As the PRC Seminary enters its closing weeks of the 2015-16 school year, a few updates are in order.

1. March and April were busy "visitation" months for the Seminary with visits from the fourth-grade classes at Heritage Christian School (March 30 & April 13), from the fifth-grade class of Adams Christian School (April 20), and from the church history students of Heritage Christian High in Dyer, IN (April 22). And the faculty and the students attended conferences at Calvin College (Junius Institute Colloquium on April 1) and First CRC of Byron Center (Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology on April 15-16).

Heritage Christian 4th graders visiting the PRC archives room

Adams Christian 5th graders enjoying fellowship with Seminary faculty and students.

Heritage CHS students prepare to sit in on a class with Prof.B. Gritters.

2. On April 28 and 29 (this Thursday and Friday afternoons) the Seminary will host two lectures by Dr. Tom Reid (Reformed Presbyterian Seminary in Pittsburgh) on the Reformation in France and the French Reformed churches. These lectures will be given to the student body, faculty, and area ministers, but will also be live-streamed on the Seminary YouTube channel. Visit the link at the time of the lecture to watch and listen to these informative lectures (cf. also the attached media link to the full recorded video of the first lecture).

Prof.T.Reid lecturing on the French Reformed tradition.

3.The latest issue of the PR Theological Journal is now available. The April 2016 issue (v.49 #2) features articles by Prof.R. Dykstra, Rev. Josh Engelsma, Prof.R. Cammenga, and a variety of excellent book reviews (see cover image below). Check the Seminary Journal page for all the digital versions of this issue now also available.

4. Remember the faculty and students in prayer as they now in the final weeks of the second semester, with only one week of classes left after this week (end May 6) and then a week of exams (May 9-13).

5. The students are eagerly anticipating their summer internships (July 1 - December 31), as noted here before. Once again, those are scheduled as follows:

• Matt DeBoer in Georgetown PRC (Hudsonville, MI), under Rev.C. Haak
• Brian Feenstra to Loveland PRC (Colorado), under Rev.S. Key
• Joe Holstege to Calvary PRC (Hull, IA), under Rev.C. Griess
• Jonathan Langerak to Edgerton PRC (Minnesota), under Rev.D. Kuiper
• David Noorman to Hope PRC (Redlands, CA), under Rev.B. Huizinga
• Justin Smidstra to Faith PRC (Jenison, MI) under Rev.C. Spronk
• Stephan Regnerus to SE PRC (Grand Rapids, MI), under Rev.W. Langerak

First PRC of Grand Rapids, MI and the Reformed Witness Hour Committee announce the messages scheduled for May 2016 on the RWH radio program.

Rev. Rodney Kleyn, pastor of Covenant of Grace PRC (Spokane, WA) continues his four-month service for the RWH program with a special series on the second coming of Christ and the signs that announce it.

You are encouraged to take in these timely messages and to let others know about them too. Help spread the word about the Reformed Witness Hour, celebrating in 2016 its 75th year of broadcasting the truths of God's sovereign, particular grace!

Below is the schedule of messages, which you will also find attached in pdf form. For stations and time of broadcast, visit the RWH website, where you may also listen to and download past messages from the archive section.

Covenant Reformed News

April 2016  •  Volume XV, Issue 24

Fearing Man and Forgetting God (1)

“I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?” (Isa. 51:12-13).

The practical importance of these inspired words rests upon three facts. First, we are tempted to fear, to fear man. Second, we are sinfully inclined to forget, to forget God. Third, we are tempted to fear man and forget God because of Babylon. Over a century after Isaiah’s prophecy, Israel was taken captive to Babylon. We too live in the Babylon of this evil world, which in 1,001 ways encourages and commands us, “Fear man! Forget the Lord!”

We also need to understand that the verses quoted above constitute part of Jehovah’s response to Israel’s earnest prayer for God to “awake” and wield His mighty arm to redeem His people, as He did when He destroyed the Egyptians at the Red Sea (9-10). Not only does Jehovah promise to ransom His beloved church (11) but He also addresses their fears. Our gracious Father is very practical here, showing His care for His children. He knows that His people’s request for deliverance is mixed with some sinful fear of man, for He sees the hearts of all.

