Is a potential "Psaltergate" a luxury the Orthodox Presbyterian can afford?

 
The latest edition of New Horizons magazine has several articles regarding the new Psalter project undertaken by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and our brothers and sisters in the faith in the United Reformed Churches in North America. There was one article in particular that aroused the ire of one of the most respected OPC elders in Western Pennsylvania. The article in question was described by him and several others as "brusque", "staccato" etc. My purpose here is not to grind axes and name names. My purpose here is to shed my perspective on the potential pitfalls of placing such inordinate emphasis on this ecumenist initiative... One predicated upon the misnomer of exclusive psalmody.

One of the main shortcomings cited about Calvinists is our tendency to throw down on each other over the nonessentials; as opposed to endeavoring a unified front against the greater enemies of our faith. . The latter is a lot more in sync with the Great Commission and, had we thus engaged in the mainstream

.........................................this could quite easily have been prevented!!!!!!!!!!!!


This is part of the danger inherent, to my view , of collaborative efforts  such as these.  Such endeavors implicitly  raise the bar of  toleration of  doctrinal error.  This new Psalter, by its very being ,  flags the implication that the doctrinal errors which fuel exclusive psalmody are not only tolerable , they are to be tolerated.  Let's quickly itemize a few of the historical raspberries:

• The spiritual songs and hymns from other parts of the Bible are okay for use in the home, but are a no-no in church.. Talk about your latently papist assertions !!  What's next- rosaries and scapulars?!
• That all of our forebears ( Covenanters, Puritans, Westminster divines)  were exclusive psalmists.
• That Calvin, Theodore Beza and the divines in Geneva, Switzerland were exclusive psalmists.
•  That exclusive psalmody is in accordance with the Westminster standards.

There is another danger that we would be derelict not to consider. Such an inordinate emphasis on a proposed new Psalter, or the OPC's collaboration with the URCNA could threaten to prioritize ecumenicity at the exclusion or expense of sound doctrine! In other words, are we doing this in the vein of a more sound/healthy/well-rounded liturgical experience? Or are we placating to the URCNA in the interest of ecumenical relations ?

If it ain't broke, why fix it?


The Trinity Hymnal and the Book of Psalms for Singing are splendid repositories for the expression of faith in song. The soundness of our worship has only been enhanced in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the glory given to God is unquestionable in either book. There are better ways to enhance discourse within NAPARC than to invest thousands of dollars in a new publication which tacitly raises the bar for toleration for anything rooted in doctrinal error! In this case, it's exclusive psalmody.

Were collaborative efforts in the ecumenical vein which tacitly approve toleration of theological error not the recipe which proved the hemlock for the Presbyterian faith in the mainline????


Precisely where did this idea get started that the interest of Federative unity should, under any circumstances, eclipse, the soundness of worship?

Should said unity ever be endeavored if there were the slightest risk of disunity or spiritual marginalization in one's own denomination? Whatever happened to "charity begins at home"?

 As of about a year ago, my church in Pennsylvania became one of only five in the entire OPC to engage in exclusive psalmody after the call of worship. I've gone on record that capitulating to the exclusive psalmists in my church was a mistake. I maintain that strictly on Biblical, historical and catechetical grounds with no regard  to who might find that personally objectionable! This is an issue that transcends personalities and cliques and I find manipulating the liturgical architecture in any degree simply to please a few persons offensive.

 Where does it end?-I'm thinking of course of the slippery slope. The derisiveness that could be potentially wrought is not worth the effort. Obviously, the Apostle Paul did not mean that each one of us is responsible for memorizing a particular Psalm of David in I Corinthians 14:26!!!!!

The reason given for the acquiescence in question was to strike a "compromise". I'm sorry, but are we here to cater to ecclesiastical cabals or cliques or to glorify God in Christ?!?! It's really a zero-sum proposition..... The Bible commands us to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs in corporate worship..........period. I need not elucidate on the latently papist aftertaste that leaves.

I'm aware of Martin Luther's assessment that the "Psalms of David is the Bible in miniature form". But he also said  that "My conscience is captive to the word of God"...

 

What's wrong with what we have??? The Psalmodic deference is sufficient!!!

Christ and His atonement is self revelatory, from Genesis to Revelation. This is a position that my exclusive psalmist brothers gladly concur with me on and this is what most hold Luther meant  when he referenced the Psalms of David. If the proponents of exclusive psalmody hold to the inerrancy of Scripture as implacably as they claim they do, and I would like to think they do........ How then do they endeavor the perichoresis between exclusive psalmody and the hymns and spiritual songs the Word of God commands us to sing?

