Vol 77 Issue 04

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Minister Activities   Rev. Ken Koole, pastor of the Faith PRC in Jenison, MI, declined the call he had been considering to serve as minister-on-loan to our sister churches in Singapore.   Congregation Activities   The Grace PRC in Standale, MI has been looking for solutions to their overcrowding “problem.” Recently they voted, at least in concept, to look at some possible future changes in their sanctuary. Plans called for their building committee to hire an architect to look at possible changes that could be made and...

The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, v. 3: The Medieval Church, by Hughes Oliphant Old. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999. Pp. xviii-646. $45.00. (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. Robert D. Decker.] This series by Old is really a history of preaching. Undersigned has reviewed both volumes one and two, hence, this review of volume three will be brief. Volume three is as good as the first two volumes. This is an excellent series, indeed! The books are well researched and are written in a lucid and “easy-to-read” style. We certainly...

October 10, 11, 2000 held in South Holland, Illinois Classis West met for a special meeting on October 10, 2000 in South Holland, Illinois. This meeting of classis was called in order to deal with ongoing struggles in one of the churches in Classis West. Rev. A. denHartog led the classis in opening devotions by giving a brief exposition of Psalm 102:12-22. Rev. M. DeVries then took his place by rotation as president of classis, with Rev. G. Eriks as vice president and Rev. A. denHartog as clerk. The classis met late into the evening of Tuesday, October 10, and for...

Rev. VanderWal is pastor of Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Wyckoff, New Jersey. There are a number of reasons why one might separate the first seven beatitudes, found in verses 3-9, from what follows in verses 10-12. There is an obvious difference of character. The first seven beatitudes follow one upon another in rapid order, and are in a very clear format. “Blessed are … for ….” In contrast, verses 10-12 must be seen as one lengthy beatitude. The first seven identify different aspects of the blessedness of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven from a very positive viewpoint....

Mr. Lanting, a member of South Holland Protestant Reformed Church, is a practicing attorney. Having determined that the Boy Scouts is an expressive association and that the forced inclusion of James Dale [an avowed homosexual] would significantly affect its expression, we inquire whether the application of New Jersey’s [anti-discrimination] law to require that the Boy Scouts accept Dale as an assistant scoutmaster runs afoul of the Scouts freedom of expressive association. We conclude that it does. The Boy Scouts assert that it “teaches that homosexuality is not morally straight” and that it does “not want to promote homosexual conduct as...

Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Prayer in Public Places There is a continuing struggle between those who want prayer in public schools and in other public gatherings, and those who insist that there ought not to be prayers in public places. What is particularly irritating for the Christian is the constant attempt of the unbeliever to limit and prevent prayer in public places—for the wrong reasons. Many want a “separation between church and state,” as though somehow it is proper for the state to exist in separation from God and with a disregard of...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. This is the text of the speech given at the graduation exercises of the Protestant Reformed Seminary in June, 2000. Why the Church’s Catholicity Is Important It is important that the church be catholic. It is important because that is the only way God can reveal the fullness of the riches of His grace. In the last verses of Ephesians 2the apostle Paul describes how the middle wall of partition was broken down through the blood of Christ and reconciliation was accomplished, so that Jew and...

Herman Hoeksema was the first editor of the Standard Bearer. Essay read at a Conference of some Christian Reformed and Protestant Ministers (Translated from the Dutch by Rev. H. Veldman) It will now not be difficult for the brethren to understand that it was impossible for us to subscribe to the three points, or also to promise that we, privately or publicly, would never teach anything which would conflict with those points. Such a promise would forever silence our mouth and cause our pen to become dry. Although it is indeed our conviction that the synod of 1924 saw the...

The Holy Spirit Speaks Externally in the Preaching? In his article “The Spirit’s Life Giving Work: not Merely a Moral Advising” in the May 15, 2000 issue of the Standard Bearer, Rev. Laning writes, “Let there be no confusion. By confessing this article, we are not rejecting the truth that the Spirit speaks to us externally in the preaching, persuading us to repent and believe. But we are maintaining that the Spirit also speaks to us internally….” I agree that the Holy Spirit speaks to us internally through the preaching of the Word, but I am not convinced that the...

“Who … hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” Col. 1:13 The kingdom of God is not as well known among us as are the covenant of God and the church of God. It does not receive as much attention in the teaching as do the covenant and the church. This is a weakness, for the kingdom is of central importance in the revelation of Holy Scripture. If the kingdom of God is seen, not as something different from the covenant but as the distinct form of the covenant, the Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Ridderbos was right...