Vol 93 Issue 06

Mission Activities For many years the Hope PRC Council, along with recent help from Hope’s Reformed Witness Committee (RWC), has been laboring with our fellow saints from the PRC of Yangon, Myanmar. Many of you are aware of this work to some degree, but others may not be as familiar with these labors. The work in Myanmar began originally as an offshoot of the PRC’s work in Singapore with the Asian Reformed Theological School. This work began first with Rev. J. Kortering, and was continued by the extensive work of Rev. A. denHartog, who made a total of seven different...

The Reformed Baptism Form: A Commentary, Bastiaan Wielenga. Ed. David J. Engelsma. Jenison, MI: RFPA, 2016. Hardcover. 425 pp., $39.95. [Reviewed by David J. Engelsma.] This is the title of a book that is hot off the presses of the Reformed Free Publishing Association (RFPA). The book is an unusual publication of the RFPA. It is not authored by a Protestant Reformed man or woman. Nor is it an original piece of writing. Rather, it is the translation into English for the first time of a commentary on the Reformed Baptism Form. The commentary was originally written in the Dutch...

Previous article in this series: September 1, 2016, p. 473. As promised in our last article, we now print in full the study committee’s report on defining the task of the Classical Home Mission Committee, presented to and adopted by the June 1, 1932 meeting of Classis (slightly edited). “Beloved Brethren in the Lord, Your committee had the mandate to present a definite delineation of the actual task of the Classical Home Mission Committee and to advise classis in regard to this matter. More than once complaints were raised about the labors of the existing committee. Yet the reason this...

Previous article in this series: October 1, 2016, p. 14. Are you a born-again believer? And if you have been regenerated (born again), how can you tell? An Important Question These are important questions, first of all, because of what regeneration is. Regeneration (and now we are using the term in what Reformed theologians have historically called “the narrower sense”) is the first implanting of the principle of the new life of Christ in your heart by the Holy Spirit, so that you, the formerly spiritually dead, totally depraved, elect sinner, have become spiritually alive in the depths of your...

Previous article in this series: September 15, 2016, p. 493. One of the most important areas of instruction that we must give to our children in our covenant home is that of their future daily occupation. To neglect this subject in the instruction of our children would be serious. Attitude and behavior in this sphere of life will have a dramatic impact on the future of our children. Years ago, sons were usually trained in the trade and occupation of their fathers. Daughters were taught by their mothers to be good homemakers. Things have obviously changed in major ways in...

Previous article in this series: September 1, 2016, p. 469. Introduction Of equal importance to dispensational premillennialism with Revelation 20, if not more importance, is Daniel 9. Daniel 9:24-27 is the prophet’s “vision” of seventy weeks. To the prophet in Babylon with the nation of Judah, in answer to his prayer confessing the sins of the people and making supplication that Jehovah God would remember and fulfill His promise through Jeremiah that God “would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem” (vv. 2, 20), was given confirmation that God would fulfill His promise to deliver His covenant people. The...

Previous article in this series: November 1, 2016, p. 67. Introduction The sacraments are God-ordained elements of worship. The primary purpose of the sacraments as elements of worship is to be part of the holy dialogue between God and His church. God is speaking to His church when the sacraments are administered in worship. We are to respond to His speech. What is He saying to us in baptism, first of all (next time the Lord’s Supper)? And how do we respond? You Need a Washing The main thing God tells us in baptism you have already been taught. He...

Previous article in this series: December 1, 2016, p. 100. The need is obvious. Over 2,100 students in eighteen schools. Growth and expansion, common. Teaching positions not filled in the current school year, and more openings coming for the 2017-18 school year. The point of these articles is to stress the importance of the cause of covenant education represented by the Protestant Reformed Christian schools, and the need for the youth seriously to consider before God whether they are called to the kingdom work of teaching. The previous editorial began to treat these matters. This editorial will step up to...

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” Luke 2:10 Joseph and Mary had finally reached their destination, but they found the city of Bethlehem full of people who were of the same lineage. There was no room for them in the inn. It is highly possible that their late arrival was because of Mary being long in her pregnancy. Sometime early in their stay in Bethlehem Mary “brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a...