the canadian reformed magazine volume 51, no. 12, june 7,...

The Canadian Reformed MagazineVolume 51, No. 12, June 7, 2002

Mass Band –March 23, 2002

The Canadian Reformed MagazineVolume 51, No. 12, June 7, 2002

The General Synod of Neerlandia 2001 decided to en-ter into a sister-church relationship with the Orthodox Pres-byterian Church (OPC). This decision did not come sud-denly or unexpectedly, because the Canadian ReformedChurches had been engaged in contacts with the OPCsince 1965 and had formally recognized the OPC in 1977.Subsequent Synods consistently maintained this recog-nition until the entering into a sister-church relationshipin 2001.

It is true that there were still some matters in which thetwo churches did not yet fully agree. But it was felt thatthese matters could continue to be discussed within the re-lationship as sister churches. The decision of Synod Neer-landia took into account that the confessional and church-political divergences had been sufficiently discussed andthat these did not form any hindrance to enter into thisnew relationship.

A serious allegationI mention this because I sometimes receive the impres-

sion that some of our members think that Synod 2001 in de-ciding to enter into a sister-church relationship with the OPCsimply ignored the divergences and bartered away importantbiblical truths and a good portion of our confessional Re-formed heritage.

In Reformed Polemics (March 10, 2002, Volume 6,No. 7) Pete deBoer agrees that the Lord calls us to unitywith all believers. Then he adds, “But when we cannot getthat done in the time frame we set for ourselves, we are notpermitted to compromise the truth and/or ignore significantdifferences. As an unhappy consequence to the hurry to es-tablish unity many have changed their understanding ofwhat the Church is.” This statement suggests that the fol-lowing has taken place:1) our churches have hastily placed practice before prin-

ciple; while

2) in the process the truth (about the church) has been com-promised; and

3) many have changed their understanding of what thechurch is.

We read also that many Reformed Christians have been“led to abandon the Scriptural norms they have adhered toand defended in the past.” This is a serious allegation.

It need not surprise us, then, that Pete deBoer calls for“a return, a reforming of our actions and thought patterns.”We are reminded of the 7000 faithful in Israel who had notbowed their knees to Baal. Bringing all this together, I am ledto the conclusion that entering into a sister church relation-ship with the OPC was an act of idolatry, bowing to the spiritof the age and not to the Spirit of the Scriptures. Quod eratdemonstrandum?

I want to take this allegation very seriously. If it is true,we have to heed the call to reformation. If it is not true,the allegation should be withdrawn, or at least put in aproper perspective.

“Church-gathering work”Pete deBoer writes in the same article that part of the

life of obedience is “to become and remain members of his[Christ’s] church-gathering work.” (italics mine, Cl.S). I donot recognize this expression from our confessions. We do

confess that we must join the “holy assembly and congrega-tion” and “maintain the unity of the church” (Article 28,Belgic Confession). This church is very concrete and visibleso that it can and must be joined. But to speak of joining

278 CLARION, JUNE 7, 2002

EDITORIAL

By Cl. Stam

The Evaluation of Divergences (1)

The General Synod of Neerlandia 2001decided to enter into a sister-church

relationship with the Orthodox PresbyterianChurch.

Where Christ leads in his church-gathering work, we must obediently

follow Him.

I now feel that the work of the brotherswho made this detailed evaluation of the

divergences in 1986 was not properly utilized.

Christ’s church-gathering work is rather strange. When I jointhe true church, I also am enjoined in Christ’s church gath-ering work.

This is not a minor issue or a splitting of hairs. JesusChrist gathers his church in the unity of the true faith (Hei-delberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 21, Q&A 54). We do notconfess to be and remain living members of Christ’s church-gathering work, but of his church. The two are not identi-cal. The usage of this expression should be clarified.

For it could very well be that by not entering into a sis-ter-church relationship with the OPC we compromise ourconfession and hinder Christ’s church-gathering work. In-stead of seeking and maintaining unity, we would thendeny it or break it. Where Christ leads in his church-gather-ing work, we must obediently follow Him. It seems to methat this was rather the conviction of the brothers at Synod

CLARION, JUNE 7, 2002 279

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IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial – The Evaluation of Divergences (1)

— Cl. Stam ............................................................278Treasures, New and Old – Trust in the LORD Always

— C.J. VanderVelde ..............................................281Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses and the Beginning of the

Reformation (Part 2) — R. Faber ................................282Press Review – 100 Years of Church and

Theology (Part 1) — J. De Jong ..................................285The Hi-liter — J. de Gelder ......................................287Mass Band March 23, 2002 — Liz DeWit ................289Press Release – ILPB ................................................290The Teachers’ College Seen Through Western Eyes

— Jane DeGlint......................................................291Letter to the Editor ....................................................292Our Little Magazine — Aunt Betty ............................294

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What’s inside?Synod Neerlandia 2001 offered ecclesiastical fel-

lowship to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Thisoffer was accepted by the OPC. Those who read theActs of Synod Neerlandia regarding the decision aboutthe OPC will take note of “the divergences.” This issomething which has generated some interesting dis-cussions in our circles. In his editorial, Rev. Cl. Stamexamines this matter and places it in the historicalperspective with which he is well acquainted.

Dr. R. Faber concludes his two part article on theninety-five theses of Martin Luther. He focuses partic-ularly on the matter of indulgences. Luther’s condem-nation of this matter could have cost him his life. Buthis fight was for the glory of God and the salvation ofsinners. Dr. Faber brings this home for us today bycoming to the pinpointed question: “Are we humbledby our sins, and is repentance a daily undertaking vis-ible in our lives? These questions were posed in thetheses, and they are relevant today.”

In his press release, Dr. J. De Jong passes on somekey points of speeches by Dr. W.G. de Vries of Zwolle,Holland, which were delivered in Australia. This is atwo part press release. It gives some good insights intothe theological developments in the Netherlandswhich led up to the liberation in 1944.

It has been a while since Rev. J. de Gelder submit-ted a Hiliter column. Thankfully we have one in thisissue. Rev. de Gelder highlights some of the interest-ing and important things going on in our churches.

We have in this issue our regular Treasures, Newand Old column, a brief introduction to the CovenantCanadian Reformed Teachers’ College in Hamilton,a press release from ILPB, as well as a letter to theeditor. Last but not least, we have a report on a MassBand Concert in Alberta, comprised of bands fromour schools in Alberta, British Columbia and Mani-toba. This was a monumental undertaking with trulyamazing results.

RA

Neerlandia. This conviction did not come overnight, nor wasit hastily done, but had grown through many years (1965-2001) of discussing and evaluating divergences that existedand some that continue to exist.

Report receivedGeneral Synod Burlington 1986 was presented with a

report commissioned by a previous Synod in which the di-vergences with the OPC were evaluated. I leave out of dis-cussion now the peculiar background and history of that re-port, for I am more concerned with its contents. But wemust take note of the function of this report.

Synod 1986 only “received” this report. It was not atthat time “adopted.” As far as I can remember, Synod 1986did not want to accept this report as the final doctrinal state-ment about the matters under discussion. There was fearthat an adopted report could come to lead a life of its ownas a fourth Form of Unity or another “declaration of princi-ples.” Therefore Synod carefully chose the word “received.”At the time, I agreed with that choice.

Synod Lincoln 1992 specifically dealt with the word “re-ceived,” and noted that this word was used in 1986 becausethe evaluation of the divergences was not “adopted as fi-nal.” The same Synod admitted that this report containing theevaluation of the divergences was “neither refuted not re-jected.” In other words, this report on the evaluation of thedifferences between the Canadian Reformed Churches andthe OPC was not to be seen as final and irrevocable, but it didhave some standing, for it was never thrown out.

It is kind of strange, is it not? Here we have a commis-sioned report which in great detail evaluates the diver-gences between the Canadian Reformed Churches and theOPC, and which is “received” but not adopted, never ac-cepted and yet never rejected. Thinking about this later, Iconcluded that we made a faux pas.

Synod Abbotsford 1995 also touched on the status of thisreport and it was again observed that no one had ever atany Synod challenged the conclusions of this report. Finally,Synod Neerlandia 2001 referred to the report on the evalu-ation of divergences when it said, “In light of the fact thatseveral of our Synods have explained that the various di-vergences cannot be obstacles to ecclesiastical fellowship. . . it is appropriate to come to ecclesiastical fellowship”(Acts, page 49).

A crucial report and detailed evaluation, presented in1986, never refuted, was finally applied in full measure, fif-teen years after its inception, in 2001.

No hurry at allI must conclude from the above-mentioned facts that

our churches were never in a hurry to establish unity withthe OPC. At least, the suggestion of a hasty decision isdisproved by the length of time we took to come to aproper relationship. I must also conclude that on the wayto this unity, there was no unbiblical change of thinkingabout the church among us. The 1986 report guided usclearly in the right biblical and confessional direction! Ihope to come back to this point in a later article. Perhapsthis report can be reprinted in Clarion or made available inseparate format.

I readily admit that during all these years of study, re-flection, and discussion, I have come to understand somethings differently. For one, I now feel that the work of thebrothers who made this detailed evaluation of the diver-gences in 1986 was not properly utilized. I should have in-teracted more with the contents of this report. Therefore Iwant to devote some editorials to this report, the Lord willing.

Semper reformanda.


Rev. Cl. Stam is minister of the Canadian Reformed Churchat Hamilton, Ontario.

By nature we are inclined to trustin ourselves and to lean on our ownunderstanding. We want to be themaster of our own lives, without re-gard for God. That was precisely thesin of Adam and Eve, our first parentsin paradise, who were led to believeby the devil that they could rely ontheir own understanding and live in-dependently of God. Ever since thattime, the call has gone out to trust inthe LORD and acknowledge Him ineverything that we do.

Of course, the text does not meanthat we may not use our understand-ing since God gives us the gift of un-derstanding for use in his service. TheBook of Proverbs shows clearly thatman should use his understanding todevelop skills and get ahead in life.The text says that we may not lean onour own understanding and rely on itas if we ourselves can chart the courseof our lives. Someone who leans on acane to get around depends on thatcane; it is his support. The LORD, how-ever, does not want us to depend onour own insight, but instead He wantsus to depend on Him.

Notice that the text speaks abouttrusting in the LORD, thereby usingGod’s covenant name. We are toldto trust in Him who has made an eter-nal covenant of grace with us andhas promised to provide us with allgood and avert all evil or turn it to ourbenefit. Throughout the history of re-demption, the LORD has been faithfulto his covenant promises. At the full-

ness of time, the Father sent thepromised Saviour and thus the foun-dation was laid for covenant fellow-ship. Christ is our wisdom from God,that is, our righteousness, holinessand redemption (1 Cor 1:30). Thewisdom of God pertains to that whichno human mind could conceive,namely, salvation through JesusChrist! Therefore, in every other as-pect of life too, we should not relyon our own understanding.

Our faithful covenant God asksfor the response of faith from us! Thisinvolves a radical demand: “Trust inthe LORD with all your heart. . . ; in allyour ways acknowledge Him. . . .”The LORD is telling us that He wantsour undivided hearts. Yet, it is a dailystruggle for us to place all our trust inGod because we so easily fall into thetrap of relying first on ourselves andon God for only a few areas of ourlives. Sometimes we think and act as ifGod is for the soul and the rest is ourbusiness. This is far from the truth!Rather than being removed from dailyaffairs, God is so involved that Heeven knows the number of the hairson our head (Matt 10:30). God wantsus to recognize that He has an ab-solute claim on our lives and that wemust acknowledge Him in everythingthat we undertake. Just as it is insultingto someone when we ignore that per-son and do not acknowledge his pres-ence, so it is insulting to God whenwe ignore Him and do not acknowl-edge his presence in our lives. The

LORD wants us to ask what is right andpleasing according to Him, therebyacknowledging that we are dependenton his help in everything that we do.

Sometimes we look at people wholive without God, and we think thatthey are managing just fine. Perhapsit even looks attractive to live like theydo, without regard for God and with-out any apparent limitations. But theBook of Proverbs points out that liv-ing without God is self- destructiveultimately since “The LORD ’s curse ison the house of the wicked, but Heblesses the home of the righteous”(Prov 3:33).

