Vol 89 Issue 05

Evangelism Activities With thanks to God, we can testify that the PRC is known for Reforma­tion Day lectures. This year, as in the past, many of our churches again sponsored lectures around the end of October. Thankfully, most of those lectures, if not all, will have been re­corded and will be available online, on CDs, or in print. Lectures started this October on the 19th, when the members of Bethel PRC in Roselle, IL sponsored a Reformation Day lecture at their church. Rev. S. Key, pastor of the Loveland, CO PRC, was this year’s featured speaker. Rev. Key spoke on...

Since January of 2007, the Protestant Reformed believ­ers in Sioux Falls worshiped in rented rooms at the Holiday Inn in the City Center. With thanksgiving to God we note that, during the course of those five years, we were able to hold not only all our regular Sunday wor­ship services but also all the special worship services in one room or another at the Holiday Inn. We found the staff of the hotel to be eager to accommodate all our needs; the rooms and environment to be, for the most part, conducive for worship; and the rent cost to be...

Once again we feature a few brief book notes on some new titles that are worthy of your attention. Envisioning Hope College: Letters written by Albertus C. Van Raalte to Philip Phelps Jr., 1857 to 1875. Edited by Elton J. Bruins and Karen G. Schakel. Van Raalte Press & Eerdmans Publishing, 2011. 519 pp. $49.00 (hardcover). This new title in the “Historical Series of the Re­formed Church in America” (No. 71) will be of value not only to those who have ties to Holland, MI (which Van Raalte founded) and to Hope College (of which Phelps became the first president),...

On September 18-21, 2012 the Seniors Retreat was held in the Holiday Inn and Conference Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where Heritage PRC then held their Sunday worship services. 108 seniors from age 51 to 87 were kept busy from morn­ing until night, enjoying the spiritual instruction as well as the fellowship and fun of new and renewed acquaintances. Following registration on Tuesday morning we toured the beautiful city of Sioux Falls. One of our stops on the tour was at the church building that the Heritage congregation hoped to purchase as a perma­nent home for their church. After...

Previous article in this series: November 15, 2012, p. 81.   “I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.” Psalm 57:9 “I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.” Psalm 104:33 In our previous article, we considered that the Psalms were given to us in the Scriptures especially so that we would sing them. We also noticed that the Lord’s command to us in His Word is that we sing the Psalms. Our Psalter, the 100th anniversary of...

The mystery! From the beginning of the world it has been hid in God. God gave all kinds of evidence regarding the mystery in the Old Testament. The pieces of the puzzle were all there. But the mystery was not solved by the sons of men then. They could not assemble the facts, even though they had them all. This is true because that mystery takes a work of God through His Spirit. Today that mystery has been revealed to the church in the New Testament by the holy apostles and prophet: “That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and...

Below is an article by Gene Wojciechowski for espn.com demanding the University of Nebraska fire coach Ron Brown. The article is worthy of some commen­tary. Ron Brown confusing faith with rights Let’s say there is a gay running back on the Ne­braska roster. And Ron Brown is his position coach. Now what? Think about that for a moment. And then think about Brown’s very public stance against homosexual­ity. The Cornhuskers assistant coach recently testified in front of the Omaha (Neb.) City Council that gays, lesbians and transgender people shouldn’t receive anti-discrimination protection under a proposed ordinance. He is considering testifying...

Previous article in this series: October 1, 2012, p. 8.   Christianity is a revealed religion. Christians are “people of the Book.” The believer, accord­ing to the Heidelberg Catechism, the 21st A, “hold[s] for truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word.” The child of God does not question, much less raise objections to or deny the accuracy of the Bible. Rather, he holds for truth—objective truth—all that God has revealed in His Word. He holds for truth all that God has revealed in the Bible. He does not distinguish in the Bible between that which is...

Professor David Engelsma’s Reformation Day lecture November 2, 2012 on the Kingdom of God stirred the interest of some to re-read a series of editorials by him in the SB on the same subject. These editorials (volume 77: November 15, 2000 to September 15, 2001) were col­lected into a booklet by Southwest PRC. Reading these editorials either in the SB or in the booklet will enhance anyone’s understanding and appreciation of his valuable remarks Friday night. The first paragraph of his first editorial reads: The kingdom of God is not as well known among us as are the covenant of...

Previous article in this series: November 15, 2012, p. 77.   The Protestant Reformed Churches in America, in obedi­ence to Scripture as interpreted in our three forms of unity, confess that there is one holy, catholic church. They believe, further, that it is their sacred duty to manifest the true unity and catholicity of the church on earth in as far as that is possible, not only in their denominational fellowship but also in conjunction with all churches which have ob­tained like precious faith with us, both domestic and foreign. With a view to the achieve­ment of this calling, the...