The intent was not to revisit an argument  addressed several times in Glencairn Presbyterian. However, I remain very passionate against certain "democratic" tendencies inherent in the Reformed tradition. Certainly, broader, more comprehensive discourse between those in our faith of the evangelical stripe is a lofty and noble goal- I take no issue whatsoever. My issue lies in the ghastly tendency to either manipulate the liturgical architecture or tacitly condone positions that to any degree- no matter how slight or peripheral- compromise the soteriological or liturgical integrity of the Kirk Militant.  

    
 The enemies of the faith gain momentum in the mainstream media by the day........


We ain't got time or resources for dumb stuff!!...........


Bottom line.

Is there any such thing as being "natively susceptible" to the Gospel?

Isaiah 53:12

 Therefore will I give him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was counted with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and prayed for the trespassers.


Last week in church, Rev. Miller preached on the subject.  To my mind, it ranks among the more highly provocative subject matters in the entire sphere of conjecture involving the sovereign grace of God in the stewardship over the covenant appointed unto men.   Our faith indeed is a wondrous and prolific historical repository. Calvinistic doctrine and the governmental construct engendered by it have far-reaching implications and have impacted the Western world in so many ways,, both directly and pervasively, time does not permit a complete elucidation  on the subject.  When our hale and hearty ancestors  bid a  tearful farewell to Europe so long ago, just how pressing was the matter in their minds of leaving such an indelible signature on the general way of life in this quarter of the earth?  From the Mayflower compact to the  sermon  preached by the Rev. Thomas Hooker in 1638 that "grandfathered" the U.S. Constitution.  From the Mecklenburg Resolution in North Carolina to the 13 of us that signed the Declaration of Independence a year later.  From the seven of us that have been in the White House to the scores of mayors, judges , senators , journalists , doctors.....

  I don't usually piggyback off of my pastor sermons . But, Rev. Miller talked about the position taken by many (and his view was that it is a convoluted one) that one's bloodlines make one natively susceptible to the faith and to the Gospel. Certain proprietary sentiments are evidenced even today, as one notes the subtle  differences between English and Scottish Presbyterians. Dutch Presbyterians do it a tad differently than their German counterparts-. They in turn do a little bit differently than the Irish.....then there are the Scots Irish. Rev. Miller can attest more than I of the cultural/proprietary contributions made by our counterparts in the southern hemisphere.

Did God, in the peculiar integralities of his everlasting righteousness foreordain men of Anglo-Saxon and Scottish blood to be the highest stewards of Covenant theology?

 Just last week the Rev. Dr.  David Graves, a likely successor to our beloved pastor Steve Miller, led our worship at Nashua . When I  was informed by member the Session he was coming, I jumped on my computer and did some serious research on him and was delighted to learn of the illustrious path God placed him on.  In addition,I listened to several of his sermons on sermonaudio.com.  Strongly recommended by our presbytery's  Stated Clerk Emeritus, the Rev. Everett De Velde, he did not disappoint.  Here is a  young man with  zeal and prolific exegetical gifts.  Indeed, he is a strong witness for Christ just yet, in his late 30s. God forgive me, another reason I  liked him is because of his English last name.

 As enticing and subliminal as these historically romanticized trappings can be at times,we have to  rail against them.  Believe me when I tell you, it's easy for the best of us to take the notion on a subconscious level . Riding through the rolling foothills of Western Pennsylvania, one would have to be culturally blind- indeed abysmally ignorant - to not discern the " historical,cultural and political signature" of our faith tradition.  Such notions are not in keeping with the Great Commission and , more importantly,contrary to the Gospel.

 The Bible makes that clear- Not to mention the 16th chapter of the Scots Confession of 1560

 Of course culture has an impact; pursuant to the ability to assimilate to the preeminent culture of a church- that's why God crafted it.  To a measure, the degree to which you are acclimated to English culture, for instance,  may have a bearing on the  intensity with which you would visit the Westminster Standards.   The same thing applies for those of Dutch descent who are , by the mercy of God , inclined to believe - pursuant to any inclinations for the Three Forms of Unity. But these predilections are not to be confused with the gift of faith itself!  The call of Abram by God from the Ur people of the Chaldeans to be the father of many nations underscores that a given lineage alone is neither fodder for  nor a barrier to the walk of faith in Christ.  Nothing can amend the will of God.... Nothing can  annul eternal decree of election.

•  Not heritage
• Not education
• Not tradition
•  Not culture

                                Only the Blood of the Risen Christ !!







 

A good theological discussion to start of 2014 from my good friend, the Rev Jim Tuckett.

Every so often we are afforded the privilege of random discourse on a particular facet of our theology   as members of the Westminster Fellowship.  The Rev. Jim Tuckett; who has presided over our fellowship for several years now, has once again tossed the  gauntlet for very relevant and meaningful discussion. I like to share my personal perspective about the intent of the Westminster Divines in England. I'd like also to strongly preface what was not intended by them and certainly not intended by the Word of God!  

