All Articles For Bruinsma, Wilbur G

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. What is to the child of God most precious in his life? To know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord. . .” (Jer. 9:23-24): This we believe with heart and soul. So did the Anabaptists. But what they meant by...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Dating in the Church – 1 When a person dates, he must seriously look for a life’s mate. That fact has already been established. Dating is not in itself a form of recreation. It is a serious matter. For that reason, never may a young person of the covenant date an unbeliever. The Bible is clear: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” This we established in the last article we wrote concerning courtship. Dating someone who is not a professing believer and who shows no interest...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Dating in the Church — 2 The safest place for young people to date is within the confines of their own church or denomination. Who can deny that? When looking for a book, we search in a bookstore. When searching for a loaf of bread, we look in a store that sells groceries. When looking for a life’s mate, we look in the sphere of our own denomination. That is where we will find believers, and that is where we will find people of like faith with us....

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Authority of Parents “Who gives this woman to this man in marriage?” “Her mother and I.” These are words that have been spoken over and over again by fathers who have given their daughters in marriage. But do we really understand the implication of these few words? They refer to the active exercise of parental authority in the marriages of our covenant children. When a father walks his daughter down the aisle to give her hand in marriage to a man, he is placing his stamp of...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin -; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.  Exodus 32:31-32 It is a well-known Bible story: the golden calf. When the children of Israel observed that Moses delayed to come down out of Mt. Sinai, they approached Aaron. With the demand placed before him, “Up, make us gods...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. Psalm 78:5-7 Who is responsible for the training of children in the home? There is much talk concerning...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Is the law of any use in the life of the child of God today? Now that Christ has come and fulfilled the law, has not the New Testament church entered into the age of grace without law? In other words, does not Christ through faith now reign in us so that there is no real and substantial need for the law? By the law, of course, is meant God’s moral law, the law of the Ten Commandments. The outward ceremony of the laws of Moses which ruled...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. “Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.” Proverbs 17:6 The warning signs are all around us. “The New Single Mom: Why the Traditional Family is Fading Fast” (Newsweek headline, May 28, 2001). “Married With Children Now in the Minority in Michigan” (Headlines of Kalamazoo Gazette, May 23, 2001). The cry is heard everywhere that the traditional definition of the family must needs be changed. The family of modern society no longer fits into the old-fashioned view of what the...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Martin Luther loved children! His Table Talks are filled with remarks on children. “Children are the most delightful pledges in a loving marriage. They are the best wool on the sheep.” Or again, “How great a joy posterity affords a man! It certainly is the most delightful joy of parents.” That Luther could make such statements is amazing, since the first thirty-eight years of his own life were lived under the conviction that as a monk he had to remain celibate. It was not until Luther was forty-two...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. In our last article on the subject of working mothers (December 15, 2004) we included a letter written by a sister in our Edmonton Protestant Reformed Church. We included that letter because, first of all, it expressed in a very positive way the desire of a godly mother to be a “keeper of the home.” The glorious task of caring for a family is all but forgotten in our society! It is refreshing to hear that mothers in the church see their labor in the church not as...