NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & EVENTS

CHURCH NEWS

MINISTERIAL CALLS

Extended

To Rev. C.J. Meeuse, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, by the Kalamazoo, Michigan congregation.

Declined

By Rev. J. denHoed, Rock Valley, Iowa, to the Lethbridge, Alberta congregation.

By Rev. G.J. Van Aalst, Benthuizen, The Netherlands, to the Chilliwack, British Columbia congregation.

THREE-DAY YOUTH CONFERENCE CLASSIS FAR-WEST

From Tuesday afternoon, July 18, through Friday morning, July 21, nearly 100 young people met at Bear Paw Conference and Retreat Center in eastern Washington for this year’s youth conference.

Six informative and practical topics were presented to us by office-bearers of our denomination. On Tuesday evening, Dr. J.R. Beeke addressed us on “How to Use Your Leisure Time.” This was followed by a camp-fire question and discussion time.

Wednesday morning Elder K. Herfst presented a topic on “Privileges and Responsibilities” and Wednesday evening Elder J.W Beeke addressed us on “Sunday Observance.” After each topic several Psalters were sung and an opportunity to write and submit questions to each speaker was provided. After the evening topic, Rev. Beeke shared the slides from his Australia/New Zealand trip with us.

Thursday morning Rev. Beeke spoke to us on “Lessons from the Rich Young Ruler.” In a warm but earnest manner, he warned us that all religion short of a true conversion of heart to God is insufficient for salvation. That evening Elder Beeke addressed us on “Genesis 1:1—As it Applies to Young People Today.” In a heart-searching manner he continually drew our attention to the question “Is it ‘in the beginning God’ or ‘in the beginning I’ in our lives?” An extended question and answer session was held by the campfire, following our evening topic. Questions could be written on any subject, and more than twenty-five were submitted and answered. This proved to be both interesting and informative for us all.

Our final day arrived all too soon. The closing topic, Friday morning was “Making Choices Biblically: Abraham and Lot.” Elder Beeke presented the errors and evil consequences of Lot’s choice and Dr. Beeke spoke on the blessedness, by grace, of Abraham’s choice and its eternal, saving results. The truths presented in this closing topic, as well as in all of the topics and discussions, gave us much to think and pray about. May God apply it to our hearts.

Three ladies from the Chilliwack congregation offered their services and provided excellent meals and snacks for us throughout the conference. The beautiful weather and setting, combined with a variety of activities, provided an ideal opportunity for meeting and discussing matters with each other. A closeness was developed in these days which made parting difficult, but, after thanking everyone for their excellent interest and cooperation, the coordinators dismissed us to our buses or vans and our 1989 Youth Conference ended. May God bless the instruction and fellowship of our days together.

— A Grateful Participant

SYNOD IN THE NETHERLANDS

The Synod of the Gereformeerde Gemeenten in the Netherlands is held every third year in mid-September. Each time our respective Synods meet, we exchange an advisory representative. Our last Synod appointed Rev. J. denHoed to take his turn for this task.

May the Lord bless the Dutch Synod and our brother, granting wisdom, safety, and above all, a sense of divine presence in Synod’s deliberations and decisions.

ANNIVERSARIES

50th Wedding Anniversary

The Lord willing, on October 17, 1989 our dear parents,

Dick and Jeanette Post

hope to commemorate their 50th wedding anniversary. It is our prayer that they may be spared and blessed for years to come.

R.R. 1 Box 158, Rock Valley, Iowa 51247

OBITUARIES

We wish to remember Rev. and Mrs. Verhoef and their family in the loss of their 38-year-old daughter, Hennie Hoedman. Rev. H. Hofman led the funeral service, basing his message on Isaiah 66:2b. At the cemetery, Rev. Hofman, Rev. Verhoef, and Elder A.H. Verhoef spoke some words. May the Lord strengthen the mourning family — especially the widower and his children.

Also, we wish to remember Rev. and Mrs. Hofman in the loss of her mother in the Netherlands at the age of 85. May the Lord fill the empty place with His presence.

— JRB

DERKSEN, Gertrude A. — Age 92; July 26, 1989; Waupun, Wisconsin; Husband — (deceased). (Rev. John denHoed, Job 19:25.)

KRYGSMAN, Gerda — Age 79; August 10, 1989; Bur-gessville, Ontario; Husband — Bill; Daughter — Nel; 2 grandchildren. (Rev. J. Spaans, Psalm 102:11,12.)

WIND, Klaasje (Clara) — Age 71; August 10, 1989; Sun-nyside, Washington; Husband — Jan; Sons — William, Hank, John, and Neal; Daughter — Clarena; Daughter — Joann preceded in death; 5 grandchildren. (Rev. John den Hoed, Psalm 37:18.)

TEACHERS

EBENEZER CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, Sheboygan, Wisc. has a need for a full time teacher for the 1989–90 school year. This position would cover grades 5 & 6 or 7 & 8. Certification is not required although teaching experience or certification would be helpful. Please direct all inquiries to the principal, David Lipsy, 1519 N. Third St, Sheboygan, Wl 53081. Tel. (414)459-9257, or Phil Kaat, secretary, Rt 3, Box 4400, Sheboygan Falls, Wl 53085. Tel. (414) 564-2040.

NETHERLANDS REFORMED CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, Corsica, SD, will be needing an elementary teacher either for grades K-3 or 4-8 for the 1989–90 school year. Phone Gerrit Hup (605) 946-5503 or Jay Ymker (605) 724-2221.

CALVIN CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, Lethbridge/Ft. Macleod. Applications are still being sought for both the elementary and high school level. For more information contact the principal: Mr. A.H. Verhoef (403) 381-3030 — School; (403) 381-4434 — Home. Please send applications with references to the secretary of the school board: Mr. A.M. De Wilde, P.O. Box 142, Monarch, Alta., Canada T0L 1M0

REHOBOTH CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, Norwich, Ont. For this school year (89–90) we invite applications for a teacher to take the place of one of our teachers, a mother with several children at home, for the Intermediate Grades 7–10. We are looking for a teacher with a background in English with a willingness to teach some other subjects. For more information or an application, please contact Mr. Henry Scholten, President, (519) 468-2714 or Mr. Martien Vanderspek, Principal, (519) 863-2403 (school) or (519) 863-3119 (home). Rehoboth Christian School, 43 Main St. E., PO Box 220, Norwich, Ont. N0J 1P0.

WANTED

PRE-1980 CLASSICAL AND SYNODICAL MINUTES We are in need of pre-1980 classical and synodical minutes for archival and informational purposes. Perhaps there are several elderly office-bearers who may be able to assist in this regard? If so, please call or write:

Elder Gary Kwekel, clerk

1650 Gentian Dr., SE, Grand Rapids, Ml 49508

(616)455-1538

—JRB

Obituary notices are printed (ree of charge and are submitted fay the officiating minister; marriage and anniversary notices will be charged at $5.00 per issue and must be individually submitted. Other announcements and/or requests will be approved by the editorial committee on an individual basis as received. (Church events or school needs, such as upcoming classical meetings, “teachers wanted,” office-bearer conferences or youth day conferences will be announced free of charge.)

To place an announcement, simply type (or print neatly) your information, enclose $5.00, and forward to “New and Events,” 2115 Romence St. N.E., Grand Rapids, Ml 49503 by the 5th of the month preceding publication.

CURRENT EVENTS

INFORMATION TO BE CONSIDERED

Euthanasia in the Netherlands

The following are excerpts from Dr. J.C. Wilke’s column in the May 23 National Right to Life News. He recently returned from a trip to Holland, during which he had the opportunity to meet with fifteen practicing physicians to find out, first hand, how the practice of euthanasia was being carried out there without attending physicians being prosecuted.

• In November, 1988, there was a major seminar in Rotterdam entitled “Terminal Care.” About 300 doctors heard a lecture by the city’s public prosecutor. He gave the doctors full details on how to kill a patient and avoid prosecution.

• Many newborn babies with Down’s syndrome and/or spina bifida are starved to death and/or given slowly increasing doses of barbiturates until they die.

• At the university of Amsterdam Hospital, three nurses were accused of giving lethal injections and killing patients who were in comas. They were convicted of the charge, yet merely put on probation. The judge commented that this would have been okay if done by doctors, but nurses were not allowed to kill patients.

