Some details Christianity Today (CT) reported that the “12.5-million-member UMC has been in a standoff over LGBT issues for decades, culminating in a vote in favor of its traditional position against same-sex marriage and gay clergy during a special session last year. As a result, some left the UMC, some…
John MacArthur’s non-endorsement of women “pastors” Paula White, a spiritual advisor for President Trump, has written a book titled Something Greater. Beth Moore is a popular Bible teacher in evangelical circles. John MacArthur was recently asked for his thoughts about these two women “pastors” and their work in light of…
The messenger matters Readers of the Standard Bearer may remember Joshua Harris and his book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye (published in 1997), as it was the occasion for some discussion in the pages of this magazine a number of years ago. Harris’s book became very popular as “a manual for…
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…
Pastor Todd Wilson and his church are trying to do the impossible—in two respects. First, though it is impossible to harmonize the creation account in Genesis with the basic beliefs of Darwinian evolutionism, this has not stopped Wilson from trying. Wilson recognizes evolutionism’s most glaring problem is that it is…
Humans and chimps On a Thursday afternoon at the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, Michigan something rather unexpected happened while observing the chimpanzees. It is not unexpected to find the promotion of evolutionary ideas that contradict Scripture at a zoo. Christians are used to being confronted with the reality…
In an article entitled “How divorce went from a devastating life event to a cause for celebration,” Sabrina Maddeaux demonstrates the way that the divorce culture (especially in the United States and Canada) is “progressing.”1 She briefly traces the history of divorce, and shows how society’s thinking about and response…
Homosexual Parenting Deemed “Unhealthy” by the American College of Pediatricians1 In July of 2017 the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) posted an update of a 2004 article that asks if it is time to accept parenting by homosexual couples as a legitimate alternative to parenting done by a father and…
`Doug Wilson’s Attempt to Disavow the Federal Vision For years Doug Wilson has identified himself with the heretical movement known as the Federal Vision. He participated in the Auburn Avenue Conference of 2002 that ignited the Federal Vision controversy. In 2007 he affixed his signature to “A Joint Federal Vision…
Peeking Through Hubble David L. DeBruyn reports that images from the Hubble Space Telescope show galaxies that man has never seen before.1 The discoveries are “unlikely to explain burning scientific questions about the origins of dark matter or why the universe appears to be accelerating.” But the discoveries do demonstrate…
Some Facts about Ken Ham’s Ark Exhibit1
Brief Highlights from the CRCNA’s 2016 Agenda for Synod The Christian Reformed Church in America’s 669-page agenda has been posted on the Internet. Below are some of the interesting items on the 2016 Synod’s agenda. The Synod will receive recommendations from the Board of Trustees to adopt “Research Methodology Guidelines…
In the article in the February 15 issue of the Standard Bearer (p. 226), quite a bit of ink and paper was expended in writing about Donald Trump’s specious religious claims. I have been waiting for a sequel exposé of Senator Rafael Edward (“Ted”) Cruz, but so far in vain.…
Gender Confusion In Mark 10:16 Jesus says, “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.” Because our society rejects the authority of Scripture, it is utterly confused about how to identify people. World magazine reports on the consequences of this confusion: At the end of…
John Piper Stirs Up the “Sanctification Debate” John Piper is a well-known pastor (now retired) and widely thought of as a leader in Reformed circles. Thus, any subtle errors that he teaches are all the more dangerous and in need of exposure. This is even more so when his errors…
The Decision On June 26, 2015 the Supreme Court of the United States redefined marriage and effectively legalized homosexual marriages in all 50 states. The next day Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. explained the decision: Everything has changed and nothing has changed. The Supreme Court’s decision yesterday is a central…
PC-USA’s Tolerance of Homosexuality becomes Official The news media covered this story well, so many of our readers already know about it. But it is still worthwhile to take note of the Presbyterian Church-USA’s official redefinition of marriage that approves homosexual unions. Holly Yan of CNN reports:1 The country’s largest…
