All Articles For Verhil, William

Hath God cast away His people? Thus the apostle Paul begins the eleventh chapter of his epistle to the Romans. And this indeed is a very important question. And seemingly there are good reasons to raise this question. For, is it not true, when we look round about us that we see the ungodly prosper? And on the other hand, is it not a fact, that the righteous have only a very little of the riches and the abundance of this world? Yea, is it not so that one of God’s dearest children complained, “All the day long I have...

We must be careful in our Reformed circles and be on our guard and never be afraid of telling one another, whenever and wherever we see danger ahead for our Churches. In our little group of Churches such dangers do not seem imminent. We are a large family, well acquainted with one another, knowing the weak spots, as well as the strongholds. Yet, we are not safe, unless we adhere to our fundamentals, both in re our doctrine and our ecclesiastical ties, based upon the D. K. O. Any departure from either will in time be detrimental to our well-being....

Why don’t you write about the Classis Meetings anymore, some of our people asked me? And honestly, I did not know what to answer. For no reason at all, we no longer wrote about our Classical meetings, since we became (as churches) East and West. Besides, we did not consider our writings on that particular point of great import. But, we thought, perhaps this time, for I do not make any promises as to the future, we better have a few lines on our last Classical meeting. On the 5th of March we came together as Classis in our Sioux...

Sounds rather unreal and impossible. We live in a world without hope in spite of all the promises by leaders and leading men. Hope? The whole structure of civilization shakes and the soul of man is filled with horror, when he reads his newspaper or listens to the radio. There is seemingly no end to the destruction caused by this second war now fought in every part of the world and in every sphere of life. Let us forget the years of peace, for they were nothing less but the preparation of another war, and prepare ourselves for the final...

Strange words these. Peculiar admonition. I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant concerning the great event of the passing through the Red Sea. Moreover, I would not that ye should be ignorant. In this clause we find the conception with the preceding chapter. The exhortation at the end of the chapter pictures a sharp contrast between the athletes in the Olympic stadium and those who run the spiritual race. There is first of all similarity between them. The contestants strove for the reward or the crown which was to be had when the race was finished. The difference...

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain. Be ye also pa­tient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. James 5:7, 8 James, the writer of these words sends a word of warning to the rich. Even as it is today, so it was at the time when this Epistle was written. The rich, the haughty, godless men persecuted the defenseless! flock of Jesus Christ. The hire of...

Blessed are the strong who can hold their own. That is one of the ideals of the world. In the race for armament, the rulers of the world put forth a grand display of their ability and power. Today, more than ever before, the principle to be strong and to survive is displayed all over the globe. To maintain oneself over against all is the slogan of our modern dictators. After all, it is a question of the survival of the fittest. In the scheme of our modern world there is no room for the weak, neither for the meek....

A contradiction in words. Does not the one exclude the other? Misery and joy are not the one and the same. A man in the midst of misery knows of no joy and we do better not to ask him, when he finds himself in the midst of all kinds of trouble, whether he enjoys his condition. Or is it wise to ask that same man if he cannot conceive of the idea, that after his misery he may expect days of joy? The world will not be comforted with such thoughts. In our day we find trouble on every...

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. Was he a disciple? Did he become a disciple later? To our mind it does not matter whether or not he was a disciple the night he paid our Lord a visit. That after all is a secondary matter. The Scriptures do not present a biography of certain persons, not even of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know very little about this learned man who came to ask a few questions. He had heard concerning Jesus, the Rabbi, and perhaps this new teacher may belong to our class of leaders. Who he was is...

One of the most difficult feasts to celebrate is the feast of Pentecost. Difficult because of its unique character. A wind is heard that does not blow, a fire that does not burn, and a speech that was never heard before. It is the feast where all is so extremely difficulta to understand. Intangible are the signs, their meanings, and also their applications. For, after the signs are seen and heard the multitude asks: ‘What meaneth this?’ while others mocked. Mocked, because Pentecost brings to light two spiritual powers. The power from above, descending upon the Church here below and...