 

 

 

 

 

The Westminster Confession teaches:

Chapter 33: Of the Last Judgment 1: God has appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father.  In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged,  but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil. Does this mean there will be gradations of rewards in Heaven and punishments in Hell?  If so, how do you interpret this?

 

 

Yours in Christ,Jim 

 

 

When taken out of proper context, this paragraph would lead an uninformed observer to deduce that our reward in Heaven is proportional to our merits exuded here on earth and how we thus engaged them.Yet we are reminded in the words of Paul in his Letter to the church at Ephesus.  In the second chapter verse 10;

 

 " For we are created in the workmanship of Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

 

 Does this present a conundrum? I think it in fact healthy to ask ourselves how, if at all,do we reconcile this catechetical passage  as being deliberately reflective of God's Word revealed  to us in the Scriptures.

 

 To accomplish this,it is needful for the elect not to search for confessional, but rather Biblical perspective. The Apostle Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, Chapter 8, verse 23 we read

 

"We cannot be justified by the law because by the law is the knowledge of sin."

 

In verse 28, we are taught

 

 " Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."

 

 So the Bible is very clear on this.  Now when  compared to the Scriptures,it certainly nullifies the implication carried by paragraph 1 of chapter 33 of the Westminster Confession. Out of context and by itself, in almost negates the Reformed theology of its 17th century architects.

 

But look a little deeper ....In chapter 9 article 3 of the WCF, the elect are also reminded:

 

 " Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto."

 

The answer is simple. Indeed we all will stand before the Judgment Seat of God; whereupon the wheat shall be separated from the tare. The word "according"  was never meant to imply proportional to the merit of one that will one day stand before the Judgment Seat.  Anymore that our "goodness" can be gauged by one's knowledge of the Scriptures, confessions or our ability to recite them ver batim.   The goodness we see in man is actually not man's goodness, but God's. The intent of the Westminster divines most certainly was not to convey the notion that you can carve a better, larger or sweeter portion for yourself in the life to come based on the exactitude you employ while yet on earth. 

 

 

 Case in point:

 

 Does the mountain lion stalk deer to secure his place in the cat family? No. His habits, appearance, biology and predation techniques reflect that he is a member? All of the above were deigned for him by God to sustain him long before he appeared on this planet. He's a cat...period.

 

 

 

Every man,woman and child in Heaven knows that, apart from the Father's effectual calling, they deserve to be sipping on a brimstone julep on the banks of the river Styx alongside of Madalyn Murray O'Hare or Cynthia Bolbach!

 

 

Without Christ as the sole advocate, a respected minister, elder or theologian is no more "deserving" of Heaven then a murderer, a sodomite or a five dollar harlot !!!!!!

 

The Bible makes it clear that we cannot broker for ourselves.........we have no bargaining power....end of story. 

 

 

 

 The very notion  reeks of  "celestial meritocracy"; which was the very papist misnomer that helped trigger the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the first place!

 

 

 

 

In his exegetical magnum opus, The Death of Death In the Death of Christ, the Rev John Owen expounds as follows:

 

" The  merit or atonement of Christ was to the Arminian like an ointment in a box set out in the Gospels to the view of all. And those who will ,by their own strength, would lay hold upon it and apply it to themselves would be healed".

 

 

How can you use a tendency that was given to you by God Himself to bargain with Him?  It doesn't make sense,does it ?  Truly what the divines in England were referencing was the range of will that man has; which -I would add -is neither free nor absolute. The reference was there to remind the elect that, at some point, you will be called on the carpet to answer for your  indiscretions - irrespective of how minute or egregious they may be. It's all foreordained  by an omnipresent, omnipotent an omniscient Creator. A Creator who,while slow to anger, would doubtlessly bring his justice to bear at the foreordained time! Total depravity, to say the least, precludes man's ability to enhance his station in the least with God. We are to take comfort not on our own merits, but only on the atoning power of Christ and the transforming power of the Gospel. For it is the Gospel alone that has satisfied the penalty of death of which all of man is deserving and from which the elect have been reprieved.    

 

 

 

 

 

Indeed the intent of the Westminster Assembly was not to suggest you could wax the synergistic to feather  your own nest in this life for the next. In fact, quite the contrary.They soberly remind us how pitifully unable we are to do any such thing!!



I'd like to dedicate this entry to my dad, Mr. Harold Thomas-who entered the Kingdom of God nineteen years ago, today!!

