A Classical Presbyterian

Confessions of a PC(USA) Fundamentalist, Part Three: Lessons from my Grandpa

2008-07-19T07:48:00.003-06:00

Imagine that you are 13 or 14 and you are spending the day with your grandfather, driving around the city in his old GMC pickup truck, cruising the garage sales and flea markets ("swap meets" in his Okie parlance) of the inner city for good deals on lawn mowers, bicycles and engine parts. Every item that is to be purchased must be haggled over, every sale is a conversation between friends that don't even know the other. Now, imagine the grandfather using every opportunity in every conversation to talk about Jesus and our need to have Him as our "personal Lord and Savior." This was my early life with Grandpa.

Later in my child hood I had come to despise Christianity and those that believed in such ridiculous stuff as a God that one could know personally and worse, that all people should confess to Him their sins and take him as their Lord and Savior. Yuck! I thought these types of people were the worst sort of suckers, or worse, the willing dupes of a system that had manipulated them into credulity and intellectual malaise.

A word about the life of my beloved Grandpa Walter, of blessed memory: Born in rural Oklahoma in 1910, Walter grew up in a hard life filled with hard work, hard drinking, hard fighting and hard loving. When the Dustbowl hit, he and his wife, my Grandma Maggie, were living in a tent with a wood floor, growing their own vegetables, raising chickens and cattle and they went to town on horseback. Orphaned when he was 5, my Grandpa had a hard life that led to alcoholism and licentious behavior in his few "off" hours when he was not working in the hot Oklahoma sun.

Ignoring the admonitions of his loving and devoted wife (who was raised an ardent Baptist), Walter started spending his evenings in cheap whiskey and carousing with his friends. Later moving to the Big City, Walter--who now had 4 kids--moved his evening habit into the taverns and dance halls, leaving his wife and children behind most evenings.

And then, one Saturday morning while he was trying to recover from the previous night's drinking with a cup of coffee in one hand and his youngest daughter (who would become my mom) on his lap, he was convinced to go to church on Sunday. His own daughter asked if Daddy would go to church with her. And this one time, he actually gave in. The next day he went to church with his family.

And in that small Oklahoma City church, Walter heard the gospel of God's love in providing a way to atone for sin by the death of God's own Son and that if anyone will call to Jesus and trust in Him, their sins will be washed away and they will have a new life with Him forever.

My Grandpa heard, his heart changed and he knew that he belonged to Christ.

The change was dramatic: He dropped the bottle for good, he started attending church, holding down a decent job and he turned his life around. Further, he started to learn to read, so that he could read a Bible. Up to this point in his thirty-something year-old life, Walter had never learned to read. He learned by reading the King James Bible.

By the time I knew Walter as my beloved Grandpa, he was retired and making a meager living off of a little Social Security money and what he could make off of reselling his lawnmowers and bicycles in the local market. He was never rich, but he owned his own home, provided for his wife and children and somehow always had money in his pocket to take his grandchildren fishing or to the store for a toy.

But what I remember most about my dear Grandpa was his faith. He so dearly loved the Lord and what God had done for him in Jesus Christ that he could not keep silent about it. He used his natural charisma, his wit and charm to always work for the Lord and tell people about Jesus.

Even when his incessant witnessing and incorrigible evangelizing made me nauseous as a preteen and agnostic teenager, I never forgot it. His unapologetic boldness was maddening, infuriating and endearing.

I remember coming to visit my grandparents when I was back from college. I proudly brought my books that had told me all about JEDP and how the Old Testament was a jumble and how the New Testament was compiled much like a buffet of disparate elements that had been compiled by a diverse church. I tried to inform him how wrong he had been about the Bible, how it was all so much more complicated than he made it out to be.

Grandpa was unimpressed. There was that signature twinkle in his eye, his slight deafness of ear that he used so effectively to ignore that which might hold him back from his testimony. Grandpa politely listened to my information, got out his worn Bible and invited me to read John's Gospel with him for a while. I huffed off to my room. How annoying!

I remember the day I told him of my baptism. I remember the day I invited him to come to church to hear me preach. I cherish the day that he heard of my ordination to gospel ministry.

But now, whenever I am in a long line at Wal-Mart or waiting for a table at a restaurant, I feel him right beside me, prodding me in my conversations with a stranger, to tell them something of Jesus, to share That Which Is Most Important.

I don't always do it. I'm shy. I'm reluctant sometimes. I'm not Grandpa Walter. I can't easily talk to total strangers at random moments about my baptism or my being found by Jesus when I was a lost sinner.

But maybe I can tell them about my Grandpa. Maybe I can tell them about the man who helped make me the person I am today, who showed me what a Man of God looks like, what a bold, daring Christian man should aspire to in daily life.

Yes. I can do that.

Thanks be to God for saints like Grandpa who teach us about the redeeming love of God in Jesus Christ. Life would not be the same without them. People like him are the reason why I have no problem being a fundamentalist in the PC(USA).

Confessions of a PC(USA) Fundamentalist, Part Two: Seeing the Unity

2008-07-15T08:34:00.010-06:00

I remember how I used to laugh at the kind of person that I found myself now becoming. I used to find an unending source of amusement when I heard people saying the type of things that I was actually now contemplating. It was quite a time in my life.

Being a pastor has changed me as a person. I came out of seminary believing what I had been taught, trained in the school of academic thought that says that anyone who thinks the Bible is without inner contradictions, that it was actually written by the people who the books themselves claim wrote them is a brainless dope. In short, I was a well-trained historical-critical, Neoliberal pastor.

I was launched out of the halls of academia into the parish with shelves full of books that would refute any notion that the Bible was consistent, had a central, coherent message and had historical accuracy. I had all the arguments, all the pride, ready to correct all of the simpletons that I would meet in my ministry. Little did I know what God had in store for me, to make me precisely the kind of person that I had trained to correct. God does have a sense of humor!

In the parish I had a rigorous preaching schedule and I taught a regular Sunday morning Bible study before the worship service. Week after week several church members and I engaged the Scriptures and discussed their meaning. In that class I found myself with two people in particular who had been taught under the teaching ministry of R.C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries. They loved me and I loved them, so week after week we engaged each other in the attempt to convince the other that they misunderstood the interpretation and purpose of Scripture.

I found myself losing the argument, week after week.

