Vol 80 Issue 01

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Young People’s Activities No sooner has one convention come and gone than another one is being planned. The young people of the Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI will be sponsoring the 2004 PRYP Convention, the Lord willing. Next year’s convention will be held July 12-16, at Covenant Hills Camp in Otisville, MI, just north of Flint. Attached to the camp is also a campground and RV park that can be used by parents and friends who would like to camp during the week of the convention and...

God’s Renaissance Man: The Life and Work of Abraham Kuyper, by James Edward McGoldrick. Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 2000. Pp. 320. $18.99 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] Professor McGoldrick’s recent biography of Abraham Kuyper is a welcome addition to the body of such works in English. There are only two other major studies of Kuyper’s life and work in English, Frank Vanden Berg’s Abraham Kuyper and Louis Praamsma’s Let Christ be King: Reflections on the Life and Times of Abraham Kuyper. McGoldrick’s book builds on these two works, although it is a freshstudy of Kuyper from the sources. Both of...

September 4, 2003 The September meeting of Classis West was held in South Holland Protestant Reformed Church in South Holland, IL on Wednesday, September 3. Rev. Douglas Kuiper chaired the meeting. An officebearers’ conference was held on Tuesday, the day before classis. In addition to the delegates to classis, many visitors also came to hear the speeches and to participate in the discussion. Also attending part of the conference were the 8th grade children of the Protestant Reformed Christian School and all the students and staff of Heritage Christian High School. The theme of the conference was “Remembering the Schism...

Rev. Laning is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Walker, Michigan. There is an inseparable connection between desiring to be with Christ in heaven after death and desiring to be more like Christ in this life. Scripture tells us that all those who truly have the hope of becoming perfectly like Christ in body and soul when Christ appears show that they have this hope by striving, already in this life, to begin to purify themselves even as Christ is pure (I John 3:3). This means that all those who have the Christian hope long to experience more and...

Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. A Time for Self-examination (2) Last time I quoted from articles from the secular press which, I thought, spoke eloquently of the dangers of smoking, of its addictive nature, and of its great cost. None, I dare say, can refute what the articles stated. Some might point out, however, “That’s not the Bible you quoted!” Others might claim, perhaps even correctly, that there are other and more serious problems in our “life style.” There are the evils of drunkenness and of worldly amusements and of materialism. Why “pick on”...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Randolph, Wisconsin. Under what circumstances might a deacon resign from office, or be removed from office, before his term is finished? The difference between resignation from office and removal from office should be clear to us all. In the instance of resignation, the deacon himself takes the initiative to be released from the honor and work of the office, and seeks the approval of the council. In the instance of removal from office, on the other hand, the consistory takes this initiative, having judged the deacon to be unworthy of...

Prof. Dykstra is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The Christian school teacher is engaged in an unceasing battle with humanism. The battles are fierce and the foe relentless because the stakes are high. All of secular education has been won over to the philosophy that man is the measure of all things. The one true God has been banned from the classroom, and many false gods have been set up in His place. Even in the realm of Christian education, humanism has made powerful inroads into the curriculum and instruction. Only in the...

Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The Synod of Dordt It is not our purpose to give a history of the Synod of Dordt in this article, but we do wish to sum up the work of the synod, particularly its composition and adoption of the Canons, and the significance of this synod for the history of the Reformed faith. Over the years a debate has been carried on between defenders of the Westminster Confessions and people loyal to Dordt over the question of whether the Synod of Dordt or...

Excess Introspection Your editorial on Jean Taffin’s little book [The Marks of God’s Children, Baker, 2003] in the August 2003 Standard Bearer was a blessing. Especially I was heartened to find another who so well described my feelings about excess introspection combined with a deficit of trust, joy, assurance, and praise. I have put the editorial in my assurance file. It should also guide me away from some “Reformed” preachers and groups. Lewis Price Batesville, AR Lying Please allow me to make a few remarks on the matter of lying, addressed in SB of April 15, 2003, p. 322, and...

The Protestant Reformed Sunday School Teachers Association has just published a complete explanation of the history of the New Testament in three hardcover volumes. The set is titled Upon This Rock. Volume one treats “Jesus Christ: His Earthly Ministry”; volume two, “Jesus Christ: His Death and Resurrection”; and volume three, “Jesus Christ: His Acts Through the Apostles.” The author is long-time writer of the “Our Guide” Sunday School materials, Don Doezema. The three volumes publish in book form articles Mr. Doezema wrote some years ago for parents to use in teaching their older children. The books arrange the history of...