11 June 2014
Presbyterians Week Headlines
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[1] Correction
[2] Irish Pastor Under “Hate Crime” Investigation for Sunday Sermon against Islam
[3] Former Bergdahl Pastor Responds to Taliban Release of Bowe Bergdahl
[4] Commemorating Treaty of Trianon on Day of National Unity
[7] Westminster Seminary Announces Retirement of Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology Dr. Douglas Green on 1 October 2015
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[1] Correction
Article “[5] Another Belfast, Northern Ireland Presbyterian Pastor Speaks Out against Islam” in the 4 June 2014 Presbyterians Week stated that the Rev. James McConnell, senior pastor of Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI). In fact, McConnell is pastor of a charismatic church that practices believer’s baptism.
The editor made an erroneous assumption about McConnell after PCI moderator the Rev. Dr. Rob Craig criticized McConnell’s 25 May 2014 sermon where McConnell described Islam as “heathen” and “satanic,” and said that “a new evil had arisen” and “there are cells of Muslims right throughout Britain.”
The editor asks the readers’ forgiveness for this error, and suggests to Dr. Craig that there may be an appropriate corollary regarding this situation to the apocryphal fable about the doctor who fell into a well where the moral was: “Mind the sick, and leave the well alone.”
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+ Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Church House, Belfast BT1 6DW, Northern Ireland, 028-9032-2284, Fax: 028-9041-7301, Info@PresbyterianIreland.org
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[2] Irish Pastor Under “Hate Crime” Investigation for Sunday Sermon against Islam
The following is excerpted from “Irish Pastor under Investigation,” Christian News Network, May 31, 2014: “A seventy-five-year-old Irish preacher was subjected to a police probe after he condemned Islam in a sermon and was accused of ‘hate mongering.’ James McConnell, pastor of the Whitewell Metropolitan Church in North Belfast, Ireland, discussed the religion of Islam during an evening sermon on Sunday, May 18th. During the sermon, McConnell denounced Islam and said the contrast between it and Christianity is stark. ‘The God we worship and serve this evening is not Allah,’ he proclaimed, according to a video of his sermon. ‘The Muslim god–Allah–is a heathen deity. Allah is a cruel deity. Allah is a demon deity.’ McConnell then criticized the ‘foolish’ British government for attempting to appease Muslims financially, saying Islam is ‘a doctrine spawned in hell.’ He also noted that Christians around the world are persecuted for their faith by the ‘fanatical worshipers’ of Allah. According to the Belfast Telegraph, McConnell’s remarks were inspired by the current plight of Meriam Ibrahim–a professing Orthodox Christian woman in Sudan. As previously reported, Ibrahim was sentenced to hang after she was convicted of apostasy for refusing to deny her faith and convert to Islam. Following McConnell’s May 18th sermon, the Police Service of Northern Ireland investigated the preacher for allegations of hate crime. Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness described the preacher’s comments as ‘hate mongering’ and said the anti-Muslim statements ‘must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.’ … Others have supported McConnell through social media. ‘What Pastor McConnell said is simply the correct Christian standpoint, accurately reflecting the Biblical evaluation of good and evil,’ one commenter noted. ‘Sometimes the cold truth is what is needed,’ another wrote. ‘If it does not exalt the name of Jesus then it is spawned in hell. Continue to stand for the gospel and shame on any man of God who turns on another for speaking truth.’
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+ Way of Life Literature, Post Office Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, 519-652-2619, fbns@wayoflife.org
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[3] Former Bergdahl Pastor Responds to Taliban Release of Bowe Bergdahl
“I wrote an email recently which is being shared, with my permission. A number of people have said that it disappeared from their walls – I think that may be because someone up the “share” chain changed their setting from public to private? At any rate, here’s the email. Feel free to share. I really don’t have the desire (or the time from my responsibilities here) to engage in a lot of discussion. I hope folks will understand my desire to say something very narrow – Bob and Jani profess faith in Christ. Here’s the email . . .
“I appreciate your asking about the Bergdahls. I’ve really been saddened about how the Christian community is jumping all over this. Here’s the deal . . .
“I pastored the Bergdahl family in 2003, prior to going to Uganda. We were very close, and remained so throughout my time in Uganda (I just found out this evening that apparently I’m referenced in some important Rolling Stone article from 2012).
“Bowe was a young man with all the dangers of home-schooling – a brilliant and inquisitive mind, a crisp thinker, and someone who had never really been exposed to evil in the world. He was wanting to determine whether the Christian faith was his own, or his parents’ and was doing a lot of exploring of ideas – never drugs or alcohol, but trying to be an outdoors/Renaissance type figure. We’ve stayed in close contact with Bob and Jani, especially since Bowe’s capture. Since we moved here to Northern Virginia, Bob and Jani have stayed in our home on a couple of occasions, and I’ve spoken on the phone with Bob once a month or so.
“Bob felt (with some justification) that the U.S. government was not going to engage with diplomatic efforts and so decided to try to free his son himself. He learned Pashtun and developed a lot of contacts in the Middle East. The Qatar connection is one that either originated with Bob or, at the very least, became very personally connected to Bob. Bob has, for quite some time, been saying that the closure of Guantanamo is integrally connected to the release of his son.
“Whatever one thinks of Bob’s political views, I can attest to both he and Jani’s unwavering commitment to Christ and trust in him. I’ve prayed with both of them regularly. They both have been through a torture mill that I cannot begin to comprehend – five years of a living death. It has affected their health, both physically and mentally, as Bob has been completely obsessed with tracking down any possible communication avenue to get his son home. There are a number of things I would disagree with Bob on in terms of political statements, but at the end of the day, I think this whole mess is a WHOLE lot more complicated than a thirty-second sound bite can explore – the very existence of Gitmo attests to the complicated nature from the very beginning, and it’s only gotten worse over the years.
“To the foundational issue: Bob and Jani both have regularly confessed their dependence upon Christ and rest in him – the most recent being Bob’s conversation with me about a month ago. They are broken people who need prayer, love, and compassion. I personally intend to run as hard as I can in the opposite direction of judging his words in the moment of his crucible – I would HATE to have that standard applied to my moments of stress, which have never reached anything approaching his intensity and duration!
“Feel free to forward this and use it as widely as you like.”
Yours in Christ,
Phil Proctor
Pastor, Sterling Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Sterlingopc.org
P.S. – as of thirty minutes ago, still Christians!
[Editor’s Note: Christianity Today published an interview with the Rev. Phil Proctor on 6 June 2014 titled “Former Bergdahl Pastor Calls for Mercy for ‘Prodigal Son’ Bowe”.
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+ The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), 607 North Easton Road, Building E, Box P, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania 19090, 215-830-0900, Fax: 215-830-0350
+ Christianity Today International, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188, 630-260-6200, Fax: 630-260-0114, mwhite@christianitytoday.com
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[4] Commemorating Treaty of Trianon on Day of National Unity
Hungary observed the Day of National Unity on 4 June, commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, under which two-thirds of Hungary’s territory was ceded to neighbouring countries.
The Hungarian nation can be proud of having survived the Trianon Treaty of Peace of 4 June 1920, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén said on Wednesday, the Day of National Unity. 4 June is a day of mourning and remembrance, and a historical lesson at the same time, he stated. It is a day of mourning, because the Treaty of Trianon was the nation’s greatest
tragedy following the division of historical Hungary in 1541, he added.
In the evening, a gala event took place entitled “Vital tradition – Our heritage in the Carpathian Basin”. Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog addressed the event, pointing out that what happened on 4 June 1920 should always be remembered. He recalled that thanks to the “Without Borders” programme, 40 thousand teachers and students from Hungary and
abroad will have the opportunity to travel this year to the neighbouring countries, building relations between the Hungarian communities around the world.
Addressing a commemoration in Budapest, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Zsolt Németh talked about providing support to Transcarpathia’s Hungarian community to assure their dual citizenship, the use of their mother tongue and their representation in Ukraine’s parliament.
Zsuzsanna Répás, Deputy State Secretary for Hungarian communities abroad, stated that 4 June marks the day when members of the Hungarian community in the Carpathian Basin declare responsibility towards one another. (Prime Minister’s Office)
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+ Hungary
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[5] Christian Reformed Church and Reformed Church in America Synods Meet Jointly for First Time in 150 Years
A 6 June 2014 Holland Sentinel article titled “Synods Meet Jointly for First Time in 150 Years” reports that the General Synods of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) and the Reformed Church in America (RCA) will open jointly for the first time in 150 years on 12 June 2014 at Third Reformed Church in Pella, Iowa. The two denominations will host separate business meetings.
Preaching at the opening service is the Rev. Denise Kingdom-Grier, pastor of Maple Avenue Ministries, a union church in Holland, Michigan that belongs to both the CRCNA and the RCA.
An official session of the two denominations will be held 14 June 2014 where the delegates will consider a resolution seen as a step towards the possible reunification of the two denominations.
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+ Holland Sentinel, 54 West 8th Street, Holland, Michigan 49423, 616-546-4200, Fax: 616-393-6710, peter.esser@hollandsentinel.com
+ Christian Reformed Church in North America, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49560, 616-241-1691, Fax: 616-224-0803 crcna@crcna.org
+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org
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[6] Reformed Church in China Closed by Government with Pastor Arrested
A 4 June 2014 World Magazine article titled “June Crackdown” reports that Chinese police on the evening of 1 June 2014 arrested Pastor Wang Yi of Early Rain Reformed Church in Chengdu, China, and another church member was bludgeoned by police for passing out pro-life brochures. Pastor Wang preached earlier that day to his congregation of around 200 about Christian persecution, where he told them that Stephen faced it, Western missionaries to China faced it, and he and his congregation may have to as well.
Police rearrested Pastor Wang on the morning of 4 June 2014 as his church planned to hold a meeting to pray over China. Congregants said the police then shut off power to the office building where the church meets and posted signs that it was under maintenance. Church leaders then emailed congregants, asking them to pray in their small groups instead, as police likely are watching the church building.
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+ World Magazine, 85 Tunnel Road, Suite 12, Asheville, North Carolina 28805, 828-232-5415, Fax: 828-253-1556, mailbag@worldmag.com
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[7] Westminster Seminary Announces Retirement of Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology Dr. Douglas Green on 1 October 2015
The Board of Trustees and administration of [Westminster Theological Seminary] wish to announce the retirement of Dr. Douglas J. Green, Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology, beginning October 1, 2015.
Dr. Green’s honorable retirement follows a recent decision by the Trustees.
In December 2009 the Board of Trustees accepted Dr. Douglas Green’s endorsement of the “Affirmations and Denials” and regarded his written statement “as containing acceptable clarifications and allowable exceptions”. However, at the November 2013 meeting of the Board the previous 2009 action was amended. Dr. Green’s response to Section IV of the “Affirmations and Denials” is no longer acceptable. The Board of Trustees regards the particular hermeneutical method of the New Testament use of the Old Testament included in Dr. Green’s response to be inconsistent with the Seminary’s confessional standards.
While Dr. Green respectfully disagrees with this decision of the Board, he acknowledges the governing authority of the Trustees to lead Westminster in fulfilling the institution’s mission as a confessional Reformed seminary.
We thank Dr. Green for twenty-two years of exemplary service as a member of the faculty. His contributions to the life of the seminary and especially his devotion to the students demonstrate his exceptional commitment as a teacher and mentor.
We wish Dr. Green well in his future endeavors to serve the Lord.
What is the background to the announcement of Dr. Green’s retirement?
In September 2008, the Board of Trustees adopted a document entitled “Affirmations and Denials Regarding Recent Issues,” which contains fifty-two affirmations and denials that address various theological and hermeneutical issues. In May 2009, in response to questions raised by Dr. Green concerning the “Affirmations and Denials,” the Board appointed a committee to examine his exceptions to that document. After being examined by that committee, in August 2009 Dr. Green submitted a written statement concerning the “Affirmations and Denials.” In December 2009, by a vote of 18-0, the Board adopted the committee’s recommendation to approve his statement “as containing acceptable clarifications and allowable exceptions.”
In November 2013, the Board reviewed and amended its 2009 decision concerning Dr. Green’s statement on the “Affirmations and Denials,” specifically with reference to his comments on Section IV (“Original Meaning and NT Meaning of OT Texts”). With respect to this section of Dr. Green’s 2009 statement, the Board concluded that he had expressed agreement with a “christotelic” hermeneutical method that severs the organic link between the Old Testament and the New Testament and that in the Board’s determination this view is inconsistent with the teaching of Scripture found in the Westminster Standards.
After the Board’s November 2013 decision, in the context of a potential further investigation of his hermeneutical approach, Dr. Green was given the opportunity to modify his 2009 statement and to revise and republish his 2010 article on Psalm 23. Dr. Green declined to make these modifications. Subsequently, he and the Seminary have reached an amicable agreement which will allow him to retire honorably at the end of September 2015.
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+ Westminster Theological Seminary, 2960 West Church Road, Glenside, Pennsylvania 19038, 215-887-5511, Fax: 215-887-5404, communications@wts.edu
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