Being prideful, I started to investigate these outrageous claims that I was unable to refute. These people anticipated my every argument, every counter-move and every point that my seminary training had taught me! It was extremely frustrating...

Concurrently, I found that in this time my preaching had also started to suffer. I had run out of ideas. My faith slipped further into irrelevancy. It was only at the funerals that I could preach with clarity and conviction. Somehow, it was in speaking of the gospel promises of Christ that I sensed what I had been missing.

So, I started reading. Not my seminary texts. They could not, had not helped. I started reading strange fellows, people that had never been even mentioned in either of my two mainline seminaries.

Funny how that happens.

We had read radical feminists. We read Mujerista and medieval mysticism from Spanish and French convents. We grappled with Marxist Liberationists and Tillich as a side dish to our Barth. We played with some Calvin, but he was mostly an afterthought.

But now I started to read these wild and strange fellows that had been verboten in the seminary, they who must not named: I started reading J.I. Packer. I read Graeme Goldsworthy and D.A. Carson. I remember it so clearly--They were so rational and so clear! They were so confident and yet humble in their assuredness that the Bible really was without error and had a sweeping unity of narrative.

The scales fell from my eyes. Now, I began to understand why these writers had been hidden from us! They had just as much academic training and credentials as the people the seminary adored, but these theologians and biblical scholars had come to the opposite conclusion after studying the same data! They were utterly convincing.

I began to see where I had gone wrong. I had always been taught that Scripture was a patchwork of human ideas about God that were mutually contradictory yet somehow inspired by God to teach us about the love of Christ. The basic notion had been that Jesus came to teach us what was wrong with Scripture itself. Isn't that funny? That's what I came out of seminary with, the idea that we could take some things from the Bible that worked for us in the modern world and discard the rest, as long as Jesus said it was ok.

Suddenly, I found Jesus in the Old Testament. Imagine that! I found the whole sweep of God's redemptive history in the full and complete witness of the whole 66 chapters in the one book of the Bible. I saw it now--as an opening, a middle and a finale. One Author, many witnesses, one story.

I realized that this is what Jesus had been trying to teach his disciples all along. I found that the Reformed hermeneutic had all the answers to my questions about the Bible, that Reformed theology took the whole witness and counsel of the Bible into account. I discovered that the Reformed faith was the only witness that did this. There were no gaps, no messy contradictions, no muddy compromises. Just clarity and peace. Perfect peace.

Now Psalm 119 made sense to me. Jesus loves his Father's Law! He fulfilled it and completed it so that sinners could be saved. God so inspired the Word in the diverse witnesses of the Bible's books that believers are led by the Spirit to see God as the Author.

I had jumped the shark, so to speak. As a mainline, PC(USA) pastor I had found myself the guy that I used to laugh about. That mocking derision to the simple-minded folk who actually claimed what I now claimed about the Bible was directed at me. You see, in the mainline church culture, it only works one way: conservatives and evangelicals can turn liberal. But never, never the reverse! A liberal turning fundamentalist is a violation of the contract. Oh well...

So here I am. A PC(USA) pastor, not going anywhere, who is now the person that I never expected to become. A minority of a dwindling minority.

And I wouldn't trade it for any treasure in all the world.

Confessions of a PC(USA) Fundamentalist, Part One. Why a fundamentalist?

2008-07-14T08:54:00.006-06:00

The most important moment of my life was when I realized that Jesus Christ was my Savior. But second to that is when I realized that the Bible was true--compellingly and assuredly true in all that it teaches. It was a dazzling moment in my life. It happened five years ago and I will never forget the day that I saw God's Word for what it really is.

Now to some people who read this blog, it will sound strange for me to separate the two points of my conversion process. Many Christians think that a true conversion automatically brings one to the second part of my conversion story--to a singular honoring of the truth of God's Word. But it didn't happen that way with me.

I'm starting a new series this week. For my own process of reflection, introspection and cathartic self-analysis, it's time I wrote about why I believe what I believe and why I believe it. In this time of confusion and doubt in our denomination perhaps God will use something of my efforts here to comfort His saints and call some to a similar public affirmation of the faith once delivered.

In this first part of the series I must defend my choice to use what is a troubling term for some people. So, why use such a misunderstood and maligned word for myself like 'fundamentalist'? Aren't I putting myself into mainline purgatory for admitting it in public? (Like I'm not there already...)

First I will define the term as I understand it. Perhaps it will help people understand where I am coming from. By 'fundamentalist', I use this term to mean one who holds to the essentialness of certain affirmations for the Christian Faith. They are the sine qua non of what it means to be a Christian who holds to the apostolic faith that all Christians are called to affirm and teach, what Jude calls, "the faith once for all, delivered to the saints." (Jude 3) )For further reflections on this topic, go and read Will Spotts' blog here.)

Yes you read me right. I actually believe that the Christian faith has a content that is easily understood, that is clearly set out for us in Scripture and that all who claim the name of Christ must believe and publicly affirm in the presence of others.

In this sense, as I define it above, I am a fundamentalist. I further believe that all Christians are fundamentalists. There are certain bedrock affirmations about God, God's activity in the world and God's Son Jesus Christ that define Christianity. Without these foundational, fundamental ideas Christianity as a religion ceases to have any meaning.

It's not that hard to understand really. Everyone knows themselves to be fundamental on non-religious issues that we deal with in everyday life. An example--

You go to the bank and ask how much you have in your account. The teller informs you that you have about 300 dollars. You again ask the teller for the exact amount. The teller says that they do not know the exact amount, but that it is around 300 dollars. You are rightly upset and you move your money to another bank. Congratulations, you're a fundamentalist when it comes to your money!

Another example--

You are signing up your son for a little league soccer team. You ask the coach when practices start. The coach tells you that the kids show up for the first game in a week. You incredulously ask the coach how these young children will learn how to play, how to follow the rules and how to work as a team. The coach informs you that this is a new form of soccer that has no rules, no requirements and that allows each team to play as they see fit. You take your son over to the tee-ball league instead. Congratulations, you're a sports fundamentalist!

On some level, we all are fundamentalists. Rules, guidelines and doctrines make our common life together possible. Anarchy has yet to work in the human community.

So then, what I claim is that it is disingenuous to state that one can hold to fundamentals in the everyday world but then assert that one cannot do the same in Christianity. It's dishonest and untrue to make that claim.

You don't believe me? Then that means that somehow on some level this post has violated one of your own fundamentals of belief.

