Vol 88 Issue 06

Prevoius article in this series: December 1, 2011, p. 114. During the reign of Jeroboam II, the majority of the Israelites were not thinking at all of evil days. But those days were not long in coming. Jeroboam was succeeded by his son Zachariah. Zachariah was the fourth of the line of Jehu to sit on the throne. And he was the last—in keeping with the word of God to Jehu that his sons would reign to the fourth generation (II Kings 10:30). Zachariah reigned for a brief period of six months, when he was assassinated “before the people” by...

Covenant and Election in the Reformed Tradition, by David J. Engelsma. Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2011 (www.rfpa.org); cloth, 288 pages; $28.95; ISBN: 978-1-936054-02-2. Reviewed by Charles J. Terpstra, a member of Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan. Covenant theology is a “hot topic” in Reformed and Calvinistic circles at present. Partly due to a renewed interest in the doctrines of grace and in the full (deep and wide) teaching of the Reformed faith (especially by the so-called “new Calvinists”), and partly due to impetus from the federal vision heresy, the doctrine of the covenant is increasingly being...

Custom and Command, by Stan Firth. London: self-published, 1996, 88pp., $3.05. Reviewed by Julian Kennedy, member of the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. This review is about a booklet expressing a false ecclesiology—or view of the church. This little booklet has had its influence, and its thesis is accepted by many in the “house church movement” in the UK and farther afield. But it is spiritually anarchic. Firth’s thesis undermines the necessity of regular corporate worship and the preaching and offices in the church. Firth believes that there is need of a “new breed of Christians,” functioning...

Denomination Activities On Tuesday, November 15, and Wednesday, November 16, Revs. G. Eriks and K. Koole were in Atlanta, GA on behalf of our denomination’s Contact Committee to represent our churches as observers to the annual meeting of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council, as authorized by this year’s synod. For what this gathering of conservative Presbyterian and Reformed churches is all about, please confer Acts 2010, Arts. 22 and 27 (pp. 18, 21), and Acts 2011, Art. 34 (pp. 26-28). If you don’t have these Acts handy, we add here that this makes the second year these two...

Previous article in this series: October 1, 2011, p. 13. In our last article we examined the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, more commonly known as the “unforgivable sin.” They commit this sin who, being in the sphere of the covenant and knowing the gospel of grace, harden their hearts against this gospel, and manifest their hardened hearts by their blasphemous contempt of the Holy Spirit. No elect child of God will ever commit this sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. God will graciously preserve His own from doing so. This assurance that God’s elect will never...

Previous article in this series: October 1, 2011, p. 20. I concluded my last article with a discussion of the urgency of raising our sons to be strong in the Lord. This strength begins with a living knowledge of the Lord and strong faith in Him. It is urgent that we teach our sons to be spiritually strong in a desire to be holy before the Lord and to resist the temptation to immorality in their lives. The world encourages sexual adventure and excitement. This is considered by the world to be a sign of manliness. The world cares not...

Previous article in this series: December 1, 2011, p. 106. *Third installment of the text of the address given at the annual meeting of the Reformed Free Publishing Association (RFPA) on September 22, 2011 at Faith Protestant Reformed Church, Jenison, MI. Specific Contents As to its format, the Declaration is set out in outline form. It consists of a preamble (which was added to the Declaration after its provisional adoption in 1950, at the synod of 1951) and of four distinct sections. Between the preamble and the first main section there is what might be called a brief introduction. This...

Determining Right and Wrong Penn State’s head football coach, Joe Paterno, lost his job last week. He was fired. At the age of 84 Joe Paterno was still a capable football coach, as is indicated by his team’s 8-1 record at the time he was fired. Paterno’s firing was occasioned by the alleged horrific crimes of his former assistant, Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky is accused of raping at least eight boys. Joe Paterno knew for nine years about one instance of Sandusky’s sodomizing of a ten-year old boy, but he failed to do anything with that knowledge other than tell his...

“…Who for us men, and for our salvation…was incarnate…and was made man.” Jesus Christ is very God come in the flesh. That is the confession of the church of God, and has been since Peter’s bold reply to the Lord’s question, “But whom say ye that I am?” Peter’s answer, revealed to him from the “Father which is in heaven,” was, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:15-17). The inspired apostle Paul would later write concerning Jesus: “made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God...

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” Luke 2:11-12 A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. This taxation brought Joseph to the little town of Bethlehem. It was the custom for taxes to be paid in the city from which one’s family originated. Since Joseph was of the house of David, he went to Bethlehem, the city of David, to...