 

  

 

Reflections on the Christian worldview and education that reflects it

 

 

 

After a hiatus, I returned the Grand Canyon University to finish my history degree. I've finished my first course with an A- in my Christian Worldview class. The instructor was Rev. Brett Berger, former interim senior pastor of the First Baptist Church in Glendale Arizona. I enjoyed his teaching style and the culture of interaction engendered by it. I thank God for being able to go back to Grand Canyon University!!! As public institutions of learning in this country has seemingly slipped irretrievably into the  Guevarist abyss, I'd shutter to consider alternatives  to Christian education at this point; barring some sweeping epiphany and a violent usurpation of the reins of power and influence from the God hating promulgators of crass revisionism in the academic world!

 

But I digress.......

 

Going to that class simply reaffirmed for me how pervasive our worldviews are and how they impact virtually every facet of our daily living. For the elect the stakes are high; as the voice of the godless left seems to grow louder by the minute. Grand Canyon University is a wonderful educational environment for those not inclined to be enmeshed in the vulgar moral relativism the media that these so-called national leaders and educators try to pass off as that which reflects the values of the majority of our nation.

 

For my readers who are contemplating earning or finishing their degree, I would strongly recommend Grand Canyon University. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention which, while not solidly Calvinistic, offers a strong undercurrent from which a Calvinist  can draw great perspective and solid academic interaction. Now if you'll recall, I did an article several months back concerning the doctrinal polarization of the SBC. To be frank, Grand Canyon University reflects that polarization to a measure.

 

To that end, I openly charge Grand Canyon University to use its vast influence and prestige to be a rudder for the larger denomination. I have already engaged several faculty, staff and students to more unflinchingly review the classical doctrine of the Baptist faith. I have challenged several of them to review the sermons and teachings of Baptist divines like Rev. Roger Williams, john Gill or Benjamin Keach..If the leadership in the Southern Baptist convention is as concerned as they claim to be about what has polarized the denomination against itself, it need look no further than their own confessions and original Biblically responsible expositors  for remedy!

  

 This the kind of interaction the Bible calls for, now isn't it? This is what I pledge to share with members of both  faculty and staff of Grand Canyon University for as long as I'm a student there. This kind of discourse is the only prophylactic that guarantees some semblance of protection from the wolves in sheep's clothing who masquerade around God's garden of the church on earth looking to inflict damage or wreak havoc anytime they are afforded the opportunity.  There is no reason for the Southern Baptist Convention, or any evangelical Protestant body politic for that matter, to be  divided against itself, with Calvinists in the one camp and Arminians in the other.

 

 The other extraordinary benefit is that exchanges such as  these equip us when we go out into the career world and marketplace.  The recent ordeal  of  Phil  Robertson from "Duck Dynasty" underscores the visceral intolerance for traditional Christian values demonstrated by the so-called tolerant liberal front!  To exacerbate matters, this poor guy was actually compared  to the bus driver that called the police on Rosa Parks! I've heard much in the vein of the disingenuous from liberals -but  this latest statement from Mr." I am somebody" takes the cake!!! Mrs. Parks is quite likely rolling over in her grave in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit; as the comparison was a most vulgar  insult to the steadiness ..... the certitude... ... the righteousness of her cause!!! 

 

                 I was personally appalled....being partly of African heritage, myself!!

 

Folks,  if it can happen to celebrities, it can doubtlessly happen to us.  And what better way to more effectively combat and deflect the outrageously disingenuous slings and arrows of the radical left then to meditate  on God's Word day and night and by sharpening each other through witness and exchange.

 

 In closing, I wish to extend my hope to all of my readers that your Christmas was a merry one. Also, I wish to extend a hearty congratulations to Jim and Carmen Fowler LaBerge; who presides over the Presbyterian Lay Committee. Last night, at the Baptist Hospital Medical Center in Nashville Tennessee, a beautiful new granddaughter, Evelyn Joy Lake, was brought into this world. May God  bless that family and continue to hold them and all His elect.

 

 

 

Happy New Year from                                          Glencairn                          Presbyterian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  

 

 

 

 

Dec 7th 2013...A loss for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church!!

This past December 7 will go down as one of the darker days in the history of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. At about 830 that Saturday morning, the Presbytery of the Alleghenies of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America examined my beloved pastor,the Rev. Stephen F Miller. As expected, his examination met with success and he is now the pastor- elect of the First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. For him it was a long road.......... indeed a labor of love and his efforts have met with fruition. He will assume the role of pastor that great congregation this coming June 1. I cannot express the flood of emotions that gripped me when I gained the knowledge of this. Here's the man that eulogized the great theologian Dr. Cornelius Van Till, when he was summoned to the shores of the New Canaan to sit at the feet of the Promised Redeemer in 1987. He spent several years in some of the most hostile regions of Africa..... Predestined by God to be mortal vessel to bring literally tens of thousands to Christ in the dark continent. For many years he served also as adjunct professor of missions at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh. He is indeed a great champion of the faith!!! A man of prolific exegetical gifts, disquieting- steady piety and resolve!

