All Articles For Vol 78 Issue 16 5/15/2002

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregation Activities Parents of catechism students at the Bethel PRC in Roselle, IL were invited to their children’s final catechism session, which included pizza, games, singing, and thanksgiving for the blessing of another catechism season. Final papers were handed out and memory awards were also given. Many of our churches continue to experience a pressing need for church organists. The need seems to grow more acute year by year. To answer this growing need in our churches in the Chicago, IL area, two men, Mr. Don Haak...

A third reason why all Protestant Reformed people should faithfully support and read our paper, and that too in close connection with the preceding, is that our calling as Protestant Reformed Churches is to be very specific, and that the Standard Bearer is the sole representative in print of this specific calling. We may not be satisfied with a sort of general gospel. We may not even be satisfied with a vague and general confession of the Reformed truth. It is very evidently our calling as churches to be very specific, to cross all the t’s and to dot all...

Mr. Doezema is secretary of the Domestic Mission Committee of the Protestant Reformed Churches. The Lord becomes manifest as the Lord of the fish. That’s what happens in missions. That’s what happens in our mission work. Not our efforts, not our funds, not our policies bring one fish into the net. Only the “Lord of the fish” does that. The command, the execution, the fruit—all are of Him. We thank the Lord, therefore, at the very beginning of another article on missions in our churches, that He becomes manifest in a positive way as the Lord of the fish in...

Rev. Smit is secretary of the Foreign Mission Committee of the Protestant Reformed Churches. It is that time of year once again to present to you an informational report of some of the work being done on the foreign mission fields of the Protestant Reformed Churches. The work is overseen on behalf of the denomination by the Foreign Mission Committee, whose eight members come from the Protestant Reformed Churches of Doon, Iowa; Edgerton, Minnesota; and Hull, Iowa. The members are Mr. Allen Brummel, Rev. Daniel Kleyn, Mr. Jim Regnerus, Rev. Richard Smit, Mr. Peter VanDenTop, Rev. Steven Key, Mr. Alvin...

Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction When God provides men of great ability for the church in times of crisis, He gives to these men a breadth of understanding of His Word which it is not always easy for others to comprehend fully. Great men are able to hold all the nuances of the truth of Scripture in a proper and biblical balance so that their theology remains consistently biblical. But some followers of these men, unable to see the scope of their leaders’ theology, latch on to one...

Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Persecution of the Church   One associates persecution today with heathen, Muslim lands where Christians can be imprisoned or even put to death because of their faith. We express thanks for the freedom we have still to worship God as we believe He requires it of us. But … is the time coming for us also? There are obvious signs that there is a growing threat of persecution. One cannot help but note the “progress” made by the “gay” movement. These insist that no one may limit them in...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Randolph, Wisconsin. We have answered the question of who may hold the office of deacon, by examining God’s requirements for deacons inActs 6 and I Timothy 3. The next question which needs answering is, how are such men to be chosen for and put into office? The practice which Reformed churches often follow in choosing deacons is that the council presents a nomination of several men to the congregation, from which the congregation elects half of those nominated. In this connection, we wonder: why this procedure? Are there other acceptable procedures? How...

Keeping a Standard High Thank you for your informative and encouraging magazine. We are grateful for the one-year gift subscription we received from a friend and are glad to become regular subscribers. Living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan sometimes means remoteness, but your magazine finds us here and has been such an encouragement to us. We read many articles aloud as a family and have interesting discussions with our children. Thank you for keeping a standard high in our fallen world. (Mrs.) Kame Moore Engadine, MI Doing Theology on Monroe and Division In your editorial reflecting on Dr. Mouw’s...

We come now to the real reasons why Dr. Richard Mouw embraces the theory of a common grace of God upon and in unregenerated humans. These reasons are evident in Mouw’s book, He Shines in All That’s Fair: Culture and Common Grace (Eerdmans, 2001). The reasons are not the clear, abundant, powerful testimony of Holy Scripture, much less the teaching of the Reformed confessions. But the reasons are that Dr. Mouw sees decent unbelievers performing deeds of justice, kindness, and mercy; that Dr. Mouw finds in himself a feeling of delight at the splendid skills and a feeling of sorrow...

Rev. Slopsema is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. I John 5:18 Whoever commits sin is of the devil. Whoever is born of God does not commit sin. In fact, he cannot sin; for God’s seed remains in him. What striking statements these are. Many may even question them, especially the notion that those who are born of God do not and cannot commit sin. Yet this is what the...