Vol 62 Issue 09

Classis East met in regular session on Wednesday, January 8, at the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church. Each church was represented by two delegates. Rev. Haak opened the session with devotions; Rev. R. Hanko presided. The business of the classes was other than routine. There was first an overture regarding changes in translation of the Canons of Dordt. There were four specific changes proposed in the overture, all of which, if changed, would improve the meaning of the Canons. Classis decided to send the overture to synod with its approval. The suggestion in the overture that scripture references be changed to...

Steven R. Houck, a missionary of the Protestant Reformed Churches, is currently laboring in Ripon, California. The Sovereign Savior Since God is the sovereign King over all the world, we must also acknowledge that He is the sovereign Savior. How inconsistent we would be if we recognized God to be the great King, but refused to recognize Him as the Savior Who saves His people by sovereign grace alone. These two can not be separated. If God is not the sovereign Savior, then He can not be the sovereign King. The Psalms, however, make it very clear that God is...

Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. The very worst sin of which a person can make himself guilty is the sin of covenant breaking. Adultery, murder, drunkenness, homosexuality—these are not the worst sins that a person can commit. Although we can become very horrified over these sins of the flesh, the sin that ought to cause us to be especially horrified is this sin, the sin of breaking the covenant of God. The Scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, refer frequently to the sin of covenant breaking. In Genesis 17:14 the Lord says about those...

Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Several times Alice was taken to the ALS clinic at the University of Chicago. There, much helpful advice was given, medications were prescribed to relieve some of the distressing symptoms of ALS, and also experimental medications were given—but there was no indication that any of these slowed the progress of the disease. At first Alice was taken to Chicago by car when it was still possible to help her in and out of it. A folding wheelchair could fit into the trunk of the car—and Alice...

Robert D. Decker is professor of New Testament and Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.

George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. The Covenant Made Strong (continued—Daniel 9:27) And this “end” shall be “as with a flood.” The suggestion is that God will perform a very final and cataclysmic judgment upon the earthly city and theocracy of Israel, just as in the days of Noah. It will be a sudden and final destruction. Even as in the days of Noah, when God destroyed the wicked with the waters of the flood, so shall it be when God sends the Roman legions to surround the city; then shall the earthly temple...

John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. The prophet Jonah loved God’s church as she existed in the day of shadows. His sin in trying to flee to Tarshish was not that he was carnally attached to the fleshly seed of Abraham, the nation of Israel, and was moved by a patriotism and nationalism like that which any unbelieving citizen can have for his country. His sin was not that he had no use for God’s church, or for the growth of that church. He wanted God’s love, mercy, and grace to fall richly on...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament departments at the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In our last article we introduced the general subject of medical technology, and gave some idea of the broad range of problems which arise because of the advances which science and medicine have made in the areas of biology and bio-medicine. While it is our purpose to discuss the moral dimensions of these problems in future articles and deal with each problem individually, we want, in this article, to lay down a few more basic and fundamental principles which underlie, in our judgment,...

To our brothers and sisters of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America: Feeling constrained by Christian love, we would like to address ourselves to you and share some of our thoughts and experiences with you. Writing in behalf of our newly instituted church, we feel in need of continuous spiritual contact and encouragement from likeminded Christian friends from across the seas. The ministries of Rev. Heys and Rev. Miersma among us have left a lasting mark on us; and although distance and lack of resources has brought about an abeyance in the supply of ministers to our shores, we nevertheless...

Dear Brother:  I recently returned from a trip to find the Dec. 1 and 15 issues of your magazine in my mail. As always at my first opportunity I read both issues from cover to cover.  I have a few comments/questions to which I would appreciate your response.  Your issue of Dec. 1 on the Antithesis was as in the words on your cover “instructive and helpful.”