All Articles For Vol 77 Issue 16 5/15/2001

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Minister Activities   On Good Friday, April 13, the Lord took one of His servants, the Rev. George Lubbers, through the passage of death to be with Him and the innumerable company of angels and saints in heaven.  He was 91 years old.  His active ministry began in 1934 when he was ordained as pastor of the Doon, IA PRC.   His ministry spanned some 44 years, with pastorates in six of our churches, as well as two mission fields.  We extend our sincere Christian sympathy to his...

Man’s Relations to God: Traced in the Light of the “Present Truth,” by John Kennedy (The James Begg Society, North Wales, 1995) 87 pp. (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. Herman Hanko.) John Kennedy was minister of the Free Church of Scotland in Dingwall, Ross-shire from 1844-1884. The James Begg Society has done the church of Christ a favor in printing this brief work by a noted Free Church pastor from the nineteenth century, because it clearly indicates that the present day Free Church has departed a great distance from its original doctrinal position. The author writes what is really a doctrinal...

Rev. VanderWal is pastor of Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Wyckoff, New Jersey. In these verses the King of the kingdom exercises His office as the expositor of its law. He has come as the fulfillment of the law. He has taught that not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law till all should be fulfilled. He shall teach and do, and all those of His kingdom shall also teach and do them. That law, as Christ now explains it, is essentially no different from the law as God had originally given it from Mt. Sinai. From...

Mr. Doezema, an elder in Southwest PRC, is the secretary of the Domestic Mission Committee. “… the purpose [of missions] is to bring to manifestation the body of Christ by bringing into existence the instituted church.” Those were the words of Herman Hoeksema. The year was 1932. The Protestant Reformed Churches, then in their infancy, were wrestling with the vexing question of how to do home missions—that is, how to do home missions as a denomination of churches. The classis (there was but one classis in the ’30s, hence no synod, till 1940) was deeply conscious of its responsibility to...

Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa. He is also secretary of the Foreign Mission Committee. The Foreign Mission Committee (FMC) of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America once again presents to the readers of the Standard Bearer an overview of the foreign mission work of our churches since our last report. The committee is composed of eight members from the Doon, Edgerton, and Hull Protestant Reformed Churches. The members from Edgerton are Mr. Allen Brummel and Rev. Daniel Kleyn. The members from Doon are Mr. Jim Hoogendoorn, Rev. Richard Smit, and Mr. Peter VanDenTop....

Prof. Decker is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In the previous issue we outlined the doctrine of God’s everlasting covenant. We took note of the fact that the covenant is not an alliance. We also concluded that the covenant does not consist of God’s promise, a condition, and a blessing or penalty. Rather, the Bible teaches that the covenant is the bond of friendship and fellowship which God establishes between Himself and believers and their children in their generations (Gen. 17:7; Ps. 25:14; Acts 2:39; James 2:23). This covenant is established, maintained, and realized by God in Christ through...

Rev. Slopsema is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. * This is a transcript of remarks made by Rev. Slopsema at the funeral of Rev. Lubbers on April 16, 2001. I have been asked to make a few remarks on the ministry of Rev. Lubbers from the vantage point of being his pastor. I have known Rev. Lubbers in more capacities than his pastor. I knew Rev. Lubbers as I grew up in the Protestant Reformed Churches. He was one of the older ministers of the denomination that my generation came to respect. Rev. Lubbers’ name...

Tithing In his article, “Financial Stewardship” (Standard Bearer, Feb. 15, 2001), Rev. Kleyn makes statements concerning tithing which I believe are incorrect. He states that the New Testament Scriptures mention tithing in three places in the gospel accounts, each in a negative way, and that the only other mention of tithing inHebrews 7 speaks of it as something that belongs to the Old Testament. I would like to show that neither of these is true. Rev. Kleyn mentions Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42, which are similar passages in which Christ pronounces woe upon the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. For the Pharisees were diligent about...

“Who … hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” Colossians 1:13 The kingdom of God is spiritual. It is spiritual rule, or government. It affords spiritual benefits. It creates and occupies a spiritual territory. It reflects a spiritual glory. It creates a spiritual citizenry. It is not fantastic, imaginary, and ghostly, like C. S. Lewis’ Narnia, or J. R. R. Tolkien’s middle earth, or J. K. Rowling’s Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is a real kingdom. It is present in the world, exercising its tremendous power, creating and empowering its citizens, advancing and enlarging with...

Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan. “But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” II Thessalonians 2:13, 14Paul knew something about the people to whom he was writing. He knew that the people in the Christian church in Thessalonica were elect! And he knew that they were...