Vol 72 Issue 04

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregational Activities We begin this issue of the “News” with an update of the progress of the building project of the Peace PRC in Lynwood, IL. In mid-October it appeared very likely that the first worship service in Peace’s newly completed building would take place the 29th of October. In the weeks leading up to that first service, the congregation of Peace was also actively involved in their church building project by repeatedly volunteering to help tie up the many loose ends that accompany any building project...

Summoning Up Remembrance, by Henry Stob. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995. 354 pp. $15 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] There are several reasons why readers of this magazine will want to read Henry Stob’s autobiography. It traces the development of an influential college and seminary professor in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). It offers a fascinating, insider’s view of persons, events, and struggles in the CRC from some time after 1908, when Stob was born, to 1952, when the book ends. It is an interesting account of Dutch Reformed life in society and church. There are references to people and...

Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. Lutherans on Promise Keepers Increasingly one hears of the great meetings of the Promise Keepers. Huge gatherings of men, in 13 large stadiums, met in 1995. An estimated 720,000 men attended. Five years ago Bill McCartney, then head football coach for Colorado University at Boulder, with a friend, dreamed of filling a sports stadium with men gathered for Christian encouragement and fellowship. In 1993 some 50,000 men filled Colorado’s Folsom Stadium. Last year over 275,000 men gathered at seven different locations. Next year the dream is to expand...

Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Chruch of Kalamazoo, Michigan. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:  Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.  Romans 9:6, 7 In the September issue of Christian Renewal, there appeared an artic& by Rev. Jelle Tuininga reflecting on some of my recent writings concerning the Liberated view of the covenant. With this I am rather pleased, if for no other reason than that, when one writes, he seeks to put thoughts into words which can be...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction I recall that a number of years ago, when we were on a tour of Westminster Abbey in London, the Anglican, prelate who was our guide took every opportunity to express his hatred of Oliver Cromwell and the disaster which he had brought upon England in the 17th Century. Oliver Cromwell was that kind of a man: one either loved him or hated him. His enemies were many and were from the side of those who supported the Anglican Church as well as Calvinist...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Are you a person of integrity? Perhaps we think of integrity only in certain limited spheres: a business man must stand behind his product, a researcher must have intellectual honesty, a reporter must present the facts of a case or an event. But the Bible makes clear that every child of God is to demonstrate integrity in every sphere of life. This word is found sixteen times in the Old Testament; although the New Testament does not contain the word, it expands on the idea in several...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. Why this defense of the faith? Polemical the Standard Bearer was and polemical she is. Why? Why from the beginning was it felt that theStandard Bearer ought to be polemical? Why thisdefense of the faith? The Standard Bearer is and the Standard Bearer must continue to be polemical for God’s sake. Defense of the faith is at bottom defense, not just of the faith, but of the honor and glory of God. God is glorified in the truth. He is the truth! God is robbed of His glory by the lie. Zeal for the Name of...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. Under this rubric, “Taking Heed to Doctrine,” we have been led by other writers through a broad overview of theology or the doctrine of God. This new writer begins with the next section of Reformed doctrine, that of anthropology, or the doctrine of man. This division of Reformed doctrine generally includes such subjects as creation and providence, as well as what the Bible teaches concerning man—his creation, his fall into sin, and the effects of that fall. To many of our readers, the treatment of these concepts will contain...

Prof. Decker is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In our first installment we presented the truth that Christ Jesus is the minister of His church. He is the Head and Ring of the church. Moreover, Christ functions through those whom He has lawfully called to office: the ministers of the Word, the elders, and the deacons. Furthermore, Christ also ministers to the saints through the saints themselves. All this is clearly taught in our Reformed confessions. These confessional principles are clearly taught in Holy Scripture. That Christ is the minister of the church is evident from His own...

Rev. Dick is pastor of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Lacombe, AB, Canada. This article was originally the devotional presented at the September, 1995 meeting of Classis West. The author has expanded the devotional somewhat to correspond to this season of the year in which we celebrate, in a special way, Thanksgiving. In I Corinthians 3:7 we read the conclusion of a farmer: “So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” The farmer is Paul. He likens his work to planting. His co-laborer, Apollos, does the watering. They both are...