I will continue to pray for his ministry and praise and thank God for the gift of his friendship, witness and fellowship. I will always celebrate God's magnificent bequest of Rev. Miller's contributions not only to Nashua OPC in Edinburg Pennsylvania, but to the virtual whole of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.


When I got the news I called Rev Miller to sort of sound him out to see if there was anything I could say or do to perhaps to  encourage him to reverse this course. I speak for the majority when I said the idea of his departure  is disheartening. 

God has blessed Glencairn Presbyterian with a wonderful viewership base, so let me pay you the complement of being blunt. I'm not entirely sure where or how the idea was conveyed that Nashua OPC  might be better served if taken in a new direction.  What I could tell you is that I was personally appalled at the notion; as were the overwhelming majority of our congregation. God has given Rev. Miller the capacity to mellifluously and consistently preach your soul.  He and his beautiful wife Jane have enjoyed a great tenure there that I assumed would last until his retirement from the Presbyterian ministry.

I've come to understand that Rev. Miller's penchant for principle and doctrinal exactitude have proven a bit much for a select few.  My reply is that it is those very God given tendencies that have ensured the survival of our faith tradition from the days of Calvin and Knox to our day.  A better remedy for these nameless few would have been to themselves supplicate God's mercy in discernment; that they may more readily discernment and appreciate this particular type of godly scholasticism .

 If the aforesaid blessings prove not to be their portion, perhaps...just perhaps... their interests would be better served

 ........................ outside of NAPARC, entirely !

 Well, when the Ohio Synod of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church convenes in March, Rev. Miller will petition to have his pastoral relationship dissolved. I cannot stress enough how great the loss will be;as it's really going to hit home for many who failed to appreciate what we had in this great mortal vessel ...this great champion for Christ Jesus...... this Presbyterian giant .......... !!




Let Rev. Miller's departure  serve as a wake-up call!  As a pastor is called to serve as the chief steward for a congregation, the congregants are thus charged to care for him in many respects.  Indeed to be receptive to his needs- spiritual and otherwise.

 Pray for your pastor

 Very few of us in the laity are able to appreciate the countless hours of preparation, study , reflection and prayer required to command a congregation. The weight at all seems insurmountable, particularly when one gets an earful of grumblings regarding nonessentials!

 Pray for your church's place in the world

We are commanded to be in the world and not of it.  In this age of enshrined pluralism and blatant hostility toward traditional values, endeavoring a  perichoresis seems all the more insurmountable a task.  If it's difficult for you as a layperson, imagine how prohibitively difficult it must seem for a minister of the sacrament at times.

 Pray for your denomination

 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church has experienced steady growth.  This growth is predicated only up on its implacable commitment to the preservation of traditional Presbyterianism.  Yet the recent debacle in Grove City Pennsylvania and the departure of Rev. Miller serve to remind us of what happens when we become unmindful of certain rather jugular facets of the Great Commission.

 And finally, pray for God's discernment

 Moments before he left this world, J Gresham Machen reminded us that there is no hope outside of the act of obedience of Christ.  Discernment, in my humble view, is the tenderest of mercies! If for no other reason, it keeps us focused and precludes the kind of backbiting and partisanship that marginalizes our faith.  Have we not witnessed enough of that in the Protestant mainline?

Nashua ain't gonna be the same without you, Rev. Miller,but this is not the end of our friendship. I will visit you and Jane enjoying you from time to time in your new congregation for the observance of the Lord's Day. I know that this is part of a new and happier chapter in your life and I praise and thank God for your portion.


 A loss for the OPC indeed And a huge gain for the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America!!

The Lesson of Two Schisms by the Rev Jim Tuckett of the Westminster Fellowship

 

 

 

The history of Presbyterians in America offers all Christian church members a case study in how to deal with apostasy.

The Lesson of Two Schisms

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” I John 4:1

“To remain divided is sinful! Did not our Lord pray, that they may be one, even as we are one”? (John 17:22). A chorus of ecumenical voices keep harping the unity tune. What they are saying is, “Christians of all doctrinal shades and beliefs must come together in one visible organization, regardless… Unite, unite!”  Such teaching is false, reckless and dangerous. Truth alone must determine our alignments. Truth comes before unity.  Unity without truth is hazardous. Our Lord’s prayer in John 17 must be read in its full context. Look at verse 17: “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” Only those sanctified through the Word can be one in Christ. To teach otherwise is to betray the Gospel.  Charles H. Spurgeon

“In December, 2000, the 128 year-old Montgomery Ward & Co. department store chain said it would close its stores. The company lost touch with American shoppers. . .  In December, 2000 the 103 year-old Oldsmobile division of General Motors Corp. said that it, too, would close it stores.  Olds lost touch with American car buyers . . .” KC Star, August 20, 2001


Membership in the mainline denominations, like the Presbyterian Church (USA) continues to decline.
“In recent years, the annual statistical report has included a mix of positive and negative indicators, but the report for 2000 is almost entirely negative. ‘There’s not much good news in there,” ‘acknowledged Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, former stated clerk of the General Assembly. (Presbyterian News Service, April 30, 2001)

  

This same “logic” is being used by Mainline denominational leadership to explain membership trends.