Thus God provides Israel with a twofold comfort. First, He promises to redeem them (a direct answer to their stated request). Second, He addresses their fears (an important response to their unstated struggle).

Various lessons arise out of this for us today. We see here that true believers can and do struggle with the fear of man, to varying degrees and at certain times. You must not think like this: “There is some fear of man in my heart. Therefore, I am not a Christian.” Just look at Israel here. In Isaiah 51, the saints make a powerful and persuasive prayer (9-10), yet God detects some unbelieving fears in their hearts (12-13).

We also learn from this passage that our prayers, even godly prayers, may arise in connection with our fears. So do not think like this either: “There is some sinful fear in my heart. Therefore, God will not hear my prayers.” For what do we learn regarding Israel in Isaiah 51? That Jehovah answered their requests (11-16), despite the fact that their prayers were mixed with some fear of man.

All this encourages us to go to our heavenly Father when we are troubled and fearful. Jehovah alerts Israel to her fears and helps her against them (7-8). Israel prays for redemption (9-10). God promises to ransom her (11) and reasons with her about her fears (12-13). He works in a similar fashion with us too!

When we are afraid or anxious, we must not be reticent in approaching His face or in admitting our unbelieving fears to Him (and seeking His forgiveness and strength to overcome our fears). By His grace, He pardons us and sanctifies us and comforts us. From your reading, singing and meditating upon the Psalms, you know of the many times the Psalmist did this and found relief in his God. We must heed the blessed exhortation: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16)!

It is easy to understand how the Jews were tempted to fear ancient Babylon. Theirs was the army that destroyed Judah and Jerusalem. Babylon was possessed of military power, an imposing legal system and hugely impressive buildings. Babylon was confident in, and proud of, its achievements and abilities. This ethos was evident throughout its mighty empire. This is not unlike the modern Babylon of the world in our own day!

Yet the prophet’s question to Israel is devastating: “who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die” (Isa. 51:12)? For all his pomp, man, even at his best and his most powerful, is mortal. All men have died or are going to die. The great Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has mouldered for over 2,500 years. Likewise, the grave awaits all those who frame ungodly laws to advance their sins and their power. Even the richest and most outwardly prosperous children of Adam are subject to weakness and sickness, pain and ageing—the precursors of death and the everlasting hell that awaits all those who remain impenitent in their sins, and do not seek mercy and forgiveness in the cross of Christ alone.

From the playground bullies to the leaders of our age who misrepresent or mock the Christian faith, and all the wicked who are so highly praised and extolled in our day, as well as the ungodly legislators and rulers of our wicked world—all are mortal and will one day have to stand before the glory of God manifest in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be judged for every thought, word and deed.

Isaiah 51:12 adds that they “shall be made as grass.” The ungodly are fragile and transient, like grass which is cut down and withers away in the desert heat (Ps. 90:5-6), unlike the Word of our God which stands for ever (Isa. 40:6-8).

This is man, fallen and frail man, who is a “son of man” (51:12), just like his father and his father before him: weak, mortal and under God’s wrath. So do not fear him, even if he is rich, attractive and powerful. “Fear God” instead (Ecc. 12:13)! Rev. Angus Stewart

“Listen and Wake Up!” 10 sermons on Isaiah 51:1-52:12, in a handsome box set (CD or DVD), is available from the CPRC Bookstore for £12/set (inc. P&P). Free videos and audios of these sermons can also be found on the CPRC website and YouTube site.

The April 15, 2016 issue of the Standard Bearer is now out and it is another special issue, this time on the subject of "Reformed Marriage."

The issue covers a variety of subjects, from dating and courtship to the meaning of marriage, and from the wedding ceremony to the wedding reception (cf. the cover to the left). The issue makes for timely and instructive reading for young people, young couples, and long-time married couples.

