Defence of the Truth is a website which aims to provide articles which give reformed direction and ‘test the spirits’ in submission to the truth of the Holy Bible, the doctrine of which is confessed in the Three Forms of Unity – The Belgic Confession of Faith, the Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of Dort.
Latest articles
Luther Day
The German town, Jüterbog, was celebrating. Tetzel, a representative of the pope, had arrived. A jubilant crowd welcomed his carriage as it came into view, escorted by several heavily armed knights. Following the usual official welcome the procession made its way to the church, led by an official carrying...
Of podcasts and covenant awareness
A couple of years ago Rev. C. Bouwman spent some months in Mt Nasura and addressed the older and younger men of the congregation about Neo (new) Calvinists such as John Piper, John MacArthur, R. C. Sproul and a number of others who have a large following through their...
“I forgive” and Christ’s request on the cross for the Father to forgive
“I forgive him,” said Erika Kirk to a huge audience a few days after her husband, Charlie, was shot dead by Tyler Robinson. A few weeks earlier Ian Wilkinson, who survived eating poisonous mushrooms, offered forgiveness to Erin Patterson who had killed Ian’s wife and two friends by feeding them a...
Pluriformity thinking in the RCNZ? An RCNZ minister accepts a call to the CRCA
An elderly widow, still sharp as a tack, drew my attention to a notice in the July issue of Faith in Focus (magazine of the Reformed Churches of New Zealand - RCNZ). The notice simply said that Rev. R. Noppers of the RCNZ had accepted a call to a...
A rejected letter-to-the-editor relating to “the worldwide church” and “image of God”
A few weeks ago I submitted a letter-to-the-editor of Una Sancta in response to the following two paragraphs in an article by Rev. Erik van Alten about Identity Politics. I want to state up front that I appreciated the main message of his article about this important subject. As...
“Forgive Us Our Debts”: Exploring the Spiritual Depth of the Fifth Petition
When Christians pray the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, some say “Forgive us our trespasses” or “Forgive us our sins”. The Heidelberg Catechism doesn’t use the word ‘sins’ or ‘trespasses’ but chooses the term debts, offering a deeper meaning into what we are truly asking of God. This...
Pure Preaching
This article is by Rev. P Helmus of the Reformed Church of Zuidhorn, The Netherlands. It appeared in De Bazuin, March 2025, and was subsequently translated by Sr Rita Ballast. The translation is published here with Rev. Helmus's kind permission. JN
Every Sunday, we go to church to listen to...
Be Sober
“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).
We are called to be sober. That’s the opposite of being drunk. Someone who is not...
80 years liberation from a self-proclaimed saviour and from Nazi tyranny
The war with Germany officially ended 8 May 1945, 80 years ago (the war with Japan would continue a little longer). This cataclysmic war cost tens of millions of people their lives. Many others were traumatised for life. Cities were bombed into piles of rubble. In terms of human...
The Papacy and the Death of Pope Francis
According to an editorial in The West Australian newspaper 22/4, Pope Francis was “a reformer”. We, reformed people, have always understood the term ‘reformer’ to apply to people who sought to bring the church back to the truth of Scripture and obedience to God’s Word. That’s why we call...