Vol 70 Issue 01

Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. We have been inundated with news of the flooding of the Mississippi River and its tributaries the past several months. We have seen the pictures, over and over again, of homes washed away, of possessions destroyed, of croplands covered with water. We are told that, as far as damage is concerned, this flood has been the most costly disaster in the history of our country. It is said that, this is the kind of flood that might strike once every 500 years. Some have described it as a...

More Books of Psalms for Singing I was delighted to receive from my good friends in Crown and Covenant Publications a copy of Rev. Ray Lanning’s “The Songs of Zion, An Appreciation of the Psalter of 1912,” a featured article in your June 1993 Standard Bearer. Although it contained much information that was not new to me; I am refreshed and encouraged by Rev. Lanning’s appeal for continued singing of Psalms. I must, however, take exception to his statement that The Psalter of 1912 “was the last stand for singing the Psalms in worship among Presbyterians on this continent.” It...

This is the title of a recently issued, brief (11-page) pamphlet written by Rev. Steven Houck and published by the Peace Protestant Reformed Church in Lansing, Illinois. I have been asked to bring this pamphlet to the attention of the readership of the Standard Bearer, and I do so enthusiastically. The pamphlet is unique in that it is intended to be a soundly Reformed means of witnessing to the unconverted and unchurched. The pamphlet succeeds. It is a written form of the biblical call of the gospel to those who are not converted to Christ and who may have little...

The Standard Bearer has symbol. We display it on the cover of this issue. This was the winning entry in the recent contest. The design is a shield, representing the shield of faith, on which there stands at the ready a sword, symbolizing the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. Two letters of the Greek alphabet are worked into the device. The obvious letter “A” is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, “alpha.” The rounded letter is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, “omega.” Taken together, as in Revelation 1:8, they describe the eternal God as the...

This issue of the Standard Bearer begins the 70th volume of our magazine. The first issue appeared in October, 1924. Incidentally, the cost of a year’s subscription then was $1.50. At our meeting this past June, the staff approved some changes in the content of the SB this coming year. Rev. John Heys will move from his Old Testament rubric to cooperate with Rev. Cornelius Hanko in writing the meditations. Occasionally other of the ministers will contribute a meditation. After Rev. George Lubbers completes his introduction to the study of I Timothy, Rev. Carl Haak will provide a detailed outline...

Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Psalm 51:7 It seems strange, does it not? David, way back in the days of the Old Testament, spoke of being made whiter than snow. Could man in that period of time know anything that is whiter than snow? In fact, can we today point to anything that is whiter than snow? We read in Isaiah 1:18 these words: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be...