Vol 75 Issue 03

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Denomination Activities In late August our seminary began another year of instruction. We add our prayers to those of all our churches, when we pray that the faculty and students might both receive strength from our Heavenly Father for their work and that the fruit of this work might be seen in godly, Reformed ministers preaching in our churches for years to come. Three men are currently enrolled in our seminary with a view to entering the ministry in our churches. Senior seminarian Gary Eriks is on...

Classis East met in regular session on Wednesday, September 9, 1998 at the new location and new church building of the First PRC of Holland, Michigan. All the churches were represented by two delegates; Rev. M. Dick was the chairman for this session. In routine business, classis heard the reports of the stated clerk and of its Classical Committee. Most of the business of this session was done in closed session. A discipline case was considered, as were protests against a decision taken at the May 13, 1998 session of classis. Expenses for this session amounted to $1,128.89. Classis will...

Dear RFPA Members and Friends, The Reformed Free Publishing Association has as its express aim and purpose to publish the truth of God as specifically maintained and developed within the Protestant Reformed Churches. Our association, organized almost three quarters of a century ago, still exists today by the grace of God for the same purpose. Our name emphasizes that purpose and aim. Reformed indicates what we desire as to the contents of our publications. Free means that we are under no institutional supervision or control. That we are a Publishing Association reveals that our purpose and intention is to make...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. Brothers and sisters in Christ, friends of the Reformed Free Publishing Association, It is indeed a privilege to be here tonight and to address this assembly. It is my purpose in the next few minutes to remind you what an important place the RFPA occupies in the spiritual warfare that must mark the church in these last days. I will do that by reversing the order of my theme, and treating, first of all, the urgency with which we must approach the work, as we do spiritual battle...

Mr. Miedema is an elder in the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, MI. He has served as a delegate to synod. Hearing of the high cost of building the new churches in Holland and in Georgetown leads me to believe that as churches we must look at different ways to fund church expansion. I am told that it will cost around 1.7 million dollars for Georgetown’s building. Holland’s building, without the auditorium, cost approximately $950,000. A like sum will still be needed to complete their sanctuary. This is an astronomical amount. With the escalating costs of construction, the day...

Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. Our Readers Contribute One thing particularly enjoyable in preparing this rubric for almost each issue is that you, the reader, often send in articles which can be used—and often are. Some of these articles are of religious significance (or concern); others are informative; some can be rather humorous. I can assure those who send in articles, that these are read with interest. If every article is not used, it is not because it is unimportant. I often have more material than I can use in the articles. Some...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. The ministers shall on Sunday explain briefly the sum of Christian doctrine comprehended in the Heidelberg Catechism so that as much as possible the explanation shall be annually completed, according to the division of the Catechism itself for that purpose. Church Order, Article 68 Heidelberg Catechism preaching—a time-honored tradition in Reformed churches. Over the years sermons on the Heidelberg Catechism have been a regular part of the spiritual diet of Reformed Christians around the world. Generations of men and women have lived out their 70 or 80 years...

Mr. Kamps is a member of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church. Dr. Abraham Kuyper now turns to the matter of Christ’s foreordination and the blessed reality of the mystical union of Christ and His people, in order to disprove the notion of Christus pro omnibus. The truth and reality of the mystical union of Christ and His people rests upon the truth that specific persons were eternally known to God in love and given to Christ as His responsibility for their redemption, sanctification, and preservation. This mystical union may be expressed as the “sweet whisperings” of the Spirit of Christ to...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction “I believe … in one Lord Jesus Christ … begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father….” So read the lofty cadences of the very first creed adopted by the church of our Lord Jesus Christ: the Nicene Creed. It sounds so familiar to us; yet it was born out of fierce and bitter struggle which nearly tore the church to pieces. Our readers will recall that...

Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company has recently published an abridged edition of Presbyterian theologian Charles Hodge’s three-volume Systematic Theology: Systematic Theology (Abridged Edition), ed. Edward N. Gross (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1997), 585 pages, $22.99 (paper). Professor Gross’ use of Charles Hodge’s Systematic Theology in teaching and his love of the theology that it contains have helped him skillfully to abridge the original three volumes in one thick book. The abridged edition retains the essence of Hodge’s theology, from introduction to eschatology. In addition to shortening the exposition that is retained, the editor has in the main left out the...