Vol 85 Issue 08

Rev. Kortering is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Previous article in this series: January 1, 2009, p. 156. His Labors in India The struggles that William Carey faced in England in trying to convince others that God had a work for him in India prepared him for the far more difficult work God had for him to do there. During their five month voyage, Carey began his study of the Bengali language, with the help of Thomas, his colleague, who had labored in India before and motivated him to return with him. The captain of the ship...

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregation Activities We join with the readers of the Standard Bearer in extending our congratulations to the Hope PRC in Redlands, CA on the celebration of their 75th anniversary as a congregation. This celebration took place December 5-7. In addition to the two worship services on the Lord’s Day, led by two former pastors, Rev. A. den Hartog and Rev. K. Koole, there was a special anniversary celebration on Friday evening, which included opening devotions from Mr. Chuck Van Meeteren, Vice President of Hope’s Council and one of Hope’s...

Rev. Langerak (“Bring the books” editor) is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Joshua Engelsma is a member of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Shack, by William P. Young. Windblown Media, 2007. ISBN 0964729237. Paperback. 264 pp. Available at christianbook.com ($8.99) orbarnesandnoble.com ($13.49). Reviewed by Joshua D. Engelsma. The Shack, a recently published New York Times best-seller, falls into the genre of Christian fiction. Since being published last year, it has gained widespread support, not merely from the population in general, but especially in the church world. Many churches advertise their discussion groups on the...

Dr. Torlach is a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia and a student in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. * Address at the RFPA annual meeting, held September 25, 2008. Previous article in this series: January 1, 2009, p. 161. It was in just this environment that many of the founding members of the EPC were living in the early 1950s. In fact, they came from very diverse backgrounds. It is quite surprising, when one looks back at some of those founding members, to see where they actually came from. They had backgrounds in the Baptist, Methodist, Anglican, Presbyterian,...

* Not Anabaptist but Reformed was a pamphlet written by Danhof and Hoeksema in 1923 as a In the first half of this chapter, Danhof and Hoeksema have established that Rev. Van Baalen cites many texts but has almost no exegesis. Their exposition of Psalm 73 demonstrated that Scripture teaches the opposite of common grace. They ask Van Baalen to reconcile this and similar passages with his “idea that God is actually good to the reprobate.” They insist that this is the proper method of interpretation, that is, comparing Scripture with Scripture, and interpreting each text in the light of the whole...

Rev. denHartog is pastor of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. It has been some time since I wrote the first article for an intended series on “Life in the Covenant Home.” A very busy year in the ministry has made it difficult for me to continue to write articles for this series. It might be helpful for those reading this article to re-read the first article in the December 1, 2007 issue of the Standard Bearer. I intend to continue, the Lord willing, to write on subjects related to this general theme. I will do this by considering carefully...

Rev. Stewart is pastor of the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Northern Ireland. Previous article in this series: December 15, 2008, p. 138. Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism (1964) The most official, systematic, and widely accessible statement of the Roman Catholic Church’s false ecumenism is Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism (1964). The Latin name of this decree, Unitatis Redintegratio, is revealing, for it means “Restoration of Unity.” The unity the Roman Church wishes to see restored is that original oneness that it claims all professing Christians and churches had with the “Mother Church” (Rome) and the “Holy Father” (the pope).¹ This will also...

Rev. Laning is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Chruch in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Previous article in this series: December 1, 2008, p. 110. Eschatology is all about God’s covenant promises. Wrong views of God’s covenant will manifest themselves in wrong views of eschatology. Dispensational eschatology is based on an erroneous view of God’s covenant, and specifically of the covenant promises made to God’s people in the old dispensation. As was pointed out last time, dispensationalists commonly refer to four covenants that they say are unconditional: The Abrahamic Covenant, the Palestinian Covenant¹, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant. Dispensationalists view...

Rev. DeVries is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Wingham, Ontario, Canada. As you may recall, the Wingham, Ontario congregation was admitted into the fellowship and communion of the Protestant Reformed Churches in January 2004. The congregation was organized in 1979 in the neighboring town of Listowel. In 1988 the congregation, with eight families, bought an old mechanic shop in Wingham. With much volunteer work, the congregation transformed it into a church building. A portable building was added on as a lunch-room/nursery. This building served very adequately for twenty years for the Wingham congregation. In 2007 the congregation attempted...

This article is the text of the address of Prof. Dykstra at the Seminary Convocation held at Trinity PRC on September 2, 2008. The purpose of the speech tonight is to exhort all of us to faithfulness in our respective callings. That is one of the main reasons for a convocation. It is a calling together to remind us of the purpose of a seminary. A convocation ought also to hold before us the goal of the instruction, and of the learning. In addition, a convocation should set before us incentives to be diligent as we set our hand to...