All Articles For Ezekiel

Rev. Lanning is pastor of Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan. Previous article in this series: August 2008, p. 443.

Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the Protestant Reformed Church of Grandville, Michigan. “Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not…”  Psalm 71:18 One thing about life is certain: we all must die. Every single day brings each of us one step closer to the grave. None is immortal, although the great ones of Greece sought by epic and philosophy to cross the River Styx and achieve immortality, and Ponce de Leon scoured the New World for that elusive Fountain of Youth. Today, as well, scientists hunch over their lab dishes in the...

God Himself regulates the public worship of Himself by His church. He prescribes in His Word what this worship must consist of. He tells His church how to worship Him. He does not leave the “how” of worship to the wisdom and whim of the worshiping people. It is not even the case that the church may worship God in whatever manner she sees fit, as long as nothing in her worship conflicts with God’s will. This would mean that whatever is not forbidden is permitted. This is the position of the Anglican Church and of Lutheranism. The Reformed stand...

Response to the editorial, “Jewish Dreams” (theStandard Bearer, Jan. 15, 1995), has made clear how deep and entrenched are the inroads of postmillennialism into Reformed circles. The editorial, written at the beginning of a new year, reminded Reformed Christians that our only hope, according to the Bible, is the second coming-of the Lord Jesus. It sketched in broad outline the traditional, creedal Reformed conception of the last days: abounding lawlessness; widespread apostasy; the Antichrist; and great tribulation for the true church. It gave a warning against the false hope that is known as postmillennialism, quoting a Reformed creed that condemned...

The Guilt, Folly, and Sources of Suicide, by Samuel Miller. Dallas, Texas: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1994. 56pp. $3.50 (paper). [Reviewed by the Editor.] This reprint of two published sermons on the subject of suicide by the, Presbyterian theologian Samuel Miller is timely. Not only is our country presently moving toward societal approval and legal sanction of suicide, but also preachers fail to warn sharply against the sin of suicide. Some exert themselves to find excuses for the suicide and go out of their way to offer false comfort to grieving relatives. The serious effect is that those, particularly the young...

The late Homer Hoeksema was professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. It is important, first of all, that we understand the significance and the idea of what is told us in the second chapter of Genesis concerning Paradise and related matters. To this we must pay attention before we begin our discussion of the subject of Paradise as such. This significance and idea are set forth in the first verse of this section of Genesis, Genesis 24: “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that...

Further Application of “Bert Zandstra” I read with great interest your article in the November 1, 1997 issue of the Standard Bearer, titled “The Sad Case of Bert Zandstra.” I truly appreciate your biblical stand on divorce. But this leaves me with a question I hope you can help me with, as to what God’s Word teaches us in the following situation. I have an acquaintance whom I have opportunities to talk to about our great and glorious God and the work of Jesus Christ. He has been open to hearing but as of yet does not seem willing to...

Our Reformed readers may need to be informed that it is the glory of confessional Presbyterianism that it boldly proclaims the particular love of God. The eternal source of this particular love is God’s decree of predestination. The revelation of this particular love is the definite, limited atonement of the cross of Jesus Christ. The realization of this particular love – its being shed abroad in the hearts of the elect- is the call of the gospel, effectual and irresistible in the power of the Holy Spirit. The glory of confessional Presbyterianism is the same as the glory of the...

Rev. Miersma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Introduction The doctrine of the Trinity stands at the core of our Christian faith as one of the key distinctives which separate us from cults, sects, and heathen religions. The truth that God is one in being or essence, yet three in person, pervades the whole of our doctrine so completely that no doctrine is unaffected by it. That which is true generally of the Christian church is especially true of our Reformed faith. The Reformed doctrine of the covenant and the covenant life of God cannot...

Reformed Eschatology What a blessing your magazine has been the past couple of months! I believe and practice the Reformed faith in our Orthodox Presbyterian congregation here, but I continue to be encouraged by the sharing of our Reformed brethren elsewhere. . . . I was, though, rather discouraged by the eschatological articles by Rev. Gritters. . . . I really felt like I was reading some excerpt from Hal Lindsey, or one of our local dispensational preachers. First, the articles violated the plain statements of Reformed creeds. The Westminster Confession explicitly identifies the Antichrist with the papacy. I believe...