Vol 75 Issue 17

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Evangelism Activities A recent bulletin from the Randolph, WI PRC reminded me again how our Heavenly Father continues to build His church — how He uses even lectures sponsored by various congregations to spread His truth virtually around the world. Such appears to be the case with a recent lecture sponsored by Randolph’s Evangelism Committee. Prof. D. Engelsma spoke on March 19 on the subject, “The Return of Christ and Y2K.” Apparently a tape of this lecture was sent to interested contacts in the Philippines and they...

Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Matthew 24:12. It is significant that in the twentieth century remarkable changes have taken place, inventions and discoveries have been made, which stagger the imagination. Horse and buggy have been replaced by the automobile. When the first auto made its appearance it was commonly thought that this would never be serviceable, because there would not be sufficient gasoline to fill the need. Today, cars have become an indispensable means of transportation for every family. Steam locomotives have...

Rev. Woudenberg is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.  Acts 2:39. Having examined the history of the Schilder/Hoeksema controversy at some length, it is perhaps time to focus our attention now on the doctrinal aspects of it. And that leads us, first of all, to the question of what Schilder and the Liberated actually had in mind when they spoke of the “covenant.” For us this is not an easy question....

Rev. Kleyn is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Edgerton, Minnesota The one aspect of our spiritual life which we most frequently neglect in any given day, it seems, is the time we should spend alone reading the Scriptures and praying to God. We skip right over this. At the most we perhaps utter a quick, short prayer — if we remember. And sometimes we begin and end the day without spending a single moment alone with God. This can only mean that we think it is possible for us to survive spiritually without God. The Bible at our...

Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. “Littleton and Columbine High” Two weeks ago (from the time I write this article), few people even in Colorado knew where these were. Today the names are in headlines in every newspaper—perhaps in the whole world and surely in all parts of our country. We have heard an endless reciting of events at Columbine High. We have heard countless analyses of the event. This was not a matter just of local news. This one caught the attention of the national news broadcasts. It was the subject of discussions...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The Beginnings of the Conflict Pelagius moved to Rome about 400, the year Augustine finished his Confessions. It was probably in Rome that Celestius was converted by Pelagius and became his disciple and friend. Although Pelagius, for nearly ten years, openly preached his views in Rome, he never got into any trouble with the church or the theologians there. In 411 both were in North Africa, where Augustine was already bishop of Hippo. The date they went to North Africa is hard to determine. Probably...

Breathtakingly Unfounded Presumption? It was in 1985 that I first subscribed to the Standard Bearer, so now I have accumulated fourteen volumes on my shelves, where they form a highly valued spiritual asset. The SB is the most instructive Christian periodical I know, and is a great blessing to me. The clear, incisive writing of the contributors on a wide range of highly relevant topics is a refreshing antidote to the woolly-mindedness so prevalent in evangelical circles. When the SB arrives at my door, invariably the first page I turn to is the one with “News From Our Churches.” It...

The annual synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet this year in Holland, MI in the fine new building of the First PRC of Holland. Synod will convene on Tuesday morning, June 8, God willing. The pre-synodical worship service, conducted by the First PRC of Holland, will be held on Monday evening, June 7 in the auditorium of the Holland church beginning at 7:30. Rev. Gise VanBaren, president of last year’s synod, will preach the sermon. Synod will hear the oral examination of Mr. Garrett Eriks, graduating senior seminarian at the PR Seminary. The Contact Committee (CC) will report...

On behalf of all our readers, the Standard Bearer heartily welcomes the new Protestant Reformed congregation. We rejoice in a work of God, who, as Article 28 of our Belgic Confession of Faith instructs us, is the one who “establishes” every true church. The new congregation is another daughter of the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, IL. The church was instituted in a worship service of the South Holland congregation on May 5. Rev. Allen Brummel preached on I Timothy 3:15b, “The Church: Pillar and Ground of the Truth.” Officebearers of the new church were then chosen by the...

Gary DeMar challenges me to a public debate. In his letter to the Standard Bearer that ran in the previous issue of this magazine, he said, “Let’s have a debate at your seminary. Have your students decide who’s telling the truth.” This is the second time that DeMar has issued this challenge. The first time was his letter in the March 15, 1995 issue of the SB. My response then was that I was interested. I expected that Mr. DeMar would get in touch with me, to arrange a time for the debate. But I heard nothing more from him....