When we trust in the LORD andacknowledge Him in all our ways, wewill be rewarded because the LORD

will make our paths straight. This doesnot mean that life will be free of prob-lems. In fact, sometimes life seems asif it is full of zigzags and detoursbrought about by various adversities.Yet, through it all, the LORD is work-ing out his plan of salvation for ourlives. As the Apostle Paul says, “. . .in all things God works for the good ofthose who love Him, who have beencalled according to his purpose” (Rom8:28; cf. Heidelberg Catechism Lord’sDay 1). We will arrive at the goal forour lives: blessed fellowship with Godin glory!


TREASURES, NEW AND OLDMATTHEW 13:52

By C.J. VanderVelde

Trust in the LORD Always

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5, 6

Rev. C.J. VanderVelde is minister ofthe Canadian Reformed Church atYarrow, British Columbia.

In the first part of this article we con-sidered what caused Luther to write theninety-five theses. Luther’s motivationwas a new insight into the gospel ofsalvation by grace alone through faith inthe atoning sacrifice of the Lord JesusChrist. The misunderstanding of thisdoctrine of justification resulted in theformation of the sacrament of penance,according to which the sinful believercould purchase the remission of sin. InTheses One through Twenty-five Lutherargued that penance is not a sacrament,but a conversion of the heart that leadsto a permanent change in behaviour.He also questioned the foundation ofpurgatory and the extent of the pope’sauthority. In this second installment weshall summarize the remaining theses,and consider also the immediate con-sequences which their publication hadfor Luther and the church. We shall seethat the publication of the theses sig-nalled the start of the Protestant Refor-mation. Lastly, we shall note that thesubstance of the theses remains relevantfor the church of today.

Good worksIn response to Luther’s criticism of

the sale of indulgences in the firsttwenty-five theses, the question mayarise, why were indulgences so attrac-tive? In Theses Twenty-six throughTwenty-nine Luther answers by statingthat the sale of indulgences is basedupon human greed, and not on theproper desire to perform good works.The church was abusing the practiceonly for its own financial benefit. Thereis no biblical basis for this “sacrament,”and Thesis Twenty-seven states thatthey preach only human doctrines whosay that as soon as the money clinksinto the money chest, the soul flies outof purgatory.

In Theses Thirty-one through Forty-seven, Luther argues that people erro-neously believe that indulgences are tobe preferred over deeds of charity; butthe purchase of indulgences cannot becompared to works of mercy, and it isbetter to give to the poor than buy let-ters of remission. Christians are to betaught that he who gives to the poor orlends to the needy does a better deedthan he who buys indulgences (43).Here Luther points back to the first the-sis, in which we learn that repentanceimplies a complete lifetime of regret forsins and working for the glory of God.Here for the first time Luther asks thequestion, what constitutes a good work?

Or, what is the relationship betweenbeing saved and performing suchworks? We see again that while theimmediate point is a comparison ofbuying indulgences and lending to thepoor, the larger implication is that goodworks are performed only from faithwhich God in his grace grants to us.The later impact – by faith alone –would deal a serious blow to thechurch’s teachings of good works.

The gospelAnother issue in the Reformation

that is broached in the theses is the im-portance of the preaching of the gospel,something which the Romanist churchhad obscured. In Theses Fifty-three toFifty-five Luther complains that the

proclamation of the gospel was beinghindered by the preaching of indul-gences. They are enemies of Christ andthe pope who forbid altogether thepreaching of the Word of God in somechurches in order that indulgences maybe preached in others (53). Injury isdone the Word of God, when, in thesame sermon, an equal or largeramount of time is devoted to indul-gences than to the Word. (54) Thesetwo theses, and several others, respondto the stipulation in Albert’s instruc-tions that sermons were not to be heldin a town while the indulgences werebeing preached there. Of course, theaim was to prevent any competitionfrom hindering the sales. Yet Lutherknew that the true treasure of thechurch is the most holy gospel of theglory and grace of God (62). Duringthe middle ages the notion had devel-oped that the work of Jesus Christ and ofsome saints was so effective that acts ofgoodness had been stored up by thechurch in a kind of treasure-house.From this bank, if you will, one couldpurchase good works in the form of in-dulgence letters. Luther responds tothis teaching with the assertion that themost valuable possession of the churchis the Word of God. The proclamationof the gospel of grace is the true treasureof the church, and it cannot be replacedby the bank of indulgences. In the re-maining theses Luther addresses theabuses in the preaching of indulgences(67-80) and recounts the critical reac-tion to the trafficking of them (81-95).

Consequences:As we consider the consequences of

posting the theses, we note first that theimpact which they had was muchgreater than their contents suggest.Luther himself was surprised at their


Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses andthe Beginning of the Reformation (Part 2)

By R. Faber

Luther argues thatpeople erroneously believethat indulgences are to be

preferred over deeds ofcharity.

effect, for he had not conceived them asan attack against the church or thepope. Luther’s letter to the archbishopand his own later reflections reveal thathe wished to correct the misunder-standing of the indulgences.

Regardless of Luther’s intention, thetheses had considerable impact. Inpart this was due to the recently in-vented printing press, which served tospread the theses in German translationquickly among people who alreadywere disenchanted with the church.More importantly, those who read thetheses, both common people and theclergy, saw that there was a lot moreto them than appeared at first sight.They realized that the logical conclu-sions to many theses directly opposedthe teaching of the church about thesacraments, purgatory, the power of thepope, forgiveness of sins, righteous-ness, and satisfaction.

Also Luther’s own thinking pro-gressed between 1517 and 1518. Lutherwas reading Hebrews at the time, andas you know, this book speaks espe-cially of the doctrine of Christ and hisredemption. He was assured that therighteousness of Christ is not acquiredby our own works, but imputed throughfaith worked in the heart by the preach-ing of the gospel. Luther’s understand-ing increased from a reaction to thegood works of indulgence to a realiza-tion that all satisfaction is obtainedonly by the great high-priest. A sermonentitled On Indulgences and Grace,published in 1517, shows how Luther’sthinking was developing, for in one sen-tence he removes the links betweencontrition, confession, and satisfaction.God punishes sin, the sermon con-cluded, and no human has the power orright to remit it.

The Heidelberg Disputation (1518)As a member of the Augustinian

order of monks, Luther had to answerto his fellow priests and superiors, andin April 1518 he was called to defendhis teaching. When his supportive su-

perior, Johann von Staupitz, called themeeting, he advised Luther to treadsoftly by focussing on the doctrines ofsin, grace and free will. At the timepeople did not realize that by ques-tioning the efficacy of penance, theNinety-Five Theses had anticipatedalso a criticism of the church’s teachingof these important doctrines. So wemay say that yet another consequenceof publishing the theses was that Lutherhimself was forced to take the nextlogical steps in applying Scripture toother teachings of the church. He pre-pared another twenty-eight theses forthe disputation at Heidelberg. And inthem Luther develops the teaching thatsinful man is incapable of performinggood works. To give only one example,the third thesis posits that “although theworks of man always seem attractiveand good, they are nevertheless likelyto be mortal sins.”1 Papal indulgencesdo not effect reconciliation with God.To support this thesis with Scripture,Luther quotes Psalm 143:2, “Enter notinto judgment with thy servant; for noman living is righteous before thee.”Luther argues that since the works ofman are mortal sins, salvation cancome only by the grace of God, whichis revealed in Christ. He argues furtherthat God reveals Himself to manthrough the passion and the cross ofChrist; it is only by faith that this act ofatonement can become part of the lifeof the believer. We see that in this de-bate the impact of the theses is beingfelt, for now the consequences of theirconclusions were expressed.

This debate was important also forthe influence the Ninety-Five Theseshad upon others, for many of theyounger Augustinian monks and those

partial to the evangelical cause wereconvinced of the truth of Luther’s ar-guments. Most notably affected wasMartin Bucer, the reformer of Stras-bourg and later acquaintance ofCalvin. He was impressed by the bib-lical evidence Luther adduced, by hiscourtesy and willingness to listen, andhis courage. The influence of the the-ses was spreading.

The Hearing at Augsburg (1518)It is not surprising to learn that Pope

Leo X reacted differently to the Ninety-Five Theses. In October 1518 the Ro-man Council began an official trialwhen it sent cardinal Cajetan, the pa-pal legate, to examine Luther at Augs-burg. Luther went there knowing thatthose who are declared heretics faceburning at the stake. Briefly put, atAugsburg Cajetan ordered Luther torecant his errors and to recognize pa-pal authority. The interrogation wasfruitless; Luther left before decisionswere made about him, and quit thecity before he could be arrested. Thuswithin a year of the publication of thetheses, a rift developed between thepious monk Luther and his superiors inthe church.


He was assured that therighteousness of Christ isnot acquired by our own

works, but imputed throughfaith worked in the heart bythe preaching of the gospel. By January 1521 the

pope excommunicatedLuther from the church, anact which forced the seculargovernor, emperor Charles

V, to consider burningLuther at the stake.

Martin Luther

The conflict between Wittenbergand Rome escalated, and in the fol-lowing year, 1519, Luther debated withthe Romanist theologian, John Eck inLeipzig. Now Luther had the boldnessto develop what was already implied inthe theses, namely that the authority ofthe pope was limited to being a hu-man institution without divine right. Healso declared that the councils of thechurch had erred in the past and woulddo so again. Thus, like the authority ofthe pope, the power of the church issubject to the Bible. By the end of theyear Luther also explained thatpenance was a non-biblical sacrament.In short, the impact of the theses wasthat Luther now drew the logical con-clusions to many of them, and cham-pioned sola Scriptura.

In response to Luther’s daring de-velopment of the theses, the Romanistchurch quickened the process againsthim. In June 1520, Pope Leo X issuesan official decree stating that he willexcommunicate Luther unless he re-cants within sixty days. He also ordersthe burning of all Luther’s writings, towhich the reformer responded byburning copies of the canon laws andthe papal decree, thereby making thebreak with the pope and the RomanCatholic church. By January 1521 thepope excommunicated Luther from thechurch, an act which forced the secu-lar governor, emperor Charles V, toconsider burning Luther at the stake.He ordered Luther to appear beforehim for a final hearing in April of 1521,at the city of Worms.

The Diet of Worms (1521)The Diet of Worms in 1521 may be

seen as the climax of events started by

the publication of the theses, and itdemonstrates the impact which theyhad. At this meeting, emperor Charles Vasked Luther two simple questions: 1.Are you the author of the works whichled the pope to excommunicate you?2. Are you prepared to withdraw any-thing in them, and so to recant yourteaching? Luther’s books had been piledon the table, and Luther’s assistant re-quested that their titles be read aloud.Luther responded that the books on thetable and as read off were indeed his,and that he had possibly written a fewmore. After reflecting for a day upon thesecond question, Luther said that sincethe matter concerns his own faith, thesalvation of his soul, and the Word ofGod, he could not recant. To quoteLuther, “unless I am convinced by thetestimony of the holy Scriptures or byevident rational grounds, for I do nottrust the pope or the Council alone(since it is well-known that they oftenerred and contradicted themselves), Iwill be bound by the scriptural passagesI have quoted. My conscience is captiveto the Word of God, and I cannot anddo not want to recant anything becauseit is neither safe nor right to go againstconscience. I cannot do otherwise, hereI stand. May God help me. Amen.”While Charles V consulted about thepenalty for Luther, the reformer re-ceived a special escort from Worms to asafe place where his life would not bethreatened. The emperor proceededwith his edict, declared Luther a heretic,and made him an outlaw. However,Frederik the Wise, being a powerfulruler in the empire, did not act on theedict, and Luther – who had been takento the safety of the Wartburg castle,could continue to promote the reform of

the church. While there would be manymore developments, we may say thatthe edict of Worms represents the finalbreak between the Wittenberg reform-ers and the Roman church.

ConclusionWhat, we may ask, does it benefit

us to know and remember what hap-pened on October 31? Or, what is therelevance of the theses and their impactfor reformed people today? The mainpoint of Luther’s theses was that indul-gences may not be considered a sacra-ment of total forgiveness; while modernProtestants have little difficulty in ap-preciating this, they may be inclined tothink that outward actions have someefficacy or arise from one’s own moti-vation. In other words, are we not in-clined to create rules and requirementswhich, when we keep them, give us thefeeling that we have satisfied God? Itwas not for nothing that the first thesisread “When our Lord and Master JesusChrist said, ‘repent,’ he willed the en-tire life of believers to be one of repen-tance.” Are we humbled by our sins,and is repentance a daily undertakingvisible in our lives? These questionswere posed in the theses, and they arerelevant today.

