Vol 73 Issue 13

Congregational Activities The congregation of the Edgerton, MN PRC sponsored a marriage seminar at the Howard Johnson Hotel in Sioux Falls, SD on Thursday evening, February 27 through Saturday afternoon, March 1. About fifty people, coming from our various churches in Canada, Washington, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota attended the conference.

Leading in Prayer: A Workbook for Worship, by Hughes Oliphant Old. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995. Pp. xi-370. $19.99. (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. Robert D. Decker.] This is a very good book on a much needed subject. While the emphasis of the book is on the public prayers a minister is called to offer in the worship service, the author has a good deal to say about worship in general. Prayer is an art, i.e., it is a gift from God. All God’s servants in the ministry must have this gift to one degree or another...

In our last study (Standard Bearer, March 15, 1997) we fo­cused on how Jesus demon­strated His being the light of the world in the healing of the man born blind. This time our study turns es­pecially to the various reactions to this light-shining miracle. And what do we see first of all? Religious Rapscallions! Some (the neighbors, v.8?) brought the man healed of his blindness to a group of Pharisees. These religious “elite” of the Jews, understanding that this miracle which Jesus had performed might gain for Him more disciples, seek at all costs to discredit Him and this notable...

Good families do not just happen. Many young men and women enter a rela­tionship and even marriage with­out ever giving that a thought. They have these romantic, fairy­tale expectations that they will sim­ply, without any effort, fall in love, marry, have a few children, and live happily ever after. They think that no matter whom they marry or what they do in dating and in marriage, life will somehow work out for the better and they will settle into a routine of happiness and bliss. Many find out later that this is not so! Good families do not just happen....

Having considered several ways in which the truth of the antithesis is brought under attack, we were left to con­sider our own lives in relationship to that antithesis established by God from the beginning. While there are many attacks upon the antithesis, coming from many different angles, we must not be misled into thinking that so long as we remain free from the influ­ence of Roman Catholicism and common grace, we are free from error in this matter. The fact is, our own sinful flesh brings us into conflict constantly with the truth of the antithesis. You and I have...

Exegesis of a Woman Minister The United Reformed News Ser­vice reports that Mary-Lee Bouma, who has served as the unordained pastor of Trinity Chris­tian Reformed Church on the cam­pus of Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, will now seek or­dination in the way of this congre­gation switching from Classis Northern Michigan (which will not allow ordination of women into the ministry) to Classis Muskegon (which presumably will). The switch was approved by Classis Northern Michigan but not yet by Classis Muskegon. One might make comments on these strange antics of switching classes to gain one’s desired goal—but at this time I...

The sovereignty of God is fun­damental to Reformed theol­ogy. Throughout the history of the church there has been a con­stant struggle to maintain this truth as the cornerstone of missions. Some have so emphasized missions to be the work of the church and missionaries that they have weakened and minimized God’s control over missions. Others have so em­phasized God’s sovereignty as to deny the church any obligation to do missions. A biblical conception of God’s sovereignty in missions gives be­lievers a sense of the urgency and necessity of evangelism. On the one hand, those who fail to understand God’s sover­eignty...

The Bible does not make a distinction between usury and interest, a distinction very common in the financial world today. The Bible does make a distinction in regard to the person who is charged the interest or usury, as we will see; but it does not distin­guish between a legal rate (interest) and a rate that is in excess of what is legal (usury). The biblical terms used to set forth God’s will in this matter of charging for the use of one’s money are vivid and instructive. The Hebrew word has the root meaning of striking with a sting...

I am enclosing a review that I re­cently wrote of Dr. Kenneth Gentry’s postmillennial book He Shall Have Dominion. It occurred to me that you might have some interest in the review due to the fact that your name is mentioned both in his book and in my review. I hope I have not misrepresented your views in any way. Your recent series of editorials entitled “A Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism” was most helpful to me. Thank you for the good work you are doing.

As the conclusion of this se­ries of editorials on the cov­enant of God in Christ with believers and their children, I sum up for the benefit of the reader what has come to light in the dis­cussion. The editorials have been a re­sponse to an advocate of the doc­trine of a conditional covenant with every physical child of believers. This doctrine holds that God makes His covenant by promise with ev­ery child at baptism, but that the promise depends for its realization, or efficacy to save, upon a condi­tion that the child must fulfill. This condition is faith. If a...