Vol 92 Issue 17

Denominational Activities The congregations of the PRCA held Ascension Day services on May 5, marking the glorious entrance into heaven of our Savior. Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches met in regular session on May 11 at Providence PRC. Mission Activities Most of our readers likely know that the Republic of the Philippines, in which our denomination’s missionaries labor, is a tropical country, warm and humid. Those who live there are used to very warm, even hot weather. There is a rainy season, a moderate season, and a hot season. The hot season is now upon them. A recent...

Dr. Lanning is Assistant Professor of Cellular and Molecular Biology in California State University, LA and a member of Hope Protestant Reformed Church, Redlands, California. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63 Living organisms communicate in numerous ways. Humans and animals communicate through spoken language or audible sounds, gestures, postures, and physical contact. Some animals, as well as plants and single-celled organisms, even communicate through secreted chemicals. From a cell biologist’s perspective, the individual cells of our bodies are also constantly...

Previous article in this series: April 1, 2016, p. 300. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. I Timothy 4:14 With this article we conclude our treatment of the ordination of elders. Our first three articles on this subject explained what ordination is, and why ordination in a public ceremony is significant both for the elder being ordained and for the congregation in which he is ordained. Next, we examined the various aspects of the ordination ceremony, taking Article 4 of our Church...

Previous article in this series: April 1, 2016, p. 303. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9 Sometimes the biology teacher places a dead animal’s organ on the lab table for dissection, and some students squirm and gasp. Or the doctor pulls up an image on the screen showing the break or the tumor, and the patient tucks his head, covers his eyes, and gasps. With the words of Jeremiah 17:9, God removes from natural man his heart and sets it in plain view. Any sensible man would gasp in horror....

Previous article in this series: December 15, 2015, p. 127. Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him...

Since the church is the kingdom of God, wrong views of God’s kingdom will go with wrong views of the church. The transformational view of the kingdom taught at some Reformed colleges, the two kingdom view taught by some Presbyterians, and the dispensational view promoted by the Baptists are all associated with wrong views of the church and its relationship to this world. With this in mind, we begin to look at what the Scriptures teach about the church as the kingdom of God, contrasting this with the various kingdom views that are being taught in our own day. When...

Brief Highlights from the CRCNA’s 2016 Agenda for Synod The Christian Reformed Church in America’s 669-page agenda has been posted on the Internet. Below are some of the interesting items on the 2016 Synod’s agenda. The Synod will receive recommendations from the Board of Trustees to adopt “Research Methodology Guidelines for Synodical Committees and Task Forces.” The paragraph that introduces the “Methodology Guidelines” is a noteworthy and candid admission that the CRC does not use Scripture alone as the foundation for its faith and life. It reads, Nearly every year synod appoints study committees and task forces. In the past,...

But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. I Timothy 3:15 The Bible describes the church of Jesus Christ with many striking figures. Among other things the church is called the body of Christ, the temple of God, the bride of Christ, the sheepfold of Christ, Mt. Zion, and Jerusalem. One of the more unusual descriptions of the church is found in Paul’s first epistle to Timothy. Paul describes the church as “the...

“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:22, 23 Our text arises out of Paul’s prayer for the Christians at Ephesus. Paul always assured those to whom he wrote that he was praying for them. This is what it means to be a pastor! And this is a wonderful expression of the communion of saints! Paul told the Ephesian Christians that he was asking God to give them the spirit of wisdom...