Vol 70 Issue 11

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregational Activities Before we go any further into this issue of the “News,” there is one update that should be made from the February 15th “News.” That is that the date set for the organization of the Bauer group has been moved back to the 2nd of March. That’s one week later than was reported here last time. The consistory of our Hope PRC in Walker, MI recently extended an invitation to young adults and young married couples of other area PR congregations to join them in...

What is Faith? by J. Gresham Machen. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1991. 262pp, $9.95 (paper). [Reviewed by Steven R. Key.] This book contains the material of a course of lectures which was delivered at the Grove City Bible School in the summer of 1925. There are only eight chapters in this book of some 262 pages. The chapters, therefore, are somewhat lengthy, giving thorough development to their themes. One who would contrast faith with knowledge – something frequently done today – will be struck by the introductory chapter of this book. This is not a book for one...

  Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. “Let’s talk about dating!” was the suggestion I made at the beginning of one of our Young People’s meetings. There followed a little laughter and then silence. “OK, let’s talk about not dating.” A little more laughter and some more silence. We never did pursue the subject, since our meeting was canceled in order that our Sunday School could practice for its Christmas program. It probably should have been pursued, and perhaps still can be – in all our Young People’s Societies. But then, maybe it is too...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. “The deacons shall meet, wherever necessary, eve y week to transact the business pertaining to their office, calling upon the Name of God; whereunto the ministers shall take good heed and if necessary they shall be present.”  Church Order, Article 40. Introduction No mention is made in Article 29 of the Church Order of deacons’ meetings as a distinct ecclesiastical gathering: “Four kinds of ecclesiastical assemblies shall be maintained: the consistory, the classis, (the particular synod), and the general synod.” Deacons’ meetings are not a separate ecclesiastical assembly...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. (Second installment of a speech delivered at the Officebearers’ Conference in South Holland, IL, March 2, 1993) Requiring Specific Gifts (cont.) Certain gifts are also required of a pastor/minister which have to do with himself. A couple of texts speak directly to this. In I Timothy 1:6, Paul urges upon Timothy: “that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.” And in 4:16 he writes to his spiritual son: “Take heed to thyself, and unto the...

The later Homer Hoeksema was professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. How Did God Create All Things? In answering this question, we must remember the strict limitations of the question. Creation is a unique work of God. We cannot even know it, except by revelation. And the mere creature can never comprehend this act of God’s omnipotent will. When we ask this question, therefore, in the first place, we must bear in mind that it is not the intention of this question curiously to pry into the nature of God’s work or to ask how...

Rev. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. . . . and exercise thyself rather unto godliness . . . godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.  This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.  These things command and teach. I Timothy 4:7-10 Our lesson includes the apostolic exhortation to Timothy, who is a...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction God used more than one man to write that precious creed of the Reformed churches: The Heidelberg Catechism. Frederick III, elector of the Palatinate, ordered it written and supported the project, even offering suggestions from time to time. Zacharius Ursinus, professor of theology, was one of its authors. We have described the life and work of these two men in earlier articles. We have one more man to discuss: Caspar Olevianus. History has not recorded for us what precise part each of the two...

Prof. Decker is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. RE-Imagining Conference “This was no Christian meeting,” said Faye Short about the RE-Imagining Conference partially sponsored by the United Methodist Church. Short, a representative of the Evangelical Coalition of United Methodist Women (ECUMW), said the November meeting was heretical, neo-pagan, and blasphemous. The meeting, held in Minneapolis and attended by 2,150 women and 60 men, was designed to celebrate the midpoint of World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Decade of the Churches in Solidarity With Women. The speakers, most of them feminist theologians, led participants in “re-imagining” a church...

The feminist movement and the insubordinate wife are getting all the attention in conservative circles today. They are being blamed for the disturbance of marriage and the family. This is understandable. The feminist movement is powerful in the world. It makes obvious inroads into the Reformed and evangelical churches. Denying the headship of the man in the church, feminism necessarily rejects also the headship of the husband in the home. Any movement that “liberates” the wife and mother from submission to her husband is indeed an enemy of marriage and the family, as well as a disturber of the peace...