Vol 74 Issue 13

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Young People’s Activities The young people of the Hope PRC in Walker, MI have been busy working on a fund-raising project for the better part of a year now. About this time last year they began gathering the necessary information needed to put together a church directory that would include all the members of the Protestant Reformed Churches in Michigan. But, more than that, the thought of the committee was to incorporate also a directory of businesses in those same churches. After what must have been a...

March 4, 1998 at Houston, Texas The March meeting of Classis West was held just west of Houston, Texas on Wednesday, March 4. This classis was noteworthy not only for the business conducted, but for the unusual lodging arrangements. Because of the small size of the host congregation, Trinity PRC, the delegates stayed at the J-Bar-J Ranch, the guest ranch where Trinity PRC hosted an evangelism conference a couple years ago. With delegates staying in close quarters, with bunk beds and common facilities, they enjoyed a great time of fellowship, and no little humor. The customary Officebearers’ Conference was held...

The Bondage and Liberation of the Will: A Defence of the Orthodox Doctrine of Human Choice against Pighius, by John Calvin. Ed. A. N. S. Lane. Tr. G. I. Davies. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996. Pp. xxxix + 264. $17.99 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] The second in the series of Baker publications, “Texts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation Thought,” is this defense by John Calvin of the Reformation’s doctrine of the bondage of the will against Pighius. Surprisingly, this is the first appearance of Calvin’s important work on the bound will and sovereign grace in English. In...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. Besides the prophetic aspect of Christ’s office as God’s Anointed, there is the priestly aspect to which we turn our attention now. We do so especially in the light of the epistle to the Hebrews. In Hebrews, chapters 7-10, there is much development concerning the priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. That truth is summarized in our Heidelberg Catechism (Q & A 31) when it says that Jesus is called Christ because He is ordained by God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, “to be our...

Rev. Woudenberg is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?  I Corinthians 14:8 There is something troubling about this little book of Dr. Schilder’s entitled, Extra-Scriptural Binding — A New Danger. Clearly it was intended to be a response to our Brief Declaration of Principles; and Dr. Schilder has the reputation of having been a keen polemicist who could zero in on the heart of a problem and analyze it decisively. Here, however, we find something quite different, an almost uncertain groping about for some...

Rev. Dick is pastor of Grace Protestant Reformed Church in Standale, Michigan. In the privacy of the upper room in Jerusalem Jesus was teaching His disciples things of the new covenant of grace. The old covenant was about to be done away. The old covenant pictures, the symbols, the types were about to be fulfilled in the real salvation of the cross of the Christ. There must be instruction, important instruction, on this last night before His death. Instruction in something new, something wonderful! Listen to the Master’s instruction. Jesus washes feet! An old covenant way, still, of teaching the...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction From the beginning of the New Testament church, God’s people have been troubled by heretics. Paul warned the elders in Ephesus that grievous wolves would enter the church (Acts 20:29); he warned Timothy of corrupt men with reprobate minds who resist the truth (II Tim. 3:8); and Christ Himself warned the church at Pergamos of the wrong of keeping in the church those who held the doctrine of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:14, 15). The constant presence of heretics and the struggles...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Scripture often speaks of seed time and harvest, sowing and reaping. When God speaks to us in these terms, He uses a figure with a deep spiritual meaning that is based on the agricultural economy of Israel and that is very familiar to us today. God is the Lord of the harvest to whom we pray for laborers (preachers) that may go forth into His harvest (Matt. 9:38). He is the Husbandman who tends His vineyard, cutting off unfruitful branches and purging the fruitful branches that they...

  About II Peter 1:9 Our Men’s Society (Hudsonville PRC) is presently discussing II Peter. We ran into disagreement on verse 9 of chapter 1. The question revolved around whether “he that lacketh these things” could be considered a chosen child of God. Those who said he was not a child of God appealed to the rule that Scripture interprets Scripture.They used the book of James, where James stresses that where there is no evidence of good works it must be concluded that there is no faith. Therefore “he that lacketh … virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and...

Further Application of “Bert Zandstra” I read with great interest your article in the November 1, 1997 issue of the Standard Bearer, titled “The Sad Case of Bert Zandstra.” I truly appreciate your biblical stand on divorce. But this leaves me with a question I hope you can help me with, as to what God’s Word teaches us in the following situation. I have an acquaintance whom I have opportunities to talk to about our great and glorious God and the work of Jesus Christ. He has been open to hearing but as of yet does not seem willing to...