Volu 100 Issue 06

The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) in the 1920s was divided over common grace and its implications. The doctrine of common grace had been developed by Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck in the Netherlands. It came to the CRC through their writings as well as by immigration of ministers and members. Ralph Janssen used it to support his erroneous teaching on Scripture and miracles. And various sectors of the churches were developing the doctrine toward more openness to the culture of America, which at that time was promoting new and higher levels of immorality (the “Roaring Twenties”). Prior to 1924, the...

Rev. Daniel Holstege, pastor of the Wingham PRC in Wingham, Ontario, Canada   In our life under the sun, there is “a time to every purpose…a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance…a time to get, and a time to lose…” and God “hath made everything beautiful in his time…” (Eccl. 3:1-7). It is a time to weep when you hear that your beloved brother…your dear son…your cherished husband…your loving father…your faithful friend…has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer…when you see his strength disappear after only a few...

Rev. Ryan Barnhill, pastor of Heritage PRC in Sioux Falls, South Dakota   Previous article in this series: October 1, 2023, p. 15. Take a look at the battlefield. Over yonder you will see Christian soldiers. They are knelt down on the bloody field of war, hands folded, eyes tightly shut, faces strained with concentration, lips moving. Satan’s arrows are flying, his evil hosts advancing, the heat of battle intensifying—yet, these soldiers remain on their knees. Praying—a key element in the warfare. Young soldier, are you daily on your knees? So important a place does prayer have in spiritual warfare,...

Mr. Charles Terpstra, member of Faith PRC in Jenison, Michigan and full-time librarian/registrar/archivist at the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary and SB book review editor   The following book is reviewed by Prof. David J. Engelsma, former editor of the Standard Bearer, professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan.   Short of Glory: A Biblical and Theological Exploration of the Fall, by Mitchell L. Chase. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023. Pp. xii + 213. $17.99. Softcover. ISBN: 9781433585098.   The sub-title accurately describes the content and appeal of...

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 Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, will certainly save His people from their sins! The Devil would have us question this truth. The world mocks at it. But,...

In the discipline of some gross sins, churches risk error on the one hand by being brutal, on the other hand by being naive. The third mark of the true church—the God-given and powerful tool of discipline that saves sinners, preserves the church, and glorifies God—can be used wrongly. When it becomes brutal, discipline harms the sinner. When it is naive, discipline harms just about everyone. In neither case is discipline exercised properly. In both cases, it might not be discipline at all. The editorial of December 1 (“When discipline ‘descends into butchery’”) addressed the danger of harming the sinner...

“And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown...

Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters. When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottennesss entered into my bones, and I trembled in...

Previous article in this series: May 1, 2023, p. 246.   Christ Is Truly Risen from the Dead. We believe and teach that the same Jesus Christ our Lord, in His true flesh in which He was crucified and died, rose again from the dead, and that not another flesh was raised other than the one buried, or that a spirit was taken up instead of the flesh, but that He retained His true body. Therefore, while His disciples thought they saw the spirit of the Lord, He showed them His hands and feet which were marked by the prints...