Vol 95 Issue 06

Trivia question We are certainly in the Christmas season! The world around us stretches that season as long as possible for financial gain. Christians celebrate Christmas because of Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer. How many of the New Testament gospel writers tell of the birth of Jesus? Answer later in this column. Evangelism activities At Covenant of Grace PRC in Spokane, WA this year’s Reformation lecture by Rev. R. Kleyn was on the subject, “The Canons of Dort: Defending and Defining Grace.” This topic was chosen in connection with the 400-year anniversary of the Great Synod of Dort at which...

I have been commissioned by the Theological School Committee (TSC) of the PRC to a most delightful task. However, to do the task thoroughly would likely require a special issue of the Standard Bearer. Consequently, I will be a bit abbreviated and selective. The delightful task is to express the TSC’s great appreciation for Judi Doezema’s thirty years of service as the seminary’s secretary. Judi’s secretarial work at the seminary required that she serve many people in a myriad of ways. Any attempt to list them all will be inadequate, but I submit the following paragraphs to provide the reader...

Default position The typical professing evangelical Christian in our day, sadly, is a long way from being able to confess the Reformed faith as summed in our “Three Forms of Unity” and become a member in one of our Reformed churches. In all likelihood, he (or she) holds some Arminian ideas. Even if he calls himself a Calvinist, he probably thinks that God loves everybody, that Christ died for all men head for head (at least in some sense), and that God earnestly desires to save everybody. Romans 9 does not come into it! In eschatology, our representative evangelical is...

“Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.” I Corinthians 5:6, 7 During the time of the early New Testament, the nature of human disease was not well understood. Had Paul been aware of how infections of the body worked, he might well have chosen the analogy of viruses or bacteria to exhort the Corinthians to purge the disease of sin out of their midst. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, however, a strikingly similar analogy does appear in...

Perfect moral guidance for youth can only be found in the Word of God. The instructors of morality in the world have no absolute standard. Their instruction is ever changing with each succeeding age and every culture. It follows the imagined wisdom of the world, which the apostle James in his letter calls earthly, sensual, and devilish (James 3:15). What was once condemned in past ages is today approved. Immorality of the grossest sort is promoted and glorified by the mass media and the entertainment industry. The world’s celebrities are among the most wicked and immoral, yet the youth of...

Previous article in this series: October 15, 2018, p. 36. The history of the church in the old dispensation has been aptly likened to birth pangs. “For pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail,” said Micah the prophet. “Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies” (Micah 4:9,...

The European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) states in Article 10: Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This Article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national...

Between November 13, 1618 and May 29, 1619, the Synod of Dordt met in 180 sessions. The interested reader can find a weekly summary of the Synod’s work at www.dordt400.org. In this article I will give only a broad overview of the sessions.1 180 sessions The Synod’s sessions included four phases: before the Arminians appeared (sessions 1-21, Nov. 13 to Dec. 5); the examination of the Arminians (sessions 22- 57, Dec. 6 to Jan. 14); the deliberations regarding the Arminians and the drafting of the Canons of Dordt (sessions 58-154, Jan. 14-May 9); and after the foreign delegates left (sessions...

Love. Peace. Joy. Hope. Four words that appear on almost every year-end Christmas or holiday greeting card sent and received. Wonderful words and appropriate. But also, very exclusive. But more on that later. What strikes me is that if the church of Christ was going to mark yearly God’s great redemptive event of the Advent (the promise and birth of the Messiah, the Christ), year’s end is the best time. Not the middle of July or sometime in August or such like, but year’s end, as the church and the believer are compelled to mark the passing of time. And...

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Matthew 1:21-23. These verses from the Word of God have been and continue to be one of precious comfort to His people through the ages. For in the fullness of...