18 March 2015
.
.
“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” [Ezekiel 33:6]
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” [Ephesians 6:12]
Presbyterians Week Headlines
.
[3] City Church (RCA) of San Francisco Embraces Homosexual Sex and Marriage
[4] PCUSA Presbyteries Approve Marriage Amendment 14-F, Allowing Homosexual Weddings
[5] Evangelical Reformed Church in Vilnius, Lithuania Uses Jewish Headstones as Front Staircase
.
—
.
The Fifteenth Annual Reformed Congregational Fellowship Pastors’ Conference is scheduled for 14-16 April 2015 at the Salvation Army’s Wonderland Conference Center in Sharon, Massachusetts. The conference theme for 2015 is “Free Indeed!”
Presentations scheduled include:
Tuesday April 14 at 7 p.m. – “The Divine Purchase: Redeemed from the Curse of the Law and This Present Evil World” by Douglas Vickers of Hadley, Massachusetts
Wednesday April 15 at 8:45a.m. – “The Administration of the Covenant of Grace in the Ceremonial Law” by Rick Daniels from North Carolina
Wednesday April 15 at 10:15 a.m. – “From Legal Obedience to Gospel Obedience: The Grace of God That Teaches Us to Say No to Ungodliness and Worldly Passions” by Bob Hall of the Bronx, New York City, New York
Wednesday April 15 at 1:15 p.m. – “He Who Was Free… Is a Slave of Christ: The Use and Abuse of a Pauline Metaphor” by Ross Macdonald from Massachusetts
Wednesday April 15 at 2:30 p.m. – Expanded Discussion followed by a Business Meeting
Wednesday April 15 at 7 p.m. – “Jeremiah Burroughs and Liberty of Conscience: Let not violence be used to force people to things spiritual that they know not” by Steve Weibley of Carlisle, Massachusetts
Thursday April 15 at 9:00 a.m. – “Taking a Stand: Civil Disobedience and the Christian” by Kirk van der Swaagh of New York City, New York
For questions and information, please call or email 508-285-5525 or pnwanamaker@comcast.net
The conference brochure is available here:
http://christianobserver.org/wp-content/rcf_brochure_2015.pdf
.
+ Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, 8941 Highway 5, Lake Elmo, Minnesota, 651-739-1474, Fax: 651-739-0750
.
.
Reformed Presbyterian Church of Manassas, Virginia will be hosting a Creation Emphasis Seminar 25-27 March 2015 at 7:30 p.m. each evening.
The speaker is Dr. Grady S. McMurtry, Biblical Scientific Creationist.
Dr. McMurtry is a recognized international speaker on the subject of creation vs. evolution, both from a Biblical viewpoint as well as that of secular science. He has an entertaining and humorous style of presenting fact and bible truths. His insights into the events of the past will stir your spirit and affirm in your heart the truth about the biblical record of Creation, the Flood and Man.
Dr. McMurtry has credentials as a scientist, an expert school board witness, and a visiting professor on school, college and university campuses around the world. All persons, Junior High through Adult, will be captivated by his grasp of the facts, open style and love for the Lord.
Dr.McMurtry was an evolutionist for twenty years prior to being convinced of the scientific foundation for the creation viewpoint. Dr. McMurtry addresses this issue on the basis of science and contends for the truth of the Biblical account of creation and its tremendous relevance to our lives. The topics in this series are: The Complexity of the Universe; Survival of the Fittest-Really?; and The Ark of Noah.
“The Creation Bookstore” will also be available. It is so hard to know the best books on such a wide range of subjects that are suitable to each age group. This is your opportunity to buy! Home-schoolers looking for curriculum will want to review the titles on the book and tape tables.
.
+ Reformed Presbyterian Church, 9400 Fairview Avenue, Manassas, Virginia 20110, 703-361-2300
+ Reformed Presbyterian Church-Hanover Presbytery, hanoverpresbyter@yahoo.com
.
.
[3] City Church (RCA) of San Francisco Embraces Homosexual Sex and Marriage
In a 13 March 2015 letter from the Elder Board of City Church (Reformed Church in America) of San Francisco, California, it was announced that the church is now accepting of practicing homosexuals and of homosexual marriage.
The timing of these changes was explained by several statements elaborated upon in the letter:
- God is bringing LGBT Christians through the doors of City Church.
- Our pastoral practice of demanding life-long “celibacy”, by which we meant that for the rest of your life you would not engage your sexual orientation in any way, was causing obvious harm and has not led to human flourishing.
- We feel a growing sense that this counsel is not necessarily the way of the gospel.
The Elder Board’s method of seeking answers to their questions was explained in three parts titled:
As a church within the Reformed Tradition we go directly to Scripture to find counsel and to reengage the verses that talk about same sex activity.
- As a church within the Reformed Tradition we go directly to Scripture to find counsel and to reengage the verses that talk about same sex activity.
- We engaged Ken Wilson’s book [A Letter to My Congregation] to see how this might be understood in a church with a wide range of viewpoints.
