Deutero Q

Well, it's official: the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly meeting in San Jose, California, has come to a close. Many different words and metaphors come to mind as I continue to process the lunacy that characterized the GA meeting. Pardon my bluntness, but the crap coming out of the PC (USA) colon stinks to high heaven. (I've used that metaphor quite a bit lately, but I think it is a fitting one.)

I can do no better than share with you the New Wineskins' assessment of the recent PC (USA) General Assembly:

"The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has become theologically unhinged from our Biblical and Reformation foundation. The actions of this assembly are schismatic. They foster division within our denomination and threaten the sundering of the denomination from the world Church of Jesus Christ. Specifically,

· The assembly recommends re-writing the historic Heidelberg Catechism by truncating a quotation from Scripture (1 Cor. 6:9) in order to remove reference to homosexual behavior as sinful.

· The assembly has asked the church once again to overturn historic, Biblical standards of sexual holiness for those being ordained. Previous authoritative interpretations about sexuality and ordination standards have been rendered void. Presbyteries will be asked to delete the "fidelity in marriage, chastity in singleness" clause of G-6.0106b.

· The assembly has authorized creating a special fund to battle in civil courts congregations which cannot in good conscience continue to stay in the PC(USA). Such legal action includes not only disputes over property but, as in the Londonderry case, litigation against elders. Donations will be sought. However, we are hopeful that the General Assembly's strong approval of a resolution encouraging presbyteries to initiate and communicate a gracious process for dismissal will decrease a rush to civil court on all sides.

· The assembly has misunderstood and disrespected all three religions in its resolutions about Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The assembly calls upon these religions to celebrate religious holidays together: as if a good Muslim could celebrate the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ at Christmas, as if a good Jew could look to the crucifixion on Good Friday for atonement, as if a good Christian could consecrate himself or herself during Ramadan to a Unitarian God who is not the gracious Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of the Triune God.

· The assembly declined asking the church to redefine marriage as between one man and one woman (Mt. 19: 4-5). Nevertheless, a civil marriage between 2 men was performed by a PC(USA) minister at the More Light General Assembly gathering. Those charged with defending our constitution have remained silent on this breach of ordination vows."

I have no misgivings about leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA). And I am so proud of the church I pastor for saying, "enough is enough" and voting by an overwhelming margin to leave our former denomination.

I suspect that the coming months will see an exodus of many more churches from the Presbyterian Church (USA). In light of the General Assembly's recent actions, it's not hard to understand why.

Debate on Calvinism

For many years, I was called to remain in the Presbyterian Church (USA) as a voice for reformation and renewal. To that end, my wife and I served as national representatives for a wonderful renewal ministry called Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International. We coordinated and participated in many church renewal events across the country and were blessed to be part of God’s transforming work at the congregational level.

Additionally, I actively supported and aligned myself with other Presbyterian renewal ministries and movements, including Presbyterians for Renewal, The Confessing Church Movement, New Wineskins, and Presbyterians Pro Life. I longed to see my soul-sick denomination return to its biblical and historical roots.

However, after serving for some twenty years in the PC (USA), during which I watched it stray dangerously far from the authority of Holy Scripture and the centrality of Jesus Christ, I concluded that God had removed His hand of blessing from much of mainline denominationalism. A friend of mine put it bluntly years ago when he said that a fitting label for the PC (USA) was the biblical name Ichabod (meaning “no glory”). Over the years, as I surveyed the spiritual wreckage that is the PC (USA), I concluded that the glory had departed.

I did not share the belief system and worldview that prevail in much of the Presbyterian Church (USA), especially at the leadership level. I was—and continue to be—wholeheartedly committed to the historic, biblical faith, and found myself frequently at odds with my former denomination on many, many issues, including:

*The 1993 Re-imagining Conference. Supported largely by the Presbyterian Church (USA) and other mainline denominations, the conference promoted a radical feminist agenda that included prayers to the goddess Sophia and the substitution of a profane milk and honey ritual for the Lord’s Supper. One conference speaker declared that Mary and Martha in the Bible were not actual sisters but lesbian lovers, while another speaker led participants in a prayer to “earth maker Mauna, our creator.” Delores Williams, a “womanist” theology professor and Re-imagining conference speaker, said, “I don’t think we need a theory of the atonement at all…. I don’t think we need folks hanging on crosses and blood dripping and weird stuff.”

*Denominational pronouncements that support terrorist, Marxist, and radical leftist causes, while often vilifying the United States and Israel.

*Denominational support of the slaughter of innocents (abortion on demand) in the name of choice.

*The failure to discipline radical gay-rights advocates/renegade ministers who are performing same-sex unions.

*The PUP report and its provision for “local option.”

*The replacement of traditional language for the Triune God (i.e., “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”) with “Mother, Child, Womb” and other designations. This is advocated in a report titled “The Trinity: God’s Love Overflowing” that the 217th General Assembly voted to receive in 2006.

*Mainline clergy, seminary professors, and students who deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, salvation through Christ alone, the God-breathed nature and authority of Holy Scripture, etc. Many of these PC (USA) leaders and future leaders also embrace and promote Marxism, liberation theology, homosexuality, radical feminism, universalism, and seemingly every belief except biblical Christianity. Historic Reformed theology receives comparatively little attention in mainline Presbyterian Church (USA) seminaries.

*Spiritually barren denominational publications that say very little about personal transformation via the living Christ. I think also of the countless hours I spent engaged in human-centered meetings and busywork that were void of the manifest presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

*The refusal of the PC (USA) to take seriously the loss of 2 million of its members since 1965 and a yearly hemorrhage of church membership—projections point to yet another year of huge losses.

*The draconian measures denominational bureaucrats are employing to keep churches from leaving the PC (USA) with their property; and the vilifying of Christ-honoring, Bible-based denominations such as the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and New Wineskins Association of Churches, with which many PC (USA) congregations are aligning.

I had no qualms about leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA): for in truth, I did not leave the denomination … the denomination left me and many of us years ago. While I acknowledge that there are fine and godly people who remain in my former denomination, I reached a point where I could not be true to my conscience and my God by remaining onboard a rudderless and sinking denominational ship that had been commandeered by spiritual pirates … a ship that continues to be blown here and there by the fickle winds of prevailing culture, rather than by the wind of the Holy Spirit. I cannot--and will not--raise my children in that setting.

To be sure, I am excited by the prospect of setting sail on a sturdy vessel that has as its Captain the Lord Jesus Christ. I am eager to serve the Lord in a Christ-exalting, Bible-based Presbyterian denomination.

Tragically, the designation “Christ-exalting” and “Bible-based” no longer describes the Presbyterian Church (USA). I believe my friend was right: the more fitting moniker for culturally-bound denominations such as the PC (USA) is Ichabod.