Vol 88 Issue 19

Young Adult Activities Try for a moment to imagine the excitement in the Lynden, WA PRC congregation the first week in July. Their Young Adult Society was hosting another Young Adults Retreat that week, and some 50-60 young adults from the United States and Canada were scheduled to be in attendance. A quick look at the 2011 Yearbook shows that Lynden’s total membership is right at 99 souls, so that week Lynden grew by at least 50%. What an exciting and busy time, especially for the families able to host young adults that first weekend. To help these families with...

Deus dixit! The words are Latin. For centu­ries, Latin was the language of theology. The English translation is: God has spoken! That God has spoken means that God has revealed Himself. By speaking, God has made Himself known. Words, whether spoken or written, reveal. Words are the means by which we communicate our thoughts, purposes, feel­ings, desires—our inner self. So it is with God. God has revealed Himself! This is the possibility of the knowledge of God. That a man knows God and, knowing God, knows also himself and all other things is due to the fact that God has...

Previous article in this series: April 15, 2012, p. 326.   And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. Jeremiah 7:31 What doth God require in the second commandment? Answer. That we in no wise represent God by images, nor worship Him in any other way than He has commandedin His Word. – Heidelberg Catechism Question 96. Introduction We have been engaged in a study of three great prin­ciples of public...

* Parents and grandparents, if you do not know what BFF stands for, ask your young people. Friendship is a good gift from God. God wired us for friendship. In the beginning God said it is not good for man to be alone. While this relates directly to the creation of Eve and the beauty of marriage, it also says that man was created with a need for friendship. We were not created to live in isolation. God has a purpose for friendship—that we grow in knowledge, faith, godliness, and holiness. Do you have a good, godly friend? Are you...

Previous article in this series: May 1, 2012, p. 346.   As is true of all doctrinal error, postmillennial­ism stems from culpable misunderstanding, or deliberate corruption, of Holy Scripture. The “Millennial Glories” of Old Testament Prophecy The basic exegetical error of postmillennialism is its interpretation of Old Testament prophecy concerning the coming Messianic kingdom. Postmillennialism gets its doctrine of a future “golden age” from Old Testament prophecy of the glories of the coming Mes­sianic kingdom. With its prominent, consistent teach­ing of abounding lawlessness, appalling apostasy, and great tribulation in the days leading up to the return of Christ, the New...

Commencement exercises of the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary were held on June 19, 2012 at First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids. The text of Prof. Cammenga’s address on that occasion concludes here. Previous article in this series: July 2012, p. 427. It is God who commissions the prophet/preacher. God knows him, God sanctifies him, and God ordains him (Jer. 1:5). God commissions the prophet/preacher to speak. This is the great calling that God gives to the prophet/preacher. This is plain from Jeremiah 1. All the emphasis in the passage is on the prophet’s calling to speak. Jeremiah’s objection when...

Previous article in this series: July 2012, p. 413. Now, the more difficult, but just-as-necessary call to engage in polemics properly. As necessary as it is to call the church to do polemics, it is as imperative to remind ourselves to do it in a godly manner. For some, in fact, whose nature and nurture may predispose them to fight, the warning to fight properly is urgent. There is a right way and a wrong way to use fighting words. Showing this will take care and wisdom. The previous two editorials ex­plained that polemics is necessary. Until Christ returns, the...

Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. Psalm 41:1 Every believer ought to expect affliction in this world. But, with the affliction, God will also make a way out. Psalm 41 is about affliction as well as God’s deliverance. David begins the Psalm with a reference to him who considers the poor. The poor is someone in a lowly state because of affliction. That affliction might be physical; but it could also be emotional or spiritual. Although the wicked commit the most horrible treacheries against God’s people, we can still count our­selves...