Vol 83 Issue 16

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Mission Activities  The PR Fellowship in Fayetteville, NC hosted the second lecture in their series of lecture-discussions on the subject of “Answering Postmodernism” on March 23 at the Wingate Inn Conference Room, with Rev. Arie denHartog, pastor of the Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI, as the featured speaker. Rev. denHartog spoke on the topic, “Is Church Membership Necessary?” In a follow-up to our last “News,” we are happy to report that Rev. Angus Stewart and the Covenant PRC in Northern Ireland were able to hold their lecture...

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest In Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co. Management of the Household No, there is not alone sicknessor health. There is still a thirdsomething. Something that lies in between “health” and “sickness,” and that sometimes, already at an early age, follows us after as decline of strength:weakness. “Nerves” it is called with one, “poverty of blood” with a second, with a third “exhaustion.” But, by whatever it is caused, or to whatever cause it is attributed, the result is one. There lacks strength where...

Mr. Doezema is a member of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church and secretary of the Domestic Mission Committee. Northern Ireland  Though the organization of a church is not the be-all and end-all of the work of missions, there’s no denying that the reaching of that goal brings intense satisfaction to the parties involved—the members of the mission who ask for it, the calling church and the mission committee that evaluate the request, and the synod that finally approves it. With respect to synod, that “intense satisfaction” was clear from the opening lines of its letter to the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church...

Mr. Brummel is a member of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Edgerton, Minnesota and secretary of the Foreign Mission Committee. Organization of a Church in Manila The Foreign Mission Committee of the Protestant Reformed Churches once again presents a brief annual review of the foreign mission work being done by our churches. Even though we have correspondence with various contacts in other countries, the focus of our work continues to be in the Philippines. We had opportunity to remain busy in the work of bringing the gospel and teaching through the faithful labors of our calling church (Doon PRC)...

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Previous article in this series: March 15, 2007, p 282. The Sixth Disputation: Chapters 3:13-4:3  13. Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? This last main section of the prophecy of Malachi is more general than what precedes. Its purpose is to make a distinction between God’s people in Israel and the unrepentant wicked. It speaks, therefore, of the spiritual difference between these two groups, of how that difference is manifest in the conduct...

Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Previous article in this series: April 1, 2007, p. 306. Introduction Prof. William Heyns developed a doctrine of the covenant that is held widely in Reformed circles at the present time. This view is a kind of adaptation of the doctrine of common grace and the well-meant offer of the gospel to the sacrament of baptism and the promises of God made at baptism. It was Heyns’ contention that all children of believers are objectively in the covenant, possess objectively the promises of the...

Prof. Engelsma is professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Previous article in this series: April 1, 2007, p. 304. The preceding articles in this series have demonstrated that, very early in their history, the Reformed churches in the Netherlands confessed that the covenant of grace is governed by election. Election determines which children of godly parents are the objects of God’s covenant grace, so as to be saved in the covenant. Election determines who the (true, spiritual) children of believers are, those to whom God referred when He said to Abraham, “to be a God...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. With the sound of a rushing mighty wind from heaven, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:2-3). Fitting that on Pentecost the ascended Jesus poured out His personal Spirit into the hearts of His people as a powerful wind. Wind is an agent God uses to accomplish His good pleasure. No human being can direct from where it comes or to where it goes—it blows where it listeth (John 3:8). But God creates the wind (Amos 4:13) and brings it forth from His treasuries...

Rev. DeVries is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Wingham, Ontario, Canada. Ominous Signs of Coming Assault on Canadian Churches This year Canada observes the twenty-fifth anniversary of its adoption of the “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” This document has a nice sounding title, but it provides the sincere child of God and the faithful churches in Canada little reason to celebrate. For, rather than protecting religious freedoms, the Charter repeatedly and increasingly has been used by courts and human rights commissions to infringe upon our religious liberties and to create “rights” and privileges for certain special interest...

Six-year-old Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, MI, is the home church of this year’s seminary graduate. She will be hosting the 2007 gathering of the Protestant Reformed synod. In the heart of old Hudsonville, Trinity’s sanctuary sits kitty-corner from the sanctuary of the old Hudsonville PRC that dates back to the early history of Hudsonville (Vos, DeJong, Kok, Veldman, Hanko).