- In all of this, we are looking to Scripture to understand how Jesus would counsel us to care for the LGBT members of our community.
City Church began as a Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) church plant supported enthusiastically by the PCA home missions agency Mission to North America. In 2003, the church announced that it was leaving the PCA because they believed women should be ordained to all church offices.
A correspondent wrote of the changes:
Now [City Church has] told their congregation they are moving to the new gay affirming policy, for the sake of the gospel of course. That was also why the signers of the Auburn Affirmation embraced modernity and liberalism in their own day [1924], it was for the sake of the gospel. Whenever we repudiate the Bible, we always do it for the sake of the gospel, and we always affirm that Jesus would have done the same thing.
.
+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org
+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org
.
.
[4] PCUSA Presbyteries Approve Marriage Amendment 14-F, Allowing Homosexual Weddings
At the 17 March 2015 meeting of the Palisades Presbytery, the presbytery became the 86th presbytery, and thus a majority of Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) presbyteries, to approve amendment 14-F to the PCUSA’s Book of Order, which will allow homosexual weddings in states where such unions are legal.
The new language reads:
Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the wellbeing of the entire human family. Marriage involves a unique commitment between two people, traditionally a man and a woman, to love and support each other for the rest of their lives. The sacrificial love that unites the couple sustains them as faithful and responsible members of the church and the wider community.
In civil law, marriage is a contract that recognizes the rights and obligations of the married couple in society. In the Reformed tradition, marriage is also a covenant in which God has an active part, and which the community of faith publicly witnesses and acknowledges.
Carmen Fowler LaBerge, president of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, responded to the vote by reaffirming the statement of protest issued by the Lay Committee following the action of the PCUSA General Assembly in June 2014 to redefine marriage:
“The passage of the amendment is further indication of the erosion of Biblical fidelity within the PCUSA. There is nothing new to say in response. Just as we repudiated the action of the General Assembly in issuing the Authoritative Interpretation we now stand in firm opposition to the passage of this amendment to the denomination’s constitution….
“We see this attempt to redefine what God has clearly defined as an express repudiation of the Bible, the mutually agreed upon Confessions of the PCUSA, thousands of years of faithfulness to God’s clear commands and the ordination vows of each presbyter who voted to approve what God does not bless,” she continued.
“As we said in June, ‘The Presbyterian Lay Committee mourns these actions and calls on all Presbyterians to resist and protest them.’ Presbyterians can take specific and concrete action in response. They can ask their session to issue a resolution in protest that includes the re-direction of per capita and mission support until and unless the denomination repents and restores the ‘one man and one woman’ language through amendment at the 2016 General Assembly. Granted, that’s a long process.”
The length of the battle should not be a deterrent, LaBerge said. “Again, as we said in June, ‘God will not be mocked and those who substitute their own felt desires for God’s unchangeable Truth will not be found guiltless before a holy God. The Presbyterian Lay Committee will continue to call for repentance and reform: repentance of those who have clearly erred and reform of the PCUSA according to the Word of God.’
LaBerge urged Presbyterians to visit The Layman Online in the coming days to find resources to “facilitate their faithful response to this unfaithful vote.”
.
+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
+ Palisades Presbytery, 340 West Passaic Street, 3rd Floor, Rochelle Park, New Jersey 07662, 201-599-1111, Fax: 201-599-3806, mrhebergen@palpres.org
+ Presbyterian Lay Committee, 1220 West Main Street, Franklin, Tennessee 37064, 615-591-4388, laymanletters@layman.org
.
.
[5] Evangelical Reformed Church in Vilnius, Lithuania Uses Jewish Headstones as Front Staircase
A 13 March 2015 The Jewish Daily Forward article titled “Lithuania Church Uses Jewish Headstones as Stairs: Chief Rabbi Pleads for Vilnius Church To Remove Relics” reports that the entrance stairway to the Evangelical Reformed Church in Vilnius, Lithuania is composed of Jewish headstones placed during occupation by the Soviet Union.
Rabbi Chaim Burshtein in February 2015 made an appeal on Facebook calling attention to the situation and commenting:
“We regret the deplorable state and destruction of the last remnants of the memory of Lithuanian Jewry. Lithuania has many places built out of Jewish headstones. I think the authorities and the Jewish community need to perform thorough research and correct at least this historic wrong….
“These headstones need to be removed and preserved. It is very painful that, in Lithuania, which likes to boast about its commitment to preserving the memory of its once great Jewish community, churchgoers literally walk over Jewish headstones on their way to pray.”
.
+ The Jewish Daily Forward, 125 Maiden Lane, New York City, New York 10038, 212-889-8200, Fax: 212-447-6406, newsdesk@forward.com
+ Evangelical Reformed Church in Lithuania
.
.
A free audiobook, “Christianity and Law: The Influence of Christianity on the Development of English Common Law” by Steven C. Perks is available online at the following link:
.
+ LRNteach.com, 63a, Kernan Gardens, Craigavon, Portadown Armagh T635RA, Northern Ireland, Contact Page
.
Comments are closed for this Article !