Trivia Question Each Thursday, recently, Rev. Daniel and Sharon Kleyn, our missionaries to the Philippines, are involved in a Tagalog refresher course. When I asked Rev. Kleyn if there are mangoes on the large tree on the west side of his house he replied: “Opo, may mga mangga sa puno na ito. Pero, kaunti lang.” What do you think, mangoes or no? Answer later in this column. God Sent a Storm! The God who controls all nature sent a driving windstorm to the Grand Rapids, MI area on July 6 and 7. Winds were measured up to 90 mph and...
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Dr. Lanning is a cellular and molecular biologist and a member of Hope Protestant Reformed Church, Redlands, California. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Ephesians 4:16 Scripture is the ultimate guide for believers to many marvelous aspects of creation, allowing them to contemplate God’s wisdom, power, creativeness, and majesty. God is to be thanked for teaching us how to give Him praise through thoughtful mediation on His...
Previous article in this series: February 15, 2017, p. 232. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. – Ephesians 6:10 Go forth in His service and strong in His might to conquer all evil and stand for the right. – from Psalter 407, stanza 3 The words above are our marching orders for battle. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Captain of our salvation (Heb. 2:10). Through the inspired apostle Paul, who was writing from prison, our Captain sets the army that was the Ephesian congregation and all of us in order....
Previous article in this series: April 1, 2017, p. 301. Introduction The six paragraphs of the fifth chapter of the Second Helvetic Confession are the Reformation’s trumpet blast against the false worship of the Roman Catholic Church. Rome’s false worship, particularly her veneration of the saints, is exposed and on the basis of Scripture condemned as idolatrous. But the fifth chapter is not only negative; it is also positive. In broad strokes Heinrich Bullinger, the author of the SHC, sets forth the fundamental principles of the true worship of God, the most important of which is that God is to...
This past June the Ontario Government took another step forward in its push to revolutionize family law in Ontario by its adoption of Bill 89. Bill 89, also known as the “Supporting Children, Youth, and Families Act,” is the fifth bill in as many years that represents the swift advance of a left-wing social agenda in Ontario. Bill 89 is significant because it changes what child protection agencies need to consider in determining the best interests of the children with whom they are working. The previous law required that child protection agencies consider the “religious faith in which the child...
Thanks to Rev. Koole for his four-part critique of K.J. Stewart’s Ten Myths about Calvinism. Exposed is a common element of the diverse, loosely affiliated churches espousing “New Calvinism” (Pseudo-Calvinism?). Populism, or being “culturally relevant,” driven by the “success” status of church growth, is the common element. The method? “Watering down” the faith once delivered to the saints in such areas as the historicity of Genesis, the love and reverent worship of God as He has laid out in Commandments 1 to 4, the doctrine of hell, the Trinity, God’s absolute sovereignty, the sinfulness of homosexuality, the truth that Roman...
The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches was not the only synod to meet this past June and make decisions settled and binding for their federation of churches. Others did too. One in particular was the General Synod of the Vrijgemaakt-Gereformeerde Kerken (GKv), known to us as the Liberated Churches of the Netherlands, the mother church and sister denomination of what we commonly refer to as the Canadian Reformed Churches. The GKv synod made a couple of significant decisions this past June, decisions dealing with granting women the right to hold office in Christ’s church. We speak of ‘decisions’ in...
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6 To be confident is to be persuaded and, then, to trust. The life of a Christian in this present evil world (Gal. 1:4) makes real, lasting confidence most desirable. Life in this world is filled with many uncertainties. And there is much that opposes every believer. Satan and a host of fallen angels work to destroy every Christian and the church of Christ. And every Christian has countless weaknesses. Every Christian may be...