• Patients with mental diseases like schizophrenia are “helped” by their psychiatrists to commit suicide. One example: A psychiatrist gave an adult patient who had clinical depression a poisonous drink to take home. The patient took it home, drank it, and died. One professor, who treats teenagers in Amsterdam and who is looked upon by some as a “hero,” related on public television that at times, without parental consultation, he had given teenagers a poisonous drink to take home, which several did, drank, and died.

• Some patients die even without a request by the patient or relatives. In one example a chronic invalid living at home developed a problem. The wife called the physician who was taking their regular doctor’s calls (the regular doctor being away at the time). The substitute physician came, examined the patient, gave him a shot, and the patient was dead four hours later. On Monday the regular physician returned, heard of the death, went to the home to be met by a sobbing disconsolate wife who said, “John didn’t want to die. He wasn’t that bad. Why did that doctor kill him?”

• There is legislation currently before the Dutch Parliament that would make the above-mentioned kinds of euthanasia officially legal.

• The Royal Dutch Medical Association’s working group has released a proposal in April of 1988 which gives a set of recommendations for situations where the killing of newborn babies is permissible. This included Down’s syndrome, spina bifida, medical retardation, etc. If parents request death for the infant, doctors must comply.

120,000 people died in Holland last year. Some estimates place the number killed by euthanasia between 6,000 -20,000. The criteria of the Royal Dutch Medical Center include: 1. voluntary request by the patient 2. the decision be long-considered, not compulsive 3. the patient having unbearable pain 4. consultation be made with another physician 5. the attending physician sees no other solution to the “problem.” Dr. Wilke concludes, “I asked each of my physician friends what percentage of the patients killed met these criteria. Each one of them sadly shook his/her head and indicated — very few. Are patients being killed involuntarily? Every one of the doctors I spoke to agreed that many were being killed without their consent.”

Needless to say, the U.S. may soon be in a similar condition as right-to-die movements grow and most recent court decisions handed down are favorable to the pro-death concerns. May the Lord turn us back from such a frightful descent into self-destruction.

Suit Filed Against the Pledge of Allegiance

According to the National & International Religion Report dated 7/3/89 a seven-year-old atheist says God is “make believe,” so he’s urging all U.S. school children to boycott saying the Pledge of Allegiance until “under God” is excised. Speaking at a Flag Day news conference in Chicago organized by his father, Ricky Sherman said that when children are forced to say “under God” it makes them think “atheists are bad people.” His father, Robert Sherman, who heads a national organization of atheists, filed suit in federal district court last year challenging the Illinois law that requires the daily recitation of the pledge in the state’s elementary schools.

Iraq to Get Bibles

The American Bible Society recently learned that many in Iraq have been given permission by the government to import thousands of Bibles and New Testaments in the Moslem-dominated country. Official permission has already been given for the shipment of 2,200 Bibles; churches have applied to import more than 14,000. May the Lord open their eyes and convert Moslems to the truth.

Newsweek Poll

In a recent report and survey done for Newsweek, the Gallup organization found that only 6% of Americans believe they are going to hell. What a shock that will be if we believe that we are going to heaven and wake up in hell!

Supreme Court Decision on the Webster Case

On July 3, 1989 the Supreme Court handed down its much awaited decision regarding abortion. While it did not overturn the infamous 1973 ruling legalizing abortion, it did turn over to the states some rights restricting abortion. By a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court appears to be chipping away at the sinful decision made back in 1973. We should all contact our representatives and voice our concerns once again for the “little people” in the womb and pray to the Lord that this once great nation will finally completely overturn such a horrendous ruling.

TV Watching Report

According to a survey done by the A.C. Nielsen Co. the American household watches an average of just under seven hours of TV per day. What a waste of precious time! Hopefully, the Lord will keep our congregations from such an enormous waste and sinful usage of time.

Bush Administration and China/U.N. Population Policies

The June 22 National Right to Life news publication reports that the Bush Administration has condemned the coercive population policies of the People’s Republic of China, and has refused to restore U.S. funding of the United Nations Population Fund which supports China’s population program. The Administration action came on June 7 during a meeting of the United Nations Development Programme Governing Council. The U.S. delegate to the council, Dr. Nyle Brady, said, “We strongly oppose the program in China as currently formulated, and dissociate ourselves unequivocally from any interpretation of this body’s consensus that suggests we approve the family planning program in China.” The program has received no U.S. funds since 1985, because of its support for China’s population program which systematically employs coercive abortion.