“Recently, I calculated a simple straight-line projection of membership trends.  At the rate of membership decline over the last dozen years, we would cease to have any members by the year 2039.“  Jack Marcum, Research Services, PC(USA)
Could it be that the mainline denominations, like the Presbyterian Church, USA have lost touch with the spiritual needs of the American Christian?

More than eight decades ago, Henry Van Dyke, a distinguished Presbyterian and Professor of English Literature at Princeton University said, ‘”One reason why our churches have suffered . . . is because our Presbyterian people have failed (to) . . . preserve and cherish the heritage of the past, and draw courage and inspiration for the present from (the past).” Frederick J. Heuser, Jr, raised the question, ” Do Presbyterians Really Learn Anything From Their History?”
Let’s ponder two of the lowest points in the history the American Presbyterian Church.  “To assume that contemporary challenges and problems are unique to our times is really to divorce our generation from its connection to others who have gone before.  To assume that our times are uniquely different from anything that has come before represents an immaturity and self-centeredness at best and a cultural arrogance at worst.”  Frederick J. Heuser, Jr.

 

 

I.  The Schism of 1837

At the time of the American Revolution, the Presbyterian Church was committed to federal Calvinism which had its fullest creedal expression in the Westminster Confession of Faith.  This theology envisioned the human condition in terms of two covenants.  In the first, God made a covenant with Adam who stood as a representative for all humanity.  By this covenant, Adam’s sin was imputed to his posterity.  Since the Fall, all humanity finds itself in a state of total depravity, utterly incapable of doing God’s will.  We experience salvation through the covenant of grace made between God the Father and Christ.  Christ paid the price for the sin of the elect.  Only by Christ’s death on the cross are the elect redeemed.  In the years to come, this would become known as Old School Theology.
Around the turn of the eighteenth century, some New England clergy sought to modify this theology to make it accommodate the rugged individualism of the new nation.  They called their “improvements” The New Divinity.  In time, the New School Theology, as it came to be called, moved from “modifying” to “improving” to suggesting that unregenerate sinners had the power to effect their own salvation.  By the 1820s, Charles G. Finney, a lawyer turned evangelist, was unabashedly preaching Arminianism (humanity is basically good and can earn salvation through good works) in Presbyterian Churches.     By 1837, the General Assembly had a clear choice to make: Preserve the faith, or preserve the institution.  The General Assembly chose to preserve the faith, and expelled those who were polluting it.

 

 

II The Schism of 1934

Industrialization, urbanization, and immigration combined to encourage the secularization of American society as the nineteenth century drew to a close.  Despite growing church rolls, religion was having a smaller and smaller impact on the lives of average citizens.  Sundays were becoming days for picnics, ball games, and golf at the new country clubs. There was increasing apathy towards worship.
A “new” theology sought to accommodate Americans’ new life style.  This modern approach to religion emphasized the immanence of God, the goodness of humanity, and justification through moral living.  The Modernists, as they came to be known, taught that the Bible contained the word of God.  (This is the concept I have termed the loose-leaf Bible.  It allows the individual to pick and choose which parts s/he feels are God’s word.)
Presbyterians, especially at my alma mater, Princeton Seminary, responded with a ringing endorsement of the Bible as the infallible rule of faith and practice.  A. A. Hodge and B. B. Warfield wrote: “the Scriptures not only contain, but ARE THE WORD OF GOD, and hence that all their elements and all their affirmations are absolutely errorless and binding the faith and obedience of men.”
In 1910 and again in 1916, the General Assembly sought to clarify the basic tenets for which our church stood.  What the 1910 GA called these tenets were the “Essential and Necessary Articles.”  Each of the first four began with the formula, “It is an essential doctrine of the Word of God and our standards that…”

In their original order, the five articles were:

1. “that the Holy Spirit did so inspire, guide and move the writers of Holy Scripture as to keep them from error.”    

2. “that our Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.”    

3. “that Christ offered up Himself a sacrifice to satisfy Divine justice and to reconcile us to God.” 

