Vol 89 Issue 07

Congregation Activities The “News” begins this first is­sue of the year with a new feature. Starting this month and continuing through December, D.V., we will highlight the dates of the organiza­tion of our 31 congregations and our two sister churches. The News will give a reminder to you, our readers, of those anniversaries, as they come along during the year. There are no anniversaries of any of our churches this month, so you will have to wait until February. There are two that month. Do you know which ones they are? On Sunday evening, November 18, the Choir of Hope...

Empty Arms, by Pam Vredevelt. Published by Multnomah, 2001, 176 pages paper. [Reviewed by Brenda Hoekstra.] In an age where the mindset is about liability and com­pensation, even God’s people can get caught up in wondering why some things have to happen the way that they do. An event going awry often gets us started mentally replaying our lives. When some small thing happens that we are not happy about, we wonder what could have been done differently, and where we can go to have it made up to us or ‘fixed’ for us. For some people, something happens in...

Introduction With this new rubric in the Standard Bearer we take up a study of the Reformed worldview, using as the subtitle, Truth and Its Consequences. In the past several years there have been a multitude of books written concerning a Christian worldview. My first introduction to the concept of a Christian worldview probably occurred in the 1970s, when the writings and video presentations of Dr. Francis Schaef­fer were making the rounds in evangelical circles, including Reformed churches. Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), a Presbyterian pastor and missionary in Europe—some would add Christian philosopher—was perhaps the most influ­ential figure in the...

Previous article in this series: November 1, 2012, p. 58. Tracing the history of the office of elder in the Old and New Testament eras, we have seen that the office of elder in the New Testament church is rooted in the institution of elder in Old Testament Israel and in the office of elder in the synagogue. In tracing this history, we have also noted what God re­vealed regarding the qualifications, work, and honor of the office. This revelation of God is the norm to which the church must conform her view of the office. We turn now to...

“For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” Isaiah 66:2 “Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word: Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glori­fied: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.” Isaiah 66:5 What is this fear and trembling at the Word of the Lord? This...

Each year the godlessness of Americans is shamefully displayed to the world by the long season of crass cov­etousness that follows our national day of thanksgiving. Af­ter stuffing their bellies and perhaps muttering a few words of thanks, greedy hoards then race off to the merchants to claw, shove, trample (even stab and shoot) each other for new loot. More shameful still is that many justify this as part of celebrating the birth of Jesus, He, mind you, who was found in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes and in life had no place to lay His head. Coveting is...

Previous article in this series: December 15, 2012, p. 136. Judah’s history demonstrates beyond a shadow of doubt that she hankered after idols no less than her sister Israel. Their histories nevertheless dif­fered, because the Lord graciously raised up in Judah a number of good kings, kings who brought reformation. Reformations, however, proved always to be short-lived. Think of good king Hezekiah. Hezekiah’s wicked fa­ther, Ahaz, had “cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made altars in every corner of Jerusalem. And in every...

Previous article in this series: November 1, 2012, p. 56. In the preceding article in this series on postmillen­nialism, I began a critical examination of one of the texts of Scripture that are most important to the postmillennial doctrine of the last things. This text is Matthew 24:34: “Verily I [Jesus Christ] say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Many postmillennialists explain the text as teaching that all the events prophesied by Jesus in Mat­thew 24:4-31 would be fulfilled, completely and finally, in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70....

The Reformed believer con­fesses the sovereignty of God in all things. He acknowledges the kingship of Jesus Christ, to whom God has given “all power in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:19). Accordingly, the be­liever knows that nothing happens by chance. Jehovah reigns supreme. The Reformed believer worships the Holy One, the God too holy to dwell with iniquity. That God hates all sin, and visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him. With this realization, the believer looks back at 2012 with awe and rev­erence. God’s power,...

Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Psalm 39:4, 5 We now stand at the end of 2012 and at the beginning of 2013. The time went by so very fast. It seems such a short time ago that 2012 began. One wonders how the days could so quickly pass. But they did. One realizes too that the...