or casinos.  There must be a statewide voter approval as well as approval of the locality where such gambling would be introduced before the state can expand on its gambling plans.  The “Indian” casinos in Michigan supported this law—for it limits competition for them.  But—no matter.  The state has no right to be in the gambling business.  Worse: it seeks to induce its citizens to participate increasingly in the sin of gambling by means of intense advertising campaigns.

     In Lynwood, IL there also is an attempt to build a large Indian casino.  Area residents have sought to prevent this coming into their neighborhood.  It appears that they are having a degree of success.  In their local paper, the Northwest Indiana Times, November 23, 2004, David Mitchell writes: