Vol 72 Issue 08

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregational Activities At their annual congregational meeting, held back in December, the congregation of the Hudsonville, MI PRC voted to approve a proposal from their Council to go ahead with plans to install air conditioning in their church building before next summer. Beginning with Sunday the 26th of November, and continuing at least through the winter, the congregation of the First PRC in Edmonton, AB, Canada is invited to have coffee and fellowship after their 3:00 p.m. service in the basement of their church. The Council of...

When the Foundation Crumbles: Why did I Leave the Christian Reformed Church?, by Edward Heerema. Privately published, 1994. 30pp. $3.00 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] As the sub-title of this 30-page booklet indicates, the crumbling foundation is that of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). Retired CRC minister Edward Heerema, who has recently left the CRC, charges that the CR decision opening the offices in the church to women shows that “the Bible has become irrelevant” in the CRC. He points to the “crumbling” of the authority of Scripture in other, recent decisions of the CRC as well. Especially interesting is...

Rev. Haak is pastor of Bethel Protestant Reformed Church in Itasca, Illinois. In our first look at this sermon preached in the synagogue of Capernaum, we saw that Jesus clearly identified Himself as the true spiritual bread sent down from heaven. All the nourishment of eternal life is to be found only in Him who is the bread of life. Only by faith in Him is there salvation. This salvation is certain and can never be lost, for the Father has given His Son to be the meat and drink of eternal life for all His elect. Beginning in verse...

The late Homer Hoeksema was professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The Tree of Life Paradise the First was the earthly tabernacle of God with man. It was a real garden, the particular dwelling place of man, God’s covenant friend, in the state of righteousness. In the midst of the garden God dwelt with man. Moreover, man was at home in the garden. Twice we read that God “put” man in Paradise (Gen. 2:8, 15). This refers to an act of God whereby He so established Adam in the garden that he understood his position...

Rev. denHartog is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California. We live in an age when the theory that God loves all men is an almost universal idea in the church world. From this follows the teaching that we too are to love all men. Even the most wicked men in the church and in the world are to be tolerated. None is ever to be condemned, opposed, and expelled from the church. Everyone, after all, has the right to his own opinion about the doctrine of God, and he has the freedom to choose his own philosophy...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. Having established from Scripture the truth of creation, the question necessarily follows: What is God’s involvement with His creation? The question cries out for an answer. From the viewpoint of our own faith and life, this question cries out for an answer. Looking into a new year with all its uncertainties requires of us the conviction that our heavenly Father is in control. We live in a valley of tears: so many anxieties, so many cares, so much trouble. In the face of all our sorrows comes the...

rof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. *A recent and excellent biography of William III is the trilogy written by Marjorie Bouwen published by Inheritance Publishers. Introduction There was a time in the history of the church of our Lord Jesus Christ when the fortunes of the church in the Netherlands were inextricably tied to fortunes of the church in Great Britain. This was the time of William III of the House of Orange. The times were extremely perilous for countries which had become Calvinistic. Through the efforts of the Roman Catholic...

Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. “Minor” Corrections in the Theory of Evolution Time magazine in its December 4, 1995 issue presents a cover feature article on the subject of “Evolution’s Big Bang.” The article is of interest not so much because of its elaborate defense of evolution, but rather because of its presentation of alterations in the traditional theory. Although evolution is considered a matter of “science” in distinction from creationism (presented as a matter of “religion” rather than “science”), the article makes abundantly clear how “flexible” the theory of evolution really is....

Doctoral Study of Hoeksema’s Theology I was pleased to read your excellent editorial on Herman Hoeksema as “The Reformer of 1924,” in the October 15 issue of the Standard Bearer. I was especially intrigued by your suggestion that the time had come for someone from your denomination to write a doctoral dissertation on Hoeksema’s theology. I want to encourage you to follow through on that suggestion. I am sure that you know that many of us who do not agree with all of the details of Hoeksema’s theology have, nonetheless, learned much from his writings — and also from the...

In an article in the August – September 1995 issue of The Banner of Truth magazine, “Calvin and the Free Offer,” the writer made the following reference to the Protestant Reformed Seminary: Professors of the Protestant Reformed Seminary in the USA and their followers in the British Reformed Fellowship deny that God makes an indiscriminate offer of Christ to sinners. Adherents of the Westminster standards take the opposite view (p. 28). The Banner of Truth, published in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a magazine of influence in Calvinistic circles, especially in the British Isles. Damaging Reference to the PRC The deliberate implication...