4. “…standards concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, that on the third day He rose again from the dead with the same body with which He suffered, with which also He ascended into heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of His Father, making intercession.”    

5. (in its entirety) “It is an essential doctrine of the Word of God as the supreme standard of our faith that our Lord Jesus showed His power and love by working mighty miracles.  This working was not contrary to nature, but superior to it.”

By the middle of the 1920s, the Modernists had gained control of the Board of Foreign Missions.  Their philosophy was spelled out in a publication called Re-thinking Missions:  A Laymen’s Inquiry after One Hundred Years, funded by John D. Rockefeller.   The theological section of the publication argued that the uniqueness of Christianity did not lay in doctrine but in its selection of truths that were essentially available in all religions.
This radical departure from traditional Presbyterian beliefs was given added weight when novelist, and Presbyterian missionary, Peal S. Buck said, “I think this is the only book I have ever read that seems to me literally true in its every observation and right in its every conclusion.”
The traditionalists responded by establishing the Independent Board of Presbyterian Foreign Missions.
By 1934, the General Assembly had a clear choice to make:  Preserve the faith or preserve the institution.  The General Assembly chose to preserve the institution and drove out the faithful.
Bradley Longfield in his book, The Presbyterian Controversy, writes:  “the current identity crisis of the Presbyterian Church has its roots in the conflicts of the 1920s when the church opted for institutional above doctrinal unity.”  In 1934, the General Assembly chose universalism and a theology of accommodation rather than the traditional, fundamental beliefs of nearly 300 years of Presbyterianism.

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” Jesus Christ, Matt. 16:26

In 1837, the Presbyterian Church stood strong for its beliefs, and 33 years later the opposing factions were once again re-united under the Westminster Standards.
In 1934, the Presbyterian Church tried to appease those who would accommodate the world by compromising its faith. By 1967, 33 years later, the Modernists completed the coup by changing the vows of ordination:
No longer would clergy vow that the Westminster Confession expressed the “system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures.” (“Reformed” no longer meant “Calvinist”; now it means continuing revelation. Presbyterian beliefs can and do change to accommodate anyone and any circumstance.  We are inclusive.)
No longer would clergy vow that the Bible was “the infallible rule of faith and practice.”  Presbyterians are still committed to The Book, only now the book is “loose-leaf.”       
One of the questions candidates for ordination are required to answer is:

Do you sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions of which Scripture leads us to believe and do, and will you be instructed and led by those confessions as you lead the people of God? G-14.0207 The Book of Order

What are the essential tenets of the Reformed faith?  According to the 1997 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), there aren’t any.          
Dr. William Lewis, visiting professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, has provided us with a succinct definition of Reformed theology which is perfectly consistent with Reformed thinking since the Synod of Dordt, in 1619 and the Westminster Confession of 1648.  It is also consistent with what became known in the nineteenth century as The Princeton Theology, with Charles Hodge and BB Warfield as advocates.  Spurgeon, Barnhouse, Palmer and many, many more have preached these truths boldly.  R. C.  Sproul even went so far as to tell his radio listeners, “Calvinism is just another name for Christianity!”

Reformed theology:  Holds five truths as essential to understanding Christianity:

1.  The total depravity of humanity.

2.   Unconditional Divine election.

3.   Christ’s atonement is limited to the elect.

4.   Divine grace is irresistible.

5.   Perseverance of the elect to the end.

Since deciding to replace the Westminster Standards in 1965, the mainline Presbyterian denomination has lost members every year.
Another member leaves every 11 minutes; 5 members leave every hour; 122 members leave every day; 854 members leave every week; 3,417 members leave every month;  over 2,000,000 members have left.
Mr. Heuser posed the question:  Do Presbyterians really learn anything from their history?
I suggest that the Presbyterian institution has lost touch with the Presbyterian Church.  If we do not learn to reject the theology of accommodation with its “loose-leaf” Bible, then Mr. Marcum may very well prove to be a prophet: by 2039 the PCUSA will cease to be.
There is a Target where our local Wards used to be.  They are selling Hondas where they used to sell Oldsmobiles.  There is a Pentecostal congregation worshiping in the building that once was home to a Presbyterian congregation I served.

Isn’t it time we started equipping the saints with the essential tenets of our Reformed faith?

 

Almighty God, shed down upon us heavenly wisdom and grace; enlighten us with true knowledge of Thy Word; inspire us with a pure zeal for Thy glory; and so order all our activity through Thy Holy Spirit that unity and peace may prevail among us; that Thy truth and righteousness may flow forth from us; and that by our endeavors, all Thy saints may be established and comforted, Thy Gospel everywhere purely preached and truly followed, Thy Kingdom extended and strengthened, and the whole body of Thy people grow up into Him who Head over all things, Jesus Christ.  In His name we pray.  Amen

 

 

The reason why Glencairn Presbyterian is NRA Country!!!

