Vol 92 Issue 21

Sister-Church Activities The fourteenth biennial British Reformed Fellowship Conference held in late July was the largest and perhaps the best one yet! A total of 125 people stayed at the conference center at least one night, with most staying the entire week. There were also 47 day visitors who enjoyed the activities of the conference, which had as its theme “Behold I Come Quickly: The Reformed Biblical Truth of the End.” Speakers were Prof. David Engelsma, Rev. Andrew Lanning, Rev. Martyn McGeown, Rev. Angus Stewart, and elder Peter Adams. Those in attendance were from Northern Ireland, the USA, Singapore, England,...

Previous article in this series: May 15, 2016, p. 374. Many have written about the importance of prayer in our personal lives as Christians and for the church of Jesus Christ corporately. In this article we continue a short series on family worship. Prayer should be central to our family worship, along with the reading and study of the Word of God. The family should routinely be gathered together to devote itself to prayer. Time and application must be given to this important spiritual activity in our homes. Our prayers should never be mere formal recitation of stock phrases, hurriedly...

Previous article in this series: August 2016, p. 445. Scripture’s Necessity The Bible is the Word of God—the Word of God in the words of men. The Bible is an entirely unique book. There is no other book in the whole world that is like this book. There is only one book that can be called “the Word of God.” There is only one book written in human language, one book that can be read, studied, and meditated on that is “the Word of God.” That book is the Bible, or Holy Scripture, or just Scripture. Because the Bible is...

In a recent blog post,1 the Rev. Wes Bredenhof, a Canadian Reformed minister, contends that the Protestant Reformed objection to the covenant doctrine of the Canadian Reformed Churches is, in fact, a denial of personal responsibility. By their criticism of the Canadian Reformed—and “liberated”—doctrine of the covenant, the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC) are guilty of denying human responsibility, particularly with regard to salvation in the covenant of grace. The PRC are strong on divine sovereignty, if not obsessed with it, but derelict on human responsibility. The title of Bredenhof ’s piece is “Personal Responsibility.” His charge is that the PRC...

In 2010, the Committee for Contact with other Churches (CC) sent Professors R. Dykstra and B. Gritters to visit Reformed believers in Namibia who requested a visit from the PRCA. The believers there were very displeased with their denomination— the Reformed Churches of South Africa—and hoped the Protestant Reformed Churches were of like mind with them. What they had read of our churches gave them such hope. These saints in Namibia had heard of the PRCA through literature recommended to them by a minister in South Africa, Rev. Slabbert LeCornu. One couple, the Duvenhages, had asked his advice for a...

“Pray without ceasing.” I Thessalonians 5:17 The difference between the words “continuous” and “continual” is important in understanding this brief text. To do something continually, is to start and stop on a regular basis. To do something continuously, however, is to start and never stop. The inspired command to the church in Thessalonica and to the church today is not unto a continual activity that stops periodically, but unto a continuous, non-stop activity. Pray without ceasing! What a command! Is that humanly possible? Many weaken the force of this text by calling it a hyperbole—a figure of speech that exaggerates...