On the other hand, do we adoreGod sufficiently for the grace that Hehas shown in sending his only Son? Dowe acknowledge our inability to do anygood, and realize the necessity ofChrist’s intercession? To put it differ-ently, do we have true faith, the firmconviction and knowledge that Christhas died not only for others but also forme? It will be clear, I think, that whenwe commemorate the Reformation weshould not merely recall what God per-formed in history, but see the importanceof his deeds for us as individuals and asa church today. As reformed believers,therefore, let us continue to reform ourlives according to God’s will.

1H.J. Grimm, ed., Luther’s Works (Phila-delphia, 1957), Vol. 31, p. 39.


Are we humbled by oursins, and is repentance a

daily undertaking visible inour lives?

Dr. R. Faber is professor and chair ofClassical Studies at University ofWaterloo.

The Diet of Worms 1521

The Free Reformed Study Centre inArmadale, Australia invited Dr. W.G.de Vries of Zwolle, Holland, to give anumber of guest lectures for their soci-ety. These lectures found their way intothe Australian magazine Una Sancta,and we gladly pass on the text of thespeeches for the benefit of our Cana-dian and American readers.1 The firstspeech covers in a overview the lasthundred years of theological develop-ment on the continent, and also offersDr. De Vries’ perspective on the devel-opments of church life among our sis-ter churches in Holland:1. We live at the beginning of the

Twenty-first Century. Behind us liesa century in which there was morechange than in all the centuries be-fore. Whereas the Nineteenth Cen-tury began with the invention of thesteam engine, in the Twentieth Cen-tury breathtaking inventions weremade and applied. Think of the de-velopment of the motor car, aircraftand the computer. Micro-technologyis spectacular and continually offersnew possibilities. Bear in mind thatGod placed all these possibilitiesinto our world at its creation, but ittook thousands of years for people todiscover and employ them. And stillthe end has not yet come. Have wecome to the end of the ages in thiscentury? ( 1 Cor 10:11 ).

We also ask ourselves this ques-tion when we consider the progressand the development of theology,the study or doctrine of God. Doc-trine invariably influences life, alsochurch life. In this area, too, therehave been, so to speak, spirituallandslides. Whereas in the Nine-teenth Century most Dutch peoplewere baptized, that has drasticallychanged during the Twentieth. Itcould even be argued that theNetherlands should now be re-garded as a mission field. Wholegenerations have no notion what-

ever of God and his Word, a situa-tion to which modern theology hasmade a major contribution.

2. These spiritual rapids are connectedwith the influence exerted on manby the modern media. Everythingenters our living rooms via radio andtelevision. Modern theology playsan important role in this, at any rateon those who are still receptive tothis type of information, for themasses are only interested in breadand games, that is, in entertainment.

Now it is remarkable that thedevelopments in theology are notreally as new and renewing as theyhave been made out to be. All man-ner of old heresies were served upduring the Twentieth Century asnew and fresh, but in fact they wereold and stale. So, not modern.

Not modernThe roots of this theology go back

to the Seventeenth, Eighteenth andNineteenth Centuries. Un-limitedconfidence was placed in human rea-son and so those parts of the Biblethat could not be grasped by so-called common sense were scrapped.Especially at the beginning and dur-ing the course of the Nineteenth Cen-tury the contents of the Bible weresubjected to critical scrutiny from ahistorical and literary angle. Thus thecontents of the Old Testament wereexplained in terms of the Eastern en-vironment in the time when it waswritten. German scholars, especially,

did their utmost to demonstrate howthe Old Testament was derived fromheathen myths and customs. Soarose, for example, the “Babel-Bible”controversy which hinged on thetheory that the old Babylonian leg-ends exerted an enormous influenceon the Bible.

Then it was claimed that thestory of Israel’s journey through thedesert did not tally at all. For exam-ple, the critics gloatingly pointed tothe building of the tabernacle, inwhich much use was made of cop-per. They claimed that the Israelitescould not possibly have got hold ofthat copper, and that, even if therehad been copper in those days, theywould have been unable to use itbecause of the exceptionally hightemperatures required to melt it. In-numerable people in the NineteenthCentury were completely taken inby this sort of criticism. Fortunately,our ancestors at the time of the Se-cession were not! But at the begin-ning of the previous century coppermines from the time of the ancientEgyptians were discovered in thearea through which the Israelitespassed. And in the sand remnantswere found of furnaces containingnumerous air holes through whichthe desert wind could blow, thusfanning the fires to extremely hightemperatures. Of course, on thispoint the reliability of the Bible storywas quickly re-accepted. The pointof this example is to show that Biblecriticism is not “modern” at all. Infact, it is already centuries old.

Neither modern nor theologyWe cannot actually speak of the-

ology here either, for theology is lit-erally “the doctrine of or about God.”It is our conviction that this branch ofstudy, to be worthy of the name, maymake God the object of its investiga-tion only if it respectfully recognizes


PRESS REVIEW

By J. De Jong

100 Years of Church and Theology (Part 1)

All manner of oldheresies were served up

during the TwentiethCentury as new and fresh,

but in fact they were old andstifled – hence, not modern.

that it deals with God who has re-vealed himself and insofar as He hasrevealed himself. But that is justwhat modern theology generallyrefuses to accept. According tomodern theology the Bible does notcontain any divine revelation, butis the result of human experience. Itis a matter of men according mean-ing to God. And the meaning ac-corded to Jesus by the New Testa-ment is merely the product of thefirst Christian communities. So theBible contains human, historicaland religious writings that need tobe examined critically.

Hence in the state universitiestheology is part of religious studies.The world religions are studied,and Judaism and Christianity aregiven a place among them. Theterm theology is therefore incor-rect. Anthropology – the study of(the writings of) religious people in avariety of cultures – would be amore accurate description of thistype of study. It is apparent then thatthe term “modern theology” de-scribes something that is neithermodern nor theology.

But modern theology did haveenormous impact on its surround-ings. That is the reason why the The-ological College was established inKampen in 1854. Its primary aim wasto counter the aggressive influence ofan all-destructive Bible criticism.

In connection with this it is ofmore than just anecdotal interest tomention the fact that on the occa-sion of the establishment of the The-ological College a telegram was re-ceived from Professor J.J. vanOosterzee of the state university ofUtrecht, quoting Exodus 3:2 “the(bramble) bush was not consumed.”But what does one of the spiritualoffspring of the founders of the sameTheological College write about thisvery same bramble bush one and ahalf centuries later? “What it wasobjectively that Moses saw we don’tknow. We don’t even know if therewas anything apart from whatMoses thought he saw.” Thus wroteone of the compilers of the reportGod met ons (God with us) whichthe Synodical Reformed Churchgrafted on to Bible criticism, thus re-ducing God’s revelation to the sub-jective experience of Moses.

Disintegration3. Abraham Kuyper and Herman

Bavinck were two of the chief op-ponents of Biblical criticism at thebeginning of the Twentieth Century.They defended the reliability ofGod’s Word. In America, too,where biblical criticism had greatinfluence these men gave all sorts oflectures demonstrating the reliabil-ity of God’s Word. This led to thedevelopment of “Bible-believingchurches,” which however disinte-grated into all sorts of denomina-tions, without confessions andchurch orders. Everyone couldchoose the group or church they feltmost comfortable with provided itwas “Bible-believing.” This subjec-tive attitude to life spread to theNetherlands, especially through theagency of the evangelical radio andtelevision broadcaster “EvangelischeOmroep.” Church expelling the re-formative unity is replaced by one-ness of heart. We will return to thispoint later.

Three trends4. In outlining the developments in the

Reformed Churches in the first halfof the Twentieth Century we candistinguish three trends.

Kuyper and Bavinck had offeredstrong opposition against Bible crit-icism and had written powerful the-ological works. But their followersthreatened to become fossilized indogmatic subtleties. They particu-larly ran the risk of canonizingKuyper’s one-sidedness concerningcommon grace, the church, thecovenant and baptism.

In opposition to this conservativetrend the so-called “critical youth”movement arose. They wanted tobreak open the shutters of thechurch which separated it from theoutside and were nurtured by largelyunreformed doctrines. They wished,for example, to assess the contentsof the Bible in the light of currentopinions and scholarship. In thisway the scholarship of the day be-gan to prevail over the Bible. To

this movement belonged Dr. J.G.Geelkerken who was deposed fordeviating from Scripture by theSynod of Assen in 1926.

Beside this modern trend a thirdtrend emerged which enthusiasti-cally snatched the Word of God andthe relevance of the Confessionsfrom the clutches of fossilization.This movement produced, for ex-ample, the Korte Verklaring – thewell-known Dutch Bible Commen-tary series – and also promoted thestudy of Calvin and other reform-ers, and a preaching which takesinto account the history of redemp-tion. A refreshing wind began toblow through the churches.

However, many theologians, es-pecially those at the Free Universityof Amsterdam disapproved stronglyof deviations from accepted currentopinion regarding Abraham Kuyper.Most vocal in their opposition werethe Professors H.H. Kuyper and V.Hepp. They were responsible forlodging complaints at the Synod ofAmsterdam in 1936. Hepp wrotefour articles with the alarming title“Looming Deformation” and H.H.Kuyper alleged that the just-men-tioned third trend promoted moreserious heresies than those con-demned by the Synod Assen 1926.This led to a proposal to appointdeputies to examine and assess de-viations from current opinions.

To cut a long story short: as aresult of all this the Synod of Utrecht1942 made a series of doctrinalstatements which led to a split in thechurches and so to the origin of theLiberated churches.

In short, it all amounted to theright wing and the left wings of theReformed Church expelling the re-formative wing. As a result of this theleft wing gained great influence andbegan to overshadow the conserva-tives. That became very clear after theSecond World War with the growingand continuing Bible criticism in theformer Reformed churches.

1Here and there I made a few stylisticchanges in view of our North Americancontext.


Dr. J. De Jong is principal and pro-fessor of Diaconiology and Ecclesiol-ogy at the Theological College of theCanadian Reformed Churches inHamilton, Ontario.

According to moderntheology the Bible does not

contain any divinerevelation, but is the result

of human experience.

Rockingham (W. Australia)In some churches it is practice that

before the worship service the servingelder leads the consistory in prayer. Myown experience is that in the Nether-lands this is done in most of thechurches, whereas I found that inCanada only a few churches maintainthis practice. I don’t know how this isin Australia, but in Rockingham this wasobviously not done. But that haschanged, at least somewhat:

It is requested that the duty elderlead the consistory in prayer beforea worship service where there is adisciplinary announcement to bemade. By doing this we will placeour concerns before the Lord andseek strength for the minister tomake the appropriate announce-ment. It is agreed that this will be apractice which will commence im-mediately. Such a prayer will alsotake place under special circum-stances such as a death within thecongregation, or other tragic event.

Not a bad idea, although I think thatwith a rule like this you may run into theproblem to determine when specialcircumstances are special enough towarrant this special prayer. Not a nicething to discuss three minutes beforeyour worship service starts.

Burlington EbenezerThe Foundation for Superannuation

is set up to support the churches in pro-viding for their retired ministers. Some-times questions are being raised as towhether the present structure of thisFoundation provides the best way to dothis, also when the number of retiredministers will increase. In BurlingtonEbenezer a small committee was ap-pointed “to investigate other optionsfor the Superannuation Fund to assistthe churches.” We are curious to seewhat the result of this study will be.

OrangevilleA new initiative in Orangeville:A proposal was tabled to give a one-year subscription to Clarion as awedding gift to all newly marriedcouples who will be members of

our congregation after their mar-riage. This proposal was adopted.

I assume that this gift is not going to re-place the traditional wedding Bible,but that it is an addition. As such I thinkit is an excellent idea to stimulate thereading of this kind of material amongour young members. By the way, why isthis privilege only for the couples thatstay in Orangeville? Or is it perhaps acreative way to make them stay?

Grand ValleyIn Grand Valley’s bulletin Rev. P.

Aasman wrote about a peremptory ex-amination Classis had to deal with:

The examination will continue tillbeyond mid-afternoon. It will in-clude the delivery of a sermon pro-posal, and then examinations in OldTestament and New Testament ex-egesis (interpretation of the Bible),church doctrine, and six other ar-eas. You are encouraged to come.You will not be alone, as there willbe others too. It is a sort of celebra-tion of all the things that we aschurches find important.

That’s an interesting way of putting it. I amnot so sure if the candidate who had toundergo this pretty rigorous and exhaust-ing exam has experienced it as a “cele-bration.” Perhaps the examiners did!

