Vol 95 Issue 18

Trivia question Where is the Senior Retreat this summer? Answer later in this column. Evangelism activities Calvary PRC of Hull, IA, in conjunction with the Domestic Mission Committee of the PRCA, invited area residents to attend a special mission presentation by our home missionary, Rev. Aud Spriensma, in their sanctuary on Sunday, June 16. The title of his presentation was: “Our Home Missions: Reaching the Nones and the Dones.” Refreshments followed the presentation. The Evangelism Committee of Grace PRC in Mich­igan invited the congregation to a speech by Prof. B. Gritters after their worship service on May 26. The speech...

In previous articles on the subject of biblical masculinity I have set forth some of the basic truths about what it means to be man. Now I want to apply those principles to some of the different relationships and circumstances in which a man must show himself to be a man. The first is in the sphere of his sexuality. I treat this first because it is in this area that the man of God faces one of the most serious threats, if not the most serious threat, to his manhood today. The devil and the world are making an...

“…These stones shall be a memorial unto the children of Israel forever.”—Joshua 4:7c Sessions 155-180 of the Synod of Dordt, held from May 13 to 29, 1619, constituted the Synod’s fourth and final phase. These are called the Post-Acta sessions because they were held after the Synod had finished its primary business (judging the Remonstrants and drafting the Canons) and after the foreign delegates had left. In Dutch versions of the Acts of Synod, the minutes of these sessions are found in the very back of the book, following all of the judgments relating to the Remonstrant matter that the...

The history of the spread of the Reformed faith in the sixteenth century during the early and difficult decades of the Protestant Reformation is always interesting, especially in connection with the work of Reformed churches in missions. Since the Reformed faith, with its doctrines of sovereign particular grace and double predestination, is often maligned as uninterested in and unable to do world missions, it is encouraging to see from the Lord’s work through His church examples that show that this accusation from enemies of the Reformed faith is historically unfounded. One example of this is found in the history of...

Previous article in this series: May 15, 2019, p. 373. “Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning! Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!” Ecclesiastes 10:16, 17 Solomon as the preacher has been describing the way of the fool in his walk, talk, and inability to know the way of wisdom under the sun. That foolishness of man is rooted in the Fall and in the folly and depravity of...

Previous article in this series: July 2017, p. 427. Introduction The Lord’s Supper in the dialogue of worship was not always understood the scriptural way we have described it in these articles. In our previous article we examined how Rome views the Lord’s Supper in worship. In this article we want to understand how and why the Reformation was used of God to restore the church to a proper understanding of the Lord’s Supper in worship. Restoration of the gospel When the Reformation returned the church to the truth of the gospel, everything changed also in worship. In God’s sovereign...

God has ordained elders for their place in the church, and God has worked in them spiritually in their upbringing in their homes, in catechism and in the preaching, to prepare them for the work they will need to do in their office. But this training is not sufficient for all the help some saints need. This contribution is not to criticize the work of our minsters and elders, but to make everyone more aware of some of the great and difficult needs of hurting saints, which the ministers and elders alone are not able to meet. (Read Prof. B....

January 7, 2019 Dear Editors of the Standard Bearer, I read Rev. Koole’s rebuttal of my blog post in the Standard Bearer. He reiterates without proof that the controversy recently decided by synod was about the question, “what is to be judged as antinomianism?” Can he not see that this matter of antinomianism only came up as a false charge against objections to preaching that compromised the gospel of grace? The gospel of grace in its criticism of that preaching was charged with being antinomian. In his response Rev. Koole continues to press his point about the threat of antinomianism...

In this issue is a “Contribution” submitted at the request of the editors, after the family who wrote it had corresponded with the editors about the role of elders in counseling especially difficult cases. The article is printed without the authors’ names, at their request. After reading the article, it will become plain why the authors’ names are withheld. This issue also includes a letter from Rev. Nathan Langerak responding to Rev. Koole’s response to Rev. N. Langerak’s first letter back in the November 15, 2018 SB. The editors print the letter at the request of the RFPA Board. Rev....

The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches met from June 11-17, completing all the work in its agenda in five days. This report on the decisions of synod can be brief, due to the reality that a rather complete preview was given in the June 1 SB and that reports on the actions of Synod 2019 are available on the website prca.org under the “current/news” tab. When thinking of the highlights, one might quickly overlook the pre-synodical service. That would be a mistake. Rev. R. VanOverloop, president of the synod in 2018, led the service, preaching from Revelation 3 on...