Reflections on the 80th G A of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

The 80th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church adjourned on the 10th and the reports are aglow!!

We continue to praise and thank God for all the particular integralities of His everlasting righteousness and providence.


We are thankful for the ministry of the outgoing GA Moderator, the prolific Rev Dr Tony Curto; who currently serves on the faculty of the Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As well as the man to whom the moderatorial gavel has been passed, the Rev Dr Jeff Landis. This California man received his Doctor of Ministry degree from the Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida and serves as the pastor of the Covenant Presbyterian Church in San Jose. I cannot forget about the Rev George Cottendon. Rev Cottendon (M.Div. '67) serves on the Board of Trustees for the Westminster Theological Seminary and will continue his calling as the OPC Stated Clerk. Indeed, we are blessed with strong mortal vessels and examples throughout the centuries to our age whose testimonies exemplify commitment to God's Word revealed to the elect and to the Great Commission.

Overall, the "report card" looks good:

• The OPC continues to grow (its ranks have doubled since the late 1980's)
• Morning worship attendance is up
• Sunday school attendance has increased
• General offerings have seen an increase

                          *These are based on reports submitted by each presbytery*

How do we explain our continued growth and stability? In a nutshell, it is because of our implacable dedication to traditional beliefs outlined in Scripture......SOLA SCRIPTURA

1. The absolute sovereignty of God.

In creation, life, death, election, reprobation etc., God's absolute sovereignty is-just that-absolute. Nothing goes on that is exclusive of the Father's knowledge, control or sovereign will. We cling to His providence not primarily, pre-eminently or predominantly.........................

                               We cling to it...period!!!!!


Haughtiness, arrogance and spiritual pride are traits that have poisoned our faith here and in Europe, haven't they? We must guard against these and be mindful only of the Father's blessings and, if provoked, His just wrath.

In the great work An Earnest Exhortation To the Inhabitants of New-England, Rev Increase Mather gave the elect a most timeless, transcendent admonition:

As the Lord begins to deliver us, we are apt to forget the fears and sorrows which have been upon us, but that is the ready way to greater Calamity. Verily if we lay not these things to heart, there is cause to fear that those other Judgments (which nothing but wonderfull mercy hath saved us from) even Famine and Pestilence are not far off. We have seen the Lord come riding amongst us upon his Red horse, if this awaken us not, how can we expect other, but that ere long we shall behold a Black Horse, yea and a Pale Horse, and his name that shall sit thereon is Death.

2. The Lordship of Jesus Christ.

We rely not on man's influence, accreditation or the ornithological headings engendered to "get us over". Apart from the transforming power of the Gospel and the effusion of His Sacred Blood on a hilltop called Golgotha, salvation isn't happening...It's that pure and simple.




Our happiness consists in due subordination and conformity to Christ, and therefore let us labor to carry ourselves as He did to His Father, to His friends, to His enemies. In the days of His flesh He prayed whole nights to His Father. How holy and heavenly-minded was He, that took occasion from vines, stones and sheep to be heavenly-minded, and when He rose from the dead His talk was only of things concerning the kingdom of God, in His converse to His friends. He would not quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed; He did not cast Peter in the teeth with his denial, He was of a winning and gaining disposition to all; for His conduct to His enemies, He did not call for fire from heaven to destroy them but shed many tears for them that shed His blood. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (Matt. 23:37), and upon the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). So that if we will be minded like unto Christ, consider how He carried Himself to His Father, to His friends, to His enemies, yea to the devil himself. When He comes to us in wife, children; friends, etc. we must do as Christ did, say to Satan, "Get thee hence," and when we deal with those that have the spirit of the devil in them, we must not render reproach, but answer them, "It is written."
Richard Sibbes

3. The inerrancy of Scripture

The elect are reminded in Calvin's Institutes that the 'Witness of the Spirit is necessary to make certain the authority of Scripture'. We hold the Bible to be not the final authority, but the only authority. This authority, we hold, extends to life as a whole. Not just during the observance of the Lord's Day. 

The Word of God must be Read and Heard with Diligence that so you may arrive to the Knowledge that is needful for you. The Catechisms in which you have the Word of God fitted for your more early Apprehension of it must be diligently Studied. Unto all the other Means of Knowledge, there must be added, Humble and Earnest Supplications before the Glorious Lord, You must cry to God for Knowledge, and lift up your Voice to Him for Understanding; Prefer it before Silver, Before any Earthy Treasures.
 Rev Cotton Mather

4. The deliberate and absolute subordinancy of the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity to the Scriptures is the only perichoresis.

