Vol 75 Issue 04

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregational Activities The Hull, IA PRC recently adopted a proposal to build a new parsonage. Their building committee is now in the process of letting out the project for bids. It is hoped that this new home can be completed by June of next year. On Saturday, September 16, the walls of the Bethel PRC in Itasca, IL were raised. This, after a week when men from Bethel worked every day at the new church site, cutting, drilling, and laying out the top and bottom plates for...

Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader, ed. James D. Bratt. Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge, U.K.: Eerdmans/Paternoster, 1998. xiv + 498 pages. $29.00 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] Most of the sixteen pieces by Abraham Kuyper that are the content of this book have never before been translated into English. They are either published speeches by the great Dutch theologian and politician, shorter articles, or excerpts from longer works. Among them are Kuyper’s account of his spiritual conversion (“Confidentially”); his critique of theological liberalism (“Modernism: A Fata Morgana in the Christian Domain”); a well-chosen selection from Kuyper’s still untranslated three-volume work on common...

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Towards Greater Unity? A number of newspapers have reported an event towards which four major denominations have been working for a long time. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ, and the Reformed Church in America recently signed an agreement to have “full communion” together. The Greeley Tribune gave a report titled “Sharing the Word”: With choir members providing the background music, the people who filled the pews at First Congregational Church Sunday morning broke bread together. Then the...

Miss Lubbers is a member of First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This article is an introduction to several articles concerning the development and establishing of the Protestant Reformed Christian schools. Articles concerning the development of the PR schools are appropriate in view of the planning authorized by synod to commemorate and celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. Recalling and rereading this history will be a review for some. For others it will be an introduction. Those remembering the period 1934-1953 in the history of our churches will remember the establishment and operation...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Central to the message of the gospel is the idea of ransom. The Hebrew word (kofer) has the basic meaning of covering; then it means a redemption price, a ransom that sets free, satisfaction. This word is related to the word atonement and the day of atonement (yom kippur), and to the covering of the ark, the mercy seat. Ransom is closely related in thought to the concepts purchase, buy, redeem. The Greek term means to release on receipt of a ransom, to liberate by payment of...

Rev. Kortering is a Protestant Reformed minister-on-loan to Singapore. These words flowed repeatedly from the lips of missionary Paul. In both letters to the Thessalonians (I Thess. 5:25, II Thess. 3:1), as well as Hebrews 13:18 and others, he reminded the church of his need for their prayers. We do likewise. We reflect often upon the meaningful words of Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 45, A. 116: “God will give his grace and Holy Spirit to those only, who with sincere desires continually ask them of him, and are thankful for them.” Little wonder that prayer is indispensable for all spiritual...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction In the last article, when we began to discuss Arius and the heresy he attempted to introduce into the church, we brought the story up to the Council of Nicea. You will remember that Arianism was a denial of the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Arius claimed that, although Christ was in a certain sense divine and existed before the worlds were formed, yet He was created and, as he said, “there was a time when he was not.” The issue, while concentrating...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. Abiding Truth That faith is once delivered. Don’t look for changes. Changes to the faith are the works of men’s imaginations. The truth abides. That is a comforting aspect of Jude 3. That means, for one thing, that God’s promise shall not fail. The doctrine that He has committed to His church shall not be changed. That means, in addition, that the doctrine of faith shall never cease in the world. It is a candle that all the winds of hell can never blow out, a flame that...

* The text of the address at the convocation exercises of the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary held at the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, MI on September 9, 1998. Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him...

The previous issue of this magazine (Nov. 1, 1998) contained a contribution by Mr. Pete Miedema, “The High Cost of Building New Churches.” The article proposed “that the entire denomination participate in the funding” of new church buildings by means of “a special line item” in the annual budget. My purpose is not to comment on the proposal but to encourage such contributions on the part of our readers. The Standard Bearer welcomes constructive, well-reasoned articles that concern especially the faith and life of the Protestant Reformed Churches and people. In addition, we welcome comment on such articles. What do...