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It affords me great pleasure to have had the privi­lege of attending your convention of Protestant Reformed youth. In the first place, because a convention such as this is a wholesome sign, that God has blessed and is blessing our churches, and that our churches have a future. For in our youth, under God, lies the future welfare of our Protestant Reformed denomina­tion. This is indeed for you a great privilege, but also at the same time a grave responsibility. In the second place I am very happy at this occasion because your convention reveals that our young people have...

Introduction I have been asked to speak to you this afternoon on the subject, “Our Attitude Toward Politics.” Allow me to say that I found this a rather difficult subject due mainly to two things. In the first place it is a subject about which I have concerned myself but very little. Hence, I am not acquainted with the subject either in theory or in practice. I am a minister and not a politician. In the second place, this is a subject that is rather far removed from the sphere of our interest, generally speaking, both as individual Chris­tians and...

Mr. Chairman, Board members, delegates, visitors, and friends: It is a privilege to address you on this occasion for more reasons than one. The chief reason is that you as a Covenant youth represent the emerging Church of tomorrow. You are the timber from which future elders and deacons and ministers of the Gospel are formed; but no less the material for future Covenant parents and teachers, valiant soldiers of the cross and faithful witnesses of the Name of God in these last days. And I admire your undaunted zeal. You might be compared with a rosebud unfolding its petals...

Q. 86. What is the communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death? A. The communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death is, in that their souls are then made perfect in holiness, and received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies, which even in death continue united to Christ, and rest in their graves as in their beds, till at the last day they be again...

It is probably not too strong to say that a Christian ceremony for burial at the cemetery is as significant as a Christian funeral at the church. But there are less Christians attending funerals today than in the past (the funeral directors I have contact with indicate that), and there are probably even fewer who go to the graveside for burial. In the past it was different. Long funeral processions from the church to the cemetery were common. When my best friend died suddenly during a high school soccer game, the line of cars from the church stretched what seemed...

Daniel’s Death It was the late morning of November 2, 2004. We will never forget that day. We had just voted in the presidential election and had returned to the parsonage of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church. Out of the kitchen window we saw a police cruiser coming up our driveway. We went out to meet the policeman and find out the reason for his stop. He asked us who we were. And then he told us, “Your son has been in a serious car accident.” Those words changed our lives from that moment on. As we rushed to the hospital,...

On behalf of many other godly pastors, I make a plea: Help us! We need your help in ministering to the grieving. Our prayers with the bereaved, our words at the funeral, and our care at the grave need to be complemented by your ministry. Our human limitations and inexcusable weaknesses even as we seek to comfort the brokenhearted necessitate your ministry. Your membership in the church, united to sorrowing members of Christ’s body, demands your ministry. “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do” (I Thess. 5:11). But how do we go about doing...

Submitted by Ruth Nobel and Judy VanTil Unity. What a beautiful name! At the organizational worship service on October 30, 2019, Pastor A. Lanning (Byron Center PRC) gave three reasons why this name is wonderful: when we say unity, it is a confession of an attribute of the church—its oneness, as described in the Apostle’s Creed, an holy catholic church; when we say unity, we point to the church’s head, Christ, since He is the foundation of uni­ty; when we say unity, we are reminding each other of a well-known text and its calling to keep the unity of the...

Last year, Rev. Koole wrote an article (SB, Oct. 15, 2018) regarding the deplorable state of the American prison system. He concluded the article with a reminder that “Christ can still be brought to men and women in prison. And Christ still has power in the midst of such corruption and despair to set His people free.” This article seeks to testify of that mighty power of God. For many years now, a committee of men at Hope Prot­estant Reformed Church, Redlands, has labored in a cor­respondence work with prisoners across the state of Cal­ifornia and beyond. By God’s grace,...

We live in a modern society that disdains God’s gift of life. Of course, it is generally not the case that human beings have such contempt for life that they have no desire whatsoever to live. Most people want to remain alive and healthy, and would extend their lives if they were able (so long as life goes according to certain criteria). Nevertheless, society at large has contempt for life as a gift from God. That is because, as soon as one admits that God has given him life, he would also have to admit that such a God must...