Because of World War II, Calvin Seminary students decided against the luxury of a 3-month vacation and went to class for the summer; the class graduated on March 13, 1945 at Calvin Seminary Chapel on Franklin Street, and a special committee of Synod examined the candidates. Henry Vander Kam accepted the call to the Prosper […]
The recent criticism of South Africa’s so-called apartheid has been so distorted that since we were there two years ago, we must tell the other side of the story. Twenty–five couples rented recreational vehicles, and in seven weeks drove 5,000 miles across South Africa. We camped in their parks, rode their trains and public buses, […]
Lesson 5 THE APOSTLES BEFORE THE COUNCIL Acts 5:17–42 The church in its earliest days was very successful, judged by the numbers who joined it and the influence which it exerted. This success has its price, as the leaders soon discovered. Jesus had told them (Matt. 10, etc.) that if people had mistreated the Master […]
BRIDGES TO ISLAM: A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON FOLK ISLAM by Phil Parshall, Baker, Grand Rapids, 1983, 163 pp. Review by Frederick W. Evans. Building on his widely–discussed work, New Paths in Muslim Evangelism, Phil Parshall has offered Bridges to Islam. Its main contention is that “Folk Islam,” especially as represented by Sufism, presents evangelical Christianity with […]
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Phil. 4:12). Paul had learned a secret. And what a blessed secret […]
A Memorable Encounter It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Remember? Except in the present case, the tale concerns two preachers on a sultry Southern night in Lynchburg, Virginia. Jesse’s come to town. In national terms, this is Jerry’s town. But because Jerry went to Pretoria and concluded that Bishop […]
CHRISTIAN AND REFORMED TODAY, by John Bolt, published by Paideia Press, Jordan Station, Ontario, Canada, 1984, 158 pp., paper. This is an important and exciting little book. In it Dr. John Bolt, who has taught as a professor of religion and theology at Calvin College and now does so at Redeemer College in Hamilton, Ontario, […]
This is only a partial list of names that I have been called: “The man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan” “This fellow” “Good Teacher” “Elijah” “drunkard” “John” “Glutton” “the man” “Rabboni” Who am I? What would you like to have written on your tombstone as an epitaph? In one […]
Translation or ILLEGITIMATE Revision The Wachter editor (Aug. 18, 1985) expresses indignation (“When you read such a thing your blood can boil!”) at the charges expressed in the pages of the Outlook (March, 1985, pp. 8f., June, pp. 17 f.) that a translation committee deceptively revised our Belgic Confession, and suggests that an apology […]
I was an elder delegate at the 1985 Synod. Some of the important questions that came to my mind were: Why is there division in our denomination? What is the cause? Why so much confusion? Is there perhaps a lack of knowledge of God’s Word? Is God’s Word too difficult or unclear? Are we […]