By the time you read this, the annual meeting of Reformed Believers Publishing will have taken place, the Lord willing. I have no doubt as I am writing this that the evening will be as edifying as it has been in the past. The editor reminds the readers of the ongoing need at Reformed Believers Publishing for financial support to continue publishing Sword and Shield. The magazine is supported entirely by the generosity of its readers moved by the Spirit of Christ. The thought of the board and of the editor is that if the readers are edified by the content of Sword and Shield, then they also will support the publication of Sword and Shield. If that is not the case, then the magazine has had its place and work.
God has given to the magazine a place in the world and will continue that for as long as he is willing. The magazine is sent free of charge every month to those on the mailing list. The purpose of the magazine is to witness to the Reformed truth in this evil age of apostasy in which many claim to teach the Reformed faith but in fact have adopted Arminianism, modernism, and cultural and political activism as their creeds. Sword and Shield is committed to publishing meaty and weighty doctrinal articles in an age not only of erroneous content but also of drivel and fluff, light food that cannot satisfy a hungry soul.
We have seen and are seeing the development of this apostasy in the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC), which denomination was at one time a stronghold of the Reformed faith, but whose theology is becoming increasingly bizarre. One would think that someone, anyone, in the PRC could pick up an issue of The Standard Bearer, the unofficial denominational magazine, and compare it with issues published early in the denomination’s history and sound the alarm that the PRC is a long way theologically from where she started. One would think that someone, anyone, could read through the online discussions of theology by members of the PRC and point out that they sound a lot like those in the Christian Reformed Church. One would think that someone, anyone, who is witness to the increasing involvement of the PRC with parachurch ministries and organizations, as well as her cozy rapprochement with other apostate denominations and ecumenical organizations, could warn that the PRC is very far departed from the voice of her fathers. Where are those who, in the beginning of the Reformed Protestant reformation in 2021, said that when they saw the developments of apostasy in the PRC they would leave? Alas, the Lord has given to them the spirit of blindness, eyes that cannot see, and hearts that cannot understand, lest they be converted and God should heal them. With a man-first theology of repentance, there is only one direction in which the PRC can go and that is to be overrun by a man-centered, man-glorifying, God-dishonoring theology of works-righteousness. Man by his acts of repentance and faith, conversion and obedience—all by grace, of course—enters into the kingdom of God! And the PRC is following the pattern of apostasy seen in other professing Reformed and Presbyterian churches. Sword and Shield was born in the crucible of fighting against that man-first theology and now in its seventh issue is committed to continuing the fight against that theology and its corruption of the Reformed faith. If you are edified by the content of the magazine, consider supporting this cause.
The editor also takes the time to bring before the readership another pressing need for Reformed Believers Publishing. We are in need of copy editors to begin training. The backbone of the publication of Sword and Shield is our copy editors. I daresay that there is hardly a magazine published in the world today that is as thoroughly and professionally copy edited as Sword and Shield. To take up that work requires extensive training, so that the quality of the magazine can continue, the Lord willing, into the future. The position requires a working knowledge of English grammar and syntax and the style sheet of Reformed Believers Publishing. It is a labor of love. It requires a love for theology, a love for the cause of Sword and Shield, and a love for the truth for which the magazine stands. It will not hurt to have a little patience and courage too to deal with a grumpy writer who does not like having someone muck with his commas or to ask uncomfortable questions of a writer who thinks his sentence is clear, when it is in fact about as clear as mud. If there is someone who is interested, the editor encourages him or her to contact the board to inquire further.
In this issue we have another meditation by Rev. Herman Hoeksema on the book of Zechariah. These meditations were written by him in the late 1930s and early 1940s in the Dutch language and were published in The Standard Bearer. The editor has been translating them into English. I find them to be very timely, uplifting, edifying, and encouraging. These meditations alone ought to show the members of the PRC that they are very far indeed from the faith of their spiritual father. I intend to continue to translate and publish these meditations in Sword and Shield.
This month’s Running Footmen contribution from Ally Ophoff takes up the sword against the abysmal theology of the PRC and her corruption of the Reformed creeds in particular. And Mary Lou Vermeer in an Insights contribution demonstrates how that abysmal theology corrupts the reading of the scriptures also. Man, man, man—all that the PRC has is man. We warned her. She did not listen, and she cast us out. Straining at a gnat, she swallows a camel with little difficulty.
Reverend Ophoff finishes his brief review of the very unchristian and, indeed, very antichristian behavior of the Oostras and their supporters. Christ said that wicked apostates would haul his people before judges, and that is exactly what happened. For carrying out the work of discipline against impenitent officebearers in the church, we were hauled before a judge. We are honored and count it all joy so to suffer for Christ’s sake, for so did the wicked apostates to the prophets, the apostles, and Christ himself.
May the Lord speed the contents of this issue to the hearts of the readers!
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