Vol 82 Issue 10

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.   Congregation Activities  All the members of the Hope PRC in Redlands, CA were invited and encouraged to remain after their evening worship service on January 8 to hear a Christmas concert presented by their church choir. Members of the Ladies Tuesday Morning Bible Study at the Georgetown PRC in Hudsonville, MI were invited to a special meeting on January 17 to hear one of their own, Mrs. Laura Miedema, speak to them on “The Abortion Industry in our Backyard.” Laura planned to speak of how abortion...

Hope Protestant Reformed Church January 11, 2006 Classis East met in regular session on Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at the Hope PRC. Each church was represented by two delegates. Rev. W. Bruinsma served as chair of this session. Students in the church history classes at Covenant Christian High School were in attendance for part of the morning session. The business of classis was, for the most part, routine for a January classis. Classis devoted a good deal of time voting for synodical delegates and the other functionaries of the classis. Elected to serve as delegates to Synod 2006: Ministers—Primi: A....

We and Our Children: The Reformed Doctrine of Infant Baptism. Herman Hanko. Second Edition Grand Rapids: Reformed Free Publishing Association. 2004. xviii + 165 pages. $7.25 (Paper). [Reviewed by Russell J. Dykstra.]   We and Our Children, first published by the RFPA in 1981, was a compilation of a series of articles in the Protestant Reformed Theological Journal. In those articles, Professor Herman Hanko answered a book entitled Children of Abraham? by David Kingdon. Kingdon rejected infant baptism from the standpoint of a Reformed Baptist. We and Our Childrenanalyzed and refuted the arguments of Kingdon’s book, and then set forth the Reformed position....

Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Previous article in this series: January 1, 2006, p. 153.   The Apostolic Blessing   Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Galatians 1:4, 5 A very graphic description of Christ and His great work is appended to the apostolic blessing. This is unique among the blessings that Paul pronounces on the churches in the name of...

Rev. denHartog is pastor of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. The history of the labors of the apostle Paul in Athens is most fascinating. The book of Acts has sometimes been called “the charter of missions.” It records the first glorious age of the amazing missionary expansion of the New Testament church. We believe that the work of missions is the work of the almighty, exalted, and glorious Lord Jesus Christ, the sovereign of the universe, the ruler of all the nations of the world. He guides the course of history in such a way that all things...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is easy to overlook the lowly stone. But Scripture does not. In it, stone represents spiritual realities as commonality (II Chron. 1:15), a fool’s wrath (Prov. 27:3), danger (Ps. 91:12), end of man (Job 28:3), and terrified, lifeless, natural, and inhumane hearts (Ex. 15:16; I Sam. 25:37; Ezek. 11:19; Job 41:24). But it is especially their permanence that is special in the kingdom. More interested in show than substance, the children of men make their kingdom from brick (Gen. 11:3). God builds with stone. The corner of His...

Rev. Bruinsma is eastern home missionary of the Protesant Reformed Churches, based in Pittsburgh, PA. “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”  Ephesians 6:4 God’s church receives a most reassuring promise from God: I will be a God unto you and to your children after you in your generations (Gen. 17:7). Since the beginning of this world, believing parents have clung to that promise of God as they have brought forth the next generation of the church. Despite their weaknesses as parents, God has been faithful...

Prof. Engelsma is professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Previous article in this series: November 1, 2005, p. 64. The intermediate state is an aspect of the hope of the covenant people of God. It is part of their hope because God has made known in His Word that life and bliss in the soul upon their death are benefits of His covenant with them. The comfort of life with God in the soul is not on the foreground in Scripture simply because the intermediate state is not the main hope of the church. The...

Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches.   Public Schools—or Parental Schools?  I often quote Cal Thomas, whose hard-hitting and conservative articles usually address the issues of the day relevantly and accurately. That was strikingly true in two recent articles speaking to the issue of public school education vs. parentally controlled education in private or home schools. In an article from Tribune Media Services and printed in the Grand Rapids Press of December 22, 2005, Thomas quotes from a report titled, “The Youth Risk Behavior Survey,” compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which polled more...

Previous article in this series: February 1, 2006, p. 196. Preamble DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES, to be used only by the Mission Committee and the missionaries for the organization of prospective churches on the basis of Scripture and the confessions as these have always been maintained in the Protestant Reformed Churches and as these are now further explained in regard to certain principles.¹ The preamble of the Declaration of Principles serves to remind us of the history behind the document, which history was reviewed in the previous editorial. The Declaration was drawn up to help the mission committee and the missionaries working...