Pro-Life Vetoes will be Sustained

A bi-partisan group of 154 members of the House of Representatives has written to President Bush, urging him to use his veto power to protect pro-life policies, and to promise to vote to sustain pro-life vetoes. Because no more than 146 votes are necessary to sustain a presidential veto, the letter provides President Bush with a guarantee that any veto on a pro-life issue will not be overridden by Congress. Let’s hope and pray that the President will always be supportive of the “little people in the womb.”

40 Million Christians Have Been Martyred, Researcher Claims

The Rev. David Barrett, a researcher and editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia, estimates an average of 325,000 Christians have been killed for the faith each year over the last quarter century.

“There’s nothing unusual about this,” he says.

“It’s gone on for 20 centuries. It’s simply a part of the life of the church.”

He says his estimates are based not only on news accounts, but on data that often emerge years after the incidents.

Barrett, a British Anglican now serving the Southern Baptist Foreign Missions Board, estimates 40 million Christians have been martyred since the time of Christ

But the church knows the names of only 15,000 martyrs, he says.

— Grand Rapids Press

The Christian’s Firm Bank

I have a never-failing bank,
A more than golden store;
No earthly bank is half so rich —
How can I then be poor?
’Tis when my stock is spent and gone,
And I without a groat,
I’m glad to hasten to my bank,
And beg a little note.

Sometimes my Banker, smiling says,
“Why don’t you oftener come?
And when you draw a little note,
Why not a larger sum?
Why live so beggarly and poor —
Your bank containeth plenty.
Why come and take a one-pound note
When you might have twenty?

“Yea, twenty thousand ten times told,
Is but a trifling sum,
To what your Father has laid up
Secure in God, His Son.”
Since then my banker is so rich,
I have no cause to borrow;
I’ll live upon my cash to-day,
And draw again to-morrow.

I’ve been a thousand times before,
And never was rejected:
Sometimes my Banker gives me more,
Than ask’d for or expected!
Sometimes I’ve felt a little proud
I’ve managed things so clever;
But, oh! before the day was gone,
I’ve felt as poor as ever!

Sometimes with blushes in my face,
Just at the door I stand;
I know if Moses kept me back,
I surely must be damned!
I know my bank will never break —
No! it can never fail:
The firm — three persons in one God,
Jehovah — Lord of all!

Should all the banks in Britain break,
The Bank of England smash —
Bring in your notes to Zion’s bank,
You’ll surely have your cash.
And if you have but one small note,
Fear not to bring it in;
Come boldly to this bank of grace —
The Banker is within.

All forged notes will be refused,
Man-merits are rejected;
There’s not a single note will pass
That God has not accepted.
’Tis only those beloved of God,
Redeem’d by precious blood,
That ever had a note to bring —
These are the gifts of God.

Though a thousand ransomed souls may say,
They have no notes at all,
Because they feel the plague of sin
So ruined by the fall;
This bank is full of precious notes,
All signed and sealed and free;
Though many doubting souls may say
There is not one for me.

Base unbelief will lead the child
To say what is not true;
I tell the soul that feels self-lost,
These notes belong to you.
The leper had a little note:
“Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou can!”
The Banker cashed his little note,
And cleansed the sickly man.

We read of one young man, indeed,
Whose riches did abound,
But in the Banker’s book of grace
This man was never found.
But see the wretched dying thief
Hang by the Banker’s side;
He cried “Dear Lord, remember me!”
He got his cash — and died.

Lochcarron

William Cadsby on one occasion was walking many miles to preach. On his way he was joined by a minister who believed the doctrines of grace, but contended that a mere assent to those doctrines was all that was needful. As they went on their way he argued with Gadsby that there was no need to insist on this hungering after Christ and the need to be fed with the bread of life.

Weary and hungry, they at last reached an inn. “Let us go in and refresh ourselves,” said the minister. “No,” said Gadsby, “according to your doctrine let us just look at the sign outside, and press on.”

— from the Gospel Standard

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