All Articles For Langerak, William

Rev. Langerak is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Divided by a Common Heritage: The Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in America at the Beginning of the New Millennium, by Corwin Smidt, Donald Luidens, James Penning, and Roger Nemeth. Eerdmans (2006). Paper. ISBN: 978-0802803856. Reviewed by Prof. David J. Engelsma. The intelligentsia in the Reformed Church in America (RCA) and in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) desire the reunion of the two denominations. Work goes on, mostly quietly and behind the scenes, to achieve the merger. The issues that occasioned the split in 1857...

Let the Nations Be Glad, by John Piper. 2nd ed. Baker Academic (2003). 256pp. Paper. ISBN: 978-00801026133. Reviewed by Dr. Julian Kennedy (Ballymena, Northern Ireland). John Piper is a pastor and writer with two passions, first, to know God, and second, to make Him known. This book, revised and expanded from when first published in 1993, highlights these two biblical passions as he sets out to prove that God’s great purpose in creation and redemption is His own glory, and that we as His people will experience His fellowship as we aim for that same goal, by making worshiping disciples...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Martin Bucer: A Reformer and His Times, by Martin Greschat. Tr. Stephen E. Buckwalter. Westminster John Knox Press (2004). ISBN: 978-0664226909. Paper. Reviewed by David J. Engelsma. This is a fine, well-written, and authoritative account of the life, work, and theology of the important, if secondary, Reformer Martin Bucer. Bucer was an early convert of Martin Luther, an instructor in important respects ofJohn Calvin, and a Reformer in his own right. Greschat’s work, originally published in German in 1990, is the first biography of Bucer in seventy...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Henry J. Kuiper: Shaping the Christian Reformed Church, 1907-1962, by James A. De Jong. Eerdmans (2007). ISBN: 978-0-8028- 2585-8. Paper. Reviewed by David J. Engelsma. President-emeritus of Calvin Theological Seminary James A. De Jong has written an interesting account of the life and work of influential Christian Reformed minister Henry J. Kuiper. Because of the prominence of “HJK,” the book affords as well a fascinating look at the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) during the years of Kuiper’s ministry, from 1904, when Kuiper entered what would now be...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Expository Genius of John Calvin, by Steven J. Lawson. Reformation Trust Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1567690858. 142 pp. Hardcover. Available at monergismbooks.com ($11.25), christianbook.com ($12.99), or publisher at Ligonier.org ($12.00). Reviewed by Rev. Douglas J. Kuiper. Steven Lawson, pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, AL, begins a series of short books under the series “A Long Line of Godly Men Profile.” Upcoming books in this series will focus on Martin Luther, George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon, and others. Lawson argues that the situation in the evangelical...

Rev. Langerak (“Bring the books” editor) is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Joshua Engelsma is a member of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Shack, by William P. Young. Windblown Media, 2007. ISBN 0964729237. Paperback. 264 pp. Available at christianbook.com ($8.99) orbarnesandnoble.com ($13.49). Reviewed by Joshua D. Engelsma. The Shack, a recently published New York Times best-seller, falls into the genre of Christian fiction. Since being published last year, it has gained widespread support, not merely from the population in general, but especially in the church world. Many churches advertise their discussion groups on the...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Covenant members must take heed to many important details in the kingdom of heaven. One of them is that prospective teachers and preachers receive adequate financial resources to complete their education. This is not merely the responsibility of the students themselves, but it is a covenant obligation. It is an important covenant obligation. If neglected, it could result in a dearth of preachers and teachers, which would be devastating to the cause of Christ’s kingdom in the community of Protestant Reformed Churches and our Christian schools....

Rev. Langerak is pastor or Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After the ascension, angels told the watching disciples, “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go” (Acts 1:11). He was taken up bodily, and in like manner He shall one day return. He was also received by a cloud, and so likewise the Son of man will return—He shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Dan. 7:13; Matt. 24:30, 26:64). It was significant that Jesus was received into...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Blood is an amazing fluid. Blood is the life of all flesh (Gen. 9:4). From one blood, God made all nations on the earth (Acts 17:26). The blood of grapes is life-giving juice (Gen. 49:11). Taken by faith, the blood of the New Testament grape enlivens the weak and sickly (I Cor. 11:30). Since blood is the life of animals, it could not be eaten with their flesh; God gave it as an atonement for souls (Lev. 17:11-14). The old covenant blood purged almost all things:...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is easy to overlook the lowly stone. But Scripture does not. In it, stone represents spiritual realities as commonality (II Chron. 1:15), a fool’s wrath (Prov. 27:3), danger (Ps. 91:12), end of man (Job 28:3), and terrified, lifeless, natural, and inhumane hearts (Ex. 15:16; I Sam. 25:37; Ezek. 11:19; Job 41:24). But it is especially their permanence that is special in the kingdom. More interested in show than substance, the children of men make their kingdom from brick (Gen. 11:3). God builds with stone. The corner of His...