Vol 95 Issue 14

Trivia question Can you guess which type of animal I am thinking of? You may not have known that sometimes their owners race these animals. They often live to be 18-20 years old and often deliver one young per year. Sometimes they can reach a mature weight of 800-1,100 pounds. Most often they are slate grey in color. Answer later in this column. Minister activities On March 3 Rev. W. Langerak, pastor at Southeast PRC in Grand Rapids, MI received the call from Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, MI. On March 24 Trinity received the blessed news of his acceptance. Also...

Truth and Error, Or Letters to a Friend on Some of the Controversies of the Day, by Horatius Bonar. New Ipswich, NH: Pietan Publications, 2014. Paperback. $12.00. [Reviewed by Prof. Douglas Kuiper.] This book consists of letters written in response to various controversies: denial of the totality of man’s depravity (7, 95ff.); “high Calvinists” quickly becoming “Arminians of the lowest grade” (12); exaltation of man, and diminishing of God’s glory (20ff.). Additionally, Bonar dealt with a wrong understanding of the relationship of man’s will to God’s will (Letter 3); of divine election (Letter 4); of the relationship between God’s foreknowledge...

The Belgic Confession: A Commentary, (Volume 2), by David J. Engelsma. Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2019. Hardcover. Approx. 400 pp. [Reviewed by Rev. Allen J. Brummel.] With thankfulness to God we receive the second volume of Prof. D. Engelsma’s commentary on the Belgic Confession. This second volume contains the continued solid instruction and practical counsel that we have come to expect and love from the pen of this author. Those who appreciated the first volume will eagerly embrace this second one as its companion to complete the treatment of the Belgic Confession. Although you may have some commentaries...

Previous article in this series: December 1, 2019. “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” Ephesians 6:18 Prayer and war are inseparably related. Certainly this holds true of prayer and physical warfare so that as the old adage goes, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” Anyone in a trench with bullets whizzing overhead or anyone who is in the midst of some terrifying calamity “prays.” Even those who say “there is no God” and never pray, “pray” when their life is on the line, vainly hoping...

Previous article in this series: February 1, 2019, p. 208. The fall of man In the beginning, man was made according to the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness, good and upright. But when at the instigation of the serpent and by his own fault he abandoned goodness and righteousness, he became subject to sin, death, and various calamities. And what he became by the fall, that is, subject to sin, death, and various calamities, so are all those who have descended from him. The main subject of Second Helvetic Confession, Chapter 8, is the fall of man...

“…These stones shall be a memorial unto the children of Israel forever.”—Joshua 4:7c The third phase of the Synod included sessions 58­-154, lasting from January 14 to May 9, 1619. During this phase Synod deliberated regarding its response to the Remonstrant error and prepared the Canons of Dordt. In early May Synod also treated three cases of alleged false teaching: it condemned the four Remonstrant ministers from Kampen (see blog posts at dordt400.org); it condemned Conrad Vorstius; and it exonerated John Maccovius. This article will focus on the case of Vorstius, and the next one will focus on the case...

Previous article in this series: April 1, 2019, p. 301. Ecclesiastes 10:8-10 Having set before us the folly and disorder of affairs in civil life, the Word of God turns to a series of natural or organic connections. The intent is that we should contemplate them, discern the reality of things, and by that reflection point us to the way of wisdom and warn us against folly. We need, therefore, to consider the illustrations in their natural context first. “He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. Whoso removeth...

Hello, I’ve been in fellowship with several members of Grace Protestant Reformed Church [Standale, MI]. Their prison ministry, led by Rev. Ron VanOverloop, has been a blessing to the church incarcerated. And part of their ministry includes receiving the Standard Bearer. I’d like to respond to an article in the most recent issue (March 15, 2019, vol. 95, no. 12) titled “How Could Any Protestant Go Home to Rome?” written by Prof. Barrett Gritters. I am so glad that someone has written about the ECT movement, and to give the church warning of this un­godly and unholy movement. There is...

Previous article in this series: April 1, 2019, p. 298. How could some Evangelicals imagine Rome as their church home someday (or wish to cozy up to Rome)? Because they have given up most of what made them Evangelicals in the first place; and because Rome dissembles. That is, Evangelicals have actually changed, and Rome pretends to have changed. Evangelicals (gospel-oriented Protestants) have gradually given up their Reformation church polity, their Reformation worship, and their Reformation doctrines. And the false church of Rome gussies up as the “strange woman” of Proverbs 7, “flattereth with her words,” and with subtle heart...

“Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye...