Vol 68 Issue 01

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. The elders and deacons shall serve two or more years according to local regulations, and a proportionate number shall retire each year. The retiring officers shall be succeeded by others, unless the circumstances and the profit of any church, in the execution of articles 22 and 24, render a re-election advisable.  Church Order, Article 27 Historical Background This article establishes the policy of limited tenure for elders and deacons. Article 12 set forth the Reformed view that those who are called to the office of the ministry are...

Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another… I John 1:7 The family – husband, wife, and children – constitutes the very closest relationship on this earth that is possible. In contrast to the trouble and turmoil of our age, the family unit is a little, tightly-sealed kingdom. Within its walls there is fellowship and nourishment as each member serves the welfare of the other. And although Satan launches fierce attack at this...

Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Bethel Protestant Reformed Church in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. In the Puritan classic by Richard Baxter, The Saint’s Everlasting Rest, Mr. Baxter speaks of the duty of the people of God to excite others to obtain the saint’s rest, but he gives a caution about the manner of performing this duty. But because the manner of performing this work is of great moment, observe, therefore these rules: Enter upon it with right intentions. Aim at the glory of God in the person’s salvation. Do it not to get a name, or esteem to thyself, or...

Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. It is not possible to understand the strange times which we call the Middle Ages without understanding mysticism. Mysticism was a current which ran through the church of Christ throughout her history, beginning already in the third century, and it continues to the present. That this should be so is not surprising. The pendulum in the spiritual life of the people of God swings from one extreme to the other. On the one extreme lies a cold and lifeless dead orthodoxy which is often characterized by...

*Reprint from the SB, December 15, 1935. The home, the school, and the church have sometimes been called the triple alliance for the purpose of instructing and training the children of the covenant. And not improperly so. For, it cannot be denied that all three are of great importance in the education of our children. None of them can be missed, none of them can afford to be negligent in performing its part in this significant task, without causing a gap in the training of the child. Nor can it be gainsaid that there should be unity and co-operation between...

Mr. Hanko is a teacher at Hope Protestant Reformed School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. These are interesting times in the field of education. Once again there are reports that the American system of education is not doing its job. SAT test scores that measure students’ readiness for college are declining. Employers are complaining that graduates of high schools are not able to perform basic reading and computation that are required for them to hold jobs. Once again horror stories are being circulated about students who graduate from high school and are unable to read or write. Since this kind of...

Dr. Eldersveld is a member of the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church. Train up a child in the way that he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 Our Christian schools are a most precious heritage. Their preservation depends on God’s grace and our obedience to God’s demand that we educate our children in His fear. This is accomplished by our diligent use of the means that God provides, while we heed the sometimes subtle evidence that Satan is at work to destroy our schools. In late 1988, the Board of Hope Protestant...

One of the most precious aspects of the inheritance of the Reformed faith and life that has come down to us in the Protestant Reformed Churches is the Christian school. Our fathers in the faith have handed over to us the priceless legacy of a solidly established system of good Christian schools. Where such schools are not yet possible, because the number of cooperating parents is too small, there is still the legacy of the idea of Christian education as a goal to be prayed and striven for. For many of us, it is true in the most literal sense...

The October 1 issue of our magazine always represents the beginning of a new volume-year. In this issue, therefore, we inform our readers as to what they can expect in the Standard Bearer in the coming year, as this has been decided at the staff meeting held in June. Changes from the past year are few. Rev. Barry Gritters and Rev. Gise VanBaren asked to be relieved from writing for a year. We express our thanks to them for past contributions to the magazine and entertain the hope that they will be back on the staff soon. Replacing Rev. Gritters...