January 1958

“The gospel of saving grace is a mystery in the sense that we can know it only when it is revealed to us. It is undiscoverable by us.”

* * * * *

“Man was, at best, a fallible creature. He was capable of falling into sin. But the glory of the redeemed man will be confirmed in holiness, forever beyond the possibility of apostasy.”

The Mystery of God’s Will Leonard Greenway

“Jesus’ prophetic work, that is His teaching, has no power over the hearts of men apart from His priestly work of substitutionary sacrifice on the cross and His present intercession at the right hand of God.”

* * * * *

“All of this implies that Jesus Christ is not and cannot be acknowledged as Lord except by those who are forgiven and born again. We may summon the nation to acknowledge Christ as Lord, and we should not fail to sound forth the challenge; but the challenge is not merely that men shall listen to His teachings and obey His precepts. It is basically the challenge to repent of sin, turn to Jesus Christ as the divine Savior, accept Him as our Lord and Master, and therefore to demand that all those who have surrendered to Him shall regulate their lives by His will.”

Christ’s Lordship and the Cross Henry J. Kuiper

February 1958

“The Bible is filled with promises, but basically there is only one promise, one prevailing promise, to which all other promises of grace are attached. It is the promise of salvation first given in the Garden of Eden.”

Sealed With the Spirit Leonard Greenway

“[T]he Church must require of its members a confession of adherence to the truth and at the same time recognize its calling to build up those members in the knowledge and love of the truth. If it fails to let the light of the gospel shine in all its clarity, if its trumpet gives forth an uncertain sound, it cannot satisfy the spiritual hunger of its members, nor will it be an effective agency for the conversion of sinners.”

Do We Want Community Churches? Henry J. Kuiper

“An interpretation of philosophy either honors God or it honors man; it either regards God or the created universe as ultimate. If man and the universe are made into ‘god.’ then by virtue of their inner contradictions the Christian believes, such systems of thought will eventually prove to be self-destroying.”

Orthodoxy…Conservative or Radical? W. Stanford Reid

“When there are men who no longer want to preach to wrath of God, because He is a God of love; when there are leaders who are afraid of being militant and shun controversy concerning matters of faith, we do not see how we can say that all is well and that orthodoxy is evenly distributed.”

* * * * *

“[W]hen men finally reach the stage of denying the essentials of the faith as the virgin birth of our Lord, and the historicity of Genesis, or when they begin to chisel away at the verbal inspiration of Scripture, they have reached the last stage of Liberalism. But – and this is the point to observe – men who come to such denials have for a long time had an attitude, an approach, and a spirit which may be called liberal.”

* * * * *

“We build on what God in His grace has given to the churches in the past, and we intend to hold fast to the faith once delivered to the saints – also in theology!”

* * * * *

“The fear of theological liberalism is not simply a reflex of the immigrant mind; it is a realistic appraisal of the world in which we live.”

Is Our Theology Vital? Henry R. Van Til

March 1955

“An unbelieving teacher may know a lot about world history, but it takes a Christian to see the real meaning of history.”

The Head of the Church Leonard Greenway

“The purpose of our creeds is not to put them on display as antiques, or to serve merely as records of the doctrinal insights of former generations. They are the Church’s official interpretation of Scripture in its most fundamental teachings.”

* * * * *

“Those who cannot subscribe to our confession are free to join the Church with which they are in closest agreement. As long as not all Christians can agree on the proper interpretation of Scripture, denominations are necessary.”

Should We be a Confessing Church? Henry J. Kuiper

April 1958

“[P]art of Satan’s subtlety is to persuade us of his nonexistence so that he can more successfully entrap us in his snares.”

Dead in Trespasses and Sin Leonard Greenway

“It is almost unavoidable not to come away with the impression that here (in Genesis 1) is a plain statement of the how as well as the that of creation.”

Reading Genesis 1 Martin H. Woudstra

“We may indeed encounter scowling faces and experience bitter opposition by the world when we refuse to acknowledge its redeemers and deliverers in social matters. Let us nevertheless go on ‘in Kuiper’s line’ as people of the antithesis!”

Antithesis – Not Adaption Henry A. Venema

May – June 1958

“The Bible knows nothing of a cooperative salvation. A dead person cannot assist in his own resurrection.”