Deuteronomy 1: 13-17

¹³ Bring you men of wisdom and of understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you:

¹⁴ Then he answered me and said, the thing is good that thou hast commanded us to do.

¹⁵ So I took the chief of your tribes, wise and known men, and made them rulers over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifty, and captains over ten, and officers among your tribes.

¹⁶ And I charged your Judges that same time, saying, Hear the controversies between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.

¹⁷ Ye shall have no respect of person in judgment, but shall hear the small as well as the great: ye shall not fear the face of man: for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring unto me, and I will hear it.

On May 31, 1638, the Rev Thomas Hooker preached from this Biblical passage. His sermon was the basis for the Fundamental Articles of Connecticut; which was the basis of the Constitution of the United States. In other words, our governmental framework is the "grandchild" of a Calvinist sermon! This is the main reason why King George III in Mother England called our struggle for independence a "Presbyterian rebellion".  

Doctrine:

I. That the choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God’s own allowance.
II. The privilege of election which belongs unto the people therefore, must not be exercised according to their humors, but according to the blessed will and law of God.
III. They who have power to appoint officers and magistrates, it is their power, also, to set the bounds of the power and place unto which they call them.

Reasons:

I. Because the foundation of authority is laid, firstly, in the free consent of the people.
II. Because, by a free choice the hearts of the people will be more inclined to the love of the persons (chosen), and more ready to yield (obedience).
III. Because of that duty and engagement of the people.

The lesson taught is threefold:

I. There is a matter of thankful acknowledgement in the (appreciation) of God’s faithfulness towards us and the permission of these measures that God doth commend and vouchsafe.
II. Of reproof—to dash the conceits of all those that shall oppose it.
III. Of exhortation—to persuade us as God hath given us liberty, to take it.

And lastly. As God hath spared our lives, and given us them in liberty, so to seek the guidance of God, and to choose in God and for God.”

Do not expect the revisionists to admit that!

"While we give praise to God, the Supreme Disposer of all events, for His interposition on our behalf, let us guard against the dangerous error of trusting in, or boasting of, an arm of flesh. ...If your cause is just, if your principles are pure, and if your conduct is prudent, you need not fear the multitude of opposing hosts. What follows from this? That he is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy of his country."

This is extracted from a sermon preached by the Rev John Witherspoon; who was the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence. He preached from the 76th Psalm on Friday May 17, 1776-the same day the Continental Congress called for a national day of fasting and prayer. The idea being, of course, to implore God's guidance in the ensuing struggle against mother England. The history of our republic is teaming with that which underscores just how "Presbyterian" its birth really was!

This fervent Presbyterian minister and Whig held passionately to the incumbency of the private citizen to be armed, holding:


"That it be recommended to the legislature of every colony, to put their militia upon the best footing; and to all Americans to provide themselves with arms, in case of a war with the Indians, French or Roman Catholics, or in case they should be reduced to the hard necessity of defending themselves against murder and assassination."

If Rev Witherspoon's assessment is not enough, read Luke 11:21. He doubtlessly would have referred you to this verse and others.

But what about "separation of church and state" ???

Truth is it was written by Thomas Jefferson. The lie is that's part of our constitution. that was part of a letter he wrote on New Year's Day in 1802 to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut.

 

Messrs. Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, and Stephen s. Nelson
A Committee of the Danbury Baptist Association, in the State of Connecticut.

Washington, January 1, 1802

Gentlemen,

The affectionate sentiment of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist Association, give me the highest satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole

American people which declared that their legislature would "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.
I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high respect and esteem.

Th Jefferson
Jan. 1. 1802

Jefferson based this on Isaiah 5 and the idea was to guarantee that secular interests would never impede or constrict religious freedom. Freedom of religion, rather than from it, was the whole point.

Indeed  from the very earliest days of our fledgling Republic,
Presbyterians have been at the forefront

  the overwhelming majority
of officers in the Continental Army

held various sessional and diaconal

 roles in the Presbyterian Church.
All but one

of the Continental Army's Colonels were Presbyterian elders.

the Constitution of the United States

 is in fact a Presbyterian document.....To this end 

The real preamble

 of our way of life  was uttered,not written
centuries ago

in Protestant Rome. The reformer John Calvinsaid that  

 "A nation that refuses to recognize the sovereignty

 of Jesus Christ over  It to rule
is not a legitimate sovereignty

but a usurpation" .

 Now I ask you. . and Ask  all dissenters of my position. if we are not living  under a  radically secularized usurpation. what is it then?



.  That's why Glencairn Presbyterian. is NRA country