Vol 39 Issue 05

Rev. C. Hanko declined the call that came to him from Southwest Church. The consistory has announced a new trio: Revs. J.A. Heys, B. Woudenberg and G. Vanden Berg. Doon’s new trio consists of the Revs. H. Hanko, J.A. Heys and J. Kortering. Rev. J.A. Heys, of South Holland, has received the call from Loveland. With him on the trio were the Revs. H. Hanko and B. Woudenberg. Kalamazoo has extended a call to Rev. B. Woudenberg of Edgerton, Minn. Thanks to Oaklawn’s bulletin from which we culled the above information in toto. Rev. C. Hanko, of First Church, filled a...

GROWTH OF PENTECOSTALS Surprisingly enough, the fastest growing denomination in both North and South America is a denomination known as the Pentecostals. Their missionary efforts have produced converts almost faster than they can immerse them for baptism. In a recent article in Time the startling growth of this sect was described. In Latin America, mostly nominal Roman Catholics (of which there are thousands) are attracted to this group. They outnumber other Protestants by better than four to one. They have, at last count, a million and a half members in Brazil; 700,000 in Chile which has a total Protestant population of only...

Upon whom is the labor of ecclesiastical discipline and censure to be applied? This question is of significance, not only to those who are entrusted with the responsibilities of this labor, but also because the effectiveness of the work is determined by its being performed upon the proper object. Discipline applied unnecessarily (i.e. unlawfully) loses its effectiveness as a power from Christ, binding on earth and in heaven, and discipline neglected cannot be a force removing offense from the church and reconciling the sinner to the church. Reformed Churches have never accepted the notion and practice of the Roman Catholics...

The Incomparable Value of Scripture Our Confession now draws a conclusion in connection with this doctrine of the sufficiency of Holy Scripture. That conclusion is in the form of a very practical statement of faith. It is presented as follows: “Neither do we consider of equal value any writing of men, however holy these men may have been, with those divine Scriptures, nor ought we to consider custom, or the great multitude, or antiquity, or succession of times and persons, or councils, decrees or statutes, as of equal value with the truth of God . . .” We have already...

As one might expect, the Westminster Confession of Faith, 1647, also has something to say in connection with the sacraments in general. The sacraments are treated in Chapter XXVII of this confession. Paragraph I reads: “Sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ and his benefits, and to confirm our interest in him: as also to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the Church and the rest of the world; and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according to His Word.” In...

How can a man love what God hates and still love God? Indeed, we must love our neighbor. In fact we must love him as ourselves. However this love is not something sentimental. It is not something of the flesh. God is love. But God has no flesh. And when we speak of the love of God, we are not speaking of an activity of His mind and will that is characterized by human sentimentality. If we may say it, God is not squeamish. He is not emotional as man is touched in his flesh. And when God demands of...

We now come to our exposition of two very interesting verses from the pen of Paul. They are directives, admonitions of the gospel, for the saints in Christ, who in the providence of God were “slaves” when they were called by God c into the grace in Christ Jesus. By virtue of this calling they are no longer slaves of sin, servants-of unrighteousness, but are free-men and free-women in Christ, because the truth has made them free. They are children of Sarah, born from above. They are not children of the bond-woman, Hagar, but are children of the free-woman. Citizens...

And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew they servant they greatness, and they mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this...

Thus, therefore, Scripture emphasizes the necessity and the reality of the sanctification of the people of God in the midst of the world. In principle they are sanctified at the moment of regeneration and calling, and they are cleansed and purified. Principally, too, they have already put off the old man and put on the new. For they are born of God. They are crucified with Christ. They are liberated from the law of sin and death. They are also being continually confirmed and strengthened through grace, and live continuously out of the Spirit. And God Himself preserves in them...

Election and Reprobation According to Barth This subject we will finish in the present editorial, although we could write much more about it. But to do so would be mere repetition just as Barth repeats himself time and again. We have tried to prove from his Dogmatik the following: 1. That Barth does not believe in reprobation, although he uses the term frequently. But he employs the term in the sense in which Reformed theology uses the term total depravity. For in themselves all men are reprobate. 2. That Christ is the reprobate and that He died for the reprobates, that is,...