So now you all want to know: What are the fundamental beliefs that make one Christian? They are the beliefs that the church has affirmed in all times and in all ages that are given in Scripture:

1. The Bible is God's Word and is fully trustworthy.

2. Jesus Christ is divine as the Son of God and was born of the virgin Mary.

3. Jesus Christ actually performed the miracles ascribed to him in Scripture.

4. Jesus Christ died on the cross as our substitute, to atone for the sins of His people.

5. Jesus Christ was truly, bodily raised from the dead in His resurrection.

These teachings are not all that Christianity asserts, certainly. But notice how they can cross denominational lines as being essential. Roman Catholics can affirm them, as can Orthodox and Pentecostal Christians. Traditionally known as the Five Fundamentals, they lead us to the heart of our faith which is expressed in the great Creeds of Christendom, the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds.

I would further argue that the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds formulate the essentials of the faith as well as any document ever written. The only further thing that needs to be said that they do not explicitly say is about the Bible. But certainly all of their doctrines are right out of Scripture and this affirms point one above.

There is not a single pastor, elder or deacon in the universal catholic Church of Jesus Christ who can deny these doctrines and the ecumenical creeds and who can still claim the name of Christian.

Here I stand. And I'm not alone. Two thousand years of a line of precious saints stand right beside me in these teachings. They were not invented, they were given by God in His Word.

I will wrap up this post with an inspiring quote from the Prince of Preachers himself:

"It is a great thing to begin the Christian life by believing good solid doctrine. Some people have received twenty different "gospels" in as many years; how many more they will accept before they get to their journey's end, it would be difficult to predict. I thank God that He early taught me the gospel, and I have been so perfectly satisfied with it, that I do not want to know any other. Constant change of creed is sure loss. If a tree has to be taken up two or three times a year, you will not need to build a very large loft in which to store the apples. When people are always shifting their doctrinal principles, they are not likely to bring forth much fruit to the glory of God. It is good for young believers to begin with a firm hold upon those great fundamental doctrines which the Lord has taught in His Word."
--Charles H. Spurgeon

I may have come later than my youth to the sound gospel faith of the catholic church, but by grace I shall remain in the Truth until my life is ended and I see God face to face.

Where from here? The narrow way considered.

2008-07-11T03:05:00.007-06:00

Reformed evangelicals who elect to remain within the PC(USA) at this point now must count the cost and consider their future course. One thing is clear--they will not 'win'.

But what I want to ask is, does it matter?

Many of the readers here and all over the PC(USA) who hold to the Reformed faith in its evangelical clarity are apparently asking the same thing. It's a good question, one worthy of followers of Jesus Christ.

So, where to? What next?

I think that in the last few posts I have established my belief that one's denominational label makes not one whit of difference when considering one's faithfulness to the One who calls. Disciples of Jesus Christ are still within the world as it is and until He comes again we always will be. The remnant will find themselves continuing on to the narrow gate and difficult way that Christ spoke of in his greatest sermon:

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” --Matthew 7:13-14 ESV

Sobering words.

The pathway that leads to life, from the narrow gate must lead through many human institutions. Now, don't get me wrong here: A denomination's faithfulness does matter. It matters a great deal, even more so when that institution claims to be a servant institution of the Church.

But the reality is that we will find faithful Christians in a variety of places. Yet all are on the narrow way to life by grace through faith. Judging another's path is a perilous business:

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," --Philippians 2:12 ESV

It's hard enough to keep to one's own path without looking at the steps of others and judging them. Evaluate? Yes. Learn from others? Certainly. Evaluate and take into account missteps and falterings along the way? Of course. But don't let that be so obsessive that one's own path becomes a stumbling block to yourself or others.

So then, where to? Back to the question.

If you are called to reside in an institution that one knows to be without hope of restoration to the apostolic faith once delivered then what are your choices? Certainly they are limited but I don't know that they are without fruitfulness for the Kingdom. And there will be pockets of faithfulness within the PC(USA) for some years to come.

Will Reformed evangelicals suffer for taking this path, if they choose it? Yes. Some of them will be kicked out from churches when they find themselves in hostile presbyteries and others will be locked out of the ministry for their convictions. They won't be invited to the best committees or the coolest parties. But what does that matter? Each and every persecution is another fulfillment of the promises of Christ. Call them sign-points along the way to life.

Will other Reformed brothers and sisters balk at the choice? Again, yes. Those who remain risk the double threat of suspicion from their peers and scorn from their denominational community. Truly this is a path fraught with difficulty. But in the end, there is the promise of the destination, the reward that is received from the Lord who calls, who perseveres with those whom He chooses.

And the last time I checked, the Bible says nothing about what humanly invented denominational label we wear when we appear before the Throne. If there really is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism", then we had better take that seriously.

No matter where God calls us to tread.

The end of renewal?

2008-07-09T07:10:00.010-06:00

We are witnessing amazing times. Evangelical organizations that have devoted themselves to "renewing" the PC(USA) are changing their tone and rhetoric in the aftermath of the total rout that was the General Assembly. (I won't give you the links, but they're easy enough to find.)

I predict that we will witness fewer and fewer people giving voice to the old, failed idea of "Stay, Fight, Win". I mean, after all, how many times do we need to go through a process of building a national machine to defeat revisionist legislation and then let the bureaucracy thwart all of our hard-fought presbytery victories? It should be pretty clear to all but the most committed evangelical renewalist that legislation and policy efforts will always fail when the will to enact them and discipline paid staff members who fail to observe them are not carried out.

Actually, Will Spotts has also well articulated the whole problem of discipline and oversight of officials in mainline denominations like the PC(USA). He has pointed out repeatedly how it is almost impossible to insure the good faith efforts of denominational officials to carry out and enforce policies that they wholeheartedly disagree with. Reform becomes an impossibility when the will to fire unwilling staff is lacking.

So, what I think we are seeing is the death of national efforts at "renewal" in the classic sense. Evangelical Presbyterians might just be waking up (30 years late?) to the fact that we cannot get to renewal without revival. And all true revivals are a revival of doctrine, commitment and evangelization. And these qualities of genuine revival do not readily lend themselves to the distractions of denominational squabbling.

Do you see the problem?

Even if a nationwide revival were to be granted by the Holy Spirit to congregations and even presbyteries in the PC(USA), the revival would lead us further away from denominational obsession and more toward a spiritual longing for something more. What is that something more?

