Vol 70 Issue 05

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Reformation Day Activities It was only a few short weeks ago that we joined with God’s people throughout the world to celebrate the Reformation of the 16th century. Many of our congregations took the time to commemorate this event by sponsoring a Reformation lecture around the end of October. The congregation of the Trinity PRC in Houston, TX sponsored a two day Reformation program entitled “The Reformation of the 16th Century Lives On Today.” On Friday evening, October 29, Pastor Jai Mahtani, Trinity’s pastor, gave a message...

Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Critique of Dispensationalism, by John H. Gerstner. Brentwood, Tennessee: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1991. 274 pages. $15.95 (hardcover). [Reviewed by the Editor.] Dispensationalism will never be the same. Presbyterian theologian John H. Gerstner has written the definitive, Reformed critique of this popular heresy. It is devastating. The recent (19th century) product of disreputable origins (John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren), centering on the bizarre notion of a “premillennial, pretribulation rapture,” dispensationalism is “spurious Calvinism,” “dubious evangelicalism,” and “deviation from essential historical Christianity” (p. 68). Gerstner demonstrates that n dispensationalism is a...

Rev. Davis is pastor of the Grand Valley Orthodox Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Saved to Worship Christians are saved from their sins to become worshipers of God. The Father seeks true worshipers (John 4:23). His seeking is saving. He seeks sinners to save them that they might become true worshipers of God Most High, and the Father finds the fulfillment of His seeking lost sinners to make them worshipers in the Son of man’s coming to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). Christian worship is an issue of salvation in Jesus Christ. God’s...

Rev. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith…  I Timothy 4:1-5

Mr. Bruce VanSolkema is a member of the Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church and a former member of the Board of Heritage Christian School, Hudsonville, MI. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and...

Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. One thing that has attracted the attention of the nation in recent months is the dinosaur. Not only has the evolutionist continued his theorizing concerning the subject, but a popular movie has caught the imagination of the nation. The movie is, of course, in our estimation, out of bounds for the Christian. Yet the movie has generated much additional hype concerning dinosaurs. Little children want models of these beasts. Popular eating places offer mugs or other toys as enticement to come to their establishments. Cartoon characters portraying the...

The late Homer Hoeksema was professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. By way of introduction, we may point out that it is certainly impossible to have a proper conception of either history in general or sacred history apart from the idea of God’s providence and God’s counsel. But we hasten to add that the purely formal idea that history is the working out of God’s counsel, or that all history takes place according to the sovereign government of the Most High, is not adequate. For one thing, we may never separate in our minds the...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction Two Fredericks, both magistrates in Germany, played significant and important roles in the Reformation of the 16th century. Both were called Frederick III and both were renowned for their godly character. The first Frederick was called Frederick the Wise; the second, Frederick the Pious. Although Frederick the Wise remained a Roman Catholic all his life, he was Luther’s protector and made reformation in Germany possible. Frederick the Pious became a Calvinist, though not without great struggle, and is sometimes referred to as the father...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It belonged to the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament that the head of each family contribute annually one tenth of the produce of the ground and every tenth animal that passed under the staff (method of counting) to the support of the Levites (Lev. 27:30-32). The Levites gave a tenth of these tithes for the support of the high priest (Num. 18:21). This was really very simple; all the Israelite had to do was count his blessings, move the decimal one figure to the left,...

Evil is a problem for the child of God. The problem is practical, spiritual, and urgent. Such is the problem that God’s child is tempted, strongly tempted, either to despair of God’s goodness or to rebel against His sovereignty. He struggles with discouragement and bitterness. Evil is the occasion of this struggle. Evil here isnot sin, although it maybe caused by sin, but great trouble. It is the devastating sickness or debilitating injury. It is disappointment at work. It is the death of one whom you love. It is the lonely life of one who desires marriage and family. It...