It was 170 years ago this month that the Secession took place. In this event a group of men and women left the Established Church of Holland and willingly suffered both scorn and persecution for the reformed faith. Many of us in 2004 trace our spiritual lineage to those heroic men and women. They saw […]
“Let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.” Philippians 3:16 “Reformed from what?” “Is that like a Reform School or something?” Have you ever been asked questions like that when you have told someone that you belong to a “Reformed Church?” “Reformed from what?” How do you answer a question […]
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…” (Ephesians 1:3–4) I can remember hearing those words for the hundredth time, yet, for the first time […]
In our every day lives, we typically base our evaluations of people on how well they do. We don’t think, for example, that if someone in our class at school does “D-” work on a paper that they should get an “A.” Further, we don’t like it when our boss says that the lazy guy […]
The Sovereignty of God, which Dr. Fred Klooster defines as that which “expresses the very nature of God as all-powerful and omnipotent, able to accomplish his good pleasure, carry out his decreed will, and keep his promises” is very clear when we see our Sovereign God actively at work in CREATION (ie. as our Creator); […]
In order to address these questions, we will begin with a summary of the traditional reformational answer to them. During the course of the debates of the sixteenth century on the doctrine of justification, the Reformers, who insisted that the believer’s justification is based wholly upon the righteousness of Christ received by faith alone, were […]
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we possess.” Hebrews 4:14 Last month we saw how Jesus, the Christ, was anointed to be our Prophet. The catechism points out that the sinner is not only in […]
January 1988 “I’m not afraid of the charge: You preach the Catechism, not the bible. Proper preaching of the Catechism is biblical preaching through and through.” The Catechism as Text Jelle Tuininga March 1988 “It is so abundantly clear from scripture and our confessions that coming to the Lord’s table involves a confession on our […]
Not your prototypical “60’s child,” the founders of Boise’s Cloverdale United Reformed Church nevertheless trace their beginnings to the close of that turbulent decade. Although some might say the 60’s passed Idaho by, five Christian Reformed families who had moved to the area did not, and began meeting in homes for Bible studies. Classis approval […]