Vol 79 Issue 03

September 11, 2002 Trinity PRC, Hudsonville, MI Classis met in regular session on Wednesday, September 11, 2002 at the Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, MI. Each congregation was represented by two delegates. Rev. Nathan Brummel was the chairman for this session. This was the first time that Trinity hosted the classis. And it was fitting, since this session of classis was also the occasion for the examination of their pastor-elect, Rodney Kleyn. Two pastors-elect were examined: Rodney Kleyn, who accepted the call to Trinity PRC, and David Overway, who accepted the call from Covenant PRC, Wyckoff, New Jersey. Both men preached...

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Young People’s Activities All present and incoming members of the Young People’s Society of the Doon, IA PRC were encouraged to participate in a kick-off-camp-out on Friday and Saturday, September 6 & 7. Plans called for the young people, along with chaperons, to hold an overnight camp-out at Newton Hills State Park. On Saturday they went swimming at nearby Lake Alvin. The camping trip was informal, so there were no formal discussion groups or topics planned. We trust that this time together served to bring these young...

Proceedings of the International Conference of Reformed Churches, June 20-27, 2001, Philadelphia, U.S.A. Neerlandia, Alberta, Canada/Pella, Iowa, U.S.A.: Inheritance Publications, 2001. Pp. 287. $9.90 [US] (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] The International Conference of Reformed Churches (ICRC) is an ecumenical organization of more conservative Reformed and Presbyterian churches. The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (liberated) and the Free Church of Scotland took the lead in forming the ICRC in the 1980s following their withdrawal from the Reformed Ecumenical Council over issues of theological liberalism. The ICRC meets every four years. The purpose of the ICRC according to its constitution is...

Rev. Kleyn is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord Isaiah 58:13, 14The sabbath day is widely broken today. This is done not only by the world, but also by the church. It is desecrated by working. For many it is business-as-usual...

Prof. Engelsma is professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. As the biblical doctrine of the last things, eschatology concerns an end of all things. It has to do with the end of all things—the end of time and history; the end of our present world; the end of the history of the church; the end of the time of salvation; and the end of each human personally. End as Goal   The end with which escha-tology is concerned is not merely the cessation of time, history, and the world. It is true, of course, that...

Rev. VanderWal is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye...

Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction An important book in the history of the Protestant Reformed Churches is being readied for publication. It is a book authored by Revs. Henry Danhof and Herman Hoeksema. It was written in 1923, somewhat more than one year before these two ministers were expelled from the Christian Reformed Church. The book was written in the Dutch under the title Van Zonde en Genade. It has now been translated and should, the Lord willing, be available to the reading public within the next eight...

Mr. Kalsbeek is a member of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Walker, Michigan and retired secretary of the RFPA. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. I Corinthians 15:58 We have chosen “Abounding in the Work of the Lord” as our theme for this year’s report to our esteemed association members and friends. This theme expresses what your Board views as critical to the fulfillment of our stated purpose of “witnessing to the Reformed truth.” Without the...

Mr. Lanning is a member of Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church and a science teacher at Covenant Christian High School (GR). We are living in an era of technological change that is occurring at an alarming rate. Before we have time to decide if God’s Word permits us to use a new technique, the technique has already been replaced with a new method that presents even more questions. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the realm of genetics and reproductive technologies. While these two are not exactly the same, there is much overlap in the moral questions that must be...

Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The Elders and Discipline   The primary calling of the elders is discipline. Their work is to keep the church, insofar as that is possible here on earth, pure. It would do the churches well, especially those of the Reformed tradition, to study Calvin’s teachings on this all-important matter. Schaff says that: Discipline is so important an element in Calvin’s Church polity, that it … was the cause of his expulsion from Geneva, the basis of his flourishing French congregation at Strassburg, the chief...