Vol 67 Issue 08

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregational Highlights The Young People’s Society of our Edgerton, MN PRC sponsored a Christmas singspiration on the evening of December 23. Besides inviting members of their own congregation, they also extended invitations to our churches in Doon and Hull, Iowa. On the evening of December 131, all of the adult societies of our Hudsonville, MI PRC met in their annual combined Christmas Social. The program included a piano-organ duet, some singing of traditional Christmas music, and a short slide program on the Holy Land, given by Mrs....

THE MOODY HANDBOOK OF THEOLOGY, by Paul Enns. Chicago: Moody Press, 1989. Pp. vii-688. Hardcover. $24.95. (Reviewed by the Editor.) The author describes this book as “a general introductory work in the entire area of theology that can provide answers to simple, basic questions” (p. xiii). It covers the whole, vast range of Christian theology under the five, major divisions of Biblical Theology; Systematic Theology; Historical Theology; Dogmatic Theology; and Contemporary Theology. The scope of the work necessarily demands brevity of treatment of the various elements. Nevertheless, not only the Sunday School teachers and other lay people who desire to...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. The deacons shall be chosen, approved, and installed in the same manner as was stated concerning the elders. Church Order, Article 24. Introduction Articles 24-26 of the Church Order describe the office and work of the deacons. Article 24 concerns the appointment of the deacons. Article 25 describes the work peculiar to the office of the deacons. Article 26 deals with cooperation of the deacons with others who are involved in caring for the poor. There are other references to the deacons in theChurch Order. Article 27 concerns...

Prof. Decker is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Soviets Grant Religious Freedom Last September 26 the USSR passed a very significant new law on religion, a law which replaces the 1929 code. By a vote of 341-1 the Soviet parliament passed a law which legalizes freedom of worship, proselytizing (evangelism), religious education. This new law also formally ends state support of atheism. This means that the changes of the last several years under the restructuring of Soviet society are now legalized. Religious organizations, including churches, are now recognized as legal entities. The state may not interfere...

Rev. Kamps is pastor of the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. The biblical truth of the clarity of Scripture was vigorously set forth by the Reformers of the sixteenth century over against the teaching of Rome. The term “perspicuity” as applied to Scripture, means that the Bible is of such a nature that its meaning is clear, transparent, and penetrable to the believer. Not the impenitent, spiritually dead in sin sinner so finds God’s Word; for to him it speaks only of wrath and of judgment. But the man of God, regenerated, indwelled by the illuminating Spirit of...

Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Read and study Philippians 4:1-9. This final chapter of the short epistle to the Philippians contains a moving address and important instructions. Note the great love of the apostle as expressed in the first verse: “. . .My brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown . . . my dearly beloved.” They are ‘loved” with that high, intense love which is not mere attraction, but a tie because of the perfections of Christ in them. They are as well Paul’s “joy and crown.” Paul did...

Mr. Doezema is secretary of the Domestic Mission Committee. To the Domestic Mission Committee is entrusted the task of implementing the decisions of the Synod of the PRC relative to the labors of this denomination in three declared fields (Florida, Jamaica, Northern Ireland), and of exploring opportunities in other “domestic” areas as they are presented to us by the King of the church. In view of the fact that more than half a year has passed since Synod 1990, we should perhaps give a brief report of the activities of this Synodical Committee. In consultation with the Mission Committee the...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. There is a golden link between God’s everlasting covenant of grace and mission work. So much so, that it is hard to conceive of any proper mission work being carried Consider God’s covenant: it is His everlasting bond of friendship on without a deep appreciation of and fellowship with His chosen people in Christ. It is rooted in the life of fellowship God has within the truth of God’s covenant with Himself as the triune God; it is decreed from eternity in God’s sovereign election; and it is...

Rev. denHartog is pastor of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California. The subject we wish to address is personal spiritual decline in the life of the child of God. Our focus is not on the apostasy that we see today in so many churches and in the lives of many of those who call themselves Christians. This is in itself a very grievous thing and ought to be the cause of greatest concern for every true child of God. It ought always to cause the child of God to walk in the fear of the Lord, being very...

The distinctive approach to covenant children taken by the Protestant Reformed does not involve us in “dormant regeneration” (cf. the editorial in the January 1, 1991 issue of theStandard Bearer). But is the view of the baptized children that underlies this approach in reality the notion of “presumptive regeneration”? This was the question of Mr. Paul Wiersma in a letter in the November 15, 1990 issue of the SB. Dr. J. R. Beeke and Elder J. W. Beeke of the Netherlands Reformed Congregations (NRC) charged that this is indeed the covenant conception of the PRC in a letter that appeared in...