All Articles For Acts

Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Bethel Protestant Reformed Church in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. One of the concerns of any true church is that for missions and evangelism. It is biblically inaccurate to say that evangelism and missions is the chief purpose or the exclusive purpose of the church. It is equally inaccurate to say that evangelism is not one of the chief concerns of the church. The true church will have a genuine, Scripturally-directed concern to proclaim the gospel to the fullest of its ability. It is essential that clear, biblical principles are hitched to the wagon of fervent,...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. Before setting forth the truth of Scripture concerning this concept of self-esteem, I want to call your attention once again to the influence of the unbiblical idea that has been so readily accepted. I make bold to proclaim that the influence of the modern self-esteem movement has permeated even our own thinking to a degree – perhaps to a rather large degree. There has been more and more emphasis placed on self-esteem among us, and most often it is not the emphasis on proper Christian self-esteem, i.e., biblical...

Rev. Dykstra is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Doon, Iowa. The question posed by the title of this article is not academic. It is faced by every pastor who counsels depressed, troubled, hurting members of his flock. A little reading reveals a variety of views on the matter. A few writers almost entirely rule out the use of psychiatrists by Christians. On the other end of the spectrum are pastors who seem more interested in “preaching” the psychology of the world than they are in bringing God’s Word to their flocks. In practice, many other pastors are quick...

Herman Veldman is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. In our preceding article we asked the question whether God became richer when He created the world, whether God with the creation is richer than the Lord without this creation. After all, did not the Lord have something after He created the world which He did not have prior to the creation of this universe? First of all, the Lord cannot and did not enrich Himself when He created all things. On the one hand, this would imply a certain poverty on the part of God before His creation...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. The office peculiar to the deacons is diligently to collect alms and other contributions of charity, and after mutual counsel, faithfully and diligently to distribute the same to the poor as their needs may require it; to visit and comfort the distressed and to exercise care that the alms are not misused; of which they shall render an account in consistory, and also (if anyone desires to be present) to the congregation, at such time as the consistory may see fit.  Church Order, Article 25. Introduction The concern...

Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Grandville, Michigan.

Must the Minister Preside? My question concerns Article 37 of the Church Order of Dordt. This article requires that the minister preside at consistory meetings. What is the reason for this? Why may not an elder preside? Is not this rule contradicted by Acts 6:4? I very much appreciate the SB. It is a magazine with much in-depth teaching helpful for daily life. Harv Nyhof Holland, MI Response: Very little is written by the commonly regarded authorities on church polity about your question. Our answer would be that the minister is to preside because he is the most qualified for this...

Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  II Timothy 2:15 Being too logical, strangely, has become an all too common criticism in these days since Karl Barth first expressed his fascination with paradoxical “yes” and “no” disjunctives. And so it is that Dr. J. DeJong, editor of the Clarion, in his recent debates with. Prof. Engelsma, faulted him for his “logical scheme of thought.” One can only wonder, is he suggesting it would be...

Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names, by Alfred Jones. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1990. pages viii-382, paper, $16.95. [Reviewed by the Editor.] You are reading the Old Testament Scriptures for family devotions or in preparation for a Bible study class and come across the name, Molech. You wonder what the name means, how it is pronounced, what the idol was, and in what other passages the word appears. Jones’ Dictionary is intended to answer these questions for all students of the Bible, advanced and beginners. It is a dictionary of the proper names in the Old Testament, places as...

Rev. Moore is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa. In this article we set forth the theory that it is proper that we have a missionary-at-large, or even more than one. At the outset, let me say that this article is written in the knowledge that Synod 1988 rejected the concept missionary-at-large. However, we believe that this was due to the fact that there were certain aspects of this concept that the Mission Committee did not or was not able to consider. This was true also of the Synod, and this led, to some extent, to a...