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!