vol 69 Issue 05

The recent book, Behold Your God (BYG), by Scottish Presbyterian theologian Donald Macleod is a passionate plea for the doctrine of common grace. Three of the sixteen chapters are devoted to common grace explicitly. A fourth consists of the application of common grace to the saving will of God and the atonement of the cross. Macleod’s defense of common grace involves the denial of the Reformed doctrine of total depravity. For common grace keeps the unregenerated from being completely defiled by sin. The Presbyterian theologian defends his denial of total depravity in three ways. First, he redefines “total” to mean merely...

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregational Activities Even though the front cover of this issue of the Standard Bearer indicates that this is the December 1st issue, I am writing this installment of the “News” in early November, which means that our churches’ annual observance of Reformation Day has now just-passed. Many of our congregations mark this important event in the life of the church by sponsoring a lecture. Such was the case again this year. The congregation of the Immanuel PRC of Lacombe, AB, Canada sponsored a Reformation Day lecture on...

The Case for Full Subscription to the Westminster Standards in the Presbyterian Church in America, by Morton Howison Smith. Greenville, SC: GPTS Press, 1992, 98 pages (paper). No price given. [Reviewed by the Editor.] One of the founding fathers of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and longtime Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Morton Howison Smith, pleads for full subscription to their creeds by all officebearers in the PCA. He does this in the face of opposition within that church. The issue is popularly referred to as the difference between “strict” and “loose” subscription to the Westminster Confession and...

Mr. Huisken is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan and registrar at Hope College. [The text of a lecture given to the Association for the Advancement of Dutch-American Studies A.A.D.A.S.) held at Hope College on September20, 1991. The topic of the conference was “The Dutch and Their Faith.” The conference was sponsored by the Joint Archives of Holland. This lecture was repeated at the Protestant Reformed Seminary on March 26, 1992, and, at the editor’s request, submitted for publication in the SB.] We often wonder how others perceive us. This relates to many areas of our...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. The office of the president is to state and explain the business to be transacted, to see to it that everyone observe(s) due order in speaking, to silence the captious and those who are vehement in speaking; and to properly discipline them if they refuse to listen. Furthermore his office shall cease when the assembly arises.  Church Order, Article 35. Introduction This article describes the office, or duty of the president of ecclesiastical assemblies. The article originated with the Synod of Embden, 1571. Originally it concerned only the...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Reformation in England God works in mysterious ways, and the wonders of His providence sometimes leave us gasping in surprise. The Reformation in England is illustrative of this truth. While in Germany and Geneva God brought about the Reformation through the work of mighty men of God such as Luther and Calvin, in England the Reformation turned on the lust and fornication of a king – Henry VIII, known throughout history as the man of many wives, some of whom he murdered. About the lust...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. Do you, my younger brother or sister, have a proper view of yourself? That is a question that is biblically based. The Bible often speaks to you personally, calling you to self-examination. Obviously, then, there is a way in which you must consider your own life, your own nature, your own gifts, your own behavior, and your relationships with others and with God. But when I ask, Do you have a proper view of yourself, it is with purpose that I phrase the question that way. Because whether...

Rev. denHartog is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California. The greatest of all comforts for the Christian who is lying on a bed of illness is the knowledge of the truth that sickness is in the hands of his loving heavenly Father. Sickness does not come to us by chance, it is not just something inherent in being human, and certainly it is not the workings of the devil with which God has nothing to do. Sickness, and all our diseases, are entirely under the sovereign control of God. Furthermore, because of the cross of Christ Jesus,...

An Apology This letter is written in response to your article in the Standard Bearer of the 1st September, 1992 (“A Brotherly Request that the RCUS Prove Its Charge against the PRC”) in which you stated an offense .against the Reformed Church in the United States. You were offended at statements in our Home Missions Committee Report, reprinted in our Abstract, which you took as charging the Protestant Reformed Church with hyper-calvinism. As both author of that report and chairman of that committee I take personal responsibility for what was published. I wish to offer you my unreserved apology for...

From the Council of the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois, appointed by Classis West to oversee the financial support of Rev. Audred Spriensma while he waited for a call, comes word that no more contributions to this fund are needed. I have received the following letter from South Holland: Greetings in the name of the sovereign Head and King of the Church, Jesus Christ!  This letter comes to you to inform you that contributions for the special “Classical Minister-Support Fund” for Rev. Audred Spriensma and his family are no longer needed.  As you know, Rev. Spriensma has accepted...