All Articles For Vol 72 Issue 15 5/1/1996

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Evangelism Activities The Evangelism Committee of the Randolph, WI PRC sponsored a Spring Lecture again this year. Prof. H. Hanko, of the Protestant Reformed Seminary, spoke on March 25 in Randolph on the broad theme of Church Unity and Ecumenism. In an attempt to stir up a little interest in good Christian books, the Evangelism Committee of the Immanuel PRC in Lacombe, AB, Canada asked some thought-provoking questions about creation. Had anyone there ever wondered about dinosaurs … or about where all the water of the Flood...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. This article is the substance of the opening address given by Pastor Key at an Officebearers’ Conference in Pella, IA, on March 5, 1996. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” I John 4:1 The subject that we consider is a matter of critical importance. The fact that the call to discernment is issued throughout the Bible, in the Old and New Testaments, the fact that repeated warning is given concerning...

Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Bauer, Michigan. In the home the husband is head, according to God’s command. This means that the husband’s responsibility to love has precedence. The husband is the source of the love of the marriage, of the home, and of the family. Love is a force which the husband in the home is primarily responsible for originating, and is primarily responsible for perpetuating. To love is the law of a married man’s life. His duty to love comprehends all of his responsibilities. How are you doing? Is this how you view...

Rev. denHartog is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California. I have chosen the theme for this article from Psalm 2, verse 4: “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” Certainly this is one of the most fearful passages of all of Scripture. God is laughing at the wicked! This laughter is not one of joy and pleasure but one of holy wrath and of scorn and derision. God laughs at the heathen and at the wicked who are arrayed in rebellion against Him. The Lord enthroned in the heavens...

Prof. Decker is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In the previous article we examined in some detail the gifts necessary for the office of elder as these are presented in I Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. If we consider these gifts as a whole we may conclude that the elder in Christ’s church must possess certain qualifications or gifts of the Holy Spirit of Christ. These are: spirituality or genuine piety, humility, sympathetic understanding, courage or boldness, knowledge of the truth of Holy Scripture. To this must be added the fact that Scripture teaches that the...

Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. As our last article we published an editorial by Dr. J. DeJong from the Clarion magazine of the Canadian Reformed Churches, reflecting on what I had written in the Christian Renewal. In this editorial Dr. DeJong focused on the historical aspect of our studies, and especially on what I had said about the centrally important 1949 letter of Prof. B. Holwerda. This is well; but, if we are to gain a correct perspective on this letter, I believe it is necessary to review the history behind it, which...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction A few issues back we talked about one of the great theologians in the Netherlands during and shortly after the Synod of Dordrecht in 1618-’19. His name was, as our readers will recall, Gijsbert Voetius. In that article we mentioned the fact that Voetius engaged in a very bitter quarrel with Johannes Cocceius, a quarrel that continued beyond their lives and nearly tore apart the Dutch Reformed Churches. In this article we want to talk a bit about that quarrel. Early Life and Education...

Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. “Leakage or Hemorrhage?” The Standard Bearer in Vol. 68, p. 422 (“All Around Us,” Prof. R. Decker), July 1, 1992, reported on an interview by the Grand Rapids Press of a Calvin Seminary professor who was questioned about the many members who were leaving the Christian Reformed Church. This professor “down-played the exodus from the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), calling it ‘leakage,’ a normal occurrence in most, if not all denominations.” That comment must surely be one of the greater understatements ever made. Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer...

Matthew 24, 25 is Jesus’ answer to the question of His disciples in 24:3. The question was, “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” The question combined the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and the end of the world at Jesus’ second coming. Jesus’ answer likewise combines these two events. The reason for the combination of these two events in the great discourse by our Lord on the last things (eschatology) is that the destruction of Jerusalem was a historical type of...

Rev. Koole is pastor of Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan. “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered…, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit…: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”  I Peter 1:1, 2 Peter addresses the church universal in a most significant and timeless way. He greets them as “elect strangers.” The true believer and faithful church always confess this to be their true identity. Those in the church today who have no desire for these names, especially the first, have divorced their identity from the...