Grassie and GlanbrookThings are moving along in the Nia-

gara Peninsula. Less than a year ago twonew churches were instituted in that area,and one has already a minister, whilethe other is busy with building plans, af-ter purchasing a property in Grassie.Praise God for his many blessings.

AncasterThe Church at Ancaster has great fa-

cilities and is now ready to beautify theoutside of its building:

The proposal of the AdministrationCommittee to install a decorativecross to the exterior of the north-west wall of the church buildingwas adopted. An alternate proposalfrom a member of the congregationto install the familiar fish symbol tothe exterior of the church buildingwas also given consideration. Theconsistory agreed that the fish is as

fitting a Christian symbol as thecross. One of the practical aspectsnoted was that the shape of the ex-terior wall lends itself better to thecross symbol than the fish symbol.

Something designers of future CanadianReformed church buildings should keepin mind, I guess. What do you want: a fishor a cross, or perhaps something else?

LincolnInteresting food for thought was pro-

vided by the consistory in Lincoln:In last week’s bulletin there was anannouncement giving some moreinformation concerning the Educa-tion Tax Credit. This announcementalso advocated joining the Provin-cial PC Party in order to vote in theirupcoming leadership election.Keeping in line with Art.30 of thechurch order (“Ecclesiastical Mat-ters”), the consistory does not en-dorse certain politicians over others.Therefore, as such, this announce-ment should not have been printed.

First of all, it’s good to realize that Arti-cle 30 of the Church Order does notspeak in general about “ecclesiasticalmatters.” It does not even define what“ecclesiastical matters” are. It only saysthat Ecclesiastical assemblies shall dealwith no other than ecclesiastical mattersand that in an ecclesiastical manner. Ithink that it means that the consistory isnot supposed to make it an official con-sistory decision to promote a particularpolitician or political party. But I ampretty sure that the Lincoln consistorydid not do that. It was only a privateannouncement in the bulletin.

That leads to the next question: doesevery (requested) bulletin announce-ment have to be an “ecclesiastical mat-ter” as meant in Article 30 CO? The re-ality is that I come across manyannouncements in our bulletins that arenot dealing with ecclesiastical matters inthat sense at all: choir concerts, potluckdinners, car rallies, volleyball tourna-ments, craft sales, and you name it.

You could still call these things “ec-clesiastical matters,” mind you, but notin the sense of Art 30 CO. More as anindication that these things are of gen-eral interest for the members of thechurch. In this way you can still make


THE HI-LITER

By J. de Gelder

News from Here and There

a distinction between, let’s say a Cana-dian Reformed car rally, and a Rockconcert in town.

Now, politics is probably a moresensitive topic than all the other things,but that was not the reason given whythe announcement should not havebeen printed. That reason was “it is notan ecclesiastical matter,” and thus itwas not in line with Art 30 CO. But Art30 CO does not speak about the bul-letin. Is not our problem here that wecan make “ecclesiastical matters” aswide or as narrow as it suits us?

And so, the question is actually: isit wrong to endorse in the church bul-letins certain politicians or political par-ties over others? Since we tend to dis-agree vehemently on political issuesand preferences it may not be a wisething to do if you want to keep thepeace in your congregation, but it iswrong? I would not know why.

If you think about it, even a consis-tory could get directly involved in po-litical matters. Imagine that a brother orsister, perhaps not through the bulletin,but in private conversations, was ac-tively recruiting members for a com-munist party or nazi party – would aconsistory do something and take astand, or ignore it on the ground that en-dorsing certain politicians over othersis not an ecclesiastical matter?

There is in the Acts of the GeneralSynod of the Reformed Churches in TheNetherlands of 1936 an interesting arti-cle (art 272) where the Synod deals withthe membership of Nazi organizations(and similar groups). The conclusion isthat members of the Reformed Churchesshould not participate in those organi-zations. If they do, they should be ad-monished, and – if they refuse to change– be put under discipline. Now that is anecclesiastical matter in the full Art 30sense of the word!

You could even go a step further,and wonder whether a consistoryshould not be more proactive some-times in dealing with what people call“political issues.” I think that the divid-ing line is not always that clear. Politicalissues are often also ethical issues, orhave at least ethical implications thatshould be judged and responded to inthe light of Scripture. No one deniesthat, but who should do it?

Recently we see some renewed ef-forts to rekindle interest in political mat-ters by reviving the ARPAs. That is great,especially to get more people involvedin political activities. But why can aconsistory not speak out in public tomake the biblical position of the churchknown on particular developments in

our society? It can only back up thebrothers and sisters that get their handson experience in an ARPA.

I realize that these contemplationshave led us far from Lincoln’s bulletinnotice. Sorry, brothers, but that’s how itgoes. Food for thought and one thoughtleads to another.

KerwoodSince we are in phase 2 in our rela-

tionship with the United ReformedChurches, many churches are activelyseeking ways to implement the possibil-ities of growing toward greater unity.Some churches are farther ahead thanothers, but even for a powerless churchthere is hope. Read what Rev. Slaawrote a while ago about what hap-pened in Kerwood, when on a Sundaymorning it was discovered that thechurch was without power:

Further, the consistory saw fit to en-courage the membership to worshipat the United Reformed Churchnearest them. Most of the familiestook up this suggestion. It was ablessing to be hosted by our broth-ers and sisters in the Lord. We arethankful that this opportunity wasgiven to us by the Lord, and may it,too, serve in our efforts to work to-ward unity.

Without power we may be ready forunity even before the originally sug-gested target year 2004!

Surrey - Maranatha A few interesting points gleaned

from council meetings in Surrey:The “repeated” signing of the Sub-scription Form is brought into dis-cussion. The rationale behind thisis the parallel situation of theparental vows that are made at Bap-tism, for each and every child bornto parents. The Form for Infant Bap-tism asks each and every time,whether or not the parents will “in-struct the child in these things. . .”. Itis concluded that the SubscriptionForm should therefore continue tobe signed each and every time, as itis a safeguard against any changein attitude of office bearers in thisbroken creation.

Although the similarity with the parentalvows at infant baptism is not quite clearto me, the last sentence says it all. In-deed, as long as we don’t have elders forlife, signing after every ordination is theproper way.

Here is something else:The corresponding clerk was in-structed to write to the Board of Gov-ernors of the Theological College in

Hamilton with the request they movethe College evening in September2002 to a Fraser Valley location.

That would be an interesting develop-ment. Who is next? Australia? One finalthing:

A question is raised about how ourChurch address list appears to havebeen passed on to a local Deli. It isnoted that neither Council or Consis-tory has ever condoned this practiceand it is hoped that however this hap-pened, that it will not be repeated.

The church should at least have re-ceived a percentage of the profit thisDeli-owner made by using the church’saddress list.

LangleyOne can unearth interesting things

when you dig into matters of liturgyand worship. Rev. Visscher from Lang-ley wrote:

Recently, and especially during thefeast days, we did something thathappened earlier in the days of ourlate beloved pastor, the Rev. D.VanderBoom. What did we do? Wedid some modified antiphonalsinging in that not everyone sang atthe same time.

From the reactions received thatwhile many of you appreciated this,some of you did have your questions.Is it right to do this? Is it not biblicalto have the entire congregation singevery song together all of the time?

All of this drove me back to thebooks and I have to say that I cameback more convinced than ever thatreal antiphonal singing is biblicaland desirable. Take a close look atthe Psalms 15, 24, 118, 134 and oth-ers. You will soon see that they aremeant to be sung antiphonally. It iseven to be regretted that we havesomehow strayed from this practice,as well as some of the other musicalpractices of the ancient church.

So where does that leave us?Surely it leaves us with a need to read,reflect and discuss these matters.Study the Psalms, the books of Kingsand Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah.Also pick up a copy of a book writtenby Dr. K. Deddens called Whereeverything points to Him and read es-pecially chapter 12 called “An-tiphonal Singing in Worship.”

Definitely something that will get you think-ing, and so I leave you with this advice.

Till the next time.


Rev. J. de Gelder is minister of theFlamborough Canadian ReformedChurch in Ontario.

Sometimes we receive the opportu-nity to experience a foreshadowing ofthe praise that will resound in heavenand on earth in the day of our Lord.

On March 23, at the Ellerslie Bap-tist Church in Edmonton, dreams be-came reality as all the instruments ofPsalm 150, in the hands of more than200 students from the school bands ofWestern Canada, united in praisingGod. Present were: Credo ChristianHigh School Band from Langley, B.C.,directed by Heres Snijder, Instrumentsof Christ from Neerlandia directed byMrs. Davida Tuininga, Parkland Im-manuel Christian School Senior and Ju-nior Bands from Edmonton directed byKent Dykstra, Tyndale Christian SchoolBand from Calgary directed by OttoBouwman, Coaldale Christian SchoolBand directed by Mrs. Elsie Eelhart, Im-manuel Christian School Band fromWinnipeg directed by Mrs. GrietjeGortemaker, and Dufferin ChristianSchool Band from Carman directed byAndy Huisman. All these bands haveput in enormous effort and extensiveplanning in order to be able to partici-pate in this event.

Our thanks go to Grace VanDasse-laar, Davida Tuininga, and Sonja Van-Leeuwen and their husbands and toKent Dykstra for their excellent organi-zation of this event.

The idea of a Mass Band Concertoriginated at Mass Choir 2000. Subse-quently band directors engaged the sup-port of parents and began the fund rais-ing required to achieve the goal.

The Friday practice took place inParkland Immanuel Christian School.Those who have attended a sym-phony concert would have recog-nized the pre-concert pattern. Stu-dents sauntered in, picked up theirinstruments, put reeds into theirmouths, and turning to a specific partof some arrangement where they feltinsecure, played through a sheet ofmusic. Slowly a cacophony of sound

and rhythm built as each studentworked on a different section orpiece. Sudden silence fell as the di-rector entered and raised his baton.

The concert was held at EllerslieBaptist Church, almost filled to its 1000seat capacity. Kent Dykstra opened theconcert with thanks to God, a themethat was at once enlarged by audienceand band as together they opened withPsalm 100:1, 4 proclaiming the faith-fulness of the Lord, a faithfulness dis-played before us as we saw our youngpeople, gathered from across the west,sitting together in the front with theirinstruments.

Grietje Gortemaker led the MassBand in its opening piece “Rudimen-tal Regiment,” featuring drums andbrass followed by Mrs. Elsie Eelhartwith “Hang on Sloopy,” a studentfavourite. “Spring Fever” conducted byHeres Snijder, used drumming, ashaker and cymbals to convey to usthe restlessness and pent up energy ofpeople in spring.

Alberta bands combined to pre-sent “Trumpet Voluntary,” a piece thatset our fingers tapping. “Entrance of

the Tall Ships” played by Edmontonand Neerlandia, conjured images ofmajestic ships approaching and enter-ing a safe haven. “Ave Verum Corpus”from Neerlandia, “Rockin’ Rondeau”and “A Choral Prelude” from Edmon-ton were played by junior bands whichbegan practicing this school year,some in a regular band class, some asan extra-curricular activity. Theirprogress was amazing.

Winnipeg’s band presented a med-ley of psalms and hymns followed by“Anasazi,” reminiscent of a NorthAmerican tribe. The selections endedon a light note with “Old MacDon-ald’s Band.” Carman utilized contrastwith its energetic “Dyno Rock” and itslyrical “River Grove Reflections” wherethe flutes led us to the river and showedus the beauty of creation in the reflec-tions on the water. Following “Sousa!Sousa! Sousa!” a rousing piece, theWinnipeg and Carman bands played“Dorchester,” a concert march and“Rustic Overture.”

British Columbia’s band startedwith “Instant Concert,” a medley oftwenty-five familiar tunes, and “Ballet


Mass Band – March 23, 2002By Liz DeWit

Music from Faust” which highlighteddifferent sections of the Credo Christ-ian Band. This section followed with“Resounding Praise,” a rendition ofPsalm 150 played by the band, sungby the audience and envisioned byCredo art classes. “When You Be-lieve” combined band and singingtalent against a backdrop of studentand computer generated art. The bandended with “Father’s Footsteps,” rem-iniscent of the war and oppression,relating also to the grief, hope andtrust expressed by Habakkuk. The au-dience joined with this band in thesinging of Hymn 10.

The freewill offering of $2000 wasdesignated for the Canadian ReformedWorld Relief Fund.