In plainer language, our approach to the confessions is dictated by the Bible-not the other way around. Detractors have argued that subscriptionism to the creeds and confessions is antiquated, if not tantamount to idolatry. This is a deliberate and disingenuous attempt by the enemies of the faith to marginalize. Indeed, if one prides oneself on memorizing them merely for posterity, the ends are desultory, to say the least! The great Covenanter minister, the Rev David Steele (of Steelite fame), explains it this way:

Even our doctrinal standards we received from our fathers through history alone. Now, I desire the reader to see with his own mental eye, that our faith in the genuineness of these doctrinal standards rests solely on human testimony: that is, we believe on the evidence of the generations who have lived before us, that our Confessions, Covenants, etc., are true copies of those documents. But our belief so far is not saving faith ­ "the faith of God's elect." Having these documents handed down to us through history alone, then we compare them with the Bible. Can we perceive their agreement or disagreement without reasoning? No, surely. Well now, if two persons at first sight take different views of any doctrine, will they not at once enter into discussion, and their future agreement result from honest argument; yet neither their agreement in believing the symbols of their profession to be true copies; no, nor even their belief that a certain doctrine is scriptural, constitutes "the faith of God's elect;" but it does constitute that kind of faith or agreement by which they can "walk together." I hope the reader can now perceive that "the faith of God's elect" is not the condition of fellowship in the visible church, and that the visible is distinct from the invisible church. There are few delusions more prevalent and popular than the old error revived, that "assurance of grace and salvation is essential to saving faith;" and that it is, or ought to be one of the terms, or in fact the only condition of fellowship in the visible church

The only legitimate objective in adherence to or "celebration" of the standards depends singularly in the moral truths rooted in the Word of God they expound on. Appreciation of all the above depends mortally on God's discernment, not ours.


5. The Presbyterian form of government.

This great Scottish Commissioner to the Westminster Assembly, Rev Samuel Rutherford, was a champion of what is now commonly referred to as the "Divine Right of Presbyterianism". This is the belief that our form of government if specifically mandated in God's Word. That it had a profound impact on the development and progression of both America and Mother England is beyond dispute. It has been argued from the Cromwellian era to ours that, devoid of Presbyterian mediation, the tumult of the 1640's in the mother country would have raged ten fold!

 

That being said, we tend to shun verbiage like " He moved up from deacon to elder". We tend not to refer to the GA as the "highest" level of our church government, or to the GA Moderator as the "highest ranking church officer". Why? That kind of phraseology tends to diminish the sanctity inherent of our governmental construct by tacitly conveying an ascending chain of command. A potentially corruptible prelatic system that threatens a divine right of a frightfully different and godless type and invokes misnomers of infallibility at its helm. Indeed, the very type that was railed against by

• Knox and the Protestant Lairds in Scotland
• Thomas Cartwright and Christopher Goodman in England
• The martyr Guido de Bres in the Netherlands 
• John Calvin and Theodore Beza in Protestant Rome!

The Synod of Philadelphia convened in Baltimore in 1843. It was there that the Rev Robert J Breckenridge (elected GA Moderator, 1841) reaffirmed the findings of the Westminster assembly of Divines in 1640's England when he held that
"Presbyterian government is not a hierarchy, but a commonwealth".

..............and the list goes on.........to our day.

6. The company we keep

In Pennsylvania, it's not typical to look skyward and see a turkey vulture traveling south for the winter in formation with a flock of Canada geese, now is it??? I've been a ridge runner in the Appalachian foothills for many years and have never seen it.

 Along these lines, you'll not observe a leopard feeding on a wildebeest, zebra or Cape Buffalo with a pride of lions in Africa. Lots of luck trying to locate a Rottweiler hunting elk, deer or musk ox with a pack of timber wolves in Yellowstone. Yep, the old "birds of a feather" adage is no less applicable corporately than personally. You are indeed judged by the company you keep!

For this reason, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church maintains cordial ecumenical relations only with Reformed bodies who are- exactly that- Reformed.

7. Our Worship

This is a replica of the painting by Sir David Wilkie. It depicts John Knox preaching before the Lords of the Congregation of Jesus Christ; which were the Protestant nobles who supported him. In an earlier, rather spirited debate with a Romish priest over what is appropriate for worship and what isn't, he articulated the values for our worship. The OPC has been consistent in this aim.

"It is not enough that man invents a ceremony and then gives it a signification, according to his pleasure. For so might the ceremonies of the Gentiles, and this day the ceremonies of Mohammed, be maintained. But if that anything proceeds from faith, it must have the word of God for the assurance. For you are not ignorant, that 'faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God' (Rom. 10:17). Now, if you will prove that your ceremonies proceed from faith, and do please God, you must prove that God in expressed words has commanded them; or else you shall never prove that they proceed from faith, nor yet that they please God; but that they are sin, and do displease him, according to the words of the apostle, 'Whatsoever is not of faith is sin' " (Rom. 14:23).

