Vol 66 Issue 14

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Mission Activities In a letter dated March 6, Rev. G. VanBaren, who along with his wife and daughter spent six weeks in Northern Ireland on behalf of our churches, writes to his congregation in Hudsonville, MI concerning some of his observations and impressions regarding the work there. He writes, “I have been especially impressed by comments made by some of these people of their great gratitude for the help they have received through the preaching of the Word. One claimed that they had grown spiritually ‘by leaps...

Classis West met on Wednesday, March 7, 1990, in South Holland, Illinois. Classis met in two sessions and finished its business at about 3:00 Wednesday afternoon. Rev. C. Haak served as President of Classis and Rev. R. Dykstra as Clerk. As President of the previous Classis, Rev. R. Dykstra also led Classis in its opening devotions. Most of the business conducted by Classis was routine. Classical appointments were scheduled for Hope PRC of Isabel, SD and for the Randolph, WI PRC. Nine subsidy requests totaling $107,081.00 were approved for 1990 and 1991 and will be forwarded to Synod, 1990 for...

WHEN THX MORNING CAME, by Piet Prins. Neerlandia, Alberta, Canada: Inheritance Publications, 1989. 158 pages. $8.50 US, paper. (Reviewed by the Editor.) This is reading for Reformed children, young people, and (if I am any indication) their parents. It is the story of 12-year old Martin Meulenberg and his family during the Roman Catholic persecution of the Reformed Christians in The Netherlands about the year 1600. A peddlar, secretly distributing Reformed books from village to village, drops a copy of Guido deBres’ True Christian Confession—a booklet forbidden by the Roman Catholic authorities. An evil neighbor sees the book and informs the...

Rev. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Verses 8, 9—”Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” You will...

Mr. Lanting, a member of South Holland Protestant Reformed Church, is a practicing attorney. State Supreme Court Holds Church Liable for Discipline of Parishioner After Withdrawal of Membership After she wrote a letter to the Elders unequivocally withdrawing her membership from the Church of Christ, the Elders continued their disciplinary actions against her. During Sunday services the Elders read to the congregation those Scriptures which the Parishioner violated. This exposure of her private life, done without her consent, was unprotected by the First Amendment. Majority opinion, Guinn v. Collinsville Church of Christ. Churches are afforded great latitude on members or former...

Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents. Hebrews 11:23 But there was one influence for highest good—constant, unvarying, and most powerful. It was that of a “mother in Israel” (Alfred Edersheim).  The three first years of life…are often…a period decisive for after life. It requires no stretch of imagination to conceive what the child Moses would learn at his mother’s knee… (Alfred Edersheim).  What an encouragement is suggested by this record to mothers—to make the very most...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. The consistories shall see to it that there are good Christian schools in which the parents have their children instructed according to the demands of the covenant.  Church Order, Article 21 Introduction This article deals with the responsibility of consistories with respect to the Christian education of the children of the covenant. The article does NOT entrust the consistories with the responsibility for establishing, operating, and governing Christian schools. This would be to advocate parochialism. Instead the article insists that the education of children is fundamentally a parental...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. It pleases the Lord, the King of the church, in crucial times during the church’s history, to raise men of fearless courage who are willing to sacrifice all for the cause of the truth. Such a man was Luther; such a man was Calvin; such men were the leaders of the “Separation” in the Netherlands in 1834; the Lord has blessed our own churches with such spiritual fathers; such a man was also Athanasius. At a most critical time he was raised up by God...

Perceptive Articles on Suicide Thank you for the excellent articles by Mr. Joel D. Sugg on suicide (The Standard Bearer, Jan. 15 and Feb. 1, 1990). These are timely and perceptive articles that truly deal with spiritual issues. May the author continue to exercise his writing ministry for God’s glory and the edification of the saints. Edward W. Ojarovsky New Rochelle, NY Fields and Winslow on the Doctrines of Grace Thank you very much for The Standard Bearer and the fine, firm, and facile affirmation of the Reformed faith contained therein. Your exposure of the sad doctrinal declension evident even in professedly...

Early this century, a series of twelve volumes appeared setting forth the “fundamentals of the Christian faith.” The books were titled,Fundamentalism: A Testimony to the Truth. They were intended to combat the spreading theological modernism, i.e., unbelief and heresy, Two rich Christian businessmen distributed three million individual volumes, without charge, to pastors, missionaries, Sunday School teachers, and others in influential positions in the churches. This year, Kregel Publications in Grand Rapids, Michigan has published a new edition of those volumes in one, big book, The Fundamentals: The Famous Sourcebook of Foundational Biblical Truths (edited by R.A. Torrey, updated by Charles L. Feinberg,...