The final portion of the programconsisted of Mass Band pieces. “LibertyOverture” conducted by Andy Huis-man built from a slow, peaceful openingto a joyous expression of freedom inter-woven with a second theme stimulatingus to be active. Beethoven’s “Joyful,Joyful” conducted by Kent Dykstra builtto a majestic climax of joy. Two piecesremained, “O Canada” and Hymn 65.Words cannot describe the strength, theconviction and the celebration of this“O Canada.” It was glorious. For all thiswe thanked our God with the playing

and singing of Hymn 65. Andy Huismanled us in thanksgiving prayer.

Now it is past. That wee bit of ap-prehension has been replaced with theglow of accomplishment and of newfriendships. Names of people in otherbands have become faces, personali-ties, fellow players, friends. “Great” and“awesome” were the words sponta-neously springing up again and again.Communion of saints has become amuch larger concept.

It was indeed a privilege to be thereand, already, we are looking forward tofuture performances. Some day we willplay, sing and listen with even greaterglory, on the day of our Lord.


PRESS RELEASE

Press Release of the meeting of theBoard of Directors of theInterLeague Publication Boardwith the AdministrationCommittee held on April 12, 2002

Brother E. Vanderlaan opened themeeting with the reading of 2 Timothy3. The agenda was adopted. We arecontemplating moving the Administra-tion Committee out of London to an-other location where there might be a

bigger pool of volunteers to serve onthis committee. Next on the list forprinting is: Believe and Confess Vol. 1,an outline on the Belgic Confession byRev. C.G. Bos, 1 & 2 Timothy, a workbook by Rev. D.G.J. Agema, The Bride’sTreasure and To the Praise of His Glory,an outline on the Canons of Dort byDr. J. Faber, and The Lord and Giver ofLife, an outline on the work of the HolySpirit by A.N. Hendriks. Sales are up ap-

proximately $6000 from last fiscal year.Marketing is still done by sending reportsto local church representatives. ILPB hasexpanded their advertising to includevarious Reformed publications. Our bud-get was presented and approved. Ourbook inventory is currently valued at ap-proximately $57,000. The Policy Man-ual will be updated. The Press Releasewas approved, and brother J. Schoutenclosed in prayer.


No matter where we live, sooneror later our spot on the map turns intothe centre of the world. Our place ofresidence folds around us like a com-fortable coat. We live in it. We get usedto it. It determines how we view the restof the world and what we notice in it.We become interwoven with our geo-graphical location and its views.

The Canadian and American Re-formed churches are spread out over avery large terrain. They are so far apartgeographically, that there is lots ofroom for the formation of more thanone centre of the world. However,these churches are often convenientlygrouped into “East” and “West,” withthe assumed boundary located on theborder between Manitoba and On-tario, and roughly down south fromthere. (This order reveals my westernfocus. Easterners would call this sameimaginary line the border between On-tario and Manitoba.)

The church members in the Westmake their home in the youngest part ofthe country. Their towns and cities areonly about a hundred years old, if notyounger. They never see impressivecathedrals or stately brick farmhouses.They do not miss them either. They arehappy in their own setting of vastruggedness and relative simplicity.

They also show the fierce indepen-dence that characterizes youth. Likethe East, they come together to studytopics of vital importance to congre-gational living; yet they are not aslikely to contact a professor of theTheological College to see whetherhe is willing to share some of his in-sights for an evening. Since it takes afair bit of planning to have a professor

speak out west, Westerners draw fromsources closer to home. When teach-ers (principals) in the West encounterunusual situations or complicatedproblems, they are more likely to findsolutions on their own, while schoolswhich are closer to “where the sunrises” might conceivably seek feed-back from Covenant Canadian Re-formed Teachers’ College. This con-tact occurs somewhat naturallythrough the personal and professionalties that connect the college to the “lo-cal” schools.

To me fell the privilege of discov-ering the world of Covenant CanadianReformed Teachers’ College as a rep-resentative from the West. Walkinginto the college building I entered aterritory which I knew existed, butwhich I had never felt around me likea coat.

As I learned my way around, Imade several discoveries indeed. Thiswas a veritable college, with very ca-pable instructors, highly motivated stu-dents, a well-organized board, an ex-tensive resource centre, and astunningly efficient secretary.

However, through the discovery ofthese practical components the veilwas lifted from a much loftier truth. Asfaculty and students apply themselvesto the daily task, they uncover the richtreasure trove of the Reformed faith.They study the Bible, they learn thedogmas, they test the spirits, they sub-mit to the Word. But they do more.They find the connections betweentheir belief and the different practicalcomponents of their studies. As a resultthey learn to apply the Reformed faithto their lives. Of course, this happens

in varying degrees in different people.But as the students learn the beauty ofthe Reformed faith, they integrate theirconvictions into their lives. They be-come Reformed teachers.

As I write this down, my Westerncoat starts tugging at me. It gently andinoffensively reminds me that I knowmany Reformed teachers who onlyhave a distant acquaintance with Re-formed teachers’ training. In truth, it isbeyond doubt that there are more waysthan one to learn how to teach Re-formedly. Conversely, all those whograduate from “Covenant” may not infact become Reformed teachers. Themost important qualification for trulyReformed teachers is their willingnessand ability to apply their faith as theyteach the youth of the covenant.

And, of course, in the West we areused to making things work. It is ourway of life. But this fierce independenceshould not close our eyes for betterways out. Our independence may befierce, but so is the battle of the spirits.The deceiver is constantly trying to at-tack the church. What better way to doso than subtly misleading the teachersof the youth. In order to stand unitedon the spiritual battle line, teachersfrom the East and from the West candraw from and contribute to the workat the Reformed Teachers’ College.

It is our challenge to give thisshape. And when I say “our,” I meanboth centres of our North Americanworld, and conceivably beyond that.As we share our riches, the treasurewill multiply.

The Teachers’ College Seen ThroughWestern Eyes

By Jane deGlint


To the editor:It is with great interest that I saw

the response of Margaret and JohnHelder to the series of articles by Dr.Oosterhoff on Reformed approaches tofaith and science issues. The creation-evolution debate has been a longstand-ing interest of mine, and I teach acourse at Dordt College that examinesin detail both the theological and sci-entific aspects of this debate.

I applaud the efforts of the Heldersto point out that Christian scientistshave done their work to see God’s wis-dom and glory revealed in the thingsHe has made. Further, I appreciate theircriticism of the rules of secular sci-ence, which allows only naturalisticexplanations of the world. Thus by asecular definition of science, any su-pernatural explanation of creation isdismissed as being unscientific. Chris-tians, on the other hand, confess thatGod has worked in supernatural waysin creation, and they see the evidenceof design in creation.

However, the Helders seem to havemissed the point of Dr. Oosterhoff’s ar-ticles. Her articles were not a criticismof creationism per se, i.e., that super-natural events were used by God inthe creation of this world and that nat-ural processes are insufficient to ac-count for the complexity and diversityof living organisms. Dr. Oosterhoff’scriticisms were directed to the particu-lar brand of creationism espoused bymany in the North American (not Eu-ropean) Reformed tradition, includingthe Helders, namely Creation Science.The Helder article frames the debateas Creation Science versus naturalisticevolution, with no other options. TheHelders appear not to have taken toheart Dr. Oosterhoff’s comment, “As aresult, the impression is left that scien-tific creationism is the most appropriateand indeed the only means to fight ananti-Christian evolutionism.” By leav-ing exactly that impression, the Heldersimply that Dr. Oosterhoff supports evo-

lution. This is not true, as Dr. Oosterhoffclearly indicates in her articles, and it isdisingenuous to imply such a thing.

Further, the Helders claim that,“Dr. Oosterhoff . . .implies that Chris-tians should not derive any conclu-sions from nature, either based on bib-lical evidence or not.” Again, thisappears to be based on a misreading ofDr. Oosterhoff’s articles, where shewrites, “. . . Bavinck acknowledged thelimitations of human knowing, con-fessing that not only in science but inall fields of learning, including theol-ogy, we know only in part. He did so,however, without lapsing into an atti-tude of skepticism or relativism. Thefact that human knowledge is not ex-haustive did not mean for Bavinck thatit cannot be true, reliable, and suffi-cient.” (third article). Thus the Helders’claim that Dr. Oosterhoff suggests that“. . . we should ignore much of the nat-ural world” is mistaken.

On the contrary, a Reformed ap-proach to science clearly expects to de-rive some truths from observations ofthe world. The Helders correctly quotePsalm 19 and other Bible passageswhich indicate that God’s wisdom andpower are evident in the world aroundus. We also confess in the second arti-cle of the Belgic Confession, that Godmakes Himself known to us by the cre-ation, preservation and government ofthe universe. This is why it is utterlyconfusing and self-contradictory whenthe Helders state that, “. . . both evolu-tion and creation views were meta-physical or matters of belief.” Further,they refer several times to the “cre-ation model,” implying that scientificdata can be interpreted either by a cre-ation model or an evolution model.This is made more explicit in the sec-ond article, in which the Helders givetheir explanation of “how scienceworks.” In this article, they discuss theuse of paradigms in science. The con-cept of a scientific paradigm was pop-ularized by Thomas Kuhn in his essay“The Structure of Scientific Revolu-

tions” (University of Chicago Press,1962). As the Helders explain, a scien-tific paradigm is a comprehensive wayof understanding the natural world.One might define a paradigm as beinga scientific worldview. A paradigmneed not be completely correct, andKuhn shows that scientific revolutionshave involved the rejection of one par-adigm for another, which better ex-plains the data. The Helders call evo-lutionism a scientific paradigm, and Iwould agree. Most scientists operateunder the presumption that evolution isa fact, and it is very difficult for themto understand that their foundationalassumption may be incorrect.

While there is value in thinking interms of paradigms, there is also a dangerin taking this too far. Since a paradigmis just a model or a framework for understanding, it doesn’t necessarilyrepresent reality. However, Christianscientists operate under the knowledgethat what they are observing is real, be-cause God is revealing his power andwisdom in what he has made. TheHelders claim that since Creation scien-tists operate under a different paradigm(a Creation one), they can interpret thedata differently from an evolutionist.This implies that one’s philosophicalposition makes all the difference inhow one interprets the data! TheHelders quote Dr. John Byl (with ap-proval), who says that one can alwaysconstruct a model which is consistentwith one’s own paradigm. In a sensethat’s true, but often these explana-tions are rather contrived. For exampleit is still possible to explain our solarsystem mathematically by the Ptole-maic (earth-centred) system. But thatclearly is not the simplest or mostlikely explanation.

But wait a minute! Does this meanthat the data mean nothing, becausethe only thing that’s important is one’sstarting presuppositions? Of course not!The heavens declare the glory of Godto unbelievers as well as believers, butthe unbelievers wilfully refuse to

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acknowledge it (Rom 1:21). Similarly,scientific research gives us truths, butwe may not always acknowledgethem. For the Helders to claim thatscientific data can be equally ex-plained by two different paradigms isrelativistic thinking and inconsistentwith Psalm 19 and Romans 1. Eitherone or the other conclusion is consis-tent with the data, or else there are in-sufficient data to resolve the issue.The problem with Creation Science isthat it simply ignores conflicting dataand acknowledges only the data thatis consistent with their position. Is thatgood science? Scientists must be ableto admit that their paradigm and hencetheir interpretation of data are still ten-tative, something the Creation Sciencemovement seems unwilling to do.Thus while wrongly accusing Dr.Oosterhoff of denying the ability todraw conclusions from nature, theHelders do that very thing!

In this vein, it is interesting thatthe Helders quote Paul Nelson andJohn Mark Reynolds (with approval)in their definition of the recent cre-ation position. In the same article (inThree Views on Creation and Evolu-tion), Nelson and Reynolds, whiledefending their recent creation posi-tion, candidly admit that, “Naturalscience at the moment seems to over-whelmingly point to an old cosmos”(page 49). Thus, according to Nelsonand Reynolds, the weight of the scien-tific evidence is against the recent cre-ation position. By this admission, Nel-son and Reynolds freely admit thattheir science and their theology are inapparent conflict. Can we accept sucha situation? Can God’s two books con-tradict each other? To deal with theseapparent conflicts, the Helders suggestthat, “Those [scientific theories] whichdo not meet traditional Christian crite-ria, must be rejected.” This soundsGod-honouring, but the Helders makeone important but unacknowledged as-sumption. They are assuming that their“traditional” interpretation is abovescrutiny. The Helders correctly state (inthe context of observing nature) that,“All we can do is make tentative con-clusions based on the evidence wehave.” Not only should conclusions bemade using all the scientific evidence,but such tentativeness is also calledfor in biblical interpretation.

