Vol 78 Issue 15

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. … and the glory of children are their fathers.  Proverbs 17:6We have already considered in our last article the first part of this verse, which speaks of children’s children being the crown of old men. When the family unit is preserved from one generation to the next, then fathers and mothers are able to see their children’s children. Their grandchildren are about a father’s feet as jewels which bedeck his royal crown. Families with legitimate children and legitimate grandchildren are of great joy and satisfaction to a man...

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Minister Activities   On Sunday evening, March 31, the congregation of the Lynden, WA PRC extended a call to Rev. R. Hanko to serve them as their next pastor. Rev. W. Bruinsma, pastor of the Kalamazoo, MI PRC, received the call from the Byron Center, MI PRC to become their next undershepherd. Rev. C. Terpstra, pastor of the First PRC in Holland, MI, declined the call he had been considering to serve as the first pastor of the Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, MI. Rev. R. Cammenga, pastor...

Calvin: A Biography, by Bernard Cottret. Tr. M. Wallace McDonald. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000. Pp. xv + 376. $28 (cloth). [Reviewed by the editor.] From a French historian who is neither a theologian nor a Calvinist, we have a new biography of John Calvin that is outstanding. It gives insight into the man John Calvin without resorting to miserable psychologizing. “Thin as a lath,” writes Cottret of Calvin, contrasting him with his fat foe, Perrin, “(he) said only what he knew, and detested bluster.” It traces Calvin’s life and development. It takes up all of Calvin’s controversies with the heretics,...

Miss Lubbers is a member of First Protestant Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the first article on this topic concerning the relation of the antithesis and literature we determined that God establishes an antithesis between the world and His people. We contended that God’s people must live the antithesis, and the child of God must be opposed to everything that opposes God. We argued that we cannot assume a “touch not, taste not” approach and asserted, therefore, that in the study of literature one should not be governed by a “world-flight” attitude. The teaching of the Word of God...

Rev. VanderWal is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California. Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea,...

Prof. Engelsma is professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The Reformed Confessions   Any Reformed treatment of the doctrine of the last things must take the Reformed confessions into consideration. It must take these confessions into consideration from the outset. The reason is not only that these confessions, containing the wisdom of the church in the past, will be helpful, but also that the confessions are binding upon Reformed theologians. Although the confessions do not develop the truth of eschatology, they do draw the main biblical lines within which development must take place. The Reformed...

Rev. Koole is pastor of Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan. The Beast Coming into Focus   What is taking place in the Western world in growing, open opposition towards Christianity is alarming, to say the least. It is not just the Far Eastern nations, influenced by their heathen backgrounds, that are expressing themselves in militant fashion against Christianity, it is now also nations of historical Christian background that are doing so more and more in openly hostile, aggressive fashion. An article by the Rev. Austin Miles (entitled AG [Assemblies of God—KK] Missionaries Expelled from Belgium and carried by...

Rev. Laning is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Walker, Michigan. Part I: A Summary and Brief Refutation of the Well-Meant Offer Most churches today that claim to be either Reformed or Presbyterian maintain that the preaching of the gospel is a well-meant offer of God to each person who hears it.  We deny this, and maintain over against it that the preached Word is a serious call of God to all who hear it, but a gracious and efficacious call only to God’s chosen people. But what exactly is meant by a serious call to all and a...

For Reformed and Presbyterian defenders of common grace, it has always been a huge embarrassment that the confessions do not teach common grace. The total absence from the Reformation creeds of a doctrine of common grace is especially a problem in view of the importance that these Reformed and Presbyterian theologians and churches attribute to common grace. With reference to the Old Testament temple, one Christian Reformed zealot called common grace one of the two pillars of the Reformed faith. Although contemporary defenders of common grace are not so picturesque in their praise of common grace, they too regard common...

Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. Psalm 73:25, 26The psalmist, a man by the name of Asaph, is very personal in this psalm. He opens his heart to us and lets us take a good look inside his soul. He allows us to see what it is that he most desires. What is it that you most desire—more...