The precious Body of Christ. To see Christ glorified, to see his saving name lifted up and displayed to all the world as more glorious than denominations, more precious than legislation and amendments, more soul-satisfying than "winning" a human institution over to our convictions.

This is why, in the long run, our denomination cannot be saved through anything like "Stay, Fight, Win". the Holy Spirit does not pour out revival for the purpose of reviving human institutions. It would be a waste of effort. A colossal waste of God's effort. And I don't think that God is in the business of wasting effort. Or wasting anything or anyone for that matter.

I assert that perhaps a "more excellent way" would be to rephrase and refocus our understanding:

"Pray. Witness. Die to Live."

Cease and Desist? Part Two: A second question

2008-07-08T07:15:00.005-06:00

Here is my next question:

What would be the consequence if the Reformed evangelicals in the PC(USA) started an earnest effort at disengagement with the denomination?

Not property or leaving, mind you. No, I mean a substantial portion of us actually redirecting our lives, our ministries, our efforts and focus onto/into something other than PC(USA), while technically remaining within the denomination.

What would be the national implications of such actions? The local implications? What about whole presbyteries disengaging in the denominational system, excepting the bare minimum of constitutionally-mandated duties?

Cease and Desist? Reformed Resistance and Denominational Navel-Gazing.

2008-07-05T21:40:00.005-06:00

Contemplate and reflect on this question in your hearts:

To what extent is the call to Reformed Resistance hampered and/or distracted by our focus on the faults and tribulations of the PC(USA)?

I don't have any pre-packaged answer for this one, really.

There is no doubt that actions of the PC(USA) that violate the clear teachings of Scripture are problematic for those of us who hold fidelity to God's Word above institutional loyalty. Certainly, witnessing a harmful or wrongful act done in our name and doing nothing is not an appropriate Christian response.

But ponder this--we know that we are called to hold to the truths of the Reformed Faith as set forth in the expositions of Scripture in the Reformed creeds. And the focus of this call is not bound by or with any one denomination or any human institution. The Biblical call to followers of Christ to teach and rebuke in love is not a commission that we can set aside, ignore or focus on any one human organization, right? Would that not be wasting our gifts?

In other words, teaching the truth in love might just call us out of denominational obsessions, to once again focus on those outside of the church.

Or does it? I wonder.

Let me know what you think and bring any Scriptural passages to bear that you think are helpful in this area of our discernment.

Oh, also this---

Have a blessed weekend and restful and worshipful Lord's Day!

Top 10 Excuses for GA Mistakes

2008-07-03T09:49:00.004-06:00

We need some humor. (Yes, more...) Let's go after the top ten reasons that the General Assembly jumped the shark on Christian doctrine and practice. Here are my ten. Feel free to add as many as you want in the comments.

10. They never found the term "Authoritative Interpretation" in their Bibles.

9. The state of California is now putting something in the water.

8. PC-BIZ is secretly under the control of Hal, the Cylons or both.

7. The lighting in the convention center causes dementia and paralysis after long exposure.

6. The Louisville Papers. Its always the Louisville Papers...

5. People thought the Book of Confessions was more like a buffet than a set-course meal.

4. "Think of the people back home? Who cares what they think!"

3. The "leading of the Spirit" is often confused with romantic emotionalism. (Not funny, I know, but sadly true.)

2. The EPC secretly manipulated the votes to get more congregations to join their denomination. They want the PCUSA to crash! Sure, there's no proof. But we want it to be true!

1. No one was able to find their Bibles before voting. You know, lost luggage and all...

Orthodox Anglicans show us the way!

2008-07-02T12:51:00.006-06:00

A victory for Biblical Orthodoxy, that is what evangelicals in the apostolic faith are calling the recent meeting of GAFCON in Jerusalem for the Anglican Communion. You can download the GAFCON document here.

Read this selection from an article on National Review:

Remaking Anglicanism
In Jerusalem, conservatives stage an ecclesiastical coup.

By Travis Kavulla

Jerusalem — The future of the Anglican Communion, the third largest Christian church in the world, has been in serious doubt since the 2003 election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay cleric, to be bishop of New Hampshire.

This week, some of that uncertainty is being resolved. The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) convened in Jerusalem on Sunday, drawing 1,200 conservative Anglicans, including 304 bishops. One of their number, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda, describes the event as “the beginning of a second reformation.”

Immediately in advance of the gathering, conservative church leaders issued a pamphlet entitled “The Way, the Truth, and the Life.” In it, they assert that on issues of sexuality the collective decisions by primates, as the leaders of the 38 Anglican provinces are known, have been “ignored” and conservatives “derided” and “demonized” by the U.S. Episcopal Church. “There is no longer any hope, therefore, for a unified communion,” the document proclaims.

GAFCON attendees have been reticent to use the word schism — they prefer “broken.” But this seems a preference without distinction. Most of those at GAFCON are boycotting the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade gathering on doctrinal matters — deemed “an instrument of unity” in Anglican theology — which will be held next month in Canterbury, the ancient seat of the Church of England. One of the pamphlet’s authors, the Oxford theologian Rev. Roger Beckwith, says that the move puts Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and nominal head of the global communion, “in an impossible position.”

Homosexuality, and particularly the consecration of Robinson, will likely be known to history as the cause of this Anglican crack-up, just as schoolchildren remember the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand as the “cause” of the First World War. But, likewise, such an understanding is a dramatic oversimplification.

More crucial than the substance of any single issue to understanding recent developments in Anglicanism is the dramatic rearrangement that has taken place in the communion’s demographics and leadership over the past several decades. Today, the church is overwhelmingly African, and these Africans are overwhelmingly orthodox. That is, they believe Jesus to be the sole route to salvation, and that the Bible’s proscriptions are meant to be taken literally. As Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi preached at GAFCON’s opening service, “I come from Uganda, and my God performs miracles. This Bible is black and white. It is not a historical document.” (By contrast, a leading Western thinker has tepidly called for “creativity in our theology” as a means of holding the communion together, while Bishop Robinson has defended himself by saying the Bible’s proscription of homosexual acts applies to homosexuality as it was understood two millennia ago, which he says is different from today.)...

Praise be to God! Resurgent orthodoxy is on the move in the world and its epicenter is Africa and South America. Time for us to reach out and join the movement.

