For many years now, we have made the October 15 issue of the Standard Bearer a special issue commemorating the sixteenth century Reformation of the church. We have highlighted a Reformer, a doctrine, a controversy, or some other aspect of the Reformation, whether of that time or of a subsequent…
Rev. Koole is pastor of Grandville Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. Take Pastors to Court over “Vilification” Religious vilification. At least that is the charge. As Patrick Goodenough, a Bureau Chief for the Pacific Rim news network, reports: Two Christian pastors in Australia will appear in court next month…
Rev. Kortering is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. (Preceding article in series: August 2003, p. 452.) Some of our readers may not be comfortable with designating a special worship service in the established churches as a gospel service. This designation is intended to distinguish such a service…
Mr. Kalsbeek is a teacher in Covenant Christian High School and a member of Hope Protestant Reformed Church, Walker, Michigan. (Preceding article in series: May 15, 2003, p. 367.) Eastern influence on Hollywood Not only is the East having a significant influence on education and politics, its ideas are also…
Calling of the Christian Workingman The previous editorial in this series (Oct. 1, 2003) gave the biblical testimony calling the Christian workingman to submit to the authority of the employer as the authority of Christ. In light of this testimony, the Christian workingman—every Christian workingman—must refuse membership in the union,…
Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction Shortly after Dordt a heresy arose which cast a long shadow over subsequent history of doctrine. It originated and was found primarily in France, but it spread to England, where it had great…
Rev. Laning is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Walker, Michigan. The subject of good works is often considered under the heading of sanctification. Article 24 of the Belgic Confession, for example, is entitled “Of Man’s Sanctification and Good Works.” When God sanctifies us, He causes us willingly to…
Members of the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC) have a lively interest in developments of the Reformed churches in the Netherlands. From these churches the grandparents or great grandparents of many of us came when they emigrated to the United States. Some of us have close relatives in these churches. More…
Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Signs of the Times We read, somewhat casually, the book of Revelation. The events mentioned there seem remote from our present time and our current experience. There is presented the opening of the seals (Rev. 6), the sounding of…
Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the Protestant Reformed Church of Grandville, Michigan. “Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not…” Psalm 71:18 One thing about life is certain: we all must die. Every single day brings each of us one step closer…
Still More on Lying In the April 15, 2003 issue of the Standard Bearer Rev. Garrett Eriks’ article, “God’s Hatred of Lying,” raises some interesting questions. For example, Eriks says, “… a murderer may be caught with a smoking gun at the crime scene with a motive for the murder.…
Before the fiftieth anniversary year of the great schism in the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC) passes, reflection on the doctrinal issue that occasioned the split is in order. Earlier editorials called for a denomination-wide remembrance of the schism, informed readers of a fine, new resource for study of the schism,…
Rev. Kleyn is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota. Rev. Audred Spriensma, his wife Alva, and their daughter Jessica have lived in the Philippines now for close to a year and a half. As a missionary of the Protestant Reformed Churches, Rev. Spriensma does his work under…
Mrs. Meyer is a wife and mother in Hope Protestant Reformed Church of Walker, Michigan. There is a truth about which we as parents must teach our children. It is a truth that must be well understood and preserved among us, for it is a truth that is under relentless…
Rev. Laning is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Walker, Michigan. The truth that God rewards us according to our works does not contradict the truth that salvation is entirely of God’s grace. We must not be afraid to confess that God does indeed reward us for the good…
Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction Moïse Amyraut held to a position in France that was a serious and significant modification of Calvin’s teachings and a rejection of the strong pronouncements of the Synod of Dordt. His views were…
Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep It Holy One has become accustomed to businesses being open on Sunday. There was a time when this was not so. Only about 40 years ago most businesses were closed on the Sabbath.…
A recent book by Iain H. Murray on John Wesley, famed father of the Methodist Church and grandfather of the charismatic movement, is of extraordinary significance for Calvinistic Christians and churches today, especially in Great Britain. The book is Wesley and Men Who Followed (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth, 2003).…
Reprinted from When Thou Sittest In Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co. Spring Scripture does not know spring by name, any more than autumn; only once, at the very end, in Jude’s brief epistle (12,…
Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Thanksgiving to Whom? Thanksgiving Day has come and gone. According to custom and in harmony with the requirements of our Church Order, we assembled together as congregations to express thanks to God for all of His benefits bestowed on…
Mr. Kalsbeek is a teacher in Covenant Christian High School and a member of Hope Protestant Reformed Church, Walker, Michigan. “And the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all…
For a long time, I have wanted to write on the assurance of salvation. God willing, this editorial is the beginning of a series of articles on Scripture’s precious doctrine of assurance and, based on this doctrine, the Christian’s precious experience of assurance. Assurance is a prominent teaching in Holy…
Redeeming Pop Culture: A Kingdom Approach, by T.M. Moore. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R, 2003. Pp. vii + 167. $11.99 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] A pop treatment of the weighty subject of the Christian and culture. “Once, after a morning service in which guitars had been used to lead the…
Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa. One of the most beautiful and comforting truths of Holy Scripture is that pertaining to the preservation of the saints and their perseverance in the faith. It is a truth that permeates the entire Word of God. On…
Rev. Koole is pastor of Grandville Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. Hell Hath No Fury Like… Of all the evils that threaten the world and that Satan is using against the Christian witness against sin, there is probably none so diabolical, dangerous, and influential as the radical feminist movement.…
The assurance of which Scripture speaks and which believers and their children have, and ought to have, is certainty. It is certainty about God, about the spiritual things made known in the Bible, and about salvation. Another word for this spiritual state of the soul of the believer and child…
Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction A controversy arose in the Scottish Presbyterian Churches of Scotland in the early part of the eighteenth century. It has been called the Marrow Controversy. It gets its name from a book, first…
Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. “Burger King” Religion—”Have It Your Way!” It is a sad fact that one finds a multiplicity of churches and denominations in the land. There are many confessions extant in these bodies—often expressing what we are convinced is contrary to…
God wills the salvation of all His elect children. He also wills that all His children have the assurance of their salvation. He wills that they have the assurance of their salvation as soon as they are saved and that they continue to have this certainty to their dying breath.…
Rev. Laning is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Walker, Michigan. We now move on to the fifth section of Reformed dogmatics, known as ecclesiology. Ecclesiology is the study of the church. It includes a study of what the church is and of how she grows and is governed.…
Reprinted from When Thou Sittest In Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co. From of old it was a point of interest that, in Holy Scripture, city-life is first mentioned among the descendants of Cain. With…
Rev. Laning is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Walker, Michigan. The unity of the church is an organic unity. It is not the mechanical unity of a machine, but the organic unity of a body, in which the many members together live one life. It is not the…
Many of the reputedly conservative Reformed and Presbyterian churches are nourishing in their bosom an open, frontal attack on the gospel of salvation by sovereign grace. Seminary professors, ministers, and ruling elders publicly reject every one of the doctrines of grace, beginning with justification by faith alone. They deny that…
Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Introduction While the Marrow Controversy was raging among the Presbyterians in Scotland, and the church in that land was struggling with the Arminianism present in Marrow theology, England was developing its own kind of…
Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Theories of Atonement Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” has attracted great attention (and earned much money.) It has also generated considerable debate. Some consider it anti-Semitic. Others condemn its unseemly violence—for which it is given an…
Rev. Laning is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Walker, Michigan. There are a number of ways by which people have tried to divide the church of Jesus Christ into two groups of people who are in two different covenants with God. When God established His covenant, He said…
Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Reflections on Synodical Decisions By the time this report appears in the Standard Bearer, it will be old news. Yet several items have appeared in magazines and newspapers that should be of interest to our readers. The first is…
Rev. Kleyn is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota. (Preceding article in this series can be found in the June issue, p. 398.) The Scriptures teach and we firmly believe that God’s attitudes of love and hatred toward men are particular and unchanging. God always and only…
Mrs. Meyer is a wife and mother in Hope Protestant Reformed Church of Walker, Michigan. (Preceding article can be found in the December 15, 2003 issue, p. 137.) Our children need to see that true, real unity is found only when there is true, real unity in the truth. The…
Faith is assurance. Faith is assurance of personal salvation. Faith is assurance that the one who, from the heart, believes the gospel is saved now, has been saved from eternity in the decree of election, and will be preserved unto everlasting salvation. Faith is absolute certainty of personal salvation, the…
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Young People’s Activities No sooner has one convention come and gone than another one is being planned. The young people of the Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI will be sponsoring the 2004 PRYP Convention, the Lord willing.…
God’s Renaissance Man: The Life and Work of Abraham Kuyper, by James Edward McGoldrick. Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 2000. Pp. 320. $18.99 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] Professor McGoldrick’s recent biography of Abraham Kuyper is a welcome addition to the body of such works in English. There are only two…
September 4, 2003 The September meeting of Classis West was held in South Holland Protestant Reformed Church in South Holland, IL on Wednesday, September 3. Rev. Douglas Kuiper chaired the meeting. An officebearers’ conference was held on Tuesday, the day before classis. In addition to the delegates to classis, many…
Rev. Laning is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Walker, Michigan. There is an inseparable connection between desiring to be with Christ in heaven after death and desiring to be more like Christ in this life. Scripture tells us that all those who truly have the hope of becoming…
Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. A Time for Self-examination (2) Last time I quoted from articles from the secular press which, I thought, spoke eloquently of the dangers of smoking, of its addictive nature, and of its great cost. None, I dare say, can…
Rev. Kuiper is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Randolph, Wisconsin. Under what circumstances might a deacon resign from office, or be removed from office, before his term is finished? The difference between resignation from office and removal from office should be clear to us all. In the instance…
Prof. Dykstra is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The Christian school teacher is engaged in an unceasing battle with humanism. The battles are fierce and the foe relentless because the stakes are high. All of secular education has been won over to the…
Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The Synod of Dordt It is not our purpose to give a history of the Synod of Dordt in this article, but we do wish to sum up the work of the synod, particularly…
Excess Introspection Your editorial on Jean Taffin’s little book [The Marks of God’s Children, Baker, 2003] in the August 2003 Standard Bearer was a blessing. Especially I was heartened to find another who so well described my feelings about excess introspection combined with a deficit of trust, joy, assurance, and…
The Protestant Reformed Sunday School Teachers Association has just published a complete explanation of the history of the New Testament in three hardcover volumes. The set is titled Upon This Rock. Volume one treats “Jesus Christ: His Earthly Ministry”; volume two, “Jesus Christ: His Death and Resurrection”; and volume three,…