Vol 79 Issue 20

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa. The biblical concept of adoption is not usually included in a treatment of the order of salvation. It is a wonderful truth, however, that ought not be overlooked. We treat it now as a benefit of justification. Rooted in Election Our adoption by God is a wonder of grace rooted in sovereign election. So we are taught in Ephesians 1:4-5. God has predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. It is striking in Ephesians 1:4-5that two different...

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregation Activities   Friends of Cornerstone PRC in Dyer, Indiana invited friends and supporters from our other churches in the Chicago area to join with them for an Open House-Dedication on July 28. There was an open house of their new church building from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. followed by a dedication service starting at 7:30. Last year the Sunday School children and young people of the Byron Center, MI PRC contributed money and items for our mission work in the Philippines. In response to that support,...

A Theatre in Dachau, by Hermanus Knoop. Tr. Andrew Petter. Ed. Roelof A. Janssen. Neerlandia, Alberta, Canada/Pella, Iowa: Inheritance Publications, 2001. Pp. 143. $12.90 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] Reformed Christians, young and old, ought to read this gripping, sobering account of one man’s suffering in the Dachau concentration camp. Hermanus Knoop was a Dutch Reformed preacher who resisted the antichristian assault of Nazism upon the Christian church and the godly life of the people of God in the Netherlands in the 1940s. His “resistance” was the necessary resistance of the proclamation of the Word. In the face of the...

Rev. Kleyn is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota. God loves His church. She is precious to Him as the bride and body of Jesus Christ. So great is His love for her that He sent His Son to die for her. The church is His. He delights in her. Jehovah “loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob” (Ps. 87:2). Since God loves His church, so ought we. The church is beloved of God and precious to Him. That’s what she should be to us. To love God’s church means, first of...

Prof. Engelsma is professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches. This article is the text of the address given at the commencement exercises of the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary on June 16, 2003. The article of which this installment is a continuation appeared in the July 2003 issue of the Standard Bearer. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs…. John...

Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Arminius’ Views   Arminius died at the age of 46. But his teachings lived on in the preaching of his former students, and his heretical views were disseminated throughout the churches. As far as his views are concerned, Arminius made the doctrine of predestination the object of his attack. He taught that God ordained Christ to be the Mediator and, having done this, God determined to accept in Christ all penitent and believing sinners, and to condemn all impenitent and unbelieving sinners who remained...

Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. A Time for Self-examination   For some months, and even years, I’ve considered quoting from articles that relate to our own life-style. Each time, however, I’ve put aside those articles. There are things contained in them that we all know—yet refuse to face. Of course, objections can be raised to the use of the articles. The quotes are from the secular press. They obviously do not use Scripture to press their point. They are, nevertheless, startling to say the least. These treat the subject of smoking. Some might ask,...

Letters Responding to the Series of Editorials, “The Unconditional Covenant in Contemporary Debate” (Standard Bearer, Jan. 1 – April 1, 2003) I was reading your series [on the unconditional covenant] in the Standard Bearer. It has been truly surprising to me how quickly the rejection of the gospel of grace has spread in my Presbyterian circles. I now understand that this has been a debate in Dutch circles for the past century. The work that you and your Protestant Reformed colleagues have conducted in that time, I hope will be useful to counter the various assaults presently underway against the...

Introduction By government decree, the first Monday of September annually is a legal holiday in the United States. The holiday is Labor Day. It dates from 1894. In that year, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill making Labor Day a national holiday. 1894 was also the year of the notorious, violent Pullman strike in Chicago. The intention of Labor Day is to honor the workingman. Labor unions have hijacked the holiday, so that many suppose that the idea of the holiday is honoring labor unions. The Protestant Reformed Churches “honor” the laborer. Most of the members of these Churches are...

Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan. “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20, 21 After explaining the content of his prayers for his fellow saints at Ephesus (Ephesians 3:14-19), the inspired apostle Paul breaks forth into praise of God. His prayer for the Ephesian converts had been that they “be strengthened with might by His Spirit in...