Trivia question Which PRCA congregation is located in a capital city? Answer later in this column. Sister-church news From the July 15 bulletin of the Grandville PRC in Michigan we hear this significant news: “Council reminds the congregation of our acceptance of Synod’s appointment to be the calling church for the minister on loan (MOL) to Singapore. At our recent meeting we formed a trio consisting of Rev. G. Eriks, Rev. S. Key and Rev. R. Kleyn. We have scheduled a congregational meeting for August 5, 2018, directly following our evening service, to vote for one from among these men...
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The Passionate Preaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, by Steven J. Lawson. A Long Line of Godly Men Profile. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2016. Pp. xvii + 188. Cloth. [Reviewed by Rev. Joshua Engelsma] Under the editorial eye of Steven Lawson, Reformation Trust has pumped out a number of profiles of significant figures in church history—men such as John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, John Knox, Charles Spurgeon, Martin Luther, Isaac Watts, George Whitefield, John Owen, and William Tyndale. To that list is now added the name of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. My first introduction to Lloyd-Jones came toward the beginning of my time in seminary....
Gathered in the fellowship hall of Provident Christian Church, in an area of Metro Manila called Marikina, our weekly Bible study was about to begin. After singing a psalm together and opening with prayer, we read Scripture, each person taking a verse. We are studying the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, and that night we were up to verse 14. I started our discussion with the remark that the principal sign of the coming of Christ is the preaching of the gospel in all the world for a witness to all nations. When that is finished, says Jesus, the end...
The writer of this article is in the group of society designated as ‘aged men and aged women.’ Many do not want to include themselves in this group because it conjures up ideas of a group of people who have little more to do in life and have little significance. It is common to imagine that people in this group have reason to be ashamed. Many sit in their homes, later in life perhaps in retirement homes, imagining that they have little meaning and purpose any more at this stage of life. But this kind of thinking is wrong for...
Revile is an ugly biblical word, and one we hardly use. The sin it describes, however, occurs far too frequently in our covenant conversations, marriages, homes, schools, and churches. And the words we use—name-calling, trash-talking, teasing, kidding, losing our cool, bullying or even verbal abuse—all minimize the despicable, destructive, malicious, and vicious nature of reviling. And often, then, so does any medicine we prescribe. Rather than treat the reviler’s stone-cold heart, we instead patch up the bruised and bloodied victim with the three T’s, “take it, turn the other cheek, and tough it out,” which in covenant relationships are the...
Previous article in this series: May 1, 2018, p. 351. “…He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Galatians 3:16 “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel… In Isaac shall thy seed be called… The children of the promise are counted for the seed… that the purpose of God according to election might stand…Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” Romans 9:6-13 Introduction Dispensational premillennialism is false doctrine concerning the biblical doctrine of the last things, or eschatology. It is also heresy. One...
…These stones shall be a memorial unto the children of Israel forever. Joshua 4:7c Delegates to the Synod of Dordt numbered 104 men. They fall into four groups: 1) minister and elder delegates from the provincial synods, 2) theological professors, 3) international delegates, and 4) delegates from the national government. Of the ten Dutch provincial synods that sent delegates, nine were synods of geographical regions— Gelderland-Zutphen, South Holland, North Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, Overijssel, Groningen, and Drenthe. The tenth, the Walloon synod, was made up of French-speaking refugees from southern Belgium who had organized churches in the Netherlands. These ten...
Dordt, Calvin to become universities Calvin College and Dordt College announced this past May that they would soon be changing their names to “Calvin University” and “Dordt University,” respectively. Calvin College will change its name sometime in 2020, while Dordt College will change its name on May 13, 2019. (For seniors at Dordt, this means that the class of 2019 will be the final class to graduate from Dordt College—three days before the name-change.) Calvin College’s website gave the following announcement: On Thursday, May 3, Calvin College’s board of trustees unanimously approved Calvin College becoming Calvin University. The move is...
Previous article in this series: August 2018, p. 437. Where is the true church to be found? The Reformed church confesses that the true church can be identified by three notable marks, namely, the preaching of the pure doctrine of the gospel, the administration of the sacraments as instituted by Christ, and the proper exercise of church discipline. It was necessary for the church of the Reformation to set forth these marks in order that the true church of Christ be distinguished from the false, that is, Rome, as well as from various groups that had separated from the Reformation,...
“… thy children like olive plants round about thy table.” Psalm 128:3b As Reformed believers, we know how tremendously significant the institution of the family is in the church and kingdom of God. We know and believe that God, from the beginning to the end of time, is pleased to continue His covenant from generation to generation with believers and their children. The faithful church will continue, by the grace of God, in the way of each succeeding generation fulfilling its covenant obligation to raise up a godly seed. From the time of the Fall of our first parents into...
