Beets emigrated to Amer­i­ca in 1886, and af­ter spend­ing some years in Kan­sas, stu­died at in Cal­vin College and The­o­lo­gic­al School in Grand Rapids, Mi­chi­gan. He grad­u­at­ed in 1895, and was or­dained a min­is­ter in the Christian Re­formed Church. In 1911, he re­ceived an hon­or­ary Doc­tor of Law de­gree from Mus­king­um Coll­ege, Ohio. He served as pas­tor of the Chris­tian Re­formed Church in Sioux Cen­ter, Io­wa (1895-99); the La­Grave Ave­nue Church, Grand Ra­pids, Mi­chi­gan (1899-1915); and in Burton Heights, a suburb of Grand Ra­pids (1920). He 1920, he be­came sec­re­tary and di­rect­or of miss­ions for the Christ­ian Re­formed Church. He also edited the weekly publication the Banner and De Heidenwereld, a monthly missionary publication. His works include:

• Life of President McKinley (in Dutch), 1901
• Life and Times of Abraham Lincoln (in Dutch), 1909
• Triumphs of the Cross (in Dutch), 1914
• Compendium of the Christian Religion—Explained, 1915, 1919 &1924
• History of the Christian Reformed Church, Its Work and Principles, 1923
• Students Compendium of the Heidelberg Catechism, 1925

Translations

1. Christmas Anthem