                           The Rev Dr. J Gresham Machen

“It is true that historic Christianity is in conflict at many points with the collectivism of the present day; it does emphasize, against the claims of society, the worth of the individual soul. It provides for the individual a refuge from all the fluctuating currents of human opinion, a secret place of meditation where a man can come alone into the presence of God. It does give a man courage to stand, if need be, against the world; it resolutely refuses to make of the individual a mere means to an end, a mere element in the composition of society. It rejects altogether any means of salvation which deals with men in a mass; it brings the individual face to face with his God.”  

                                                           
Through all these ends and aims, the OPC remains committed to Biblical Presbyterianism as it ought to be. For this, we take no credit. All of the glory is due to God in Christ.

                                   Come grow with us!!!

He May Not Come When You Want Him......But He's Always on Time!!!!!

"The four reasons, whereby Paul doth carefully prick forward the pastors to do their duty diligently, because the Lord hath given no small pledge of his love toward the Church in shedding his own blood for it. Whereby it appeareth how precious it is to him; and surely there is nothing which ought more vehemently to urge pastors to do their duty joyfully, than if they consider that the price of the blood of Christ is committed to them. For hereupon it followeth, that unless they take pains in the Church, the lost souls are not only imputed to them, but they be also guilty of sacrilege, because they have profaned the holy blood of the Son of God, and have made the redemption gotten by him to be of none effect, so much as in them lieth. And this is a most cruel offense, if, through our sluggishness, the death of Christ do not only become vile or base, but the fruit thereof be also abolished and perish ..."
John Calvin- from his commentaries on the Acts

IT'S OFFICIAL:

 The GA Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has released its annual report. In 2012, it sustained a loss of a staggering 102,791 members. That averages out to over 281 people a day!!!

• This is the third largest exodus from the Presbyterian mainline in nearly four decades
• This is THE largest departure in a single year since the reunion of 1983
• Only 13 new congregations were chartered
• Eighty-six of their churches were dissolved
• One hundred ten renounced jurisdiction and were fully disaffiliated
• This number quite likely doesn't take into full account all the individual communicants who silently "voted with their feet"
• At the current rate of departure, the PCUSA will be gone by no later than (I'll be generous) 2035 thereabouts

Many will for some time remain and cling naively to a hope for "renewal" of the PCUSA. I speak of those in the nostalgic vein whose ruminations over the decline of the once mighty spiritual citadel stem from their recollections of a "heyday" of our faith; whose voices have been stifled by the cannonade of revisionism, I would add. The harbingers of moral declension have crept in and, aided in part by the complacency of the majority, envenomed the mainline church with what amounts to a slow, painful and perilous death!

Harsh or not, naïve is the appropriate terminology. When counter culture morality and the theology of accommodation supplant the defense of plenary moral truths and the inerrancy of the Bible in any denomination, there is no hope for legitimate renewal..... period!

In response to the departures, Gradye Parsons, in the deceptively optimistic manner all too typical of the progressive ilk, said:


“The fact that fewer Americans say they have a religious identity does not necessarily mean there has been an overall decrease in spirituality in America,”

And what pray tell is your camp prepared to do about it, Gradye? The hemorrhaging of the mainline proves that "liberal Christianity" is the ultimate oxymoron.

Liberal Christianity is fraudulent from the prelude to the benediction- from the pulpit to the narthex!

The need for renewal has increased due to the crass, secularized relativistic sewage Louisville passes off under the pretenses of  "compassion", "inclusiveness" and "tolerance".

Who needs that on the Sabbath  when they get massive doses of it the other six days of the week? At any rate, thank you for the astute observation, Gradye..........
                                       Then again, even a broken clock is right twice a day!


What's my take on the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians as an alternative?

*I wouldn't presume to speak for my entire denomination. Yet, if forced to make a guess, I doubt a line is going to form of OPC members or those in the Westminster Fellowship who will take umbrage with what I'm about to say......

Frankly, it fails to impress. Many of the seeds which choked the life out of the PCUSA are being planted in the proverbial seed beds of the ECO. If your aim is to return to or reclaim traditional Presbyterian polity and orthodoxy, why would you bring with you the Book of Confessions and recognize the controversial Confession of 1967 and the Brief  Statement of Faith as official documents? Secondly, on June 3rd, the ECO became a provisional member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches; which is the same ecumenical alliance to which the PCUSA belongs. Thirdly, a great deal of the impetus behind forming a new "Presbyterian" denomination was to guarantee that the women who held offices Divinely ordained for men could hold onto their "power".

