Vol 62 Issue 06

David Harbach is a teacher at Adams St. Prot. Ref. Christian School, Grand Rapids, Michigan. The response to the conference on “Marriage: For Better, For Worse” was more than expected; so a larger meeting room had to be obtained. I would imagine that materials used during this conference will be made available to those who were not able to attend. When I find out more information about this, I’ll write about it. As many of us know, Synod 1985 decided to raise $20,000 for a special emergency medical fund for Missionary Houck s son Jeremy. Of this amount $10,000 is...

GOOD FRIDAY, by Jeremias De Decker; translated from the Dutch by Henrietta Ten Harmsel; Paideia Press, Jordan Station, Ontario, Canada, 1984; 147 pp. $7.95 ($9.95 Canada) (paper). (Reviewed by Gertrude Hoeksema) From September, 1982, to February, 1983, Miss Ten Harmsel took a leave of absence from teaching at Calvin College to translate Jeremias De Decker’s rather lengthy and detailed poem, Good Friday. De Decker, born in 1609, a close friend of Rembrandt and a member of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands, has been characterized as a biblical pietist and a man with a broad knowledge and understanding of Scripture. As...

Cornelius Hanko is an emeritus minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches. A reader asks: Concerning the ancestry of Christ in Matthew’s Gospel and also in the Gospel of Luke: Is this also the covenantal line of the true people of God, or are there unbelievers in this lineage? Among these people are some prominent names; but also some folk which are not familiar names; how is it that the two lists are not the same? The first question is whether the genealogies as recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew and in Luke trace the covenant line throughout the Old...

Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. Last time we discussed the history and basic beliefs of the Moonies. In this article we want to evaluate this popular cult, as well as consider our calling with respect to an organization like the Moonies. Perhaps one of the most fundamental deviations of the Moonies is their teaching concerning God and concerning Jesus Christ. The Moonies deny the deity of Jesus Christ. Denying the deity of Christ, the Moonies also deny the truth of the Trinity. These two closely connected errors are sufficient reasons in themselves to...

Thomas C. Miersma is pastor of the First Protestant Reformed Church, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. “We confess that this word of God was not sent, nor delivered by the will of man, but that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, as the apostle Paul saith, And that afterwards God from a special care, which he has for us and our salvation, commanded his servants, the prophets and apostles, to commit his revealed word to writing; and he himself wrote with his own finger, the two tables of the law. Therefore we call such writings...

James D. Slopsema is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. According to the baptism form there are three principal parts of the doctrine of holy baptism. The second principal part is that: Holy baptism witnesseth and sealeth unto us the washing away of our sins through Jesus Christ. Therefore we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For when we are baptized in the name of the Father, God the Father witnesseth and sealeth unto us, that he doth make an eternal covenant of grace with us,...

Jason L. Kortering is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Grandville, Michigan. In our outline of the book of Genesis, we have yet to complete the last two “generations.” 10. The generations of Esau (Gen. 36:1-37:1). Esau’s name is given as “Edom.” He took his three wives and five sons which are mentioned by name and his daughters with all his substance and moved to Mount Seir because there was not enough room to dwell in the land alongside Jacob (Gen. 36:1-8). His generations are then listed by sons and dukes (Gen. 36:9-30, 40-44). The kings that reigned in...

Herman Veldman is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. In our preceding article we were calling attention to the fact that Answer 24 of our Heidelberg Catechism cannot be understood to refer to the three divisions of the Apostolic Confession, and that each of the Divine Persons is distinguished and described here. Question and Answer 24 reads as follows: “How are these articles divided (the twelve articles of the Apostles’ Creed)? Into three parts: the first is of God, the Father, and our creation; the second of God the Son, and our redemption; the third of God the...

Robert D. Decker is professor of New Testament and Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Something “big” happened in the Grand Rapids area late last summer, something “big” and something “sad.” It was an evangelistic crusade called, “Alive, ’85.” Christianity Today in its November 8, 1985 issue reports: “Grand Rapids, Michigan, is no modern day Sodom or Gomorrah. The city of 185,000 is the home of such highly respected evangelical institutions as Calvin College, Calvin Theological Seminary, and Zondervan Publishing Company, a major evangelical publisher. “A haven for Reformed Christianity, Grand Rapids seems an unlikely target for a major evangelistic crusade,...

Was James Arminius a heretic? To many of us this may seem to be an utterly foolish and unnecessary question. Perhaps it seems to be a question like, “Is ice cold?” or, “Is fire hot?” In other words, for a Reformed man this is not even a question which needs asking. For a Reformed man it is a fundamental presupposition. However, the Editor of The Banner (Oct. 6, 1985, pp. 6, 7) tries to present Arminius in a favorable light and to persuade his readers that Arminius was not a heretic or, at least, not nearly such an evil man and such...