Vol 64 Issue 10

Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Rev. G. Van Baren declined the call extended to him from the congregation in Holland, Michigan. Rev. M. DeVries also declined the call he received from First Church in Grand Rapids to become the second missionary of our Protestant Reformed Churches to the island of Jamaica. You may also remember an item from our last news column about Rev. Houck, and the incomplete results of a tread-mill test. We are happy to report that results of that test taken January 13 revealed that there is no need...

A Stranger in a Strange Land, Leonora Scholte; Neerlandia, Alberta, Canada, Inheritance Publications, 120 pp. (paper); price—US $5.95. [Reviewed by Gertrude Hoeksema] This book tells the story of the Dutch settlement in Pella, Iowa, under the leadership of the Reverend Henry Scholte. Written by Scholte’s daughter-in-law, the story gives the accuracy and intimate details which only a member of the family could furnish. Because of persecution after the Secession of 1834 in the Netherlands, the Rev. Scholte and his followers emigrated to America and settled in the plains of Iowa, later developed into the city of Pella. It is a...

Bruce VanSolkema is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Byron Center, Michigan. I wish to convey the needs and desires of every child of God who sits under the preaching of the Word of God, the needs and fulfillment of those needs which are taken from the bottom of my heart as I listen to the preaching from Sunday to Sunday. In the first place, we should desire to hear good exegetical Biblical sermons based on the entire Word of God. We need sermons that explain to us the historical background, the meaning of the text, with many...

John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. When the book of Ruth was written, we do not know. It was written in or after the days of David, but just when it was written and by whom, we cannot say. The last verses in this book, however, reveal that it was after David’s anointing as future king of Israel. In these last verses, David is mentioned as a descendant of Obed, whom God gave to Boaz and Ruth. Whoever wrote this book of Ruth knew these men and the genealogies found in verses 18-22. That...

Ronald H. Hanko is pastor of Trinity Protestant Reformed Church, Houston, Texas. 2. The characteristics of Christ’s human nature (con’t.). b. Christ’s complete human nature. Closely connected with the reality of Christ’s human nature is its completeness. It should be immediately obvious that if His human nature is not complete, that is, if it does not include body, soul, spirit, heart, mind, will, and all that belongs to our humanity, then it is not real either. This also was denied in the early history of the Church, first of all by those who taught that the deity of Christ replaced...

George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. We now come to our consideration of Micah 6:6, 7. We wish to state at the very outset that these two verses are worthy of our careful consideration. The Word of God is worthy of being studied. Such study yields rich rewards. The verses here read as follows: “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In previous articles we have attempted to point out the complexity of the problem of so-called euthanasia and see some of the ramifications of it in our present-day society. In the next two articles, we have to try to come to some conclusions on the matter and offer some guidelines for our thinking. We live in a very strange world, made strange by the presence of sin. Indeed, as the night of sin grows darker and iniquity abounds, the strange inconsistencies of life in...

Arie den Hartog is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. In I Thessalonians 2:13 the apostle Paul speaks of giving thanks to God without ceasing on account of the saints in Thessalonica, because they received the Word of God, not as the mere word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God. Earlier in this epistle Paul commended the great virtue of this church. He remembered their work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, the Thessalonicans had become examples to all that believed in Macedonia and...

Both because it has been a couple months since we treated this subject and because we will be discussing specifically the statements of Prof. Hodgson at the conclusion of his address, we will repeat those statements. For reasons which will become plain a little later, I will number those statements. Bear in mind that these are the corrected statements, transcribed from a very clear recording, so that there can be no doubt as to their accuracy: 1. Do mammals, for example, have a common ancestor? Do all taxonomic phyla and kingdoms go back to a single ancestral line? They are...

Cornelius Hanko is an emeritus minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Ques. 126. What is the fifth petition?  Answer. “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”; that is, be pleased for the sake of Christ’s blood, not to impute to us poor sinners, our transgressions, nor that depravity, which always cleaves to us; even as we feel the evidence of thy grace in us, that it is our firm resolution from the heart to forgive our neighbor.  Heid. Cat. Lord’s Day 51 Our Father, which art in heaven! Thou hast taught us in Thy Word that all...