Vol 71 Issue 05

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregational Activities If there seems to be a common theme in our churches this time of year, it would have to be the Reformation and our observance of it. We count no fewer than seven conferences or lectures sponsored by various of our churches this year. Perhaps one of the more ambitious events was a two-day Reformation Conference sponsored by the Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI. Over the course of a Friday evening and a Saturday morning and afternoon, Rev. R. Cammenga, pastor of Southwest, and Rev....

The reviewer is a minister of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia. Hyper-Calvinism and the Call of the Gospel, by David J. Engelsma. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Reformed Free Publishing Association, revised edition 1994. 216 pp. $10.95 (paper). [Reviewed by Rev. Chris Coleborn.] This book by Prof. Engelsma basically deals with the vital question, “Does the fact that the gospel of Christ Jesus is to be preached to all mankind mean that God desires and intends the salvation of all who hear that preaching, even the reprobate?” Those who hold to the well-meant offer of the gospel answer in the affirmative....

Prof. Engelsma is professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. It would be proper for anyone making a study of the last things as we are doing to begin with the preaching of the gospel in all the world. Instead of treating it after war, heresy, and lawlessness, we could have treated it first. Jesus Himself made plain in Matthew 24 that the preaching of the gospel has the place of primary importance as far as the end of the world is concerned. He taught this in verse 14: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached...

Rev. denHartog is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California. The real test of whether our faith is weak or strong will often come when we face some serious trouble in our life. Weak faith cannot stand in the trials and difficulties of life in this world. Those who have weak faith go to pieces when great trials come; they do not know what to do or where to turn. Our life is full of trials, some greater than others. Almost every child of God will at one time or other have to face great calamities, deep sorrows,...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. I’m a minister—a minister who is himself a parent. What makes me, therefore, think that I can give you as young people good advice on communicating with parents? It would seem that a minister is in the wrong camp. He cannot possibly know the difficulties involved in communicating with parents because he is not a young person himself. All he will do is take the part of parents, and as a result young people will hear another lecture on their duty to obey father and mother. Maybe I...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction William of Orange is to the citizens of the Netherlands what George Washington is to Americans. If anyone at all can claim to be the father of that country, it is William. And yet he is more than father; he is also the savior, under God, of Calvinism in the Lowlands. He occupies a crucial place in Dutch history, and he is honored in the Dutch national anthem: “Wilhelmus van Nassau; ben ik van Duitschen bloed…” (William of Nassau; I am of German blood)....

The late Homer Hoeksema was professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. God’s Creation of the Heavenly Luminaries (Gen. 1:14-19) The next question to be considered is: for what purpose did God create the heavenly luminaries? The text informs us, in the first place, that they were created to give light: “And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth” (v. 15). Again, in verse 17: “And God set them (referring to the two great lights) in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the...

Prof. Decker is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. “Holy Laughter” or “The Toronto Blessing” Ever since January 20, people have been traveling long distances to a modest warehouse in an industrial district near Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson Airport. These people are attending meetings of a group called Airport Vineyard. They are seeking what is being called “the Toronto blessing.” Apparently the “Toronto blessing” is a special anointing of a person by the Holy Spirit, an anointing marked by “holy laughing.” People from a wide spectrum of churches attend: Pentecostals, Presbyterians, dispensationalists, Roman Catholics, and others. Meetings...

In the preceding issue of the Standard Bearer, I began the translation of a lengthy article in the Dutch religious newspaper, Refermatorisch Dagblad, featuring the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRC). The article appeared in the August 12, 1994 edition. Written by the paper’s correspondent, K. vander Zwaag, the article was based on interviews that he had conducted earlier in the year with Rev. Richard G. Moore, pastor of the Hull PRC in Hull, Iowa, and with the editor of the SB.  The first part of the article, which appeared in translation in the November 15, 1994 issue of theSB, dealt with the...

Rev. Dick is pastor of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Edmonton, AB, Canada. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Psalm 1:1, 2 When light passes through a suitable prism it is diffracted or dispersed so that one can see a whole spectrum of different colors. So, when the light of God’s Word shines into the believing mind,...