Vol 76 Issue 15

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. School Activities Try as I would, my mind just couldn’t help but stray a little before our Sunday morning church service on April 2. The night before, several in our congregation had taken part in the fourth annual night of ice skating and hockey at the Walker Ice Center, sponsored by the Hope Foundation, and when they walked into the auditorium with their families you could almost feel their sore calves and other assorted aches and pains. An hour of intense hockey or just plain skating will...

Rev. Kleyn is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Edgerton, Minnesota. It is natural for a married couple to desire children. In fact, even unbelievers desire this. It is true that they generally do so for selfish reasons, and thus often twist and subject this desire to the service of sin and the pursuit of earthly pleasure. Yet it cannot be denied that they too are created by God with the desire to bring forth children. Believing couples, however, have more than just a natural desire for children. Their desire is also spiritual. They long for children because they...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction During the Middle Ages two controversies were carried on over the doctrine of Christ’s presence in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper before the view of transubstantiation was finally adopted. One controversy occurred in the ninth century; the other in the eleventh. The controversy in the ninth century was between Radbertus and Ratramnus, both monks in the monastery in Corbie, France. Radbertus taught that the bread and wine were literally changed into the body and blood of Christ, while Ratramnus taught that...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Where to Go on a Date In this article we are going to consider where to take a young woman on a date. What? Is this guy really going to tell us where we may or may not go on a date? That is a little beyond his realm of authority, is it not? Not even the Bible dictates to young men where they may or may not take their girl on a date! If God Himself does not do this, howpresumptuous, then, for any person to dictate...

Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. “Whom Say Men That I, the Son of Man, Am?” One could hardly avoid the extensive coverage of the visit of Pope John Paul II to the Holy Land. Television presented its live reports. Newspapers provided almost minute-by-minute accounts of his activities. Many admired his skillful attempts to reconcile those of different religions. There was one purpose that his visit to the Holy Land served. The question was raised again: Who is Jesus who was born, suffered, died there and arose again? It was Newsweek, March 27, 2000, that...

Baptism by Women In the article, “Invalid Baptism by Women,” in the Standard Bearer of 1 March 2000 you take a position that seems to go beyond what the Bible by necessary consequence would demand. With you, I wholeheartedly enjoin that for baptism the application of water in the name of the triune God is required, as well as that women are not lawfully called to be ministers. It must be admitted that WCF, ch. 28.2; Second Helvetic Confession, ch. 20; the Bremen Consensus; and the Scottish Confession of Faith maintain that a sacrament is only valid when performed by...

God Himself regulates the public worship of Himself by His church. He prescribes in His Word what this worship must consist of. He tells His church how to worship Him. He does not leave the “how” of worship to the wisdom and whim of the worshiping people. It is not even the case that the church may worship God in whatever manner she sees fit, as long as nothing in her worship conflicts with God’s will. This would mean that whatever is not forbidden is permitted. This is the position of the Anglican Church and of Lutheranism. The Reformed stand...

Rev. Miersma is pastor of Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church of Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  Hebrews 12:4-6 (Please read on through verse 11) Chastened of the Lord. This passage assumes that we are involved in a great struggle with sin and that in that struggle we are...