Vol 85 Issue 03

Rev. Laning is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Chruch in Walker, Michigan. Previous article in this series: September 1, 2008, p. 474. False teachers often take advantage of other false teachings to promote themselves. They start by pointing out what is unbiblical about what others are saying, and this prepares their listeners or readers to listen to them when they suggest their own theological system as an alternative. With this in mind we turn to consider some of the false teachings that were on the rise at the same time that dispensationalism became popular. More people began listening to the...

Rev. Stewart is pastor of the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Northern Ireland. Previous article in this series: October 15, 2008, p. 40. The Declaration on Religious Freedom (1965) According to Pope Paul VI (1963-1978), the Declaration on Religious Freedom, produced at Roman Catholicism’s Vatican II (1962-1965), is “one of the major texts of the Council.”¹ American Jesuit John Courtney Murray goes further: “the document is a significant event in the history of the Church” (p. 673).² Of all the 16 documents of Vatican II, the Declaration on Religious Freedom is the one that most clearly evinces the spirit of...

I am a PCA minister and a regular reader of The Standard Bearer. In the “All Around Us” column in the September 1, 2008 issue, you correctly state that the 2008 PCA General Assembly considered several overtures asking to create a study committee to study the issue of the propriety of having female deacons. However, you go on to state that “the minority report [of the overtures committee] was adopted and a study committee was appointed to look at these issues.” That is not correct. In fact, the majority report of the overtures committee was adopted by a considerable margin;...

‘s move towards reunion with Rome was Billy Graham. This is not to say that reunion with Rome was what Graham promoted early on, but this is how making common cause with modernistic, liberal church leaders worked itself out in time, and in surprisingly short order at that. In the late 50s and early 60s Graham’s crusades began inviting known liberal, Bible-denying church leaders to promote Graham’s crusades in their area and share the podium with him. In England these leading liberals had at first refused, due to what they perceived as Graham’s narrow, fundamentalist biblical views. But when they...

Rev. Slopsema is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” John 5:39The unbelieving Jews sought to kill Jesus because He had healed a lame man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. Jesus responded by pointing out that He was only doing the work of His Father. This made the Jews more determined than ever to kill Jesus. Not only had He, in their estimation, profaned the Sabbath, but He had also claimed equality with God....

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Mission Activities For the past several months our denomination’s Domestic Mission Committee has been corresponding with a group of four families in Tucson, AZ who are interested in our churches’ starting a work in their city. These families, through personal study, have become very familiar with the PRC and are also giving a good witness in their community on a personal level and through the Internet (www.tucsonprotestantreformed.org). The DMC sent a delegation of Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Missionary Rev. Allen Brummel, and Elder Dave Rau to visit...

September 25, 2008 The Annual Meeting of the Reformed Free Publishing Association marks the completion of another year of publishing, and the seeking of the Association’s approval of plans for the coming year. This includes the election of four new board members to replace those retiring after three years of service, and the adoption of a budget for the new publishing year. We, the board, take this opportunity to mark, with you, the Lord’s blessing over the past year, and years, and to seek His blessing for the future publishing year and years. May we with the prophet Samuel of...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Welcome to our new rubric! Like the fresh-faced new teacher who shows up the first day of school after the long summer break, our rubric deserves a proper introduction. Otherwise we classmates don’t know who she is or what she is doing here. This article intends to do just that. In keeping with an unspoken, perhaps unnoticed, but long-standing tradition of the Standard Bearer, the title for this rubric is lifted directly from the Authorized Version of the Bible. In this particular case, II Timothy 4:13. It...

Rev. Kortering is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Previous article in this series: October 1, 2008, p. 16. Money and missions is like mixing water and oil; they just don’t seem to work together. More problems arise from this need than from any other. Notice, I said “need” because that is what it is. You cannot do mission work without money, and the need to spend money in the mission field is only too obvious. God made man dependent upon the earth for his daily bread. All through history the tension between those who have and those...

Rev. Laning is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Chruch in Walker, Michigan. Previous article in this series: September 1, 2008, p. 474. False teachers often take advantage of other false teachings to promote themselves. They start by pointing out what is unbiblical about what others are saying, and this prepares their listeners or readers to listen to them when they suggest their own theological system as an alternative. With this in mind we turn to consider some of the false teachings that were on the rise at the same time that dispensationalism became popular. More people began listening to the...