Scripture tells us of Satan that he “abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). He hates the truth and constantly wars against it. While he plays a part, no doubt, in […]
CITIZENS FOR EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM At the present moment the Christian Reformed Church is undergoing a marked change in its thinking concerning tax aid to independent school children. Ten years ago there was little enthusiasm for this proposal, except by some who from personal experience had seen bow equitably to all the system had worked in Holland. […]
Israel had been defeated by the Philistines. Some Israelites got what he thought was a bright idea. With the ark of Jehovah in the midst of the army hostilities should be resumed. That would make victory certain. The idea caught on. The priests Hophni and Phinehas were commissioned to carry the ark. However, in the ensuing […]
The december 1962 issue of The Reformed Journal contains an article by the Reverend Harold Dekker, Associate Professor of Missions in Calvin Theological Seminary, under the title “God So Loved—All Men!” That piece has created a considerable stir in the Christian Reformed Church and beyond. To date the editors of at least three religious periodicals, De Wachter, […]
More than once Dr. James Daane has commented in a less than complimentary way in The Reformed Journal on my saying in God-Centered Evangelism that God could, had he so willed, have brought the elect to heaven by mere power. Most recently Dr. Daane did that in the January, 1963, issue. I did say that. In […]
We laymen have many obligations to our pastors. We must pray for them, and most of us do. We must check up on their preaching and teaching after the manner of the Bereans, who, having heard the apostle Paul, searched the Scriptures daily to make sure he was right (Acts 17: 11 ). Most of us […]
The year 1963 marks the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of the Heidelberg Catechism. This precious document, one of the creeds of a number of Reformed denominations, in this country and abroad, has enjoyed singular popularity among Reformed people ever since Its first appearance. It has been translated into many languages and is still […]
THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH It is not at all difficult to enumerate several characteristics of the Christian church. The teaching of Scripture on the nature of the church is clear. The church is not of human but of divine origin. It was God who established his covenant with Abraham and his seed (Gen. 17:7). […]
This is the fourth in a series of articles in this periodical on the ecumenical problem. The first, by Rev. J. H . Piersma, sketched the history of the ecumenical movement. The second, by Dr. L. Praamsma, dealt especially with the Growth and Objectives of the World Council. The third was on the Basis of […]
Although the Bible cannot be said to stress the divine omnipotence more strongly than it stresses such divine attributes as holiness and love, the truth that God is almighty looms exceedingly large in his self-revelation. So it does also in that confession of the faith of the historic Christian church which is known as the Apostles’ […]