Vol 95 Issue 17

Trivia question Can you tell me the name of the First Tech Challenge Robotics team at Trinity Christian High School in Hull, Iowa? Answer later in this column. Young people’s activities The 2019 convention will soon be here. All information for the conventioneers is available on the convention website prcconvention.com. Southwest and Providence PRCs are looking forward to a great week of fellowship and fun for our young people! The Hull, IA PR Young People’s Society hosted the annual Resurrection singspiration for the five Siouxland area churches on a Sunday evening in April. It was a very fitting and enjoyable...

Previous article in this series: November 15, 2018, p. 88. When evils come upon us in this life, it is a great comfort to know that they are sent by our Father in heaven who loves us. We may not always think about this right away. Yet, it is often not long before we begin to meditate on what God has told us. We think on how He has assured us that He loves us and that He is accomplishing His good purpose with our afflictions. We remember His promise that He will be with us, and that He will...

We obey. We do. We labor. We work. We must work. We can work. We do work. By the power of Christ’s Spirit we elect believers who have been called into communion with Christ do good works. But what is the relation between our doing of good works of obedience according to the law of God and our salvation—our justification and sanctification? What is the relation between our doing of good works and our experience and assurance of the love of God in His covenant? With this article we take up a biblical and confes­sional examination of the massive, fascinating,...

On his program, “The Briefing” (March 15, 2019) Albert Mohler describes the pressure that is building for the legalization of marijuana in the United States. The bottom line is that there is money to be made. Much of Mohler’s program is devoted to an article in Fortune magazine entitled “Pot Goes Legit: How to Bet on America’s Next Growth Industry.” Marijuana has already been legalized in Canada and is reported to be “big business.” American companies are already making billions by investing in Canada, but they desire an opportunity to expand their business into the United States. With big business...

It has come as a surprise to me that the current controversy in our churches has been over the question of the place of good works in God’s work of salvation. Most of us were taught the truth of this question in our covenant homes, our catechism classes, the preaching we heard every Lord’s Day and it is, as far as I am concerned, what I was taught in the Seminary. It was part of our heritage with its glorious emphasis on sovereign grace. That we face controversy over the question is puzzling to me. Let me briefly spell out...

Thank you for publishing my letter and revised letter in the March 1 and March 15, 2019 issues of the Standard Bearer, even though the letter exceeded the length allowed by SB policy. (As for your apology for publishing the wrong letter originally, apology accepted—no harm done and no hard feelings.) Thank you as well for your thorough response to my letter in two installments in those same issues. We are agreed that these matters are of greatest importance and are worthy of the space devoted to them in the pages of the SB. I ask for your indulgence in...

By the grace of God, my wife, daughter and I, as well as two friends from Ohio, were able to attend the recent conference celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Synod of Dordt, with its focus on the Canons of Dordt. We cannot begin to express our deep thankfulness to all parties that were involved in this event. I cannot say enough as to how well the conference was done, how hard the host church worked for the conference, how excellent the presentations were and how much work went into those talks. I was even impressed by the youth orchestra!...

As is the case every year since 1940, the annual synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches will convene in June. Last year’s synod appointed First PRC in Grand Rapids as the calling church for the Synod of 2019. The last time that First hosted the meetings of synod was 2001. (In 2010, Southeast PRC hosted synod in First’s church building.) At the Synod in 2001, a certain Mr. Angus Stewart, student of the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church of Northern Ireland, was examined. His examination was a kind of hybrid—synodical and classical combined. Two elders from the Covenant PRCNI were present....

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1 It is a fundamental tenet of the Christian religion that doctrine is inseparably connected to life. The two go together. Without one, there will not be the other. That tenet is perhaps nowhere more clearly set forth than in Romans 12, right after the holy apostle had spent the first eleven chapters of this epistle defending, defining, and explaining that precious gospel doctrine of justification by faith alone. For what does...