Vol 71 Issue 01

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregational Activities September 5 marked the first anniversary of the first meeting for worship of those who would eventually be organized into the Georgetown PRC of Bauer, ML One cannot help but stand back and marvel at what our heavenly Father has done in this past year. His faithfulness in the past can only assure all of us of His continual faithfulness today and in the future. God in His faithfulness has given Georgetown their first pastor, Rev. R. VanOverloop. It was with much joy and thanksgiving...

September 7, 1994 Classis West met in Hull, IA, on Wednesday, September 7. For most of the delegates this was the first opportunity to see the beautiful new church building of our Hull congregation. Classis met all day Wednesday, finishing its business around 7:00 in the evening. Rev. Michael DeVries served ably as the chairman of this meeting of Classis. Classis noted the absence of Rev. Steven Houck, who was recuperating from recent heart surgery, and extended its greetings to him and prayers on his behalf. Classis also extended its farewell and thanks to Pastor Ronald VanOverloop, who has already...

Understanding the New Age, byRussel Chandler. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993. 367 pp. $10.99 (paper). [Reviewed by Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma.] Scanning the shelf entitled “New Age” in the bookstore or library, one finds few books which serve as introduction to the broad scope of the New Age Movement. Most of the books, both those in favor of New Age thought and those against it, treat only a particular aspect of the movement. For one who is new to the study of this movement, this can be both confusing and frustrating.

The late Homer Hoeksema was professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. By way of introduction, we wish to emphasize again a principle which is basic to the understanding of Genesis 1and which is fundamental to our Christian faith with respect to creation, namely, that there is no antithesis between faith and reason, but that the antithesis is always between faith and unbelief. This must be emphasized again and again. The Word of God is not unreasonable, that is, contrary to reasonable conception and understanding. The Christian faith is not contrary to reason. We say this because...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church of Grandville, Michigan. At the close of the classical and other major assemblies, censure shall be exercised over those, who in the meeting have done something worthy of punishment, or who have scorned the admonition of the minor assemblies.  Church Order, Article 43 The “Censure” of Major Assemblies The censure referred to in Article 43 is to be distinguished from other forms of censure referred to in the Church Order. The censure of Article 43 is to be distinguished from the censure of Article 35. Article 35 calls for the presidents of...

Rev. denHartog is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California. As Reformed Christians we believe that faith is a gift of God. There is nothing more significant and important about the nature and character of true saving faith than this truth. It is not only difficult for the natural man to believe, it is impossible. Faith, is not something simple, a simple decision to “accept Christ,” which all men have the natural ability to perform at their own free will. For the natural man faith is absolutely impossible. It is a devilish delusion that is propagated in many...

Rev. Haak is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. These verses begin the historical part of John’s gospel. In the prologue (vv. 1-18) John has spoken of the deep and weighty truth of Christ’s personal deity and incarnation. Now we come to the narration of Christ’s earthly ministry. We note that John does not include anything of the first 30 years of our Lord’s life but begins at once with “the record” or witness of John the Baptist. (The only details of Jesus’ first 30 years are given in Matthew 1 and Matthew 2 and Luke 1 and Luke 2.) And that “record” of...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. From time to time it is necessary for pastors to remind their catechumens, both young and old, that they must memorize the prepositions in their answers carefully. These little words indicate the relationship that nouns, pronouns, and verbs have in regard to each other. It makes a world of difference whether something is for or against, under or on, before or after. Prepositions form a family of words which show these relationships very clearly. The study of prepositions is important in any language, but never more so...

Mr. Oomkes is a member of the Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church. On July 30, all of the British Reformed Fellowship’s interest was focused on the arrival of the conferees to their third biennial conference, which took place on the campus of the College of Textiles, located in Galashiels, Selkirkshire, Scotland. Most of the 120 who were registered had arrived by 6:00 p.m. for dinner hour. For our family it was our second time to a BRF conference, so we were eagerly looking forward to renewing acquaintance with those whom we had the privilege of meeting two years ago, as...

Prof. Decker is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. A Classis in Disobedience In the August issue we reported that the 1994 Synod of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), by a vote of 95-89, refused to ratify a change in its Church Order which would allow women to be ordained as ministers and elders. In two related decisions the synod retained the decision of its 1992 synod which encouraged local churches to allow “women to teach, expound the Word of God, and to provide pastoral care, under the supervision of the elders.” Synod of 1994 appointed a...