Vol 77 Issue 09

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Young People’s Activities   In early December the Young People’s Society of the Cornerstone PRC in Dyer, IN took a break from their study of the book of Romans to spend six meetings reviewing a video series by Dr. R.C. Sproul entitled, “Fear and Trembling  — The Trauma of God’s Holiness.”  This series, geared toward youth, contained six messages:  1) Encountering God, 2) Holy, Holy, Holy, 3) Inner Sanctum, 4) What Manner of Man is This?  5) Cosmic Treason,  6) Fear and Trembling. The Young People’s Society of the Edgerton, MN...

Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24:30 At the end of the ages, when God’s church is ready for glory and God’s counsel in regard to the wicked is fully carried out, Christ will appear in all His majesty and glory. Every eye will see Him as King of kings and Lord...

Homer Hoeksema was professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introductory Remarks The entire sixth chapter of Genesis speaks of the events which culminated in the Flood, by which the first world was destroyed. In the first part of the chapter it records the causes and the circumstances and the judicial ground upon which the Lord condemned and executed judgment upon the first world. That cause was a general wickedness. When the Flood was sent, there was not only wickedness, depravity in the world. The latter is always present; and it is always total. Yet final...

Rev. VanderWal is pastor of Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Wyckoff, New Jersey. The teaching of Christ in these verses represents a development in the Sermon on the Mount. The prior verses identify the citizens of the kingdom from the viewpoint of their blessedness. Their blessedness was described in various ways, according to the characteristics that identified them. Now that we know these citizens and their blessedness, theLord Jesus Christ compares them to two things: salt and light. He states, “Ye are the salt of the earth,” and, “Ye are the light of the world.” Yet, this is more than...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Byron Center, Michigan. The Protestant Reformed Churches in America are distinct from other Christian churches, even other Reformed churches. This is well known to many scholars and leaders, not to mention lay people, in the church community at large. This distinctiveness is comprehensive in scope. We are distinctive in doctrine—holding to the truths of the sovereign grace of God (often referred to as the five points of Calvinism), believing that the grace of God is particular and not common, that the covenant of God with man is unilaterally and sovereignly...

Jonathan Moore has recently completed a doctoral dissertation on English Calvinism and Hypothetical Universalism at Cambridge University, England. Introduction In Book IV and Chapter 16 of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin reveals in no uncertain terms his attitude towards those who rejected infant baptism. This aspect of Calvin’s Calvinism sits very uneasily with the doctrine and practice of many Reformed churches today, and it behooves all who love the Reformed faith, to stop and consider our heritage. It may well be that in doing so we will be reproved, corrected, and instructed in righteousness. Calvin’s Assessment Calvin first...

Rev. Gritters is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Because the Protestant Reformed Churches want earnestly to be obedient to Jesus Christ in their public worship, they look both ways more than once before they cross into a new neighborhood of worship practices. They feel very safe (that is, humbly obedient to Jesus Christ) in their old neighborhood. The explanation is not a stuffy traditionalism. They desire to be obedient to Scripture. These churches agree with Carlos Eirie in his contention that “the rebellion of man in regard to worship displeases God tremendously, not only because of...

The November 2000 issue of the Calvin Theological Journal (CTJ), journal of the seminary of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), reconsiders the third point of common grace adopted by the CRC in 1924. It does so in an article entitled, “Common Grace, Theonomy, and Civic Good: The Temptations of Calvinist Politics (Reflections on the Third Point of the CRC Kalamazoo Synod, 1924).” The author is Dr. John Bolt, professor of theology at Calvin Theological Seminary. The article is the last of three articles in the CTJ reviewing the history and doctrine of the controversy over common grace in the CRC...

Rev. Miersma is pastor of Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church of Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4