* * * * *

“The eye that sees salvation in the person and work of the Son of God, the ear that hears the good news of the Gospel, the hand that lays hold upon the Savior, are all of God. He makes Christ real to us. The motions of sin within us are ours. The movements of grace are His.”

Saved By Grace Leonard Greenway

“Americans must learn not only that neutrality is impossible but also that all education is religious. All education serves some god.”

The Deeper Problem in Education Walter A. De Jong

July – August 1958

“[A] good Christian mother can, just by her attitudes and actions, do much to give her child a correct understanding of what God is like, and how He deals with us.”

* * * * *

“As important as Sunday School, Christian school, and catechetical instruction are, they may never be a substitute for training in the home.”

* * * * *

“If a mother wishes the faith to be important to her child, it must be evident to the child that the faith is important to his mother.”

Occupation..Housewife and Mother “Peter” Pavitt Palmer

“Time and space figure so prominently in the affairs of mankind, that we need constantly to remind ourselves that time and space are created categories.”

* * * *

“Omnipotence is not dependent on or limited by time.”

* * * * *

“[T]he miracles of the Bible, both of the Old Testament and the New Testament, indicate that time was a negligible factor, while in God’s providential dealings a day may do the work of a thousand years.”

* * * * *

“The solution of the problems of the first chapters of Genesis does not lie in making time and space infinite, but in the recognition of the Almighty power of that God whose wonders of old the Bible is constantly telling us.”

The Time Element in Genesis 1 and 2 Oswald T. Allis

September 1958

“Reformed teachings are not special teachings which some have added to Christian truths believed by all true followers of Christ. Reformed doctrines are identical with Christian Doctrines.”

* * * * *

“Let us not become charmed by the fallacy that the success of our mission work and the strength of the Church are to be measured by the number of those whom we receive as members.”

* * * * *

“The number of those who want Christ only as their ‘personal Savior’ is larger than those who are ready to receive Him as Lord.”

Should a Reformed Church Do Reformed Mission Work? Henry J. Kuiper

“Paul felt a great obligation toward his fellow men. He was indebted to bring them the gospel of saving grace. Paul makes us feel that our neighbors have a right to expect us to be interested in their souls since we have the great treasure of the gospel. To keep the day of glad tidings to ourselves is doing our fellowmen an injustice.”

* * * * *

“[T]he believer is anointed a prophet, priest, and king. This means not only that he is appointed by God to proclaim the gospel, but also that he is qualified to do so by the Holy Spirit.”

Calvinism and Passion for Souls Katie Gunnink

October 1958

“[T]he theory of evolution was not the product of a scrupulous observation of facts, but, to the contrary, a product of philosophy.”

* * * * *

“[I]t is necessary to emphasis that the truth of evolutionism, its great popularity notwithstanding, is only a theory, a hypothesis, a product of speculation. It is an assumed position upon the basis of which men reason and conduct experiments. These are not statements contrived by anti-evolutionists, but facts admitted by evolutionists themselves.”

* * * * *

“[T]he two branches of science which are supposed to supply the evolutionists with information are geology and palaeontology – the rocks and the fossils. Now evolutionists will reason and draw conclusions from one to the other and visa versa. At times the rocks and their strata are used to determine the age of fossils found in them and at other times the fossils are used to determine the age of the rocks….This is reasoning in a circle and an error which, I suppose, would not be countenanced in any other science.”

Evolution…Still a Guess Nicholas J. Monsma

November 1958

“[I]n heaven our Lord will be the very center of interest and attention, for He will be all glorious, and we will no longer be self-centered. We will not be able to turn our eyes away from Him.”

What are the Souls in Heaven Doing? William Hendriksen

December 1958

“Satan is public enemy number one! He laughs at legislation. He chuckles at New Year’s resolutions. He listens to marriage vows and then proceeds, wherever possible, to set a trap that often springs before the first anniversary. He attends church faithfully with the one desire that ‘strange fire’ shall be offered to Jehovah.”

The Wiles of the Devil Leonard Greenway

“It takes a good deal of spiritual living to be able to reach the height of adoration in our devotions.”

Christmas Adoration Henry J. Kuiper

“No matter how good our gifts are, if they are divorced from an acceptance of God’s gift, then they are not, and cannot be, pleasing to Him.”

Some Thoughts on Giving “Peter” Pavitt Palmer