Vol 87 Issue 16

Minister Activities Rev. John Marcus, pastor of the First PRC in Edmonton, AB, Canada, received the call from the Hope PRC in Walker, MI to serve as their next pastor. We add our congratulations, along with the congregation of the Peace PRC in Lansing, IL, to Rev. Clayton and Allison Spronk in the birth of a daughter, Amber Nicole, born on April 2. Professor David Engelsma, emeritus professor of theology in our seminary, has agreed to supply the pulpit of our vacant Hope PRC in Redlands, CA from May 1 to June 19, D.V. Congregation Activities Professor Engelsma and his...

Many readers have heard of the Westboro Baptist Church and its picketing and protests against homosexuality using signs and language that are intentionally offensive. Recently the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case of Snyder v. Phelps. The defendants were the Westboro Baptist Church itself and the Phelps, who are members of the church. The church is known for its activities in protesting and picketing against homosexuality, usually with provocative signs and slogans. The church and its members were sued for their picketing and protesting, but the suit was dismissed because their speech was Constitutionally protected....

King Solomon taught the people the wisdom of God revealed in the creation. “And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes” (I Kings 4:33). In previous articles we have examined some of those creatures, from the enormous blue whale in the sea to the tiny hummingbird of the air. Our focus has been on some of the amazing physical traits of these organisms and how God providentially supplies them with...

Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 10 Question 27. What dost thou mean by the providence of God? Answer. The almighty and everywhere present power of God, whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by His fatherly hand. Question 28. What advantage is it to know that God has created, and by His providence doth still uphold all things? Answer. That we may...

When will Jesus come again? After seeing in the Word of God that Jesus comes yet once more in the future, comes to destroy this present world and to gather unto Himself His church, to judge the wicked, and to bring about the newheavens and the new earth we might ask the question: When will He come? Can we know the time? Can we make predictions? Should we, as Christians, begin to set dates when Jesus is expected to come? Our Lord Himself gave a very clear answer to this question. He said in Mark 13:32, 33, “But of that...

Previous article in this series: April 1, 2011, p. 303. A Case Study in Working Hard Not to Exercise Discipline This article is the third in a series of four examining the failure of three of the governing bodies of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) to discipline men guilty of teaching heretical views associated with the Federal Vision (FV) movement. This article focuses on the Missouri Presbytery’s (MOP) exoneration of Jeffrey Meyers, pastor of Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church in Saint Louis, MO. The Jeffrey Meyers case is very significant. Meyers is a leading, public proponent of the FV. He...

I would like to recommend to all the readers of the Standard Bearer the recent book by Rev. Herman Hoeksema, Peace for the Troubled Heart. I found the book helpful and comforting for a pilgrim who has traveled this weary pilgrimage for many years. The book will be a great comfort for all the saints. Fred Ondersma, Wyoming, Michigan Response: We heartily agree with you and thank you for the recommendation to the readers. A review of Rev. Hoeksema’s Peace for the Troubled Heart is forthcoming. RJD

The time of the annual synod of the PRC draws near. The material for the agenda is being compiled and edited for printing. As I examined the material of the agenda, it struck me that the PRC is blessed with an extraordinary number of members who serve in the church. That in turn got me to thinking about Paul’s characteristic self-identification—the servant (literally, slave) of Jesus Christ. And it occurred to me that that term identifies all the ministers and elders who serve the church in committees, as well as at synod—they are slaves of Christ. The agenda lays out...

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; and delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing...