Vol 97 Issue 10

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord: and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.  II Chronicles 20:3, 4 There are many things that make us afraid. The coronavirus has the ability to strike fear into the hearts of many as they hear of the death of some who previously had appeared to be full of health and strength. The power of the Devil and of sin can occasion great fear at times...

A review of a book review? Let me explain. The book reviewed is The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation, written by Rod Dreher, a former evangelical who has joined the Greek Orthodox Church. The book is reviewed by Dr. Keith Sewell, professor emeritus of Dordt University. And we are going to review his book review.1 For a reason. Dr. Sewell is of the Kuyperian persuasion, meaning, one who is yet committed to Abraham Kuyper’s perspective that by political action and infiltration of every aspect of culture we as Christians are called to and able to...

Good works as fruit In the Standard Bearer article “Of free will and thus of human powers” of November 15, 2020, Prof. R. Cammenga stated: In this paragraph, the SHC [Second Helvetic Confession] makes plain that good works are not to be viewed only ever as fruit and nothing but fruit—fruit that in a sort of automatic and mysterious way simply appears in the life of the regenerate. But fruit is not the only way in which Scripture speaks of good works. Good works are not only fruit, certainly not fruit that in some automatic and mysterious way appears in...

I write this “All Around Us” article at the beginning of the new year 2021. The end and beginning of the year is a time of sober reflection for the children of God, pondering especially the end of this present age and the beginning of the age to come upon the triumphant return of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As we meditate upon these truths at this time, our thoughts rest upon the many footsteps of Jesus’ return as they are taught in Scripture, signs that we continue to see with increasing clarity over time. One such sign is the persecution...

Jonah 1:4-17 The doctrine of the perseverance or preservation of saints is beautifully illustrated in what happened to Jonah when he tried to escape his commission to Nineveh. God does not and cannot forsake His own or leave them to perish. He always rescues them from their disobedience and sin and brings them to repentance and new obedience. God, who has chosen His own from eternity, redeemed them by the blood of His Son, and sent His Spirit to work in them, cannot forsake them without being unfaithful to Himself. Abandoning them to their own sinfulness would mean that His...

Previous article in this series: December 1, 2020, p. 106. Our last two articles served as an interlude of sorts in which we demonstrated that the doctrine of justification by faith alone does not minimize the importance of a holy life of good works. About this holy life we will have much more to say when in due time we take up a consideration of the relation between good works and sanctification. We concluded last time by affirming the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism that the believer’s good works serve as confirming evidence to him that his faith is genuine...

Previous article in this series: November 15, 2020, p. 90. The Free Will Is Weak in the Regenerate. Secondly, in the regenerate a weakness remains. For since sin dwells in us, and in the regenerate the flesh struggles against the Spirit till the end of our lives, they do not easily accomplish in all things what they had planned. These things are confirmed by the apostle in Romans 7 and Galatians 5. Therefore, that free will is weak in us on account of the remnants of the old Adam and of innate human corruption remaining in us until the end...

Previous article in this series: December 15, 2020, p. 132. Review We have been considering the instrumental cause of our salvation. In the first article I pointed out what the Reformers, and Calvin in particular, meant by the instrumental cause of salvation. Calvin referred to four “causes” of salvation. The first was the efficient cause, which Calvin said points to the author of salvation, the triune God of grace. The second was the material cause, describing the substance of our salvation, Christ and His righteousness. Next, Calvin spoke of the instrumental cause of our salvation, referring to faith, the sole...

Sister-church activities From the bulletin of the Limerick Reformed Fellowship in Ireland: In 2020 we worshiped for a total of 23 Sundays at home. The first COVID-19 lockdown was from March 29 to June 28 (we returned to the hall on July 5 for fourteen Sundays). The second COVID-19 lockdown was from October 11 to November 29 (we returned to the hall on December 6 for three Sundays). The third COVID-19 lockdown began on December 26 and will continue until at least the end of January 2021. We are disappointed that the Irish government has made no allowances for even...