January 1972

“…one day, probably bursting with self-confidence, I [told] my mother: “I want to be a minister.” And would you believe it, she came right back and said: “I wouldn’t dare be a minister.” “Why not?” I wanted to know. “Because,” she told me with far greater sense than I gave her credit for at the time, “because the responsibility is too great.”

* * * * *

“To recapture this awareness is what the church so sorely needs in our time. The church is in grave peril because by and large this has been a lost chord, a missing note in Christendom today. That awesome office!”

That Awesome Office John Vander Ploeg

February 1972

“…we could propagate serious error if we speak of God’s general revelation in nature as if it were on par with God’s special revelation in Scripture. Due to the coming of sin and the curse, man is no longer able to read God’s revelation apart from ‘the spectacles of Scripture.’”

One “Word of God” or Three? John Vander Ploeg

“…arbitrary absolutes are a most dangerous commodity, for the love of one moment can become the hate of the next.”

Situation Morality: The Ethics of Immaturity John W. Montgomery

March 1972

“…regardless of what science may say, there are incontrovertible considerations that make it exegetically impossible to hold that these were six long periods rather than six regular days.”

Six Days of Creation or Periods? John Vander Ploeg

April 1972

“The wholesale gimmickry by which today’s apostate preachers are trying to kindle religious fire is as pitiful and futile as the antics of the frenzied prophets of Baal who went from bad to worse as they attempted to get their idol to send fire in the showdown on Mount Carmel.”

How to Kindle a Fire John Vander Ploeg

May 1972

“…the Bible really leaves us no room for compromises. What the church teaches must simply be the Word of God, not our private opinions, which, as soon as they diverge from the Word of God, whether the creeds have gotten around to condemn the particular divergence or not, already have the essential character of ‘heresies’.”

What is Heresy? Peter De Jong

June 1972

“Holy Scripture is a tendency-book; it has not been written impartially or neutrally; it is a book with a bias. Its tendency is that of the call to faith in Jesus Christ; its bias is that all men are liars and that only God is trustworthy; it claims that it speaks the Word of that God who is the Sovereign over all and who in His Sovereignty loved the world in Jesus Christ and calls His people to faith and obedience.”

In All Honesty Louis Praamsma

July 1972

“Many churches in our time have lost the gospel because they would not work, and where necessary, fight to keep it. The alternative each church ultimately faces is: Fight for the truth or lose it!”

The Bible in Missouri Peter De Jong

August 1972

…what the Bible called sin and an abomination centuries ago when it was written is still that today. The Book does not change, and woe to anyone who dares to add to it or take away from it to make it fit ‘the new-morality’ times in which we live!”

The Misguided Conscience of a “Christian Queer” John Vander Ploeg

“Three of the most unwelcome concepts today are those of authority, discipline, and obedience.”

Little Ado About Much Johanna Timmer

October 1972

“The vexing problem today is not ‘too many babies.’ The problem is ‘too much sin,’ ‘too much greed,’ failure to use our resources properly, failure to distribute goods wisely and mercifully to the genuinely needy. And yet, it is the ‘un

born’ that are paying the price of parents (married or unmarried) guilt.”

Children: Bane or Blessing Laurie Vanden Heuvel

December 1972

“There are excellent commentaries on the Bible, and many helpful spiritual books. But only in preaching does a living human voice confront us directly as God’s messenger to us.”

In Praise of the Sermon John Timmerman