It would be good for Clarion readersto understand that the Creation Sciencemovement is not based on Reformedtheology, as Dr. Oosterhoff has clearly

shown. On the contrary, it derives fromthe Seventh Day Adventist theology ofEllen White and the fundamentalistcomponent of American evangelical-ism. Neither of these approaches doesjustice to the richness and originalmeaning of Scripture, particularly thefirst chapter of Genesis. This is not tosay that the Creation Science peopleare not valuable allies in the fightagainst evolutionary naturalism. In re-cent years they have made a concertedeffort to clean up the shoddy sciencewhich plagued the movement in thepast. Scientists with legitimate creden-tials work for organizations like An-swers in Genesis and the Institute forCreation Research. However, their ap-proach to Scripture and their method ofdoing science are not in line with Re-formed thinking and thus Creation Sci-ence should be viewed with cautionby Reformed believers.

Dr. Tony JelsmaSioux Center, Iowa

Reply to Dr. JelsmaDr. Jelsma summarizes the most im-

portant difference between himself andcreation advocates: “Not only shouldconclusions be made using all scientificevidence, but such tentativeness is alsocalled for in Biblical interpretation.” (lastsentence of second to last paragraph).Really? Does he really mean that wemust be prepared to revise our under-standing of Scripture? . . . on the basisof what? Many Christians of liberalviews advocate revising our under-standing of Scripture on the basis of ourcurrent views of science. Dr. Howardvan Til, Professor Emeritus of CalvinCollege, is a case in point here.

We ask Dr. Jelsma. Were living or-ganisms separately created in theirkinds within the space of six normaldays? We say yes. Were Adam and Eve

real people with no ancestors, wholived only a few thousand years ago?We say yes. Was there a real world-wide flood? We say yes. These are notissues of “Reformed” or not Reformed,they are what the Bible teaches. If othergroups come to similar conclusions,that is O.K. We will not discard ourposition on that irrelevant account.Based on a literal reading of Genesis,we interpret the data from nature.

Concerning less significant issues,Dr. Jelsma concludes that we suggestthe evolution and creation models areequally valid. What nonsense. We donot imply that the creation model andevolution model are equally valid,only that, when God’s work is not rec-ognized, secular scientists have nochoice but to interpret nature in termsof matter and process alone. This isclearly different from the creationbased approach.

Dr. Jelsma also insists that CreationScience ignores data. This is exactly theopposite of our approach and intent.Later he says that we assume the “tra-ditional” approach to be abovescrutiny. Indeed, indeed. Our criteriafor interpreting origins issues is firstlyScripture and secondly, the data. Onewould hope that all Bible believingChristians would support this position.

Dr. Jelsma says that “the Heldersimply that Dr. Oosterhoff supports evo-lution.” We imply no such thing. Inour responses we merely defend cre-ation science and focus on the factthat creation science opposes naturalis-tic evolution. In addition, Dr. Jelsmaappears to ignore that we view the“Reformed” scholars, Kuyper andBavinck, having much in common withcreation science of today.

Margaret Helder,John Helder

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OUR LITTLE MAGAZINE

By Aunt Betty

Puzzles

FROM THE MAILBOXThank you to Julia VanLaar for your

letter and puzzle. It was great to hearfrom you again. Are your cat and dog backto being friends again, Julia? Did youhave a fun spring break, even though youdidn’t go anywhere? At home holidays canstill be fun, though, because there are so

many things you can still do at home. Can you tell me whenyour birthday is, Julia. I seem to have lost your date ofbirth. Bye, till next time.

Hello and welcome to the Busy Beaver club, MelissaLigtenberg. It was great to hear from you, too. You must havequite a big block where you live to be able to ride your scooteraround it. Your favourite animal is a moose. What happenswhen you have two of them – do they become mooses ormice? I guess they are a little bigger than mice, so they mustbe mooses. That’s a trick question for you. Bye for now.

Dear Busy BeaversDo you enjoy looking after people? Do you enjoy talking

to people, even if they are sick? How about people who arein a wheelchair? Do you like to talk to them or do things forthem? My grandfather used to use a wheelchair when he wasolder, and he did some amazing things, even though hehad limited use of his legs.

After all, people who are sick, people who are in awheelchair, people who are old, are still people and stillneed looking after, just like you and me. How would youfeel if you got sick and nobody, not a single person, cameto look after you, to cook you a meal, to make sure you wereokay? You would be very, very lonely, wouldn’t you.

That is why it is very important that we use what isknown as the “communion of saints” in the Church, isn’t it?That way, people who are sick are always in another per-son’s mind and they will always have somebody around,particularly when they really need someone to be with them.

It is also the old people in the church, whose children haveleft home and may be far away, who need your help. Don’tbe shy. Go to them and talk to them. They will always behappy for you to speak with them and to tell them about yourday. My grandparents loved it when we would pop in everyday after school (we lived next door to them), just to say hi.

Next time you see someone walking away from church,looking very lonely, or if you know that someone is sick, youask your Mom if you are allowed to visit them. I am surethat your Mom won’t mind, and I am also sure that the sickperson will love to see you, even if it is just to talk to them.

Try it and tell me how you went, okay?

Lots of love, Aunt Betty

SoldiersSoldiers are mentioned frequently in the Bible.

Match the soldier with the correct event.

June Birthdays2 Albert Buikema17 Melanie Spanninga

5 Kailey Swaving22 Jocelyn Schoon

Elephant JokesWhat do you give an elephant that’s going to be sick?Plenty of space.What do you call an elephant in a telephone box?Stuck.What do you get if you cross an elephant with a spider?I don’t know, but if it crawled over your ceiling, the housewould collapse.What do you get if you cross an elephant with a sparrow?Broken telephone lines!Why did the elephant stand on the marshmallow?So he wouldn’t fall into the hot chocolate.

Penpal WantedMelissa is 10 years old. She would like to have a pen pal toshare letters with. Her favourite animal is a moose. Herfavourite food is her mom’s homemade pizza (yummy).If you would like to write to her, please do so to:

Melissa Ligtenberg134 Limridge Road East, Hamilton, ON L9A 2S3

1. Centurion of an Italiancohort

2. Had eyes put out by thePhilistines

3. Had an army of a millionmen

4. Had bodyguards whocould throw and shootwith either hand

5. Waged war with Ahabagainst Syria

6. The Syrians fled beforehim

7. Prayed and an angel de-stroyed the Assyrian army

8. Caught his head on a tree9. Was defeated by the

Chaldeans10. Centurion assigned to

guard Paul

a. Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles18:1,30

b. Hezekiah, 2 Chronicles32:20-21

c. Joab, 1 Chronicles 19:14

d. Absalom, 2 Samuel 18:9-10

e. Samson, Judges 16:20-21

f. Julius, Acts 27:1

g. Zedekiah, Jeremiah 39:5

h. Zerah, 2 Chronicles 14:9i. Cornelius, Acts 10:1

j. David, 1 Chronicles 11:1-2


With thankfulness to the Lord for making all things well, we an-nounce the birth of our son and brother ZACHARY JAMESBorn March 29, 2002 Brian and Barbara Harsevoort Bethany, Jeremy RR 1, Jarvis, ON N0A 1J0

We give thanks to our gracious Father and praise His name for Hehas heard our prayers and granted us a healthy sonKENTON JOHN BARTELS Born February 12, 2002 A brother for Jessica, Jaime and Kerri†Wayne and Hilda Bartels 3160 Kirk Road, RR 2, Binbrook, ON L0R 1C0

With thankfulness to our heavenly Father who has again blessed ourfamily, we joyfully announce the safe and healthy arrival of our son andbrotherDANIEL AARONBorn March 28, 2002Tim and Cindy Vanderpol (nee Huttema)A brother for Mark, Megan, Stephen and KathrynRR 3, Owen Sound, ON N4K 5N5 [email protected]

We thank the Lord God for the safe arrival of ALLY MARIAH and ETHAN BRETT Born on April 1, 2002A sister and brother for Shania and KaitlynDarcy and Laura Van Beek (nee Terpsma) Box 162, Neerlandia, AB T0G 1R0

We give thanks to our Covenant God who has graciously entrusted tous one of His own. We joyfully announce the birth of our new baby girlJANESSA GABRIELLEBorn March 27, 2002Ralph and Tania DeBruin (nee Werkman)A little sister for Brandan and Rebekah7416-188 Street, Edmonton, AB T5T 5J7

Despite earlier concerns, the LORD truly heard our prayers. By Hisgrace and faithfulness we are blessed to announce the birth of oursonCALEB WILLIAMBorn April 5, 2002Welcomed by his big sister BrookeChris and Eleanor Schulenberg (nee Smouter)17th grandchild for Ernie and Jane Schulenberg23rd grandchild for Albert and Helena Smouter2457 Shurie Road, RR 2, Smithville, ON L0R 2A0

With thanks and praise to our faithful God who brought us together,weMICHELLE BLOKKER andGERALD LENTINGjoyfully announce our engagement on April 12, 2002.984 Farnham Road, London, ON N6K 1S1

Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with musicand song” Psalm 95:2Trusting this to be God’s will for our lives, weWESLEY RICHARD BLOKKER andJACLYN GERALDINE BARTELSannounce our engagement, April 26, 2002.We plan to exchange our vows before Christ and His Church onOctober 4, 2002, D.V.SS 11 - 1508 Hwy 54, Caledonia, ON N3W 2G9

With thankfulness to the Lord, Mr. and Mrs. Casey and Betty Dehaasjoyfully announce the marriage of their daughterMARIA ELIZABETH to SHANE GREGORY son of Mr. and Mrs. Cliff and Judy Welfing.The ceremony will take place, the Lord willing, on July 6, 2002 at12:30 p.m. at the Abbotsford Canadian Reformed Church, Abbots-ford, BC.Rev. P. Holtvlüwer officiating.

Staff Sergeant Casey DehaasCommunity Services Division555 Columbia Street, New Westminster, BC V3L 1B2Phone: 604-529-2498; Cell: 604-328-5381; Fax: 604-529-2402Email: [email protected]

1972 ~ May 20 ~ 2002Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the rock eternal.Isaiah 26:4With joy and thankfulness to the Lord we are pleased to announcethe 30th Wedding Anniversary of our dear parents and grandparents HARRY and BETTY SCHOLTENS (nee Hofsink) With Love:

Zwany and Pat HavenaarDevon and Kyle

Hilda and Wayne BartelsJessica, Jamie, Kerri† and Kenton

Jenn and Rob OostdykEmma

John ScholtensAdrian Scholtens and Teri Oosterhoff

2123 Meadowbrook Road, Burlington, ON L7P 2A6

Births

CLARION ADVERTISEMENTS

Engagements

Weddings

Anniversaries


May 21, 1977 ~ May 21, 2002Psalm 118:27: The Lord is God, and He has made His light shine upon us.It is with thanksgiving and praise to the Lord, that we were blessedwith our 25th Wedding Anniversary, which we joyfully celebrated withour dear children and family.RICK and MARGARET MEYER (nee VAN WIJK)

Charla Meyer and Doug KokBreanneJustin

313 Nicholas Crescent, Aldergrove, BC V4W 3K9

Den Hague, Holland – 1952 ~ June 25 ~ 2002 – Burlington, Ontario. . . and God blessed them . . . Genesis 1:28

The LORD willing, we will celebrate the

GOLDEN Wedding Anniversaryof our dear parents and grandparents

ARIE and ANNE HORDYK (nee Hartman)We thank the Lord who has kept them in His care.