May the beleaguered and besieged evangelicals in the PCUSA look on, rejoice and learn!

Post GA Reading List

2008-07-02T09:09:00.006-06:00

After a trauma I like to read. Good books. Funny books. Books that uplift, educate and amuse. It's my therapy. That and Battlefront 2.

So, in this spirit of sharing, which is what blogging is all about, here are my post-GA books that I recommend for our troubled evangelical souls:

In light of the GA deletion of sexual ethics, here's my choice:In regards to the GA's actions against the EPC, here is my suggestion:
As to the new Social Witess creed, here is a good one:

And for our friendship with Muslims over other Christian churches:

Any other suggestions? My Amazon account and I stand ready!

PCUSA Evangelicals Meet the Doomsday Device.

2008-07-01T09:28:00.006-06:00

I'm having Star Trek dreams after our General Assembly...

It was built to carry on its project over eons. It powers itself, is relentless and stops at nothing in its task. It's the Revisionist Agenda that has targeted the Christian Church.

It just appeared on the scanners of the Presbyterian Church in the 1920's, but we never thought it would reach so deep into our territory. So we went about our business of exploring strange new worlds and we hoped that it would go away or veer off course.

First it took out the UCC and then the Episcopal Church. It never stopped though. For nothing less than total victory is its aim.

But now it is here. It finally penetrated our defenses at the GA two years ago and now it is deeper in our territory in San Jose. And the only thing that stood between it and us were the captains of the evangelical fleet. But they had met their match, for this was the Doomsday Device. Their weapons failed. The armor was too thick.

But unlike the Star Trek episode on which this dream was based, no ship had a captain who would take the plunge into the belly of the beast to destroy it.

Here is how my dream ended:

Bad Dream

I awoke to find that reality is far worse than my worst nightmares. For the Revisionst Doomsday Device that is Local Option on sexual ethics for ordained leaders is now eating away at the heart of the denomination that I so dearly love.

Boxing the Pastor's Study: What goes where?

2008-06-30T09:33:00.006-06:00

One of the joys in a move for me is the planning and setting up of the pastor's study in a new place. I don't have an office, it's a study. (One can't be a classical Presbyterian pastor and work in an office...)

I will have to pare down my study books in Cuero, where I have the luxurious space of almost 20o feet of shelf space, to a modest Saxonburg size study of 54 feet of shelving. Oh, in case you did not catch that, should Beaver-Butler approve of this move in July, that's where I'll be going!

Now think about this. Over 200 feet, down to 54.

Where will all of those books go???

I have to be selective among my children. Who do I love more, need more, cling to most? Decisions, decisions!

Years ago, after my conversion from liberalism, I edited my library and boxed many books that were no longer relevant to my faith or study life. Tillich went in those boxes. Likewise Reuther, Guttierez, Moltmann and many others went into attic exile. Some went to the dump.

In their place went Machen, Van Til, Sproul, Packer, the Puritans, Lloyd-Jones, Piper, Edwards, Spurgeon and more Calvin. My library became a place of refuge, peace and gospel clarity. But alas, all of my friends cannot go to the new study. I must choose what is essential to my pastoral work in the church. (Jefferson Center Presbyterian Church, BTW.)

I tend to look toward publishers when deciding. Anything by Banner of Truth goes. Ditto to anything by Crossway or Presbyterian & Reformed. There are also many titles from Baker, Eerdmans and IVP. Also, a select few from the pre-boycott Westminster/John Knox. A select few...

A few from Fortress will be boxed for the study and I will throw in some from Moody Press and Word. But the rest will go to the basement. You know, that deep, dark place that Yankees install in their houses? Even as a lifelong Texan, I've always coveted those basements of our northern friends. It will be my home library and secondary study.

So, what's essential? What books can you not live without? Do tell!

Dereliction of Duty? A flipflop pondered.

2008-06-29T12:58:00.004-06:00

I know...I've done this before. But I find myself asking, "In this worst season we Reformed evangelicals have ever faced in the PCUSA, can I dare to abandon the field?"

But, after all, it is just a blog.

Last time I checked, one can still carry on a spirited call to resistance within the PCUSA through our freedom of expression. I could be wrong in that, I just don't know.

Could I be faithful to my conscience and refuse to engage the Presbyterian crisis of our age?

In the end, I don't think so. But to those who will be offended that I changed my mind by a return to blogging, I apologize and ask your forgiveness. In a moment of weakness and pain, I made a rash post. (Yes, another one!)

A fire burns within me. I cannot stop blogging. But may the gracious mercy of God restrain me from rash invective and hold me to the humility and mercy that all servants of Christ are called to. Even in blogging.

Yes. I'm back.

See you all Monday! Pray for the wounded warriors of the faith and the distressed saints!

Blog Closed

2008-06-27T12:57:00.002-06:00

My grief is too deep for words.

This GA has sent our church into full trainwreck mode.

I'm done. At least for now. This blog is now closed. Comment if you wish.

I will not blog until August 15th or maybe ever. I'll have to see what the Lord desires.

The Lord be with you all.

Priorities. Updated.

2008-06-27T07:27:00.008-06:00

The GA last night managed to set aside a new mission giving opportunity fund for the glorious purpose of helping presbyteries sue congregations.

That's right. Its no typo.

A commissioner's amendment may have added it from a mere Per Capita raid to a 'mission offering' in addition to the two million already designated. This means that your church can designate some of its money to mission for the godly pursuit of kicking church members to the curb from their very own churches, in addition to using Per Capita.

How noble.

My favorite thing from this debate was Robert Austell's rousing defense against this act of maliciousness. I thank God for Robert's witness, futile though it proved to be.

Oh, and I dare not forget the commissioner from Easter Oklahoma Presbytery who asked how her presbytery could get this money. I mean, why not just cast lots?

I'd laugh if I was capable of such a response. But today we are all shamed.

So much for justice, mercy and walking humbly before our God.

I guess that's just a slogan. But I do think I feel a hymn coming on: (to Azmon)

O for a million bucks to raise, for our redeemer's fame.
The glories of our lawyer's fees
to the slander of God's name.

Revisionist Fieldday: Heidelberg goes under the knife.

2008-06-26T13:12:00.009-06:00

Well, its official. The GA just approved the overture that will ask our presbyteries to approve a new wording of the Heidelberg Catechism that will take out the negative reference to homosexuality and make Jesus the "natural" son of God.

