Vol 80 Issue 14

Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Mission Activities We rejoice with the Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI, the calling church for our denomination’s mission work in Pittsburgh, PA, their missionary, Rev. J. Mahtani, and the Fellowship in Pittsburgh, in the administration of the first Pittsburgh baptisms on Sunday, March 7. Eight children (one entire household), ranging from 2 to 15 years old were baptized. The Pittsburgh group is also preparing for five more baptisms and several confessions of faith in the year ahead, D.V. The continued growth of the work in Pittsburgh had...

Rev. Hanko is pastor in the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. The Second Prophecy: Haggai 2:1-9 1. In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, 2. Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, The second prophecy comes nearly a month, that is, 27 days, after the people had begun working again on the house of the Lord, and nearly two months...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa. “And whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30b). The final step in the order of salvation is glorification, the crowning work of God in the salvation of His people. Thus we read of our glorification in the Canons of Dordt, I, 7: “This elect number…God has decreed to give to Christ to be saved by Him, and effectually to call and draw them to His communion by His Word and Spirit; to bestow upon them true faith, justification, and sanctification; and having powerfully preserved them in the...

Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction Although the Auchterarder Creed was the immediate occasion for the Marrow Controversy, the controversy itself involved the publication of Edward Fisher’s book, The Marrow of Modern Divinity. While the book had been published almost eighty years before the controversy, it had passed into oblivion until it was reprinted by James Hog, one of the Marrow Men. When the book was officially treated by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, it had been condemned for various errors that were contained in...

Rev. Dick is pastor of Grace Protestant Reformed Church in Standale, Michigan. Hoopla over the movie The Passion of the Christ will, by the time this article is published, have simmered somewhat. Evangelical faddists will have begun testing the market for another new thing (a Disney version of the Chronicles of Narnia, anyone?). Conservatives will have gone back to the Bible for sermon material. Writers, if you will believe me, will still be finding The Passion grist for their mills. At this same time most churches are, in their worship services, in their concerts, and in their devotions, reflecting upon...

Mr. Kikkert is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Wingham, Ontario, Canada. It is with great joy and thankfulness that we introduce ourselves as the “Wingham Protestant Reformed Church,” the newest church in the Protestant Reformed denomination. We have read much in the 75th Anniversary Yearbook about who you are. Here is a little history of who we are. The Wingham Orthodox Christian Reformed Church was first established in Listowel in 1979. It was called Listowel OCRC. The first pastor was Reverend Harry Vandyken. This church was organized by families who left the CRC for doctrinal reasons. This...

Slabbert Le Cornu is married to Dorothea, and they have three daughters: Joanette (6), Hannelie (3) and Doret (1). He is fourth-year theological student at the Reformed Churches of South Africa’s Theological School, in Potchefstroom. They are members of the Reformed Church, Potchefstroom-South. Slabbert is the founder and director of Die Esra Instituut (‘The Esra Institute’), which is a teaching ministry to advance the biblical-reformed faith and worldview in the world today. He is also the editor of the magazine Die Esra Verslag (‘The Ezra Report’). For further information, he can be contacted at: esra@netlab.co.za 3. Was it justified? efore...

Prof. Engelsma is professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The Current Justification Controversy, by O. Palmer Robertson. Unicoi, Tennessee: Trinity Foundation, 2003. 107 pages. $9.95 (paper). A Companion to the Current Justification Controversy, by John W. Robbins. Unicoi, Tennessee: Trinity Foundation, 2003. 185 pages. $9.95 (paper). If there could still be such a thing in our doctrinally indifferent and apostate day, O. Palmer Robertson’s The Current Justification Controversy would be a bombshell in reputedly conservative Reformed and Presbyterian churches in North America. The well-known and highly regarded Presbyterian theologian reveals the seven years of struggle...

The gospel of salvation by grace alone is in mortal danger in virtually every reputedly conservative Reformed and Presbyterian denomination in North America. The threat is a doctrinal movement described variously by its proponents as the “Auburn Avenue theology” (from a Presbyterian church in Louisiana that is a center of the movement), the “federal vision” (because the movement claims to be developing the doctrine of the covenant—”federal” means ‘covenant’), and “objective covenant theology” (because of the movement’s peculiar stress on the objectivity of the covenant). The essence of the movement is the teaching that the saving grace of God in...

Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan. “And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”  Ephesians 4:11-13 he many precious truths taught in the first three chapters of this epistle are being applied,...