Five RCA Churches Join the PCA, A Sixth May Soon Follow Below is a December 26, 2014 article posted on The Aquila Report (theaquilareport.com). Five Illinois Churches in the Reformed Church RCA) in America have voted to affiliate with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). The PCA’s Chicago Metro Presbytery…
Rev. Spronk is pastor of Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan. This is the edited text of the speech Rev. Spronk gave at the annual meeting of the RFPA on September 25, 2014. First article was in the November 15, 2014 issue, p. 89. We have to know church…
Apple CEO Admits Homosexuality, Blasphemes God Writing for the Washington Post, Abby Phillip reports: Breaking his years of silence, Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in an article that he is “proud” to be gay. Cook acknowledged in the essay published on Thursday that while his sexual orientation has not been…
This is the edited text of the speech Rev. Spronk gave at the annual meeting of the RFPA on September 25, 2014. Introduction One purpose of this article is to convince you that you must know the history of the church. You must know, and should be interested in, the history…
I commend the SB for publishing Rev. Clay Spronk’s recent article “The Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham Debate” (May 15, 2014, p. 370). Like Rev. Spronk, I watched the debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham with great interest, and came away with an appreciation for the way that Ham…
On February 4 “the science guy” Bill Nye, representing the evolutionist perspective, and Ken Ham, representing the creationist perspective, debated the question, “Is creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific era?” The debate was live-streamed on the Internet and watched by a large audience. I didn’t find…
“The NIV Bible is no more,” writes Jesse Johnson in a blog post entitled Farewell, NIV. Zondervan, the publishing company that owns the NIV (paid for its translation, copyrighted the material, and receives royalties for every edition of the NIV that is published), continues to publish an English translation of…
Do you belong to a church where the number of songs approved for worship is limited? Has your church used the same songbook for decades? Perhaps you think it is time for a change. You can point to the many deficiencies, real or perceived, in the approved songbook. And maybe…
This summer the newly-elected Pope Francis granted plenary indulgences during the World Youth Day 2013 event held in Brazil. These plenary indulgences were made available not only to the millions who attended the event in Brazil, but also to the 7.5 million people who follow the pope on Twitter, an…
Yesterday’s Debate – Discussing Evolution Once again with sadness we take note of a pernicious article appearing in the Banner (http://www.thebanner. org/features/2013/05/tomorrow-s-theology). This article is even worse than the articles in a previ ous issue of the Banner promoting doubt about the fundamental truths of Christian religion. This article goes…
Two writers in the March issue of the Banner, one the editor of the magazine, the other a former Calvin Seminary professor, continue to work at demolishing the Christian Reformed Church. I am not quite sure which analogy to use to describe their destructive work. One could say they are…
The White House’s Aggressively “Evolving” Homosexual Marriage Agenda The first line of Michael Martinez’s article for CNN.com reads, “He has been declared America’s first gay president [on the cover of Newsweek May 21, 2012—CWS].” After listing some of President Obama’s statements early in his political career against homosexual marriage, Martinez…
Prior to last year’s presidential election I wrote an article about Mormonism, the religion of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (see the Feb. 15, 2012 Standard Bearer). Mormonism is well-known as a polytheistic religion, that is, a religion that believes in the existence of many gods. As an adherent to…
Below is an article by Gene Wojciechowski for espn.com demanding the University of Nebraska fire coach Ron Brown. The article is worthy of some commentary. Ron Brown confusing faith with rights Let’s say there is a gay running back on the Nebraska roster. And Ron Brown is his position coach.…
Abortion Is Murder Even in the Case of Rape Todd Akin, a U.S. Congressman from Mississippi and that state’s Republican nominee for the US Senate, recently stirred up controversy about abortion in the case of rape. Below is an article by Trevin Wax that provides strong arguments for why abortion…
Abortion Is Murder Even in the Case of Rape Todd Akin, a U.S. Congressman from Mississippi and that state’s Republican nominee for the US Senate, recently stirred up controversy about abortion in the case of rape. Below is an article by Trevin Wax that provides strong arguments for why abortion…
