Vol 67 Issue 03

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Evangelism News Many of our readers know that for some time the congregation of our PRC in Redlands, CA has had correspondence with a group of Christians in Santa Cruz who are interested in the Reformed faith and our churches. Redlands has been considering various plans to help these people and at the same time investigate the possibility of future work in the Santa Cruz area. Redlands has decided to have a series of four Lord’s days of preaching services in this area. Our church in Loveland,...

This contribution was submitted by a long-time, and accomplished, church-organist in the Protestant Reformed Churches. We honor the author’s request to remain anonymous in The Standard Bearer. The most important part of a church service is the preaching of the Word of God. Another very important part of our church service is the congregational singing. Because the church organist aids the congregational singing, he or she is also important. In the past we have become increasingly aware of a decreasing supply of church organists. Perhaps organists become threatened by unsympathetic music committees and critical church membership. The service as church...

September 20, 1990 Dear Members and Supporters of the R.F.P.A. (Standard Bearer publication): Until one is personally involved to some degree, it is so easy to dismiss from one’s mind all the required time and effort and cost that go into a finished product—namely, in this case, Volume 66 of the SB, and also the related work of the Permanent Committee for the Publication of Protestant Reformed Literature. We as Board, on behalf of the Association, gratefully acknowledge and thank our Editor, the Editorial Committee, our Business Manager, Guest Writers, Department Editors, and others who contributed to put the SB and other of our...

“Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the house without man, and the land be utterly desolate. And the LORD have removed man far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land….” Isaiah 6:11-13 The Divine Timetable for Judgments in the Goodly Land We should never forget that the land of Canaan was truly a goodly land. If even a part of the earth could be singled out as being in a unique sense “God’s Country,” it was the land of Canaan, the accursed son of Ham...

Rev. Kamps is pastor of the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. Propositional Revelation It has always been the Reformed church’s confession that the Bible gives us information concerning who God is. If one consults the Creeds of the Reformed churches he will discover that the church declared “what kind of a God God is” and ‘Who he is.” Consider the first article of the Belgic Confession, where the church speaks of God’s Being: “there is one only simple and spiritual Being, which we call God; and that he is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise, just,...

Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches.

Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. There are times in the history of the church of Christ when God has such an important work in the defense and development of the faith for a man that in a special way God determines his life, almost from infancy, to prepare him for that calling. This was the case with Martin Luther, whose deep struggle with the assurance of his salvation was used by God to lead him to the great truth of justification by faith alone. This was also true of Augustine,...

Prof. Decker is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Boesak Resigns The Rev. Dr. Allan Boesak, a prominent anti-apartheid leader in South Africa and a noted church leader, has resigned as pastor of the Bellville congregation of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church. South African newspapers reported that Boesak had spent four days at a resort hotel with a woman reporter. His wife, Dorothy, then announced that she would be ending their 21-year marriage. On Sunday, July 8, Dr. Boesak announced to his congregation that he was resigning as pastor. On August 12 the Bellville classis declared to...

Correction from the NRC Recently we have read Prof. Engelsma’s series of articles on “The Covenant of God and the Children of Believers” with interest and appreciation (The Standard Bearer, March 15, April 1, April 15, May 1, July 1, and September 15, 1990). In the fourth article of this series, we read your brief explanation of the Free Reformed and Netherlands Reformed (hereafter, NRC) denominational views of the covenant of grace. As a NRC pastor/theological instructor and an elder/principal, we were surprised to find these denominations’ covenantal views grouped together in your explanation. The Free Reformed teach a three-covenant...