Vol 19 Issue 07

Editor of the Standard Bearer, Dear Mr. Editor: Will you please allow me some space in our Standard Bearer again to comment on the contributions concerning the C. L. A.? I am convinced that the C. L. A. is not being fairly judged by too many among us. Because it promotes also the material interests of the laborer it is condemned as an organization that is interested only in the things of this world. Rev. Hanko has given extensive quotations from C. L. A. literature to try to prove that point. Personally I cannot see anything unchristian even in what...

An expression one frequently hears today is this: “Behind every news item there is a story.” This undoubtedly is true. We may, however, also revise the expression somewhat and say “behind every historical event there is a story”. There certainly is. Thus it is that Luther’s quest for Justification is one of the stories behind that great event of church history which we call, “The Reformation”. Shall we consider this story behind The Reformation from an angle seldom considered? Usually Luther’s quest for Justification is treated from a purely historical viewpoint and often from an Arminian viewpoint. Shall we approach...

Peace Aims and the Post War World Especially of late has there been a persistent clamor for definite peace aims on the part of the Allies to prepare for the post-war world. Leading commentators and editors have been showing how that it is absolutely necessary to state the war aims and the peace aims clearly now before the war is won in order that the chaos and failure of the last armistice may not be repeated. And, of course, it is also understood that this must be the decision of the United Nations in the form of clear statements of...

It is generally agreed in orthodox church circles today that the present “global-war” must be viewed as a judgment of God upon the earth. To be sure, another explanation is offered of this conflict. It is said that we are fighting for the most precious heritage which man can possibly enjoy, namely, the right and liberty for each man to live his own life,. And we are fighting for this invaluable possession over against the forces of barbarism and cruelty. This explanation would explain the present world-wide conflict solely from the viewpoint of man. However, it is generally acknowledged, particularly...

Having passed in review the history of this martyrdom, let us now attend to the “why” of it and to its significance. To begin and to end with this hostility of the heathen world toward the primitive church in the men of this world, in their wickedness, more particular, in their native hatred of the truth or of God’s gospel, or in the various other motives by which they were driven in troubling God’s people, is to be at a loss how to explain the reception of the gospel on the part of the others unless one wants to take...

In the previous issue of this magazine there appeared an article from my pen that bore the title “Israel’s Sins.” The title should have been the one appearing above this writing. The subject dealt with was the whoredoms and idolatry of the people of Israel in the plains of Moab, their joining themselves to Baal-peor and the subsequent death of twenty four thousand of their number by the fire of God’s anger that flamed against them. We must now state and explain the significance of this event. The people of Israel, as the army of God, were about to address...

What Christian, who is at all acquainted with the Bible, when he hears of the resurrection of the dead, does not at once think of that mighty resurrection song that is the contents of the fifteenth chapter of first Corinthians? Not, indeed, as if that chapter were the only Scriptural passage that speaks of the resurrection: there are many others. Often the Lord makes mention of it. More than once He foretold His own resurrection on the third day. To the sister of Lazarus that came to meet Him after her brother’s death, He says: “I am the resurrection and...

The true conception of the “moment’’ against the background of the counsel of God, makes it possible to give real meaning to history, according to Van Til. For, according to this view, it is God’s meaning that is in all things. They do not receive their meaning from man, for “God’s idea of Himself is in re”, and when man deals with “the phenomenal world” he deals with God. p. 8. On this basis we can explain and maintain the reality of the “positive and negative instance”, good and evil, and especially moral good and moral evil. They are historically...