Vol 91 Issue 15

Minister Activities Rev. Richard and Tricia Smit and family, having recently returned from the Philippine mission field in March, and probably feeling a bit chilly at that time, have moved into the parsonage of First PRC, Grand Rapids, MI. Rev. Smit’s installation was to take place on April 19, D.V. On Friday, April 3, the congregation of the Doon, IA PRC voted to extend a call to Rev. Nathan Decker (Trinity PRC, Hudsonville, MI), to be the next missionary to the Republic of the Philippines, replacing Rev. Richard Smit. May the God of His harvest direct Rev. Decker how to...

By Faith Alone: Answering the Challenges to the Doctrine of Justification, ed. Gary L. W. Johnson and Guy P. Waters. Foreword by David F. Wells. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2006. Pp. 213. $17.99 (paper). [Reviewed by David J. Engelsma.]   For the Book: Defense of Justification There is something to be said for this book: it is a defense of justification by faith alone against the denial of this cardinal truth by the New Perspective on Paul (NPP) and by the Federal Vision (FV). The book contends that justification in Romans refers to one’s legal standing before God the judge, rather...

Previous article in this series: March 15, 2015, p. 280. It was in the year 1928 that the Protestant Reformed Churches began to advance toward establishing a “Classical Mission Committee” in order to do the work of missions in this small denomination. In the three previous years, organization of churches was not regulated by the classis (combined consistories), but was left, for the most part, in the capable hands of Rev. H. Hoeksema. By the instigation of Fuller Ave. (First PRC of Grand Rapids), a motion was approved by classis to “work toward performing home mission work,” and to “appoint...

Previous article in this series: March 1, 2015, p. 259. In my last article I addressed the truth that the covenant home must be a sheltered environment. God’s people must be a separate and holy people in the world. They are called to condemn the wickedness of the world and to be consecrated to God in a life of holiness. Our children need to be trained in the sheltered environment of the covenant family. The goal of this training, however, is not that the family can live in isolation. That we as God’s people are called to be separate in...

Previous article in this series: March 1, 2015, p. 254. With this article we begin our consideration of the thirty chapters of the Second Helvetic Confession. Considering the length of these chapters, our plan is to write two Standard Bearer articles on each chapter. We will quote the individual sections of each chapter; following each section we will give a brief exposition. We intend to use the titles of the chapters of the Confession as the titles for our articles. Although the chapters of the Second Helvetic Confession are quite lengthy, quoting them is necessary if the purpose of familiarity with the...

The Ashers Bakery Case I wonder who might have predicted decades ago that the homosexual lobby would be the chief persecutors of Christians in the Western world. Who would have imagined that it would be homosexual advocacy groups who would most endanger freedom of speech and religion? And who might have thought that marriage would be the battleground, with bakers, florists, and photographers under pressure to conform to this world? “Gay marriage” (I use inverted commas advisedly, because Christians do not recognize such a thing) is now legal in many nations, and the US Supreme Court will make a ruling...

Previous article in this series: April 15, 2015, p. 317. Introduction Since summarizing what it means to be Reformed is really summarizing what it means to be Christian, we are necessarily brief in this series of editorials. So far, we have said that to be Reformed is 1) to embrace the beautiful truth of God’s gracious covenant of friendship, and 2) that this covenant is to be understood Calvinistically. That is, the “doctrines of grace,” or the “Five Points of Calvinism,” and the “Five Solas” of the Reformation are the necessary and controlling biblical framework for understanding the covenant. In this...

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22 Bearing a burden is a part of living in a sin-cursed world. Burden-bearing is especially the lot of God’s people. David knew burdens. The burden he has in mind when he writes this Psalm is that of being betrayed by his son, Absalom, along with his friend, Ahithophel. The natural way in which our sinful natures react to a burden is to fly away from them (6, 7). But God would have us respond to the burden that...