Waterdown, ON: Joanne and Harry HuttenJohnChrisJohannaAshleyMichaelKaitlyn

Grand Valley, ON: Evelyn and Paul AasmanJoshuaMarkAmberLeahReuben

Kilbride, ON: Peter and Debbie HordykJacobRenee

Burlington, ON: Trix and Ed AasmanScottDavidAdamHarry

Beamsville, ON: John and Jenny HordykEstherMichelle and Adrian VersteegAnna Hordyk and Joe SnyderAaronTimMatthewRosemarieRebeccaSimon

Beamsville, ON: Betty and Eric VanEsPeterDaveEllieArieAndyDaniel

1952 ~ July 11 ~ 2002Thankful to our heavenly Father for keeping them in His care,we announce with joy, the

50th Wedding Anniversaryof our dear parents, grandparents, and great-grandparentsJOHN and JOANNE VANDERMOOREN (nee TenBrinke)May the Lord continue to guide them and keep them.Burlington, ON: Matt and Ruby VanderMooren

Alana, Joanne, Emma, KaylaHouston, BC: Henry and Caroline VanderMooren

Ryan, Trevor, Jonathan, Kathleen, Heather, Justine, Lynae, Megan

Smithers, BC: Hettie and Gerry VanderGaagWendy and Dan Barendregt,

Dawson, TaylorKaren and KJ VandenbergColin, Jennifer, Emily, Travis, Leanne

Houston, BC: Cor and Margaret VanderMoorenKyle, Jaclyn, Rachelle

Box 162, Houston, BC V0J 1Z0

Obituaries

May 8, 1932 – April 10, 2002Psalm 25The Lord has taken unto Himself, into eternal glory, at His ap-pointed time, our brother-in-law and uncleTIEME MEINTSWinnipeg, MB: Henry and Fennie† VersteegGranisle, BC: Herman and Tina DallingaGuelph, ON: Dale and Anne DallingaMany nieces and nephews.


Mailing Address: J. Vanderwoude, 7055 Airport Road, Mount Hope, ON L0R 1W0

1912 – Psalm 103 – 2002But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children.

Psalm 103:17 The LORD took to Himself on May 6th, 2002 in his 90th year

BEREND JAN HARSEVOORT Beloved husband of the late Siena Harsevoort-Hutten (1980) Loved father, father-in-law, grandfather and great-grandfather of

Mount Hope, ON: Grace and John VanderwoudeSidney Vanderwoude† (1984)Brad and Angela Vanderwoude

Jordan, Bronte, Kennedy, TierraSonja and James Heeringa

Kevin, Sydney, AlexaJay and Wilma Vanderwoude

Mitchell, Kyra, JaymeeJustin Vanderwoude† (1994)Trevor and Alison Vanderwoude

EmmaEd and Suzanna VanderwoudeTasha VanderwoudeAlbert and Carolyn VanderwoudeReuben VanderwoudeDiane Vanderwoude

Ancaster, ON: Harry and Tina HarsevoortShauna and Paul Krikke

Spencer, ConnorKaren HarsevoortBernie and Elaine HarsevoortJames and Rose Harsevoort

KarissaMatthew HarsevoortLaura Harsevoort and Kevin Heyink

Burlington, ON: Herman and Jane HarsevoortLisa and Art Pieterman

Timothy, Deanna, Alison, AmandaBrian and Barb Harsevoort

Bethany, Jeremy, ZacharyRick and Alicia HarsevoortJohn and Kim HarsevoortMichael HarsevoortStuart HarsevoortPieter Harsevoort

Stoney Creek, ON: Ben and Hanna HarsevoortMarja and Kevin Fledderus

William, FrederickSara and Joseph WhetstoneJoel Harsevoort

Abbotsford, BC: Frances and Piet VanderPolNorma and Mike Kobald

Alexander, LarissaBill and Amy VanderPol

P.J., ColinPhil and Jennefer VanderPol

Jordan, Brent, JoelMike and Tina VanderPol

Justin, LindenCindy and Mark Tiessen

Janelle, NoahRachel and Tim LudwigElsa VanderPolMargaret VanderPolJoni VanderPolBenjamin VanderPolCalvin VanderPolJohn VanderPol

Waterdown, ON: John and Jannette HarsevoortBernie HarsevoortLen Harsevoort and Sara JagtJeff HarsevoortAndrew Harsevoort

Hamilton, ON: Diane DriegenHouston, BC: Arend DriegenHamilton, ON: Paul and Erin Driegen

Sharon and Pete DeWaardAileen Driegen and Josh HofsinkDan DriegenEric Driegen

Burlington, ON: Margaret and Harpert VanderWel

Dear Uncle toBurlington, ON: Gerry and Janny Jans Canboro, ON: Gerald and Hetty Jans

George and Ella Jans

Dear brother-in-law to,Hamilton, ON: Janke HuttenWaterdown, ON: John and Jane Hutten


October 26, 1933 – April 23, 2002Psalm 121The LORD, in His infinite compassion and mercy has taken Hischild, our sister, sister-in-law, and auntFENNIE VERSTEEG (nee Dallinga)Houston, BC: Aly and Tieme† MeintsGranisle, BC: Herman and Tina DallingaGuelph, ON: Dale and Anne DallingaMany nieces and nephews.

On Monday morning, May 6, 2002, the Lord in his mercy hastaken unto HimselfJAN HOMANat the age of 89 years.Born: Beilen, the Netherlands, May 1, 1913Died: Shalom Manor, Beamsville, May 6, 2002Beloved husband of Rhea (Rienje) Homan (nee Poort) residingat Shalom Manor, Beamsville. Member of Covenant Can. Ref.Church at GrassieDear father, opa or great-opa of:Welland, ON: Gary and Linda Homan

Jennifer and Scott CamdenMackenzie

Jeff and Sandra HomanJordan

JamesOakville, ON: Herminio and Maria Pereira-Homan

Chris Homan and Jackie McDougallJocelyn HomanBethany Pereira

Wellandport, ON: Henry and Annelies HomanJohn Homan and Johanna Van IperenFrancine and John Van IperenIrene and Henry Van IperenJoannaDirkHeather

Smithville, ON: Edith HomanBeamsville, ON: Grace HomanFuneral gathering was held in Smithville Can. Ref. Church. In-ternment was in Union Cemetery of SmithvilleI will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever. (Psalm 27:4)

For correspondence:Henry HomanRR 1, 63758 Wilford Road, Wellandport, ON LOR 2JO

August 9, 1925 – April 19, 2002Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are inChrist Jesus. Romans 8:1The Lord has taken unto Himself into eternal glory, at his ap-pointed time, my beloved husband, our dear father and OpaHERMAN BOSSCHER at the age of 76 years.His wife,Everson, WA: Alice Bosscher (nee Linde)His children,Everson, WA: Ed and Dena BosscherChelan, WA: Dianne BosscherDewdney, BC: Teresa and Rick DekkerEverson, WA: Ruby and Dick Bengen

Kenneth and Nancy BosscherTaber, AB: Ina and Gordon TamsChilliwack, BC: Mary Jo and Allan Huttema

and grandchildrenPredeceased by 2 daughters, Bernice - May, 1988 and Hilda - October, 1982Mrs. H. Bosscher8820 N. Telegraph Road, Everson, WA 98247, USA

August 22, 1933 – May 14, 2002Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The formerthings will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. Butbe glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will createJerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. Isaiah 65:17-18In His infinite wisdom, our covenant God suddenly took home toeternal glory our dear mother, grandmother and great-grandmotherAFINA CORNELIA BOS Predeceased by her husband, Harm, on November 21, 1988.She is survived by four sons and two daughters:Yarrow, BC: Jake and Corry BosSt. Albert, AB: Louis and Helen BosWhitecourt, AB: Anita and Harry DykstraSt. Albert, AB: Estelle and Nick GeusebroekEdmonton, AB: Ron and Maria BosChilliwack, BC: John and Rose Bos

and 31 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.Corresponding address:Louis Bos18 Brunswick Crescent, St. Albert, AB T8N 2K6

Teaching PositionsThe Board of Covenant Christian School, London, Ontario (Londonand Kerwood) invites applications for aFULL-TIME PRIMARY TEACHERDuties to commence, D.V., September 2002.For further information please contact either:Mr. Frank Oostdyk, Chairman of the Board, (519) 652-3826 (home)Mr. Clarence Blokhuis, Principal(519) 680-2770 (home) or (519) 681-1196 (school)Letters of application articulating philosophy of education, experience,qualifications and references should be mailed to:Mrs. Hilda Boeringa(Secretary of Education Committee)5776 Underpass Road, RR 5, Watford, ON N0M 2S0email: [email protected]


The Niagara Reformed Christian Education Association, which op-erates Heritage Christian School invites applications from qualifiedteachers for the following openings:SPECIAL EDUCATIONHeritage Christian School, in the heart of Ontario’s beautiful NiagaraPeninsula, serves a student body of over 500 students from K to 12.We are blessed with a dedicated and supportive Christian community,a cohesive, professional faculty and staff of close to 40 persons, andbeautiful, modern facilities. We’re seeking applicants to assist in delivering Special Education as-sistance to our students in both the elementary and secondary pan-els. These part-time positions could possibly be combined for a full-time position for a suitable candidate. Qualified applicants who seekto serve Jesus Christ in the area of Christian education and who sub-mit to Holy Scripture as interpreted by the Reformed confessions areencouraged to apply. Please submit a résumé, with a statement ofyour philosophy of education, a statement of faith, and references.Please forward inquiries and/or applications to: Mr. A. Ben Harsevoort, PrincipalHeritage Christian School Box 400, Jordan Station, Ontario, Canada L0R 1S0 Phone: (905) 562-7303; Fax: (905) 562-0020 Email: [email protected]“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD.” Psalm 127:3

DISCOVER TASMANIA!Are you a lower primary school teacher, dedicated to Reformed Ed-ucation? Then you could experience the unique Tasmanian lifestyle– great climate, natural beauty and contemporary living without therat race.The Free Reformed School Association (Tas.) Inc of Launceston,invites expressions of interest and applications to fill the vacancy onour team of dedicated and highly motivated primary school staff toteach John Calvin School’sGRADE 1 AND 2Applications for short term employment, eg. 1 or 2 years, will also begiven due consideration. All inquiries will be answered promptly andwith confidentiality.Employment commences at the beginning of the new school year,January 2003.Applicants must be a member of the Free Reformed Church of Aus-tralia or a sister church.Conditions and salary are in accordance with the IndependentSchools (Teacher) Awards.For more information on this position, general information and ex-pressions of interest, please contact:The Principal, Mr. G. BrouwerPhone: (03) 63271800 (home), (03) 63443794 (school)E-mail: [email protected] should be directed to: The Secretary, of the Staffing Committee, Mrs. A. Hidding Phone: (03) 63301162E-mail: [email protected] Address: PO Box 89, Launceston 7250, Tasmania, Australia

Teaching in Tasmania . . . !Are you interested in . . .• Tasmania, a progressive island state of Australia?• Temperate climate, recreation and natural beauty?Are you committed to Reformed education?If you are a qualified teacher, here is your opportunity . . .The Free Reformed School Association (Tas) Inc. of Launceston in-vites applications and expressions of interest for a FULL-TIME TEACHER in learning areas such as Maths, Science, Information Technology, to joinour small but dynamic team of High school staff. Employment wouldcommence at the beginning of the new school year, January 2003.All enquiries will be responded to promptly and with confidentiality.Applicants must be a member of the Free Reformed Church of Aus-tralia or any of her sister churches.Conditions and salary are in accordance with the IndependentSchools (teacher) Awards.For more information on this position, general information and ex-pressions of interest, please contact:The Principal, Mr. G. BrouwerPhone: (03) 63271800 (home), (03) 443794 (school)E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] should be directed to:The Secretary, The Staffing Committee, Mrs. A. HiddingPhone: (03) 63301162E-mail: [email protected] address: PO Box 89, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.

Duties to commence August 1, 2002. Applicants should be able to obtainor be willing to work towards acquiring a Manitoba Teacher’s Certificate.

MAIL OR FAX YOUR APPLICATION TO:

Immanuel Christian School215 Rougeau Ave. Winnipeg, Manitoba R2C 3Z9Fax: 204.669.7013e-mail: [email protected]

Mr. H. Slaa CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

phone: 204.222.2880 (home)e-mail: [email protected]

Mr. A. Gunnink PRINCIPAL

phone: 204.224.9206 (home)204.661.8937 (work)

e-mail: [email protected]

If you are interested or would like additional information, please contact:

The Board of the Canadian Reformed SchoolSociety of Winnipeg invites applications for

T E A C H I N G P O S I T I O N S in the junior/middle years of Immanuel Christian School.

