Vol 93 Issue 16

Trivia Question Six states in the United States of America are home to only one Protestant Reformed Church. Which six? Answer later in this column. Sister-Church Activities At the meeting of her Session (Council) in March the Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church of Singapore had a guest. Her missionary to Kolkata (India), Rev. Emmanuel Singh, joined the Session meeting via Skype. This will be a regular occurrence in the future, as Rev. Singh will join the Session only for those items that deal with the work in Kolkata. Rev. Singh submits a monthly report, which the Session reads and has opportunity...

Before you read this article, please complete this brief quiz by writing either “True” or “False” in the spaces provided. _______ Because I am saved by grace alone, good works have nothing to do with my salvation. _______ God rewards me only for what Christ has done, not for what I have done. _______ Since I am clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ, God never sees my sin. _______ Because of Christ’s work, God is always pleased with me. _______ Christianity is not about obeying the law; it is about believing the gospel. _______ The purpose of the 10...

As we noted in the previous article, (April 15, 2017, p. 332) news reports regarding the “state of the environment” regularly appear, but often with differing conclusions. Sometimes we have heard of global cooling and at other times we have been told of global warming. Scientists admit the difficulty of predicting what will happen due to the complexity of the creation. We know there are certain factors that have a definite effect on the climate; but due to the many factors involved, and the impossibility of isolating all possible factors in order to determine precisely how much of an effect...

Previous article in this series: February 15, 2017, p. 230. It is commonly taught that all human beings bear the image of God. Yet that would mean that man by nature is like God, which Scripture says he is not. Man certainly was like God when the Almighty created him. But he became like the devil when he listened to him. The ones who bear God’s image are those who are in God’s Image. Christ is the Image of God, and only those who are in Him are like Him, and thus like God. Although these imagebearers have an evil...

Previous article in this series: March 1, 2017, p. 253. Introduction The Reformed response to the premillennial appeal to the vision of the seventy weeks in Daniel 9 on behalf of a future earthly millennium of carnal power and glory for national Israel is, first, to insist on the symbolical meaning of the number seventy. Seventy is the number of the fulfillment of the covenant of God with His people in the Messiah, who is Jesus. The seventy weeks of Daniel 9 represent the time from the release of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity to the coming of the...

Previous article in this series: January 15, 2017, p. 180. Introduction “If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than thou dost.” These are the words that William Tyndale (1494-1536), English Reformer and Bible translator, spoke to an ignorant Roman Catholic clergyman whom he was debating. By the grace of God he was able to accomplish the very thing to which he committed himself. And it cost him his life. After he was betrayed by a friend, he was arrested and jailed. Eventually he died...

Previous article in this series: April 15, 2017, p. 326. “But when Christ could be pointed out with the finger,” as we quoted last time from John Calvin, “the Kingdom of God was opened.” We looked briefly at the extent to which that was true of old Simeon. Some thirty years later, John the Baptist was privileged to do so even more literally. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias…. He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I...

Although not usually inclined to express written comment, I do feel constrained to endorse Prof. R. Cammenga’s concluding paragraph to “Believing and Confessing” (March 1, 2017): “Away with these images and icons! God will have His people taught, not by dumb images, but by the lively preaching of His Word.” To which I say—Amen! Alan J. Best Cardiff, South Wales, UK  

The April 15 deadline for submitting material for treatment at synod has passed.1 The material for synod’s work has now been distributed to consistories. With the exception of a few items that may come through supplements, synod’s agenda is fixed. It is a large agenda, larger than average both in bulk and in the number of individual matters synod must deliberate. The subjects range from the mundane (but necessary) to the most profound and weighty. They vary from recommending approval of one minister’s retirement to the examination of seven young men who seek that office. From financial support of needy...

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Hebrews 6:19-20 Forty days after His resurrection Jesus was taken by God from the earth into heaven, where He resides in glory until He will come again at the end of the world. Many churches of the Reformed tradition will soon gather in public worship to commemorate this glorious event. The ascension of Jesus is described in the...