The Presbytery of Newark overtures the 218th General Assembly (2008) to correct translation problems in five responses of the Heidelberg Catechism as found in The Book of Confessions and to add the original Scripture texts of the German Heidelberg Catechism. The following changes are proposed:

1. Amend the answer to 4.019 as follows: [Text to be deleted is shown with a strike-through; text to be added or inserted is shown as italic.]

“A. From the holy gospel, which God himself revealed in the beginning in the Garden of Eden, afterward proclaimed through the holy patriarchs and prophets and foreshadowed through the sacrifices and other ~~rites of the Old Covenant~~ ceremonies of the law, and, finally, fulfilled through his own well-beloved Son.”

2. Amend the answer to 4.033 as follows: [Text to be deleted is shown with a strike-through; text to be added or inserted is shown as italic.]

“A. Because Christ alone is God’s ~~own eternal Son~~ natural son, whereas we are ~~accepted~~ adopted for his sake as children of God by grace.”
5. Amend the answer to 4.087 as follows: [Text to be deleted is shown with a strike-through; text to be added or inserted is shown as italic.]

“A. Certainly not! Scripture says, ‘Surely you know that the unjust will never come into possession of the kingdom of God. Make no mistake: no fornicator or idolater, none who are guilty either of adultery or of homosexual perversion, no thieves or grabbers or drunkards or slanderers or swindlers, will possess the kingdom of God.’ Certainly not; for as Scripture says no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, greedy person, drunkard, slanderer, robber, or anyone like that shall inherit the kingdom of god.”

Well, here we go.

Time to look ahead to organizing a defeat for this pancake.

Why a pancake, you ask?

Because it's a flop.

Dodging a Bullet and Stepping in it: GA Wednedsay night.

2008-06-26T06:34:00.009-06:00

Well, last night saw possibly the worst potential problem to come from this GA being transformed by amendment into a non-issue. The overture from Newton that would have declared that three religions worship "a common God" was amended to take that language out and what was put in its place was the usual stuff about love and the poor.

Whew!

So, I retract the earlier post's assertion that this might be the worst GA ever.

But there is bad news. The EPC got slammed in BOTH attempts to accuse them of sheep stealing and not being Reformed enough for the PCUSA. And there was no debate! In a voice vote that was held very quickly, the GA slandered the EPC.

The logic goes like this:

The EPC has taken our churches. They recruit them. They misrepresent us to them. And the evidence is that all of our departing churches are going to the EPC and that their website has information about how to join their denomination. Not to mention, the EPC uses only Westminster as their confession and they have an essentials of the faith statement! What kind of Reformed denomination would do that??

Now Kirkpatrick can proceed in prosecuting the EPC from his new role as WARC uber-bureaucrat. Fun!

Also note something of interest here: The GA spent more time and effort to be kind to Muslims than even our own brothers and sisters in Christ! I call that pathetic.

The Muslim community got a speaker of their own, a Christian theologian and a full committee. The EPC? Nada but finger pointing.

Oh well. At least its not like GA mandates mean anything anyway, as we've all seen.

But perhaps its time to insert Toby's GA Rule #1--Mandates and Actions of the GA Only Have Force If They Are Against Evangelicals.

I'm off to find some coffee now.

Worst GA Ever?

2008-06-25T19:34:00.002-06:00

Alright readers of the evangelical & Reformed faith, what do you think so far of our General Assembly?

As far as I can tell, we have lost every single item of importance in the committees. I heard that our dear friend, Jim Berkley, has been staying up every night until 4 am working to reverse some of this mess or address it the next day.

Pray for those who work day and night to keep the PC(USA) from the brink.

Pray!

Hit me again, dealer!

2008-06-25T07:36:00.003-06:00

Are you ready for another costly round of debates about 'fidelity/chastity' in our presbyteries? Well, here it may come:

The committee for Church Orders and Ministry has voted overwhelmingly to recommend that the GA delete the AI's that teach the Bible's condemnation of homosexual behavior and it also sends back to the presbyteries another attempt to delete 'B' in our constitution.

More money down the hole. More time wasted. More distractions from the work of Christ.

Color me unimpressed. And a little pessimistic about this GA.

Keep working to defeat this proposal, faithful saints!

The PUP Strikes Back--GA Committee Recommends Insanity

2008-06-24T20:55:00.006-06:00

Well, I guess many of you may have read that the General Assembly Committee on Church Orders and Ministry has approved an Authoritative Interpretation that would lead our denomination down the road to further madness.

If passed at this GA, this would mean that "scrupling" would trump constitutional governance.

Without so much as a vote in our presbyteries, our entire system of polity would crumble into balkanized fiefdoms of local option.

Don't you just love how so many people in our GAs these days try to do end-runs around the presbyteries?

With any sense, this GA will soundly defeat this attempt to manipulate our highest governing body into becoming a carbon-copy of a Politburo.

May reason and common sense prevail! Nothing could be more classically Presbyterian than that.

Pursuing the Money: The assault on the Presbyterian Foundation

2008-06-23T07:51:00.014-06:00

I am deeply disturbed by the recent news that many PC(USA) bureaucrats are in the process of a campaign to take over the management of assets in the Presbyterian Foundation. The situation has deteriorated to the extent that the Foundation itself has had to implement a campaign at the now meeting General Assembly to defend itself and its constitutional rights to manage the assets that have been entrusted to it.

But apparently this campaign does not sit well with some top-level bureaucrats from some of the PC(USA)'s most liberal and institutionalist presbyteries. Peruse this letter:

Robert Leech, President Presbyterian Foundation
200 E. Twelfth Street
Jeffersonville, IN 47130

Dear Robert:
As a group of Executive Presbyters from across the country, we are saddened and deeply concerned by the Foundation's publicity campaign and video and the spirit in which your disagreement with the GAC and the opinion of the ACC is being handled. We speak for ourselves, and are not representing our presbyteries. We are not sending this as an open letter to the General Assembly commissioners or the press.

The fact that you have a disagreement with GAC is not a concern; our Presbyterian polity is based around the reality that we will not agree all the time. However, we have a way of working things out. Our concern, and what we would view as a lack of fiduciary responsibility to the whole church, is how you have chosen to air your disagreement.

