Vol 73 Issue 14

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregational Activities We begin this issue of the “News” by making a correction to the March 1″‘ issue of the Standard Bearer. In that “News” I reported that the consistory of the Grace PRC in Standale, MI decided to give both the pamphlet “The Covenant of God” and the book “Reformed Education” to parents coming the first time to have their children baptized. The credit for this decision should have gone to our Immanuel PRC in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada instead. I apologize for that mix-up, but I...

March 5, 1997  at Doon, Iowa The March meeting of Classis West was held in Doon, Iowa on Wednesday, March 5. The customary Officebearers’ Conference was held the day before. The theme of the Conference was “Faithful Preaching vs. the Free Offer.” Pastor Carl Haak gave the keynote address, the theme of which was “Preaching the Mercy and Goodness of God to Sinners.” Also giving presentations at the conference were Missionary Thomas Miersma, “Preaching and Mission Work Without a Debilitating Offer”; and Pastor Jai Mahtani, “Preaching the Gospel Promiscuously.” Rev. Allen Brummel also gave a review of the book by...

Hyper-Calvinism and John Gill, b y Curt D. Daniel. Privately published, 1983. Pp. xii-912. $60.00 (hard cover). [Reviewed by the editor.] This massive work, huge in size and bristling with footnotes, is the author’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Edinburgh. It examines the theological error of hyper-Calvinism, particularly in the teaching of the 18th century Calvinistic Baptist, John Gill. Although Daniel concentrates on Gill, he includes in his study other English theologians associated with Gill, e.g., Brine and Hussey, as well as some contemporary theologians whom Daniel regards as hyper-calvinists, notably Arthur Pink and Herman Hoeksema. In his scholarly...

The late Homer Hoeksema was professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In our consideration of Paradise the First and of the two special trees in the garden, as well as of the temptation and fall, we have referred almost exclusively to Adam, or to Adam and Eve. Only occasionally have we made any direct reference to the significance of Adam and of what Adam did and of what would become of Adam with reference to the human race. Yet we must clearly understand that Adam was not created as a mere individual and that he...

Rev. Woudenberg is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.  Isaiah 53:4 In recent articles we have considered various biblical texts dealing with predestination from two different points of view, those appearing to fit the pattern of what is called Infralapsarianism, and others that of Supralapsarianism. The problem is that, even while both are found in Scripture, they are usually looked upon as mutually...

Rev. Dick is pastor of Grace Protestant Reformed Church in Standale, Michigan.

Rev. Kortering is a Protestant Reformed minister-on-loan to Singapore. Subsequent to writing our first article on this subject, I read an interesting reference to demon possession in the book, Practical Theology and the Ministry of the Church, published in 1990 and edited by Harvie Corm. Dr. Roger Greenway has a chapter entitled, “Evangelism.” In preparation for writing this chapter he sent questions to twenty-five leaders in evangelism within the Reformed and Presbyterian community. One of the questions was, How would you compare your thinking today about evangelism with your thinking on the subject thirty or so years ago? From his...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The Educator Kuyper was deeply interested in and concerned for Christian education. Not only was he concerned that the children of believers receive instruction in the ways of God’s covenant, but he labored long and hard to make Christian education available for the common folk whose financial burdens were often very great. But his interests in education went beyond the instruction offered in what we would call grade schools and high schools: Kuyper, dissatisfied with the apostasy in the universities (schools under government control), set...

In 1951, the synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC) adopted a document called “A Brief Declaration of Principles of the PRC” (hereafter, the “Declaration”). This was a time of severe internal struggle in the PRC over the doctrine of the covenant. The issue was whether at baptism the covenant promise is made by God to every baptized child or to the elect children only. The former view maintains that the covenant promise depends for its fulfillment on a condition that the child must perform. The condition is faith. The latter view holds that the promise is unconditional. The promise...

Herman Hoeksema was the first editor of the Standard Bearer. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.  Romans 2:4, 5 The heart of the text is undoubtedly expressed in the words, “the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” This is the undeniable truth around which the entire text in all its details is really grouped. It is the...