Vol 89 Issue 19

Congregation Activities Keeping in mind the Word of God found in John 17:9, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine,” we extend our congratulations to the following congregations celebrating anniver­saries this month, the Covenant PRC of Northern Ireland, orga­nized on August 2, 2006; the Ran­dolph, WI PRC, organized August 17, 1943; and the Crete, ILPRC, organized on August 24, 1926. This summer the Consistory of the Grace PRC in Standale, MI sponsored a conference on marriage for their congregation’s benefit. Three nights were set aside...

A few months ago, in a hospital waiting room, God’s providence brought to my attention the last broadcast of the Oprah Winfrey Show. In the segment I saw she was talking about the success of her show over the years. Its success was due to one factor: “Women want to be affirmed.” I would affirm that statement, and add to it that women are not the only ones who want to be affirmed. Everyone wants to be affirmed. But in reality, great evil lies in those words. The evil becomes evident if you rephrase the basic statement, with only slightly...

Previous article in this series: May 15, 2013, p. 377. As the above title suggests, we have still to conclude a short series of articles exploring why a false worship of God by Jews in the old dispensation can be characterized as a robbing Christ of His honor. In doing so, we continue to lean rather heavily, as we indicated before, on a series of articles by the late Rev. George M. Ophoff in the SB back in 1926 and 1927. Genesis 3:15, as we mentioned last time, was gospel to the ear of our first, fallen parents, while Genesis...

Previous article in this series: March 1, 2013, p. 248. The History of the Concept Worldview I have defined worldview simply as a comprehensive view of the world and how we ought to live in and relate to this world. As we give our attention to the historical develop­ment of the concept of a worldview, we can acknowl­edge that there has been some attention given this subject—though not called worldview—throughout the history of the church. We should not overlook the fact that already in the Old Testament, God’s people were set apart as a peculiar people, holy unto the Lord...

Previous article in this series: June 2013, p. 402. Before our Lord ascended into heaven, He gave us a mandate. He called us to go forth and make all nations disciples of Christ, teaching them to observe everything that Christ has taught us. Constantly we are to be doing this. Centrally on Sunday by means of the official proclamation of the gospel, but also throughout the week, we are to be busily engaged in this work that our Lord has given us. Together we are to seek to learn all that Christ has taught us, applying it to our own...

This is the second part of the graduation speech—slightly modified for publication—given on Thursday evening, June 13, 2013, at Hudsonville PRC, in the presence of synod, the church, and the family and friends of Mr. Erik Guichelaar. First installment can be found in the July 2013 issue, p. 418. A Defense of Being Creedal Being creedal is not contradictory to the Protestant rejection of Roman Catholic tradition. Some might suppose that, as heirs of the reformation that rejected Roman Catholicism, we must trumpet: “Tradition OR Scripture,” “Man-made documents OR God’s Word,” “Church tradition OR the supremacy of Scripture.” Not so!...

Your recent article (“Calvin, Hoeksema, and the Free Offer (1)”—May 1, 2013) came in a timely manner. I had just finished my dissertation on “Providence” and wrote in the “Further Research” section that providence must be recovered over and against common grace. As an ex-Arminian, I too agree with the EPCA’s rejection of common grace and the well-meant offer on the grounds that it is the seedbed for Arminianism, and I wrote this [section in my disserta­tion] in response [to that reality]. Nancy A. Almodovar, Newburgh, IN (Ed. Note: Mrs. Almodovar’s letter was slightly edited. In corre­spondence, in which she...

Previous article in this series: June 2013, p. 388. As stated at the conclusion of our June editorial, we intend with this article to conclude our response to various articles found in the Mid-America Journal of Theology (MJT) of the past few years. What is so troubling about these articles is that they make clear that their authors (who represent where most of Reformed theology is at these days, we fear) are committed not simply to pro­moting common grace and the free offer of the gospel, but to promot­ing these two doctrines as defining faithfulness to historic Calvinism in the...

And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. Exodus 33:18-19 When Israel blatantly disregarded God’s holy law in the matter of the golden calf, God, through His appointed officebear­ers, slew three thousand of those who had not repent­ed. Now, in light of Israel’s great sin against God, the question in Moses’ mind was, will God’s...