"Covenant Keepers", the youth ministry of the Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church of Singapore (our sister church), has now released the July 2018 issue of "Salt Shakers" (#50),their youth magazine.
The JULY 2018 issue of "SS" is once again filled with interesting and instructive articles, and our PRC young people especially are encouraged to make it part of their reading content.
Below you will find a note from the "SS" Committee introducing the contents of this issue and images of the cover and table of contents. The entire issue is also attached here in pdf form.
CONTENTS
Dear Readers,
Welcome to another edition of the Salt Shakers! We thank our writers for contributing to another worthwhile edition
of this distinctively Reformed magazine, as well as the staff who have put the magazine together. The Salt Shakers
maintains a good balance of younger and older writers, local and foreign. We believe that this practice uniquely
expresses our diversity and unity in the Reformed faith, and manifests the catholicity of the church of Jesus Christ.
In this issue, Prof. David Engelsma pens an intriguing account of the PRC’s founding father – Rev. Herman Hoeksema.
Besides developing the truth of God’s gracious and unconditional covenant with His people in Jesus Christ, Hoeksema
was also instrumental in developing the truth of the unbreakable bond of marriage. Hoeksema saw the deeply
erroneous view of divorce and remarriage, held in many Reformed and Presbyterian churches, that allowed the socalled
“innocent party” of a divorce to remarry. Maintaining his conviction on Scripture’s instruction, Hoeksema
insisted that only physical death breaks the marriage bond because marriage is a picture of God’s unbreakable covenant
of grace with His people in Jesus Christ. The young people in CERC and her sister churches marry in the conviction
of this truth today. We have much to be grateful for Rev. Hoeksema.
It may interest our readers to know that Rev. Hoeksema died in the same year that Singapore became an independent
nation: 1965. Slightly over fifty years since the Lord’s servant went to glory, not many people today would know about
him. But every member of CERC ought to be familiar with his writings. His Reformed Dogmatics, for example, ought
to be standard reading for every office-bearer of CERC.
Rev. den Hartog presses the necessity of reading for every Reformed believer in another article. Where smartphones,
tablets and the mobile internet reign in everyday life today, it is imperative for the Reformed believer to make reading
a vital habit in his life. Satan, the world, and our sinful flesh strive ferociously to extinguish this duty. Our enemies
know that God’s people will be destroyed for lack of knowledge. Let it never be said that it was because we rejected
knowledge (Hos. 4:6).
Parents are instructed to read, and to pass on their reading habits to their children. Covenant children must know
and see that their parents are readers of habit. There is every reason for joy when children know that their parents
enjoy reading, and through reading, are knowledgeable parents. Only by habitual and disciplined reading can parents
faithfully and effectively instruct their covenant children in the Reformed faith.
The Reformed Free Publishing Association (RFPA) is an excellent source of distinctively Reformed literature. Parents
must be encouraged to be book club members so that they an excellent source of reading material for themselves and
their children.
Blessed reading!
Aaron