Vol 93 Issue 10

Trivia Question There are three Protestant Reformed Churches in the great land of Canada. They are First PRC of Edmonton, Alberta; Immanuel PRC of Lacombe, Alberta; and Wingham, Ontario PRC. Do you know which was organized into a Protestant Reformed congregation first? Answer later in this column. Young Adult Activities The Lynden, WA PRC welcomes young adults to their planned Protestant Reformed Young Adults Retreat to be held at Warm Beach Camp and Convention Center, 40 miles to the south of Lynden, on July 3-7, 2017. Registration opened in January and more information can be found by e-mailing Kyle Hanko...

January 11, 2017 Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church Classis East met in regular session on Wednesday, January 11, 2017, at the Georgetown PRC. Each church was represented by two delegates. Present also were the synodical deputies from Classis West: Revs. S. Key, D. Kuiper, and N. Langerak. Rev. K. Koole was the chairman for this session. The Classis dealt first with the request from Faith PRC to organize a new congregation in the Jenison area, which congregation will be known as Zion PRC. With thanks to God, the Classis approved this request and instructed Faith PRC to proceed with the organization...

In the recent presidential election in the United States, many Christian voters were reluctant to vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump. Although the values of Christian voters on issues such as abortion and homosexual rights tend to align more with those of Republican candidates, many had concerns about Trump’s personal life, his incendiary comments, and his past positions on values issues. Despite these reservations, many conservative voters cast their ballots for Trump, not necessarily because of support for him personally, but because of the appointments he had indicated he will make to the Supreme Court as well as to other...

Previous article in this series: February 1, 2017, p. 208. Who are your friends? If you didn’t stop to ponder and answer that question you, ought to. Who are your friends? Name them. These are the people with whom you voluntarily spend time and whose company is sweet to you. We do not choose our siblings, next-door neighbors, classmates, or coworkers. But, especially as we grow older, we do choose friends. Who are yours? We may not be friends with the world. If we become friends with the world, then our friends, no matter how friendly they are or how...

Previous article in this series: November 15, 2016, p. 83. The story of man’s creation and fall teaches us that the central thing we need is communion with God. Although Adam needed food for his body, what he needed chiefly was fellowship with the God who had created him. Should he lose that communion, he would be dead. The same is true today. There is one thing that is important, one thing that we need, and that is fellowship with our heavenly Father. To be apart from Him is death. To walk with Him is to have life—true life and...

Lord’s Day 34 Q. 92. What is the law of God? A. God spake all these words, Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, saying: I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 2. Thou shalt not…. Q. 93. How are these commandments divided? A. Into two tables: the first of which teaches us how we must behave towards God; the second, what duties we owe to our neighbor. Q. 94. What doth God enjoin in the first commandment? A....

Ontario’s Bill 28: “All Families Are Equal Act” Ontario’s Bill 28, otherwise known as the “All Families Are Equal Act,” was a bill that the Ontario (Canada) government adopted at the end of this past November. According to an article from the Ministry of the Attorney General, Today [November 29], Ontario passed legislation that will ensure equal treatment for all parents and children in the province. Bill 28, the All Families Are Equal Act, 2016, recognizes the legal status of all parents, whether they are LGBTQ2+ or straight, and whether their children were conceived with or without assistance.1 The article...

Previous article in this series: February 1, 2017, p. 197. The concept of an institution for training Protestant Reformed teachers was proposed in the late 1940s when the Protestant Reformed school movement was picking up steam. The congregation in Redlands, CA established the first Protestant Reformed school in 1934. Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School (Walker, MI) started in 1947, and three years later Adams St. Christian School (Grand Rapids, MI) and the Free Christian School of Edgerton, MN opened their doors. In other congregations, societies for Protestant Reformed education were being formed. Recall from the last editorial that the Synod...

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. I John 4:11-12 Beloved! What an appropriate way to address the saints of the church. This is especially true in light of what the apostle John has just emphasized. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (v. 9). And then the next verse,...