Editor-in-chief Prof.B. Gritters introduces the issue in these words:

If you are interested in this issue or in subscribing to the SB, contact the RFPA at the information on their website.

Rev.Daniel and Sharon Kleyn recently posted some updates on their blog about the visit of Rev. Aud Spriensma and his wife Alva. Rev. Spriensma served a missionary to the Philippines from 2002-2007, and enjoyed renewing old friendships as well as making new ones. Below are some pictures of their visit and work.

The Berean PRC with the Spriensmas in their midst on March 27, 2016.

Rev.Spriensma preaching in the Berean PRC.

Teaching the pastors in Sipalay on Tuesday, March 29.

Rev.Kleyn also reported on the special youth conference held in the Maranatha PRC on April 9. The conference centered on the theme "Biblical Courtship and Marriage" with speeches by Revs.D. Kleyn, V.Ibe, and J.Flores. Below are a few pictures form this event. The speeches may be found here.

The young people with the speakers.

The Organizers and Speakers: Andy Ragual, Rev. Flores, Rev. Ibe, Jeremiah Pascual, Rev. Kleyn

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
Ballymena, NI

13 April, 2016

Dear saints in the Protestant Reformed Churches,

Meetings

The CPRC catechism season ended recently (Monday, 4 April) with tests for most of the twelve students. The children did well, with the encouragement and help of their parents.

After 44 classes over almost a one-year period (literally 364 days), we finished our Tuesday morning classes on Hosea. As well as introducing the prophet and his background in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, we covered his teaching on harlotry, children, agriculture, earlier Old Testament history, Jehovah's law, the covenant, and the knowledge of God. Our new subject is the Mosaic law in Exodus-Deuteronomy, with our first few classes considering the food laws.

Our Wednesday night doctrine class on Belgic Confession 27, after detailed study of the church's four attributes of unity, catholicity, holiness, and apostolicity, covered the election and gathering of the church in our last two meetings. Tonight, we will focus on the preservation of the church. These classes also attract a lot of interest by way of the audios on-line. When we first started our studies on the Belgic Confession, almost five years ago, we did not receive that many hits. Now they are regularly among our most listened to audios (www.cprf. co.uk/audio/belgicconfessionclass.htm).

 After the 11-sermon series on the three chapters of the ninth minor prophet, “Zephaniah and the Day of the Lord,” we are now on “God's Communicable Attributes.” We have admired His longsuffering, grace, mercy, love, and wisdom. This Lord's Day, we will rejoice in Jehovah's righteousness, D.V.

Evangelism

“Our Identity in Christ” was the subject of the last special lecture in the CPRC (Friday, 18 March) (www.cprf.co.uk/audio.htm#identity). Despite paid advertisements in a local paper, a trailer after our Reformed Witness Hour broadcast, an article in the Ballymena Guardian (17 March), the distribution of hundreds of flyers in the area, etc., it was the worst attendance for any speech in the six years we have been in our church building! We generally find that we have larger audiences for lectures which are more distinctive and/or have an historical aspect.

The day before this lecture, the CPRC had a stall at the annual St. Patrick's Day climb at Mount Slemish, a few miles east of Ballymena. Julian Kennedy, Tommy Duncan, and Marco Barone helped distribute Christian tracts to the hikers.

Last week, we were in South Wales for a speech on “Who Is in the Image of God?” (7 April). Discussions with the saints afterwards were good and the lecture is now on-line (www.cprf.co.uk/audio. htm#identity). As a follow-up, I am planning on “Are Unbelievers in the Image of God?” as the title for the next speech in S. Wales. The false notion that everybody is in God's image is being used to proclaim a love and desire of God for the salvation of all men absolutely, and/or to deny total depravity and eternal punishment, and/or to promote homosexuality and ecumenism with false churches and pagan reli-gions. The imago dei is an important subject also because of the errors involving it!