Women are free to choose—and there is no wrong choice. The women’s liberation movement has definitely made “progress.” Time once was when society thought it was immoral for a woman to “choose” not to become a mother by having an abortion. Time once was when society thought it was improper…
And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works;…
The Emperor Has No Clothes: Dr. Richard B. Gaffin Jr.’s Doctrine of Justification, by Stephen M. Cunha. Unicoi Tennessee, The Trinity Foundation. 118 pages. Softcover. ISBN978891777325. [Reviewed by Clay Spronk.] Mr. Cunha wrote what makes up the main body of this book in 2008. At that time Mr. Cunha and…
“Religion” Attacked Your teenage sons and daughters may have seen it. It is a poem/rap by Jefferson Bethke entitled “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” It has been viewed over 13 million times on YouTube. Its lyrics are recorded on this website: http://rapgenius.com/Jefferson-bethke-why-i-hate-religion-but-love-jesus-spoken-word-lyrics. “Jesus came to abolish religion,” the first…
Rev. Spronk is pastor of Peace Protestant Reformed Church in Lansing, Illinois. The synods of the Reformed Church of America (RCA) and the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) moved towards adopting the Belhar Confession to serve as a fourth form of unity along with the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and…
Rev. Spronk is pastor of Peace Protestant Reformed Church in Lansing, Illinois. Father Richard John Neuhaus Father Richard John Neuhaus died on January 8, 2009. Father Neuhaus was an influential man. Some even give him partial credit for the two-term presidency of George W. Bush. Daniel Burke (in an article…
Rev. Spronk is pastor of Peace Protestant Reformed Church in Lansing, Illinois. As Reformed believers you probably know that this year marks the 500th birthday of John Calvin, who was born July 10, 1509. The Reformed community views the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth as an occasion to celebrate—and rightfully…
On July 1 I began my internship under Rev. VanOverloop and the council of Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church. This has been a big change for me. Instead of working at my regular summer job (repairing pallets) and taking classes in the seminary in the fall, I have been working…
Previous article in this series: May 15, 2011, p. 368. A Case Study in Working Hard Not to Exercise Discipline The last article began an examination of the Missouri Presbytery of the PCA’s exoneration of Federal Vision heretic Jeffrey Meyers. In that article it was pointed out how Meyers contradicts…
Previous article in this series: April 1, 2011, p. 303. A Case Study in Working Hard Not to Exercise Discipline This article is the third in a series of four examining the failure of three of the governing bodies of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) to discipline men guilty…
The Presbyterian Church (USA) to Homosexual Officebearers: “You are free to be sexually active.” In 2010 the General Assembly of the PC(USA), a denomination with 2.3 million members, decided to remove a clause from its constitution that required ministers to “live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between…
Previous article in this series: March 1, 2011, p. 257. A Case Study in Working Hard not to Exercise Discipline In a previous article we noted that three governing bodies of the Presbyterian Churches in America (PCA) have recently dealt with ministers accused of teaching or defending views consistent with…
The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) We knew this was coming. Rev. Gise Van Baren reported on the proposed merger of the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) in the March 15, 2006 edition of the Standard Bearer. On June 18 the merger was…
Introduction Observing what is going on around us in the church world can often be a very depressing exercise. Usually what “makes the news” is the kind of event that gives evidence of appalling apostasy in the church. Therefore, we often take note of the worst events that are taking…
Members of the United Reformed Churches (URC) have held a variety of views on creation since the organization of the URC as a federation of churches in 1996. The main issue is the interpretation of Genesis, especially chapters 1 and 2. Some in the URC interpret these opening chapters of…
A Case Study in Working Hard not to Exercise Discipline Will you adopt a study report condemning the Federal Vision? In 2007 the General Assembly of the PCA (Presbyterian Churches in America) said yes to this question and adopted a report condemning the heretical movement known as the Federal Vision.…
Rev. Spronk is pastor of Peace Protestant Reformed Church in Lansing, Illinois. These words of Jesus in John 16:32 perhaps conjure up in our minds pictures of saints suffering severe physical persecution. Physical persecution is certainly one way that those who confess the name of Jesus Christ suffer tribulation. The…