• As if the radical feminist element stayed behind completely; precluding any possibility of similar germination within the new paradigm.
• As if the agenda of crass inclusivism has no chance whatsoever of carrying over to infect the new organization.
• By the way, is the Book of Confessions the revised one that butchered the Heidelberg Catechism?
• When the PCUSA finally gets the Belhar Confession in its version, is the ECO going to include that too?

Too many of the elements and potential promulgators of revisionism, relativism and counter culture activism have been carried over to the ECO.................
                            It doesn't make sense to bring a ham sandwich to a banquet.

What of the fervent prayers offered by those who cling to the true faith who remain in the mainline church? What does God think of their petitions for His intervention and their hope for Presbyterian renewal ? Let's look to His Word for the answers.

2 John 9:11

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continueth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

Romans 1:27-32

²⁷ And likewise also the men left the natural use of the woman, and burned in their lust one toward another, and man with man wrought filthiness, and received in themselves such recompense of their error, as was meet.

²⁸ For as they regarded not to acknowledge God, even so God delivered them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient,

²⁹ Being full of all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, of murder, of debate, of deceit, taking all things in the evil part, whisperers,

³⁰ Backbiters, haters of God, doers of wrong, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, such as can never be appeased, merciless.

³¹ Which men, though they knew the Law of God, how that they which commit such things are worthy of death, yet not only do the same, but also favor them that do them.

Our faith tradition is being renewed, just not in the manner many overly idealistic hold out communicants in the PCUSA would like to expect. Over the years, many thought that our leaders were handling doctrinal and liturgical matters to the best of their knowledge and abilities- many were just misguided temporarily by their own idealism and with honest dialogue and reminders of what our faith entails, they would "see the light" and return to a more traditional posture. I was guilty of this naïveté myself; which is why I stayed in that Synagogue of Satan for as long as I did. This was giving benefit of the doubt to those that were ill deserving. Instead of hoping for some miraculous epiphany for the brazenly disingenuous.........

                         God already has provided real alternatives.

This is the shell of the church in Leith, North Dakota where the Rev Dr J Gresham Machen delivered what would be his last sermon. He travelled to the Dakotas at the request of Rev. Samuel Allen; who studied under Machen at Princeton and Westminster. Days later, Dr Machen would be given the crown of everlasting life!



From its inception in 1936, the OPC has experienced steady growth and stability. Since the mid 1980's, the membership of the OPC has doubled. In that time, the OPC has maintained ecumenical relations only with truly Reformed bodies. The largest being the Presbyterian Church in America; which began as a response to theological liberalism from northern US states. The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America is another. Their lineage is traced directly to the Scottish Covenanters. While their resolute defense of exclusive psalmody has been the source for some impassioned conjecture, their defense of Bible and the Westminster standards is no less earnest! The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church; which numbers around 39,000, traces its heritage to the Seceders in Scotland.
These I mentioned, including my own are among the twelve denominations that make up the

                                     North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council

 "Confessing Jesus Christ as only Savior and Sovereign Lord over all of life, we affirm the basis of the fellowship of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches to be full commitment to the Bible in its entirety as the Word of God written, without error in all its parts and to its teaching as set forth in the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dordt, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms. That the adopted basis of fellowship be regarded as warrant for the establishment of a formal relationship of the nature of a council, that is, a fellowship that enables the constituent churches to advise, counsel, and cooperate in various matters with one another and hold out before each other the desirability and need for organic union of churches that are of like faith and practice."

Sounds good to Reformed ears, doesn't it? While I once admired the dogged resolve to stay and fight for traditional values in the mainline, the totem of quality has sunk so deeply in the muck and mire of epistemological relativism, such resolve now resembles naïveté, or apathy at worst!  The alternative to searching for Presbyterian renewal outside of the mainline is made clear in the quote by John Calvin which prefaced this entry. Even in the unlikely event you sustain no spiritual damage, remaining under the apostate umbrella of Louisville severely curtails your credibility as a witness for Christ...for His truth....for the Reformed faith.


In other words, their official policies will reflect upon your orthodoxy, no matter how Biblically or confessionally sound you are for as long as you remain there! There are no two ways about it!!! In addition, the notion of remaining in a particular church because of "memories", "family ties" or "friends" is misalignment of purpose. It's actually tantamount to sacrilege; for these are not what we were foreordained to laud and glorify. Indeed, the only legitimate way to recognize the good that God has done and to recognize that the Father began to renew Presbyterianism a while ago is to renounce jurisdiction of the apostates who have tirelessly endeavored to mar what it truly is and what truth really is.







God's benison be with the elect. For His mercy, righteousness and truths are the bequests which to us the Father hath so effectually and mercifully ennobled!