Vol 63 Issue 07

Ben wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. With this issue of the Standard Bearer we begin a series of church profiles. The idea is to have all of us get better acquainted with each other. So from time to time the news column will contain a short profile of one of our churches. We begin with Covenant Protestant Reformed Church of Wyckoff, N.J. The inception of the church dates back to the early 1970’s, when a copy of The Standard Bearer fell into the hands of Mr. & Mrs. Charles de Groot. Favorably impressed, they read it thoroughly...

CHRISTIAN AND REFORMED TODAY, by John Bolt; Paideia Press, 1984; 158 pp., ($6.95 ($8.95 Can.) paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko). If anyone is in any doubt that the Association for the Advancement of Christian Studies (AACS) and the Institute of Christian Studies (ICS) have maintained their doctrinal and philosophical position over the years, he has only to read this book; it will soon convince him that no change of substance has been made in the thinking of the men in this movement. The same doctrinal errors appear in this book which have appeared in the writings of other men...

Robert C. Harbach is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. At the institution of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus had spoken these words, “For this is My blood of the new testament which is shed for many, for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28). He could speak of His blood as already shed, for He is the foreordained “Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.” John the Baptist did too, introducing Jesus not only prospectively but actually taking (bearing) away the sin of the world (John 1:29). How do we speak of the blood of Christ? In the...

Ronald J. Van Overloop is a missionary-pastor of the Protestant Reformed Churches in Northwest Chicago. (The thought patterns of this article are unashamedly based on an excellent book, which I would highly recommend all readers to obtain and read. It is A Vision For Missions, by Tom Wells, The Banner Of Truth Trust, 1985.) Evangelism and mission work are conducted and performed for a variety of reasons. Evangelism is performed because God and Jesus command that it be done. Also there is the need for the gospel on the part of those who are the object of the work. And, thirdly,...

Herman Veldman is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. The truth of the providence of God is not mentioned in our Apostles’ Creed. This, however, does not mean that this conception must therefore not be maintained by the church of God and by us. There are also other truths that are not mentioned in this creed, truths such as the Trinity, divine predestination (election and reprobation), the depravity of the sinner, the preaching of the gospel and the sacraments as the means of grace, etc. This truth, although not mentioned in this creed, is surely implied in it....

Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Communication can sometimes approach the absurd. One notices this especially when part of this communication is carried on with a spelling-card. Alice often insisted on spelling out something which, subsequently to us, seemed utterly unimportant—especially for a person in her position. On one occasion, she expressively kept looking across the room. Obviously, she wanted to tell us something. All kinds of questions could not arrive at the problem. So we took out the spelling-card. Slowly she spelled out: d-r-a-p-e. A glance across the room quickly showed...

John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. The first time that God called Jonah to go to Nineveh (Jonah 1:2), but also the second time that He called him to preach there (Jonah 3:2), God called Nineveh “that great city”. In fact in the Hebrew we read “a great city to God”. The idea undoubtedly is that it was exceedingly great in comparison with other cities in that day. We cannot be sure of the exact measurements, but it may have had a million or more citizens. Jonah 4:11 reveals that there were in it 120,000 little...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In our last article in which we discussed in vitrofertilization (IVF) we made passing reference to the fact that it was possible that many children conceived in a test tube were being used for experimental purposes. We did not want to say too much about this because little is known concerning this; those who engage in such practices do so in great secrecy, and instances are hard to document. Recently, however, I received an article from aStandard Bearer reader in England which speaks of this very...

Perhaps some of our readers will be aware of the fact that this year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the denomination which was born on June 11, 1936, in Philadelphia, especially under the leadership of J. Gresham Machen, out of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy in the Presbyterian Church (USA). At first the new denomination had the name Presbyterian Church of America, a name which ultimately was denied them in a court case in 1939. Thereafter it took the name Orthodox Presbyterian Church. This is the denomination which has been closely associated with Westminster Seminary, although that institution...

James D. Slopsema is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church, Walker, Michigan. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.  Matthew 5:13 It is good at the beginning of each year to be reminded of the place we occupy in God’s creation as well as the responsibilities that fall to us before God. Ye are the salt of the earth. This remarkable statement of Jesus appears in His Sermon...