Vol 91 Issue 12

Congregational Activities On February 8 the Protestant Reformed Church of Grandville, MI implemented a valet service for members of their congregation who wished to make use of this provision. On February 13 the Young Adults Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Edmonton, AB, Canada held a fundraiser for a retreat to be held August 4-7, 2015. This activity was entitled “Piece of Cake Fundraiser.” Those who were interested could submit a sponge cake to the competition for an entry fee of $5 and prizes were awarded. There was also a silent auction of desserts the same evening. Advance...

Previous article in this series: March 1, 2015, p. 257. From the moment we are born till the day God calls us to our eternal home, we are in need of a constant supply of oxygen. The cells of our bodies depend on it—so much so that, under normal circumstances, we cannot live for much more than five minutes without oxygen. In the providence of God, we are supplied the necessary oxygen every moment of the day through complex processes, as seen in our previous article. However, there are many inhaled substances and many external circumstances that can disrupt these...

Three faithful ministers of the gospel banded together, forsaken and alone. We can only imagine what the Reverends Herman Hoeksema, Henry Danhof, and George Ophoff felt when the decisions made by Classis Grand Rapids East of the Christian Reformed Church (December 12, 1924) and Classis Grand Rapids West CRC ( January 22, 1925) stripped them of office in the Christian Reformed Church. Out of 247 ministers in the Christian Reformed denomination,1 only these three men with the majority of their elders and congregations had boldly maintained the truth of sovereign, particular grace over against the error of common grace. One...

Previous article in this series: February 15, 2015, p. 227. Introduction Every doctrine of the last things—eschatology—must take Revelation 20:1-10 into account, prove itself the truth according to the teaching of the passage, defend itself in light of the passage, and offer an explanation of the passage in its entirety. This is true even though a particular doctrine of the end does not take its lead from Revelation 20 or base itself mainly on this passage. This is true even though a particular doctrine of the end declares that it is not mainly about Revelation 20. Every doctrine of the...

The Millennials Are Leaving! “Like some reverse Paul Revere, many ride through the fiber optics of the Internet and into church basements shouting, ‘The millennials are leaving! Watch out for the rise of the nones!’ Simply put, millennial anxiety—a concern shared by both mainline and evangelical churches—is the fear that those between ages 18 and 25 have little interest in the church, and that the church has failed to convince them to stay”1. The churches in western Christendom are concerned about the millennials. That is clear from the title of the featured article in the January/February 2015 issue of Christianity...

Previous article in this series: March 1, 2015, p. 245. From God’s covenant flows everything! If God’s covenant is the heart of the Christian faith and life, as well as the heart of what it means to be Reformed, one would expect that from this central truth come many other truths. As a matter of fact, from the covenant comes everything. This first “C” in our five identifying characteristics of a Reformed church leads to everything else in the Christian and Reformed faith. In the effort to clarify what is Reformed, we can say “covenant” is the heading under which all...

Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Acts 8:13 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? Acts 8:36 In God’s providence, two prominent men heard the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as it was proclaimed by Philip the evangelist. One of them, Simon the sorcerer, was an influential man in Samaria, who had bewitched the people and made himself out to...