Vol 72 Issue 10

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Mission Activities Rev. T. Miersma, home missionary to the San Luis Valley Mission, in Alamosa, CO, reports slow but steady progress in the work there. With two elders from our Loveland, CO PRC (the calling church) Rev. Miersma has conducted family visits with the families of the mission. He reports that another family is now regularly attending and is committed to the work. This is the occasion for much encouragement both to the missionary and the people who support the SLV mission. Rev. R. Cammenga and elder...

Classis East met in regular session on Wednesday, January 10, 1996 at the Southeast PRC. Each church was represented by two delegates. Rev. Dale Kuiper was the chairman of this session. Special guests were the church history students of Mr. Cal Kalsbeek from Covenant Christian High School. Classis dealt with the routine matters of hearing reports from the Stated Clerk and the Classical Committee. The church visitors reported that they found peace, harmony, and evidence of spiritual growth in our congregations. Classis received a request from Rev. B. Woudenberg for emeritation beginning October, 1996. This request was supported by Kala-mazoo’s...

A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days, by Dave Hunt. Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1994. 544 pp. [Reviewed by the editor.] In his outstanding commentary on the book of Revelation, Behold, He Cometh!, Herman Hoeksema explained the Antichrist of Revelation 13 as a future political world-power (the beast from the sea) that will be supported by the false church (the beast from the earth). This is also, according to Hoeksema, the explanation of the great whore sitting on the beast in Revelation 17: Surely this woman is the church as she appears on...

The late Homer Hoeksema was professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (2) But to return to the immediate subject of discussion, it is in the light of this principle (namely, that man lives, not by bread but by the Word of God — Ed.) that we can properly understand the name of this tree, which, in turn, stands very closely related to the purpose of the tree in Adam’s life and in the history of the covenant of God. Scripture calls the forbidden tree “the tree of...

Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. What Do They Believe? The Grand Rapids Press, December 16, 1995, carried a clarification of an earlier Press story on a survey made of the theological beliefs of the clergy in the CRC and the RCA. The survey had dealt with two very significant questions: is Jesus the only way of salvation? And: does the devil really exist? Apparently the earlier Press story contained incomplete information. The clarification read as follows: While 73 percent of Christian Reformed Church clergy “strongly agreed” that Jesus is the only way to...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction The Lord has promised the church, purchased with His own blood, that the gates of hell shall never prevail against it. To accomplish this, Christ raises men in the church who are strong and passionate defenders of the faith. These men, qualified by Christ, placed at crucial times in the church, and equipped spiritually for the task, do battle with heresies that threaten the church’s welfare. After all, one crucial means used by Satan to destroy the church is the introduction of heresy into...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. Our Heidelberg Catechism defines God’s providence as, “The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by His hand, He upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.” What a profoundly blessed truth! But there is one aspect of this truth that demands our further attention. It involves a matter that we...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There are several reasons why we should have an accurate and extensive understanding of angels. First, the source of all angelic understanding is the Word of God, and it is surely our calling to understand the Word of God fully. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.” We may expect to receive great profit as we search out the Scriptures on the subject of angels. And we assure you that all we set forth here will be from the Word of God. When...

Correction and Comment I would like to thank you for your comments concerning the “Seminar on the Principles and Practice of Reformed Education,” which appeared in the January 1, 1996 issue of the Standard Bearer. I, too, see that this course is an opportunity for all of our teachers, whether experienced or not, to grow together in the knowledge of Reformed, Christian principles of education, as they have developed through the centuries under the guidance of our covenant God. One correction should be made, however, in the article. At some point in the development of this course, the idea of...

Much in the news in Western Michigan recently has been a controversy over a sodomite teacher in a state high school. The teacher made public his homosexual relationship with another male. Conservative and Christian parents using the high school raised objection, clamoring for the dismissal of the teacher. Supporters of homosexuality in general and of the teacher in particular responded with a ferocious defense of the teacher and his position in the school. They railed against opponents of the teacher as narrow-minded, unenlightened bigots. The result was a decision by the school board that the practicing homosexual will remain as...