Vol 93 Issue 12

Trivia Question The Heidelberg Catechism, one of the three Forms of Unity, is dear to us. It was composed in the city of Heidelberg in 1563 at the request of Elector Frederick III. The first edition contained 128 questions and answers. The second and third editions contained 129 questions and answers. Do you know which question and its answer were added at the behest of the Elector? Answer later in this column. Young People’s Activities The Young People’s Society of Cornerstone PRC of Dyer, IN held a basketball game fund raiser on March 4. The Heritage Christian School varsity team...

A Spiritual House Preserved: A Century in the River’s Bend, Calvin Kalsbeek, ed. Jenison, MI: RFPA, 2016, 728 pages + xxii, $44.95. [Reviewed by Bruce Koole.] Hope Protestant Reformed Church has set the standard for church memoirs with their book entitled A Spiritual House Preserved: A Century in the River’s Bend. This is a book well worth spending the time it takes to digest its seven hundred and fifty pages of material. Hope’s anniversary committee deserves summa cum laude for the vast amount of organization and labor put forth in the publication of this book. The title A Spiritual House...

Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. Psalm 51:17, 18 In God’s good pleasure, He continues to build His church—the New Testament Zion. He does this work through the evangelistic call of the gospel to “every nation, tongue and tribe,” but also through the perpetuation of covenant seed in established churches. On Wednesday, February 8, God was pleased to continue building His visible church on earth through the...

Previous article in this series: January 15, 2017, p. 185. The interdenominational Psalter Revision Committee, by using various principles to evaluate the Psalter selections, is determining whether to recommend changes to each individual Psalter number. These principles regard text, music, and format. I am explaining these principles, and using a current Psalter number as well as its proposed revision to help the reader understand the principles. In the last article I surveyed the principles that regard format. When that article was published, the bottom of the page of Psalm 73C (Psalter 203, in its revised form) was cut off. As...

Previous article in this series: February 1, 2017, p. 206. A Different Way of Speaking and Hearing God speaks to His people in the sacraments, and His people respond. The way that God speaks to them in the sacraments must affect the way God’s people respond. The way that God speaks to us in the sacraments is different than the way He normally speaks to us in congregational worship. Normally God speaks to us solely through the written and spoken Word. But in baptism and the Lord’s Supper, He speaks to us also sacramentally, that is, through visible signs. He...

Fire is the most prevalent, destructive yet, if controlled, beneficial power in the universe. Man, therefore, largely credits his ability to control fire for being able to swing out the trees and build modern civilization, to heat homes, forge steel, make electricity, and even rocket to the moon. But man cannot control all fire. He cannot control the fires of lighting and lava. He cannot control his fiery passions whereby he uses fire to sin, serve idols, shoot his neighbor, bomb cities to rubble, and thus also worry about living only a twitchy finger from nuclear oblivion. But most importantly,...

Previous article in this series: December 1, 2016, p. 107. As was mentioned in the last article, both Calvin College and Dordt College refer to themselves as institutions designed to train students to go out and “renew” things. The King, they say, calls us to be “agents of renewal”1 wherever we go. If we are busily engaged in this renewing activity, then we are said to be establishing the kingdom of God on the earth. Some have cited Colossians 1:20 as proof for this idea. That passage along with Ephesians 1:10 speak of all things being reconciled to God and...

`Doug Wilson’s Attempt to Disavow the Federal Vision For years Doug Wilson has identified himself with the heretical movement known as the Federal Vision. He participated in the Auburn Avenue Conference of 2002 that ignited the Federal Vision controversy. In 2007 he affixed his signature to “A Joint Federal Vision Profession” with the other leaders of the movement. He is the presiding minister of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), the denomination that has become the haven for the Federal Vision proponents. But now Wilson says, “I have decided, after mulling over it for some years now, to discontinue...

Previous article in this series: March 1, 2017, p. 244. How, then, can this be accomplished? The “it” is the goal set forth in the last eight editorials, namely, training that will equip young adults for teaching in Protestant Reformed schools. Training that will prepare them to stand in the place of Protestant Reformed parents; that will enable them to teach effectively and maintain proper (godly) discipline; that will set them on the road to giving excellent instruction with Christ at its center, and permeated with the Protestant Reformed world and life view. The desire and the need for this...

“Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.” John 19:18 Jesus’ crucifixion in the midst of two sinners reveals Him as the Savior of His people. Two notorious sinners hung condemned on either side of the Savior. Both saw and heard enough so that they could know that Jesus was the promised Messiah. By virtue of their close proximity to Jesus, each was forced to face the question, “What will you do with the crucified Christ?” The contrast between Jesus and these two sinners could hardly have been greater. In...