Vol 59 Issue 02

Now that candidates Tom Miersma and Jon Smith have passed their examinations at Classis, Jon will be heading to Edgerton immediately but Tom will have to wait awhile. When candidate d Tom Miersma received and accepted the call from our Edmonton, Alberta, Canada congregation, he had at least three months to wait before he could move up north. By the time this news is printed, he will have one and a half more months to wait. 

Chapter 1 (Luke 24:25) Strange as it may sound to those who have made a study of the manifold writings of Premillennialists, particularly of those denominated “Dispensationalists,” the real question is not that the latter, in particular, insist on a literal interpretation of the Bible in the prophetic writings, but that they do not really believe “all that the prophets have spoken.” Such fail to follow the clear-cut instructions of Jesus to His disciples, and they do not interpret the Scriptures as did Jesus on the evening of His resurrection day!

Looking back at the activities and accomplishments of the R.F.P.A. during the past publication year, what can be more properly said than that our God is ever Faithful, ever Sure.  Volume 58 of the Standard Bearer is history; but putting our hand to the plow, we go forward in the confidence that, if the Lord wills, Volume 59, page by page, issue by issue, will go forth to the ends of the earth. 

It is the purpose of this writer in this article and in the subsequent articles that have been assigned to him to treat the idea of the signs of the times in a rather different way.

It is striking that, in the case of Isaac and Jacob, the event that manifests their faith so clearly that they are mentioned in Hebrews 11 as those whose walk of life was a confession that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth seeking the city which hath foundations whose Designer and Builder is God occurred late in life. 

Cancer Cures Smoking So announces the Reformed Perspective, March, 1982, published by Canadian Reformed Church members. In an article “About Smoking,” Dr. Walter Meester, a well-known doctor to many of our people in Grand Rapids, and member of the American Reformed Church, presents a sobering article about smoking and cancer. Dr. W. Meester is in a position to know firsthand. We quote the first part of the article:

I. About God’s Oneness and Plurality  The minister and the rabbi seated next to one another on the plane introduced themselves. The one holding out his hand said, “I’m Pastor Nathanael K. Russo.” The other replied with a grip of the hand, “I’m Rabbi Nathan Klug.”  “A beautiful name, rabbi! Reading like Hebrew, from right to left, it means wise gift.” 

Dear Timothy,  Language is important. Without language there can be no communication between persons. And without communication there can be no fellowship.  Theological language is especially important because by it the gospel is preached, the truth is proclaimed, God’s people are instructed in the faith and given all they need to walk their sojourn from here to heaven.  Careless use of theological language has led to untold trouble in the church of Christ.

(In this paragraph which is continued in this article and in the preceding paragraph Kuyper has begun a discussion of reformation by means of a break with the church. He has only introduced this subject, but has emphasized in the preceding material, that such reformation must be: 1) a work of God; 2) a work that begins in the consciousness of sin and guilt which arises in the heart of the believer.) 

With what one might interpret as a note of nostalgia, the Rev. J. D. Eppinga (The Banner, Sept. 13, 1982, p. 25) bemoans the lack of a distinctive and Reformed lifestyle in his denomination. At the conclusion of one of his usually interesting “Of Cabbages & Kings” articles he writes as follows: