1 April 2015
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Presbyterians Week Headlines
[1] 34,000 Black Churches Break Ties with Presbyterian Church USA
[2] National Synod of Scotland of the United Reformed Church Votes to Divests from Fossil Fuels
[4] LibriVox Makes Available Nine Audio Books of the Writings of J. C. Ryle
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[1] 34,000 Black Churches Break Ties with Presbyterian Church USA
A 27 March 2015 Charisma News article by Anthony Evans titled “34,000 Black Churches Break Ties With Presbyterian Church USA” reports that the National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African-Americans, has broken fellowship with the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) because of the PCUSA’s recent ratification of a constitutional change to the definition of marriage that allows for homosexual marriages.
NBCI President the Rev. Anthony Evans commented:
“NBCI and its membership base are simply standing on the Word of God within the mind of Christ. We urge our brother and sisters of the PCUSA to repent and be restored to fellowship.”
“PCUSA’s manipulation represents a universal sin against the entire church and its members. With this action, PCUSA can no longer base its teachings on 2,000 years of Christian scripture and tradition, and call itself a Christian entity in the body of Christ. It has forsaken its right by this single wrong act.
“Apostle Paul warns us about this when he declared in Galatians 1:8 that there are those who will preach another gospel.
“For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. … For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
“No church has the right to change the Word of God. By voting to redefine marriage PCUSA automatically forfeits Christ’s saving grace. There is always redemption in the body of Christ through confession of faith and adhering to Holy Scripture.
“In this case, PCUSA deliberately voted to change the Word of God and the interpretation of holy marriage between one man and one woman. This is why we must break fellowship with them and urge the entire Christendom to do so as well.”
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+ Charisma News, 600 Rinehart Road, Lake Mary, Florida 32746, 407-333-0600, Fax: 407-333-7100, webmaster@charismamedia.com
+ National Black Church Initiative, PO Box 65177, Washington DC 20035, 202-744-0184, dcbci2002@gmail.com
+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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[2] National Synod of Scotland of the United Reformed Church Votes to Divests from Fossil Fuels
The National Synod of Scotland – United Reformed Church (URC) at their 2015 General Synod meeting at the Scottish Police College in Fife, Scotland, made the decision to divest from fossil fuels and agreed that no further investment in fossil fuels shall take place.
Welcoming the decision, the Rev. John Humphreys, Moderator of the URC’s National Synod of Scotland, said:
“I’m delighted that the synod has shown a clear commitment to ethical investment – they have taken affirmative action against climate change and put people and the planet at the heart of their financial decision making.
“Rising temperatures and sea levels, severe storms, droughts and floods will inevitably lead to the displacement and endangering of billions of people and the loss of lives.
“Many others, particularly the poorest, will lose all they have.
“We hope and pray that other churches will feel able to respond ethically to the growing threat of catastrophic climate change.”
Two thirds of the world’s fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground to prevent catastrophic climate change, yet companies such as Shell and BP plan to extract all of their reserves and continue to explore new ones.
The United Reformed Church National Synod of Scotland will now examine its financial arrangements and ensure that its investments do not endanger creation.
Mark Letcher, coordinator of the Bright Now church divestment campaign, said: “We are delighted that the United Reformed Church in Scotland has taken prophetic action by deciding to disinvest from fossil fuels.
“This marks a huge step forward for the U.K. church divestment campaign, which is gathering momentum as churches around the world disinvest.
“This decision demonstrates the church’s commitment to lead the urgently needed transition away from fossil fuels.
“We call on other U.K. churches to follow them.”
Operation Noah’s Bright Now campaign is calling for U.K. churches to divest from fossil companies, take a leading role in the debate on the ethics of fossil fuel investments, and reinvest in clean energy alternatives.
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+ United Reformed Church, Church House, 86 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9RT, England, 020-7916-2020, Fax: 020-7916-2021, urc@urc.org.uk
+ National Synod of Scotland – United Reformed Church, Regents House, 113 West Regent Street, Glasgow G2 2RU, Scotland, 0141-248-5382, Fax: 0141-222-2981, info@urcscotland.org.uk
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Dr. Joel McDermon of American Vision on 28 March 2015 published the article “Greg Bahnsen: What Really Happened at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS)”.
Dr. McDermon describes the article as follows:
“What follows are chronicles and supporting documents compiled by Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen during and immediately after his unfortunate and groundless termination at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS), Jackson, MS, in 1978-79. You will find that common rumors, assumptions, and even recent publications (more on this soon) are demolished by the material collected here. You will also find what must, by any objective review, be considered startling unfairness, evasion of Scripture, bylaws, and rules, and resort to cowardly and unjust attacks and tactics used toward the effort of attacking, censoring, and removing Professor Bahnsen.”
The article’s URL is:
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+ American Vision, 3150-A Florence Road, Suite 2, Powder Springs, Georgia 30127, 800-628-9460, Fax: 770-222-7269, Comments@AmericanVision.org
+ Reformed Theological Seminary – Jackson, 5422 Clinton Boulevard, Jackson, Mississippi 39209, 601-923-1600, Contact Page
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[4] LibriVox Makes Available Nine Audio Books of the Writings of J. C. Ryle
LibriVox makes available for download in the public domain in the U.S., nine audio books of the writings of J.C Ryle, the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool, England, at the following location:
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Individual messages and the entire 2015 Ligonier Conference “Pilgrims in Progress” are available for free streaming from Ligonier.org and from YouTube, at the following URLs:
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+ Ligonier Ministries, 400 Technology Park, Lake Mary, Florida 32746, 407-333-4244, Fax: 407-333-4233
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The 28 March 2015 Student Theological Society-sponsored debate at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary between Drs. Dennis J. Prutow and T. David Gordon is available for listening on SermonAudio at the following location:
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonid=329157532910
Dr. Prutrow is Professor Emeritus of Homiletics at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Dr. Gordon is Professor of Religion and Greek at Grove City College.
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+ Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 7418 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208, 412-731-8690, Fax: 412-731-4834, info@rpts.edu
+ Grove City College, 100 Campus Drive, Grove City, Pennsylvania 16127, 724-458-2000, Contact Page
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