All Articles For Vol 70 Issue 13 4/1/1994

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregational Activities What better place for us to begin this installment of the “News” than with a report of-the organizational meeting of our churches’ 26th congregation – the congregation of our Georgetown PRC, presently meeting in Bauer, MI. Organization took place on the evening of March 2 in the auditorium of the Hudsonville, MI PRC, the church chosen by Classis East to oversee this organization. Rev. G. VanBaren; Hudsonville’s pastor, chose for his text that evening the passage found in Isaiah 43:21, “This people have I formed for...

March 2, 1994 Hope Protestant Reformed Church Redlands, California Classis West held its regular March session in the warmth of southern California. The warmth was that of the weather, but especially it was that of the fellowship of the saints of the congregation located so far away from any of its sister-congregations. An Officebearers’ Conference was held the day preceding the meeting of Classis. This gave the members of that congregation who were able to do so an opportunity to have more fellowship with the brethren of the Classis. The theme of the Conference was “The Reformed Practice of Catechism...

Mr. Lanting, a member of South Holland Protestant Reformed Church, is a practicing attorney. Aborting Protestors Suffer Legal Setback We therefore maintain that the [abortion rights advocates] may maintain this lawsuit if the [protestors] conducted their enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity. We hold that RICO contains no economic motive requirement.  U.S. Supreme Court,  National Organization for Women  (NOW) v. Schiedler, et. al. (1994) The U.S. Supreme Court held in January that abortion rights advocates may use a federal racketeering law to sue abortion protest groups that organize confrontations at abortion clinics across the nation. The case pitted the...

Another sign of the end of the world is apostasy. “Apostasy” means departure. You find this mentioned as a sign of the end in II Thessalonians 2:3, where, in the original Greek language, the word “apostasy” is used: “that day (i.e., the day of Christ, the day of Christ’s second coming-DJE) shall not come, except there come a falling away first.” Literally, the words “falling away” are the word “apostasy,” so that the apostle says that the coming again of Christ will be preceded by an apostasy. Apostasy is something that takes place within the churches. People who once knew and...

The later Homer Hoeksema was professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. God’s Creation of the Light (Gen. 1:3-5) By way of introduction, we call attention to the fact that in this passage of Genesis 1 we have what must be interpreted as an unmistakable sign that the creation-record is not of human origin, and that Moses did not write the creation-narrative except as he was infallibly inspired by the Creator of all things Himself. We find this indication in the fact that in the Genesis narrative light is presented as being created first. On the one hand,...

Prof. Decker is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.

* Last year, Presbyterians celebrated the 350th anniversary of the meeting of the Westminster Assembly. This assembly produced the confessional, catechetical, and church political documents of the Presbyterian churches- the Westminster Standards. This article commemorates the historic event of the calling of the assembly. The Rev. Chris Coleborn is pastor of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brisbane, Australia. -Ed. June the 12th, 1993, was the 350th anniversary of the calling of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. Because the work of this justly famous assembly means so much to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, as it should to any who bears the...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. The classical meetings shall consist of neighboring churches that respectively delegate, with proper credentials, a minister and an elder to meet at such time and place as was determined by the previous classical meeting. Such meetings shall be held at least once in three months, unless great distances render this inadvisable. In these meetings the ministers shall preside in rotation, or one shall be chosen to preside; however, the same minister shall not be chosen twice in succession.  Furthermore, the president shall, among other things, put the following...

The Lord’s Supper at Home I have worked for an invalid, a sincere Reformed Christian woman. The Sunday worship services were brought into her home by telephone line. On the Saturday evening before the administration of the Lord’s Supper, the elders brought her the bread and wine. Then, on Sunday morning, she ate the bread and drank the wine in her home at the same time that the congregation was partaking at church. Would this be improper administration of the Lord’s Supper? Ellen VanDenTop Lynden, WA Answer: In response to your question we point you to Article 64 of the...

Last year, the synod of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (“Liberated” – hereafter GKN-Lib) decided that women may participate in the congregational meeting as voting members. Virtually ignored by the conservative press, this was a significant decision by a denomination of churches that has been sharply critical of other Reformed churches in the Netherlands for caving in to the pressures of worldliness and that has influence with conservative churches in North America. The decision authorized the nose of the camel of feminism within the church-tent of the GKN-Lib and, by example, within the church-tents of all those in fellowship...