All Articles For denHartog, Arie

How is God chastening us during this time of the plague of COVID-19? These are days of great spiritual lessons that we must soberly consider. It is amazing that this plague is worldwide. God is punishing the world for its ungodliness. What is the great sin of this world for which it is being so severely judged? The trouble with much of modern- day Christianity is that it does not even know what sin is any more. What is the greatest evil of this world? It is its ungodliness. This alone makes this world worthy of the just and holy...

We are living in fearful and unprecedented times. Awful events are taking place in the world in which we live. The things that are happening are like none most of us have ever experienced before. God’s judgments are being poured out on an ungodly world. What do these events mean? These things are truly a serious trial for all of us. COVID-19 is causing great misery and trials for us all. Worldwide deaths from this plague have numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The worldwide impact of these events is shocking. There is great sorrow and an­guish in our nation...

The baptism of our covenant children teaches us that they are from birth members of Christ’s church. As our children grow up in our covenant homes, we must teach them the reality and blessing of this truth. The central calling of the church is performed when she gathers every Lord’s day in the sanctuary of God for worship. In our homes we must instruct our children concerning this by our word and example, and even by our spiritual attitudes. Our children must grow up hav­ing a pattern of true godliness that orders the priority and the practice of the most...

Previous article in this series: October 15, 2019, p. 43. There have been many urgent calls to our churches and her members to pray for the young men of our congregations to consider the ministry of the gospel in our churches. It has been stated that we as a denomination are headed for a very serious shortage of ministers in the next few years. This is largely because the PRC has many pastors who are nearing the end of their ministries and because so few new students are arising with the burden of the call to begin their studies. Our...

Previous article in this series: September 1, 2019, p. 467. In our last article we considered the admonition of Ephesians 6:4, “And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” A father through his own sin and wickedness can do great damage to his children. On the other hand, a God-fearing father who truly loves his children and loves the God of His covenant children is in a position to do great good for his children by the grace of God. As Noah of old was, a faithful...

Evil things are happening in homes and families in our land. Daily media reports are sometimes shocking, even unimaginable. There is the shameful abuse of women and children, sexual sins, sometimes committed by fathers violating their own children. We read of the most horrible atrocities imaginable, such as parents murdering their own children, and children their own parents. Even natural affection in the home seems in some cases to be utterly absent. All of these things are clear evidences that we are living in the last days, days of increasing wickedness in the world in which we live. May the...

Previous article in this series: December 15, 2018, p. 137. In the last article we considered the above-mentioned subject from the viewpoint of a question proposed by the inspired psalmist in Psalm 119: “How shall a young man cleanse his way?” This question was answered without hesitation: “By taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Ps. 119: 9). The question implies that the young man (and by im­plication the young woman) mentioned knew the awful reality of his own sinful nature. He also knew that he could not deliver himself from the power of the sins of immorality. He needed...

Perfect moral guidance for youth can only be found in the Word of God. The instructors of morality in the world have no absolute standard. Their instruction is ever changing with each succeeding age and every culture. It follows the imagined wisdom of the world, which the apostle James in his letter calls earthly, sensual, and devilish (James 3:15). What was once condemned in past ages is today approved. Immorality of the grossest sort is promoted and glorified by the mass media and the entertainment industry. The world’s celebrities are among the most wicked and immoral, yet the youth of...

The writer of this article is in the group of society designated as ‘aged men and aged women.’ Many do not want to include themselves in this group because it conjures up ideas of a group of people who have little more to do in life and have little significance. It is common to imagine that people in this group have reason to be ashamed. Many sit in their homes, later in life perhaps in retirement homes, imagining that they have little meaning and purpose any more at this stage of life. But this kind of thinking is wrong for...

We count it a special privilege to be in Singapore working among our sister church here for a few months. This is all happening in the years of our retirement—pretty amazing! May the Lord strengthen us for this great task. We have over the years of our ministry spent about ten years serving the church of Christ in Singapore. Our close bond with the saints who are her members includes many who were with us from the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, as well as those whom the Lord has added to the church over more recent years during the...