By that we mean that you as a General Assembly agency, like the General Assembly itself, are an expression of the unity of the church. There are processes in place to work out differences. You have chosen to deal with your concerns in a way that will harm the whole church, and is just as much a breach of your fiduciary responsibility as the concern you have about what GAC may or may not do.
Some observations:
Working with the GAC to come to some mutual understanding, and at the same time preparing a video that you planned to send to the whole church shows bad faith, and does not instill confidence.

Saying that the Foundation does not want this to be aired in the public forum and at the same time doing just that is a duplicity that does not build trust.

Sending out the information as you did treats the General Assembly as a stockholders meeting, which it is not. The information, the tone and language expressed in the video, and how you have chosen to release it is more like a proxy battle than a discussion that befits the church
. As we look at the issues, we see a power struggle. The questions we hear you asking are not so much concerned with honoring the intent of donors, but who is in control. The Foundation is not an isolated, independent corporation; it serves the mission of the whole church. Yet your actions undermine your credibility and the mission of the whole church you are called to serve.

Those of us in Presbytery leadership, whether we like it or not, often find ourselves in the trenches, and we are called on to interpret the actions of all six GA entities to our presbyteries and congregations. The actions of the 218th General Assembly will be topics of conversation in Presbyteries, session meetings and congregations, and we will have to deal with the ramifications of those actions. In particular, we will have to explain the public, trust-eroding debate between the Foundation, the GAC, and the ACC.

What do we propose?
That you work it out… now.

That the General Assembly creates a working group that has the responsibility to give oversight to the six entities of GA in meaningful, constructive, holistic ways between the meetings of the General Assembly. We believe that the GAC was meant to be that body, as does the ACC in its opinion. However, if that is not the case, then the GA needs to be clear and create a mechanism (or working group or council), so this internal conversation that has significant public ramifications remains internal in the future.
General Assembly is not set up to be a parent that once every two years disciplines its children and sets them straight. By your action, you have set up that dynamic. The credibility of the foundation, GAC, and GA may be damaged, and that is disheartening.

Before the 218th General Assembly begins, as concerned leaders in the church, we want to register our concern about how you have chosen to plead your case with its many unintended consequences that will affect the whole church, and may take years to undo.

We pray that you will accept this letter, in the spirit it is written, as our appeal to not just 'speak the truth, but do so in love, and work to build up the body of Christ.' The image that we lift up for consideration is that of the bowl and towel Jesus took to the Upper Room, rather than that of a board of directors of a corporation in the middle of a proxy fight.

To that end we work and pray, as we serve our Presbyteries and offer our leadership to the whole church.

Graham P. Hart
General Presbyter
Peace River

Susan Krummel
Executive Presbyter
Great Rivers

Paul Reiter
Executive Presbyter
Giddings-Lovejoy

Steven Toshio Yamaguchi
Executive Presbyter
Los Ranchos

Betty Meadows
General Presbyter
Mid-Kentucky

Dana Knapp
Executive Presbyter
Scioto Valley

This is amazing, in its temerity and tone. They actually state in this letter that one of the reasons that they deplore this defense from the Foundation is because they will now have to explain this disagreement to the folks back home!

The revealed thoughts in this letter go like this:

How dare the Foundation take steps to defend its management of the assets that were given to it? How dare they try to publicly refute public attempts to disparage their stewardship? Don't they know that it will mean more work for us back here? Push it under the rug. Cut a deal. Just make it go away!

Also notice that this letter is exclusively directed at one agency in this dispute. It seems that 'peacemaking' is a one-sided endeavor to this group of presbytery executives. They make it out to be entirely the fault of the Foundation that the GAC has maneuvered to take them over.

Talk about blame the victim. Can you imagine a pastor asking a threatened spouse what she may have done to bring the threat into being, and then counseling her to "just work it" out far from the public eye? That would be horrific.

But that is just what this letter attempts to do to the Foundation.

This attempt to seize the funds of the Foundation by the GAC seems to have a high level of coordination in the offices of not only Louisville, but also in some of our presbyteries. It begs the question, "What would the GAC do with a more liberal interpretation of donor intent in its distribution of Foundation assets?"

Follow the money.

And just where does the PC(USA) hierarchy need money these days? Mission? Evangelism? Church growth and planting?

Or would it be "social witness"? How about ecumenical alliances? Or in litigation?

The possibilities give one pause. Maybe we could redefine mission. You know, redefine the lawyers at the presbytery and synod level as, "Mission Advocates for the True Church"?

Don't put it past them.

What's wrong with these kids? A BAD reason to want a baby.

2008-06-19T09:55:00.004-06:00

I was shocked to read this article that details teen girls who made a pact to all have babies and raise them together:

Report: Gloucester Teens Had Pact To Get Pregnant
GLOUCESTER (WBZ) ― There's a stunning twist to the sudden rise in teen pregnancies at Gloucester High School. 17 students there are expecting and, according to a published report, most of them became that way on purpose.

Time Magazine is reporting that nearly half of the girls confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. None of the girls is older than 16.

Principal Joseph Sullivan has not returned calls from WBZ to confirm the report.
Sullivan told the magazine that the pact wasn't the only shocking incident.

"We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy," he told Time.
Last month, two top officials at the high school's health center resigned in a fight over contraceptives distribution.

Medical Director Dr. Brian Orr and chief nurse practitioner Kim Daly support confidentially giving contraceptives to students. They were outraged about resistance from Addison Gilbert Hospital, which administers the state public health grant that funds the school clinic.
Normally, the school has about four pregnancies per school year.

According to Time, school officials started looking into the spike in pregnancies after an unusual number of girls came to the school clinic for pregnancy tests. Some came by several times.
"Some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were," Sullivan told the magazine.

The pregnant girls and their parents turned down requests to be interviewed.
A recent graduate who had a baby during her freshman year told Time she knows why the girls wanted to get pregnant.

"They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Amanda Ireland, 18, said. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."
WBZ has also tried to contact Mayor Carolyn Kirk and Public Health Director Jack Vondras. Both are said to be out of town this week.

This is crazy. What is so wrong with our society today that we see kids wanting to have their own kids just so that they can experience "unconditional love"?

Frankly, I've seen this in Cuero. Not in so explicit a form as this kind of pact, but I have seen plenty of young moms who really just wanted to have kids so that they would garner the respect and love of their families and peers. I thought it was a south Texas phenomenon, but apparently not. The special treatment that pregnant teens get from the local school district, when paired with the high promiscuity factor and broken families with poor parenting, is an unspoken fact in the teen pregnancy rate.

