All Articles For Job

James D. Slopsema is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church, Walker, Michigan. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.  Matthew 5:13 It is good at the beginning of each year to be reminded of the place we occupy in God’s creation as well as the responsibilities that fall to us before God. Ye are the salt of the earth. This remarkable statement of Jesus appears in His Sermon...

Herman Veldman is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Our Faith in the Triune God (2) God, besides being one in essence, is also triune. This truth of the Trinity is held before us in our Belgic Confession, in Articles 8 and 9. And our Heidelberg Catechism speaks of this truth in Lord’s Day 8, specifically in Question and Answer 25. We read, in answer to Question 25: “Since there is but one only divine essence, why speakest thou of Father, Son and Holy Ghost?” “Because God hath so revealed Himself in His word, that these three distinct...

Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. During the last few days of her life, Alice was willing to have the aspirator used to suction out the mucus from her throat. This is not to say that she enjoyed the procedure; on the contrary, she simply detested it. But she finally realized that there was no other way to clear her throat. Periodically, she would indicate her desire that the aspirator be used—while her eyes indicated almost a fear of it. Whoever was caring for Alice at the time would have to do...

17. When the poor and the needy seek water and there is none, And their tongue is parched for thirst, I the Lord will hear them,  18. I will open in elevated places rivers, And in the midst of valleys fountains: And I will make the wilderness a pool of water, And the dry land springs of water.  19. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the accasia tree. And the myrtle and the wild olive; And will set in the desert the fir tree, I And the elm and the box tree together: 

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest In Thine House, by Abraham Kuiper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co.   The night   As in reading a book you skip a part that does not interest you, so there are those who between the days of their life simply skip the nights. So a day does not have twenty-four, but sixteen or seventeen hours. They keep count of time from their rising in the morning until they pillow their head by night; but the night that lies in between does not count....

Randolph’s consistory has presented a new trio to the congregation consisting of the Revs. H. Hanko, H.H. Kuiper and R. Veldman.

IVF and an Absolutely Sovereign God I read with interest Mr. Lanning’s article (Nov. 1 and 15, 2002) and must admit subjects like these prompt questions. The answers in some cases will not be available. We are not God, and when the vessels of dishonor point a bony finger at the vessels of honor to explain why in vitro fertilization is wrong, it once again comes down to faith and unbelief. Can IVF be classified as unbelieving science? I would say without a shadow of a doubt that it is! Man’s depraved moral decisions and dilemmas impatiently try to sidestep...

Nicknames for God!  Nicknames for holy things!  The very thought of such nicknames strikes a discordant chord in the heart of the regenerated child of God.  Yet there are many, many such nicknames given and used by those who claim to walk in His fear. Webster tells us that nicknames are names “given instead of the one belonging to the person, thing or place, usually descriptive and given in sport.” As a verb “to nickname” means, according to Webster “to misname; to give a nickname or to call by a nickname.” 

Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction It would be a mistake to call Johannes Cocceius a heretic and to include him in a series of portraits of those who introduced heresy into the church. Cocceius was wrong in some aspects of his theology, but he was also very right in other ideas, particularly in his doctrine of the covenant. His wrong ideas sparked a bitter controversy in the church, which lasted beyond his own lifetime. And his wrong ideas introduced into the thinking of the church a way of...

Excerpts from Calvin’s Institutes, Book II, Chapter 1, Beveridge Translation (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1957). The reader who makes it through this unusual choice for our “meditation” this month will be richly rewarded. As long as “meditation” doesn’t imply “light,” in your mind, you will see why we made this choice. The reader will recognize Calvin’s influence on the Reformed confessions, not only in content and argument (if the sin of Adam was passed on only by imitation, is the righteousness of Christ available in the same way?), but even in wording. As you read this (perhaps) on a...