Vol 58 Issue 02

September 14, 1981 

The following question was sent in: “We had a discussion in our family about sinning against the seventh commandment. The question was asked, where did it originate that you must confess your sins before the congregation. Is it not sufficient to do this before the consistory, assuming that the person or persons are sincere? Could you cast some light on the subject?”

There are many evidences of the fact that the days in which we live are the last days. There is the reality of wars and rumors of wars; there is unrest in the world around us; there is famine and pestilence; there is hatred of the world for the Church manifest in the persecution of God’s people, and there is the hatred of wicked men within the Church manifest in the denial of the truth of the Word of God.

Obedience to our parents is an indication of our obedience to God. The Apostle John writes these simple but soul-searching words in I John 4:10, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” We could say with equal force, “If a man say, I love God and hateth his father or mother whom he hath seen, how can he obey God Whom he hath not seen?” 

In the Calvin Spark, September 1981, Dr. J.H. Kromminga of Calvin Seminary, presents in an open letter his reactions to the new proposed independent seminary in Northwest Iowa. He writes:

The Christian News, June 8, 1981, makes reference to a decision by the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio that the Jew is not to be the object of evangelization: The Episcopal Diocese of Ohio has officially gone on record in enacting a policy of refusing to tell Jews that Jesus Christ said that “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” John 14:6

The Presbyterian Journal, June 3, 1981, contains a thought-provoking poem with the above title:

The United Presbyterian Church faced, this past summer, a question concerning the deity of Jesus. One of their ministers refused to say that Christ is God. After heated debate, the UPCUSA adopted a resolution which seems to be very orthodox and Scriptural—but when some would insert important and clarifying words to this resolution, the Assembly turned that down. The whole action indicates the apostasy within the churches today. The Presbyterian Journal,June 10, 1981, reports on the General Assembly:

Dear People of God and Fellow Saints:  It has been some time since we have written to you via the pages of our Standard Bearer; and now, with a new school year well under way, we thought it best to give you some news about activities on “Seminary Hill.” 

October 15,1981 Dear Timothy,