RFPA Blog News

“Here I stand” in the fear of the Lord

Christ and His Church Through the Ages: Vol. 1 - A Review

What follows is a review by Rev. Martyn McGeown of Christ and His Church Through the Ages: Vol. 1: The Ancient Church (AD 30-590), written by Herman Hanko. _______________ Dan VanUffelen, teacher of church history at Covenant Christian High School in Michigan USA, with the collaboration of one of the author’s granddaughters and with the help of many others, has achieved his dream: “a layman’s guide to church history, a textbook for both old and young that [celebrates] the great doctrine of sovereign...

Peter (5): Maintaining an Assurance of Persevering 

What follows is the fifth and final entry of a series of articles written by Rev. Martyn McGeown. The third entry is Peter (4): “Much more careful and solicitous to continue in the ways of the Lord.” _______________ Let us recap: the Canons teach us several important truths about backsliding and recovery. We have been studying Peter as an example of such saints. First, Peter “sinfully deviated from the guidance of divine grace,” which was his fault, not God’s (Canons 5:4). Second,...

Peter (4): “Much more careful and solicitous to continue in the ways of the Lord”

Grace does not make a man passive. Grace makes a man diligent. When a child of God is graciously restored from melancholy falls and delivered from enormous sins, the result is not presumption, as if the child of God thinks that he can walk in the same sins again without God’s chastisement, but even more diligence: “more diligently.” And if he does again become presumptuous, such a child of God is simply provoking God to increase the blows of his rod, so that he “falls[s] into more grievous torments of conscience” (Canons 5:13). Who can contemplate that without trembling?

The Blessedness of Freedom from Condemnation

Peter (3): Certainly and Effectually Renewed to Repentance 

That’s how the experience of salvation works. We are emotional creatures, not unfeeling blocks of wood. Sin affects our emotions. Sin affects our consciences. Sin is a matter not only of outward activity, but also of the heart. That’s why sin is called uncleanness and filth in the Bible: it makes us feel dirty. That’s why salvation is called cleansing and washing: not only does it make us clean, but it makes us feel clean.

When you Pray AUDIOBOOK only 5$ until TOMORROW!

Peter (2): Losing the Sense of God’s Favor for a Time

Oh, the bitterness of sin! Oh, the misery of a guilty conscience! Oh, the misery of one who grieves the Holy Spirit! Do not provoke the Lord to chastise you, for he has many instruments with which to bring you to repentance and he knows exactly which rod to use to break your stubborn heart. Unlike an earthly father, he does not sob helplessly while his children go on in sin, but neither does he smile benignly. Instead, in love he applies the rod to bring us to repentance. And yet he never applies that rod, painful as it is, in his hatred, but always and only in his love. If you want to call the blows from the Father’s rod the experience of the Father’s favour and fellowship, the Canons do not: they call it the loss of the sense of God’s favour (Canons 5:5), which is “more bitter than death” (Canons 5:13). 

Peter fell. Peter fell lamentably. But Peter did not fall beyond the power of God’s grace to restore him. 

“Through Many Dangers” - COMING EARLY OCTOBER!

The Battle of Tebbs Bend: "One of the most outstanding small victories in the Civil War” ~ historian James Ramage. Are you familiar with the Battle of Tebbs Bend? Read an excerpt from chapter 20 below of Though Many Dangers by P.M. Kuiper to learn about this major victory for the 25th Michigan Infantry Regiment, the Dutch Reformed volunteers from Holland, Michigan. Read the excerpt   *These books will NOT be sent automatically to book club members, only Gold Star members. All others...

Rev. Jason L. Kortering: In memoriam

RFPA Annual Meeting 2021

The Reformed Free Publishing Association would like to invite everyone to our annual meeting. Professor Brian Huizinga will deliver a timely speech: “2021 in the PRC: Whom the LORD Loveth, He Chasteneth.” The purpose of this speech is to provide a Scriptural understanding of and response to recent significant events that have unfolded in the Protestant Reformed Churches. The meeting will be held Thursday, September 23, at Trinity Protestant Reformed Church, 385 Van Buren St, Hudsonville, MI, 49426. It starts at 7:30pm. The...

Peter (1): Sinfully Deviating From the Guidance of Divine Grace

by Rev. Martyn McGeown  In Canons 5:4 the Reformed faith addresses the question of “lamentable falls” that sometimes occur in the lives of God’s people. One prominent example of a saint who fell lamentably was Peter, whom Canons 5:4 mentions. In the same fifth head of doctrine the Reformed fathers address a number of related topics connected to such lamentable falls.  First, as we shall examine in this blog post, the Canons address the cause of such falls, ascribing the blame...

“Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc?” Non!, or, “Don’t Kill the Rooster!”

Holding Fast Our Profession, by Herman Hoeksema

Looking unto Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our profession.

Without that look of faith, that constant look upon him, you will surely be swallowed up by the waves of temptation and tribulation. But seeing him, you will be safe and steadfast, without fear of wavering.