Our society is reaping the bitter fruits of the MTV, culture of death way of thinking that has infected almost every facet of our common life together.

As Christians, we have these regrets--If only these girls knew of the love of the Heavenly Father. If only they had churches and parents that taught them how much Christ loves them and that only He can satisfy their heart's longings for love and acceptance.

Birth control won't fix this problem. Neither will sex ed or social programs.

Only the love of God shown in Christ can teach people that they can know true love in this life without a string of sinful behavior and the fallout from sexual brokenness.

Friends in the gospel, we've got work to do!

For Everything A Season: Off to Pennsylvania, if the way be clear.

2008-06-18T07:40:00.005-06:00

It's time for me to share some big news here on the blog and to make a special prayer request.

I'm moving. At least if the presbytery will have me...

Earlier this week, I announced to the session here that I have accepted a call to pastor a church 1500 miles away from south Texas, in Beaver-Butler Presbytery of western Pennsylvania. This is a major transition not only for the church I currently serve and my own ministry, but also for my family. Leaving our home of the last six years, leaving family and friends to pursue a call so far away from everything we have ever known is perhaps the most challenging thing we have ever faced.

Aside from that, there is the sadness here in Cuero. The saints of First Presbyterian Church, with a legacy that goes back to 1849, need our fervent prayers in this transition time. Please pray that they will be comforted and challenged to lean on Christ as my family departs for another place.

The thing about small congregations--they are a family. I am very close to the people that I serve and delivering this news brings tears and powerful emotions to everyone involved. We've experienced the fullness of life together: through funerals for our beloved, weddings, baptisms, departures and additions.

Being pastor here in Cuero has truly been one of the greatest blessings and privileges of my adult life. If I did not feel the certainty of God's call in this, I don't think I could handle all of the goodbyes. But I know that the precious ones of FPC Cuero will be provided for. They might even start getting some accurate worship bulletins for once!

I still need to appear before Beaver-Butler Presbytery in July for final approval. Prayers for that would also be appreciated. If they approve the move, then it will be the final packing and moving in earnest...

The goal will be a Pennsylvania arrival in early August.

So, in these next six weeks, I've got people to say goodbye to, farewell events to plan and rooms to box. Blogging will be my therapy, so don't go away!

Peace of Christ be with you all.

Louisville vs. The Jews, Round Two

2008-06-15T18:30:00.006-06:00

When was the last time that a major Christian group constantly argued against the Jewish people or Israel in general and things went well?

I can't think of one.

Hmmm, Let's see: From pogroms to inquisitions, state-sponsored genocides to blaming poverty on 'wealthy Jews', Protocols of the Elders of Zion to Luther's "On the Jews and Their Lies" it never goes well for the church when we sell out to anti-semitism.

Never.

So, tell me please--why does the Louisville Interfaith Relations Office of the PC(USA) try do desperately to paint our denomination as Jew haters? Why?

I know that they think they are the righteous. I know that the posh offices and ivory towers can go to one's head, but geez, why do they only hasten our demise with such blatant acts of hostility to the Jewish people? Hasn't Israel been threatened enough?

I guess not...

Go and read Will Spotts' excellent analysis of this debacle, this shame, this monstrous outrage of deception that is being done in the name of the PC(USA).

Fire them all. Send those staffers packing.

Yesterday.

Tell them this: "Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Report from the PLC Conference, part two: False prophets start at home

2008-06-12T20:51:00.002-06:00

Rus Howard's conference workshop was a special time for me. Rus is one of my pastoral heroes. He has paid the price for faithfulness to his ministry and he has not lost his joy in the Lord and love for His people. I know that I have much to learn from him.

Rus's workshop topic was "Confronting False Prophets". The topic had been assigned to him months before and finding himself in the middle of a church that was called to join the EPC and being hounded by a hostile former presbytery's legal actions against the church he was pastoring, one might think that his assigned topic would be a blast against the 'powers that be' in the PCUSA. He would certainly have the right.

But not Rus. For Rus is a man of integrity and he recognized the entire problem about the reality of false prophets in our midst. He realized that each of our church's, sessions and pastors had allowed this to happen and it did not occur overnight.

Rus is brutally honest. He knows that our present dilemma in the PCUSA started the moment we chose to take the path of least resistance in our congregations. Here's what I mean: Rus detailed the compromises that he (and we) made in pastoral ministry. He told us that he had always thought that 'building the church'---with more members, happy people who always get along and growing the budget was the goal of a 'successful' ministry.

Recognize yourself or your pastor?

Rus showed us how he had basically been renewed in his ministry and that started by a good, long, hard look in the mirror--at himself and the choices he had made. Rus told us of how easy it had become in his ministry to point the finger, to denounce other people whom he had never even met, while he went about a whole series of little compromises in his local ministry. In short, he realized that as bad as some of these false teachers were in the PCUSA, he himself had been a part of the problem.

The problem was that in his quest to be the kind of pastor who could get more members, build more finances and just let people stay where they were, without any spiritual growth, Rus knew that the Lord had more in store for a congregation and its pastor.

In other words, without a trained session, who know the Reformed faith and who are spiritually mature and without a pastor who will call people to submit themselves to the Word of God without hesitation or equivocation, then ministry is in vain and false prophets have free reign. Rus realized this and he made the change.

Truth is, nothing could be harder to do in a mainline denomination. It's hard enough to do in any denomination or church, but in a place where the culture has actively been against such an enterprise as the one Rus felt called to made his decision quite an act of courage.

He detailed for us how the session and the congregation noticed his change in emphasis, towards training the leaders and helping people to grow into spiritual maturity. He told us how the new emphasis on sound doctrine for the elders and the commitment to building the church in Biblical fashion had given him a new vision for what the church can be.

The common ground that he touched on for me was on so many of the things that we pastors see in the mainline culture: parents who want children baptized even when they don't attend church, weddings that are secular romance fests, keeping people on the rolls in perpetuity. You know the drill.

Rus challenged us to look first to ourselves, our habits, our compromises and our own failures before we look to the failures of others. False prophets are grown in an environment that allows them to take hold and grow in influence. So, if we who hold to Reformed orthodoxy desire a church that has the guts to teach and discipline then we had better start right where we are.

I can't think of a more timely or more important message for pastor and elders alike.

Rus is my hero. Because Jesus Christ is his hero and it shows.