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Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. How shall we, that are dead unto sin, live any longer therein?  Romans 6:2 When Rev. Herman Hoeksema and Dr. Klaas Schilder met in 1939, they were two men of kindred spirit. Both of them in their own circumstances had spent their lives striving against the worldliness which was overwhelming the Reformed faith, in the United States as well as in the Netherlands. In turn, they were basically agreed as to the underlying cause for this, although they tended to differ in their emphasis. Hoeksema had had his...

Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up,...

Rev. Woudenberg is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go. Proverbs 22:24 Schilder was clearly angry. He had received Hoeksema’s first response to the extended series of articles he had been writing about our Declaration of Principles, and he didn’t like it. He said: The fact that I now provisionally stop finds its reason in an article from the Standard Bearer of February 15, 1951, which I received by airmail. In this article colleague Hoeksema begins to write something about my series of...

Rev. Woudenberg is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.  Acts 2:39. Having examined the history of the Schilder/Hoeksema controversy at some length, it is perhaps time to focus our attention now on the doctrinal aspects of it. And that leads us, first of all, to the question of what Schilder and the Liberated actually had in mind when they spoke of the “covenant.” For us this is not an easy question....

Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. For this is the love of Cod, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.  I John 5:3 If we are actually in the end times, as it often seems, what motivation is there left for the Christian to work diligently with a view to what lies ahead? This problem is not new. Paul struggled with its already in Thessalonica, a church deeply concerned about the imminent return of Christ (II Thessalonians 2:1, 2). There were those there who had concluded that with no future...

Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Lord is . . . not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. II Peter 3:9 Casuistry was once a respected area of Christian study. Among the early Puritans it had to do with the study of the conscience. Those were godly men, dedicated to living in good conscience before God. But they were realistic too, and, being good students of Scripture, realized that difficulties do inevitably arise. Of these cases they made a study and called their study casuistry. The great...

Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 If the proclamation of the gospel is to go forth to all men, is it God’s desire that all men should be saved? And if not, why does God send His word to them? This question concerns the purpose of God; and it is important for us to seek to understand it. We find it dealt with somewhat negatively in the...

Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another. Ephesians 4:25 If there was a dream that ever smoldered in the heart of Herman Hoeksema, it was certainly that of being able to engage in profitable and constructive dialogue with those who were theologically his equal. That he was denied that opportunity in 1924 was one of his most painful disappointments. A few years before, he had assisted the seminary professors in clearing their school of modernism, a task...

Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. Galatians 5:15 No sooner had the letter of Prof. Holwerda been published in the Standard Bearer than the life of the denomination began visibly to fragment. It was ironic. Those were the very days during which we were celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of our churches, and great effort was being made to demonstrate our strength and unity as a small but thriving Reformed denomination. And indeed from many points of...

Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.  Ephesians 1:5 Many years ago, in 1597, a fascinating debate took place between James Arminius, the father of Arminianism, and Franciscus Junius, hero of the Dutch revolution and professor of theology at the University of Leiden. It began amidst the festivities of a wedding celebration. Arminius’ aunt had married Johannes Cuchlinus, regent of the states college at Leiden; and, following the custom of the day, Arminius visited...