The CPRC uses the Internet in its witnessing. We are getting almost 2,000 people every day on our main website (www.cprc.co.uk) for written materials. This figure excludes those who listen to our many on-line audios.
The last two months saw the addition of 22 translations to our website (www.cprf.co. uk/languages.htm): 10 Hungarian (by our two trans-lators from Hungary, one of whom, Balint, is coming to this summer's conference in Northern Ireland with his wife, Kati); 5 Czech (by a new translator, Rev. Petr Kulik, who got in touch with us through ordering Herman Hoeksema's Reformed Dogmatics); 3 Spanish (chapters from Rev. Ron Hanko's Doctrine According to Godliness); 2 Italian (Covenant Reformed News articles); and 2 Indonesian (including Prof. Engelsma's pamphlet, “As a Father Pitieth His Children: Reformed Child-Rearing”).

There are now 1,800 videos on our YouTube page (www.youtube.com/user/CPRCNI), thanks to the many hours of work by Stephen Murray putting them on-line. Soon we should reach 200,000 views. The number of people joining us for the live webcasting of our Sunday services and lectures is also growing slowly (www.cprf.co.uk/live.html).

BRF

Those of you who have made it to the United Kingdom for all but the most recent British Reformed Fellowship (BRF) conferences will have met Michael Kimmitt. Michael has been a major part of the BRF from its earliest days and served as editor of the British Reformed Journal (BRJ) before Rev. McGeown. Our brother went to be with the Lord (13 February), so Mary and I flew over to North Wales to attend his funeral. The next BRJ will contain a memorial to Michael written by another former BRJ editor, Lind-say Williams.

Chester Mansona of the Limerick Reformed Fellowship (LRF) has recently added about 15 articles from past issues of the BRJ to the BRF website (www.britishreformed.org). New subscribers are al-ways welcome.

The new BRF book, Be Ye Holy: The Reformed Truth of Sanctification, consisting of the speeches at the last BRF conference, is currently being formatted and proofed for publication in the next few months. Any PR church or evangelism committee who would be interested in pre-ordering significant numbers of the book will be offered the work at cost price. Something to bear in mind! I will be sending an e-mail about this to the relevant parties in some weeks' time when we have more facts and figures available, D.V.
Meanwhile, the BRF has been placing advertising, for both the 2016 BRF conference in Northern Ireland on “Behold, I Come Quickly: The Reformed Biblical Truth of the End” and the BRJ, in various British Christian papers. Sadly, the Evangelical Times refused to accept our paid ad for the BRJ and declared that they will no longer accept ads from the BRF or the CPRC. The reason? Because we do not believe that the ever-blessed and omnipotent God earnestly desires to save the reprobate! Faithful creedal Reformed bodies who hold the classic Augustinian position on Jehovah's simplicity and immutability are outside the pale as if they were hyper-Calvinists! Evangelicalism is declining in the UK in numbers, doctrine, and conviction, yet one of the few things they can reject is the truth of God's absolute sovereignty!

Planning for the BRF conference this summer (16-23 July) in Castlewellan Castle is progressing well (http://brfconference.weebly.com). On Monday, 28 March, when driving back after a Lord's Day with the saints in the LRF, Mary and I stopped in at Trim, northwest of Dublin. Though it had come highly recommended, we had not actually checked out this lovely town and its 800-year-old Norman castle before. We were very impressed. It will make an excellent part of one of the conference's two day trips! We are looking forward to seeing both familiar and new faces at the conference in July.

Trim Castle

May the Lord be with you all!

In Christ,
Rev. and Mary Stewart

Midwest Young Adult Retreat - Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camp

Calvary PR Church in Hull, Iowa, with a committee comprised of members from our Midwest churches, is hosting a Young Adult Retreat!  The date for this event is August 15-18, 2016.

Registration opened on April 1 and will remain open until May 31. The retreat will be held at Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camp in NW Iowa from August 15 through 18. To register and for more information, visit the website: www.midwestyaretreat.com

Join the conversation by joining our Facebook Group: 2016 Midwest Young Adult Retreat

For questions, contact Ashley Van Maanen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 712-441-3174. We hope to see you there!