All Articles For Vol 86 Issue 10 2/15/2010

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Mission Activities For those interested in our churches’ on-going mission work in the Philippines, a website has been set up for keeping you current with that work: www.kleynsphilippines.blogspot.com. If you haven’t already done so, we encourage you to give it a look. Not only will you get a feel for the work through written information and pictures, but you will also get a feel for daily life in the Philippines for our two missionaries and their families. To illustrate that point, the Kleyns’ latest addition to their...

January 13-14, 2010 First Protestant Reformed Church Grand Rapids Classis East met in regular session on January 13-14, 2010 at First PRC-Grand Rapids. Each church was represented by two delegates; Rev. J. Slopsema chaired this session of Classis. This was a busy session of Classis, which required two days of deliberations. Classis received a protest from a consistory in Classis West regarding the decisions Classis took in the matter of the resignation and dismissal of Rev. Nathan Brummel. Classis upheld this protest in most of its aspects. Classis declared that in the decisions taken at its September 2009 meeting it...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of South Holland Protestant Reformed Church in South Holland, Illinois. Heartwarming. . . I must confess that in reading World magazine I usually skip the movie reviews. I am amazed that in a magazine that touts its Christian credentials there are several pages of movie reviews. Usually, with euphonic caveats to be discerning, World recommends such for the entertainment of its ostensibly Christian readership. The very presence of these reviews demonstrates that the prophet Herman Hoeksema was right in his warning that common grace is a massive triple breach in the walls of the antithesis that...

Rev. Brummel is a home missionary of the Protestant Reformed Churches, stationed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The history of the spread of the gospel is a fascinating one. It is the account of God raising up brave, gifted individuals and using them to penetrate heathen cultures and customs by the proclamation of the gospel. Robert Morrison, prepared by God to spread the gospel to China, was one of these men. Morrison was born January 5, 1782, the youngest of eight children, to parents who attended a Scottish Presbyterian church. While in his teen years, he was apprenticed to his...

Rev. Kleyn is a missionary of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America, stationed in Manila, the Philippines. One way in which the word of God describes us as pilgrims is by referring to us as “sojourners.” We are those who are passing the time of our sojourning here on earth (I Pet. 1:17). We are simply traveling through this world toward our heavenly home. A sojourner is someone who is away from home. He is either visiting or living in a foreign land. He is among strangers. He feels very much out of place. The customs, the way of life,...

Prof. Engelsma is professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Previous article in this series: February 1, 2010, p. 198. The Postmillennial Interpretation of Revelation 20 The interpretation of Revelation 20, the one passage in Holy Scripture that mentions the millennium, or thousand-year period, is basic to the right understanding of the millennium and, indeed, of the truth of the last things generally. The explanation of the passage by Reformed amillennialism appeared earlier in this treatment of the biblical doctrine of the last things.¹ Here I sketch the interpretation of the passage by the leading...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As with heaven, hell is represented by two outstanding pictures. They are the grave ( or sheol) and a garbage dump called Gehenna or valley of Hinnom. Some attempt to escape the existence of hell by noting that these words are used interchangeably in Scripture. But this is as futile and foolish as denying the reality of ‘heaven’ simply because that word refers also to the firmament and outer-space. Make no mistake, hell is real. And the grave and this garbage dump warn of the eternal terror,...

Rev. Haak is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan and radio pastor for the Reformed Witness Hour, on which this message was aired. I assume that those who are listening today are those who profess to be children of God and have the opportunity to know God by attending church and reading the Holy Scriptures. Are you growing in the knowledge of God? And does the knowledge of God preserve you in the midst of a wicked world? Does it preserve you in the way of holiness and truth? Every child of God who professes to know...

Previous article in this series: February 1, 2010, p. 196. The Reformed confessions are the substance of the Reformed faith, which is to say, the truth of the Bible. Every officebearer in a Reformed church must believe these truths. By signing the Formula of Subscription (FOS), the man confesses that he is wholly convicted of these truths. The FOS also binds a man to uphold and defend them. What could be wrong with that? An honest, Reformed man wonders why anyone would object to such a form. But in fact objections are raised against strict subscription to such a form....

Rev. Marcus is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. Matthew 2:23 Jesus must be called a Nazarene. That is to say, He must grow up in the city of Nazareth, and the people of that day must recognize that. We ourselves must recognize Him as such. Why must we know Him as a Nazarene? The fact that Jesus was called a Nazarene fulfilled Old Testament prophecies concerning Him. Although...