Immanuel ChristianSchool highlights…• 10 full time teachers

• 4 part time teachers

• mostly single grades

• a resource program

• 199 students in grades K-12

Winnipeg highlights…• two Canadian

Reformed Churches

• population of 650,000

• a wide variety of services and culturalactivities

• affordable housing


The Canadian Reformed School Society of Burlington Inc. operatingJohn Calvin Christian School, invites applications for the position ofPRINCIPALfor the 2003-2004 school year.Applicants must be capable of providing guidance and direction toteaching staff in the day-to-day educational setting, and in facilitatingtheir ongoing professional development. The ability to relate to stu-dents and parents, as well as the School Board, would be highly valued.For more information about this position, please contact the Board Chairman, Rob Wildeboer at(905) 631-8434, or Fax at (905) 639-9704Applications may be addressed to: Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Hilda Tiggelaar c/o John Calvin Christian School 607 Dynes Road, Burlington, ON L7N 2V4

The Board of Dufferin Christian School, Carman, MB invites appli-cations for the following position: SPECIAL NEEDS / LEARNING ASSISTANT• two full-time positions available• work one on one with a special needs student• work in a team setting to develop and implement an Individualized

Education Plan (IEP)• duties to commence August 26, 2002Applicants must be members of a Canadian Reformed Church orone of its sister churches.DCS is a K to 12 school with 226 students and 16 full-time staff mem-bers. Additional information on the school, the community, and edu-cation in Manitoba can be found on our website:<home.merlin.mb.ca/~dufferin>For more information, please contact the principal: Rob vanSpronsen Phone: (204) 745-2278 – school or (204) 745-3996 – home E-mail: [email protected] can be sent to the Secretary of the Board: Ron deRuiter PO Box 1450, Carman, MB R0G 0J0; fax: (204) 745-3441 E-mail: [email protected]

Reformation Christian School in Blue Bell, PA is in need of aFULL-TIME TEACHERThis is an exciting opportunity to work in a small school environmentteaching to multiple grade levels in a variety of subject areas. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply. For information please contact the Principal Mrs. Christine DeWitt (215) 646-4773 (school) or (610) 292-0954 (home) or e-mail: [email protected] may be sent to the attention of the secretary Mr. J. Doornbos c/o Association for Reformed Education1215 Union Meeting Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422 or via e-mail [email protected]

AN APPEAL!Providence Reformed Collegiate, Komoka, Ontario, isbuilding a new School, and in this school will be anempty library!

We are appealing for donations of books, all kinds of books! Do you have books collecting dust, either in storage oron your bookshelves? Do you need room for newbooks on your shelves? Then you could help us out . . .donate your books to fill our library!

Just call 1-888-595-5598 or email [email protected]

Thank you!

FOR RENTA bright and spacious

2 BEDROOM BASEMENT APARTMENTin the Glanbrook area

Enjoy “country-living just minutes from the city” of Hamilton!CALL JOHN OR WILMA AT (905) 692-9096


As the Lord continues to bless us at

Landmark Design Ltd.we find ourselves in need of individuals to fill the above-mentioned positions. • As Landscape Architect you must be prepared to deal

with both small and large residential, commercial andmunicipal levels.

• As Construction Foreman you must have enough experi-ence to install natural or precast walls and patios, operatea wide range of equipment, identify and install plants andbe able to interpret plans and instructions.

• As Maintenance Foreman you would be expected to op-erate the maintenance division including such things asquoting, organizing and scheduling work and also pos-sess a good knowledge of turf and plants.

In all of the above, the values, attitude and personalityshould reflect a person who is truly thankful for all Godhas given us. This must be evident in how you do yourwork and how you motivate and direct the individuals forwhom you are responsible.

We are offering a year round salary, which would depend on your qualifications.

Landmark Design Ltd. is in Thornbury, Ontario, 35 minutesfrom Owen Sound Canadian Reformed Church and elementary school. Please contact

Gary NordemanAT 519-599-2957 • FAX 519-599-3991

OR EMAIL [email protected]

Landscape Architect and Construction and Maintenance Foreman

William of Orange Christian SchoolWith much thankfulness to the Lord, who has blessed usthe last 24 years with a dedicated principal, we wish toannounce the retirement of

Mr. Apko Nap This retirement will be marked with a festive

Mr. Nap Day on Tuesday, June 25, 2002.

A pancake breakfast for all school children will start offthe day’s festivities, and then in the evening at 7 p.m., therewill be a dessert social where everyone will have the op-portunity to express their appreciation to Mr. Nap and hiswife in person.For those of you who cannot be there, and yet have bene-fited from Mr. Nap’s enjoyable teaching and story-telling,why not convey your thanks and best wishes with a card. Mr. Apko Nap 6033 – 175B Street, Surrey, BC V3S 4B9Give ear my people, Listen to my teaching: Incline yourear, and let my words be reaching. Psalm 78

With heartfelt thanks, Staff, Students, Board and Parents of William of Orange

Christian School, Cloverdale, British Columbia

The Theological College

of the Canadian Reformed

Churches

The Thirty-third Anniversary Meeting and the

Twenty-eighth Convocation of the

Theological College will be held, D.V., on

Friday, September 6, 2002 at 8:00 p.m.

in the auditorium of Redeemer College (777 Garner Road East, Ancaster, Ontario)

Prof. G.H. Visscher, TH. DRS.

will be the featured speaker

o

o

requires applicants for the position of

Computer Graphic DesignerApplicants should have experience with

the following programs in a Mac environment:Quark Xpress, Illustrator, Photoshop,

Freehand, GoLive

Please submit resume, complete with cover letter, to:

Premier Printing Ltd.Ben Kuik, Prepress Manager

One Beghin Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R2J 3X5Phone: (204) 663-9000Fax: (204) 663-8153

Email: [email protected]

PREMIER PRINTING LTD.


The Ebenezer Senior Home Society operates a 91-bed residential care facility (24-hour nursing care),and a 16 unit congregate care apartment. The Society is sponsored by area Christian Churches.

Major Responsibilities include the following:• Carries out the mission and objectives of Ebenezer Senior Home Society as directed by

the governing board.• Ensures that medical and related care services are provided for the residents according

to board policy and regulatory requirements.• Oversees all aspects of the financial operations.• Directs the daily operations of the facility.• Develops and supervises the management team.• Negotiates collective agreements and administers contracts.• Promotes good relations with sponsoring churches, professional contacts, and with

government agencies and health organizations.• Works cooperatively with the governing board in all aspects of long range planning, vision

and goal setting.

Qualifications Required:• Agreement with the vision and values of the Ebenezer Home Society.• University graduation with relevant studies in administration, or completion of

recognized courses in health administration.• Extensive experience in leadership and health care administration.• Experience in working with government regulatory and funding agencies.• Strong team building skills.• Ability to negotiate within a unionized staff setting.• Ability to converse in Dutch, an asset.

Applications should be received by June 30, 2002.

For further information contact:

Sid Kingma, Chair of Search CommitteePhone: (604) 853-3778

E-mail: [email protected]

Please send resumes to:The Chair, CEO Search Committee

Ebenezer Senior Home Society33433 Marshall Road, Abbotsford, BC V2S 1K8

Ebenezer Senior Home Societyinvites applications for

ADMINISTRATOR


Coyote Trailer Relocation and Set-up Ltd.PO Box 481, Smithville, ON L0R 2A0Fax (905) 386-0386 [email protected]

Hamilton (905) 577- 3127 • Niagara (905) 386-0147• Toronto (416) 884-3469

Coyote Transport is looking for two

TRUCK OPERATORS stationed in the Southern Ontario area with a AZ licence. We are a company that transports oversize office trail-ers and modular buildings within Ontario and Quebec. Theoperator must be willing to work locally and be able to taketwo to three day trips away from home. He must learn thechallenges of onsite setups and dealing with clients in apersonable, positive, and professional manner.You are expected to work a 60 hour, five day work weekand as a rule we do not work Saturdays. Neither do wework any of the government set holidays.The employee will receive work clothes, health benefits,trip meals and hotels paid, and you will be able to takethe truck home.A driver’s abstract is needed and a competitive wage willbe discussed.

Please contact: Ike Groenwoldat 905-577-3127 or 416-884-3469

or by fax at: 905-386-0386

John MeerveldAssociate Broker

garden city realty inc., REALTOR®

“Old Fashion Service – High Tech Advantage”

PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FOR ALL YOUR REAL ESTATE NEEDS

SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1979

(905) 333-3500Fax: 333-3616

(905) 945-0660Fax: 945-2982

www.remax-gardencity.com/johnmeerveld

Peter de JongAgent

Realty ProfessionalsEach Office Independently Owned and Operated

#10 - 6020 1A Street S.W.Calgary, Alberta T2H 0G3

Bus: (403) 259-4141Fax: (403) 259-4305Cell: (403) 818-7310

If your travelling in the Niagara Region consider

“Niagara’s Nest” Bed and Breakfast103 Wade Road, Smithville, OntarioYour Host: John and Tina Dekker

email: [email protected]: www.bbcanada.com/niagarasnest

phone: 905-957-7130

Escarpment Realty Independently Owned and Operated

370 Wilson Street EastAncaster, Ontario L9G 4S4

Bus: (905) 304-3303Fax: (905) 574-1450Res: (905) 648-7705

serving Ancaster, DundasHamilton and

surrounding areas.

John van AndelSales Representative

MMEEMMBBEERR

110000%% CCLLUUBB

VACATION OPPORTUNITYFOR AN ENJOYABLE VACATION RENT OUR

27’ CAMPERparked at Byng Park Conservation Area

located in Dunnville, OntarioMinutes from Lake Erie and Attercliffe Church.

This sizable park enjoys a clean pool shaped like a small lake.For more information

CALL (905) 563-8408 or EMAIL: [email protected]

FOR

5205 Harvester Rd. #2 Burlington, ON L7L 6B5Tel. & Fax (905) 631-1929 or 1-888-PIANO-81

Visit us at our web site www.pianohouseburlington.com

and/orwww.organs.ca

T H E M U S I C G R O U P&

T H E P I A N O H O U S E

CONTENT HOME AND CHURCH ORGANS

&Quality new and used

PIANOS and GRAND PIANOS

CLARION, JUNE 7, 2002

Maranatha HomesBurlington, Ontario

This award-winning Senior Citizen Home is locatedclose to Ebenezer Canadian Reformed Church. Ithas audio hookup for the church services in everyapartment and a weekly evening video church ser-vice presentation provided for by Ebenezer. Monthlyrent is geared to income.

Information from:

Mrs. Rosanne van der Woerd109-3260 New Street, Burlington, ON L7N 3L4

(905-639-9054)or:

Arie J. Hordyk 2212 Headon Road, Burlington, ON L7M 3W7

(905-331-7625)Email: [email protected]

JOE A. BOERSEMA, R.R.S.Sales Representative

A professional who honours the Lord’s Day!

It is my privilege to assist you withcompetence and confidentiality in allyour buying and selling needs.

Garden City Realty Inc., Realtor720 guelph lineburlington, ontario L7R 4E2bus: (905) 333-3500res: 333-1753 fax: 333-3616

107 Griffin St. S.Smithville, ON L0R 2A0

Cell 905-517-1451Res. 905-386-7494Fax 905-957-1204

“Serving the Smithville, Attercliffe and surrounding areas.

Call today for area information”(905) 957-5000

24 hr. pager

COUNTRY TOWN REALTY INC.

Mark vander VeldeSales Representative

My name is David Elliot VanVeen, and Ihave lived at Anchor since February, 2001.Before that I lived in Fergus, Ontario withmy parents. Some of my hobbies arephotography, painting, and music. I playthe piano, recorder and sing in a choir.Favourite foods include pasta and Chinese,and my favourite sports are basketballand baseball. One of my jobs at Anchor isto help maintain the lawns. I enjoy cuttingthe grass with the riding mower.

With brotherly greetings to all,David Elliot VanVeen

Enclosed please find my contribution for 20____Yes! I would like to help Anchor.

Donation:

Name:

Address:

Postal Code

For the past 20 years the Anchor Association haspromoted the care and well-being of the

handicapped by caring for those with specialneeds. One way of doing this is through the

Homeshare Program which places individuals in ahome where their needs are met.

Canadian ReformedAssociation

for the Handicapped, Inc.

RR2, 361 Thirty Road SouthBeamsville, ON L0R 1B2

Meet David Elliot VanVeen

g g

George BartelsAssociate Broker

33 Bellstone LaneMount Hope, Ontario L0R 1W0

Fax: 905-679-2225Email: [email protected]

Visit us at our website for Reformed Community Eventswww.fredhagenrealty.com

905 - 388-9555

Serving the Ancaster, Hamilton, Glanbrook, Caledonia and Flamborough areas.

the canadian reformed magazine volume 51, no. 12, june 7,...

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