6 January 2010

Presbyterians Week Headlines

[1] Christian Observer Highlights for January 2010
[2] Death of Centenarian the Rev. Samson Kilolo in Mwingi, Kenya
[3] ARP Missionary to Pakistan Sarah Hunter Pressly, 88, Dies 31 December 2009
[4] Poverty Drives 225,000 Haitian Children into Slavery
[5] Mugabe Government Deploys Army to Begin Evicting Remaining 300 White Zimbabwean Farmers from their Property
[6] Predominantly White PCUSA Church in Springfield, Ohio, Calls a Black Pastor
[7] Christian Anti-Defamation Commission Reports Top Ten Anti-Christian Attacks in 2009
[8] Calvin College Hosts Post-Reformation Digital Library
[9] Reformation Heritage Books Publishes “Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation, Volume 1: 1523-1552”
[10] Geneva Psalter in Spanish Available in May 2010


[1] Christian Observer Highlights for January 2010

New articles in the Christian Observer for January 2010 include:

-- The Difference Between Christian Conservation and Environmental Terrorism – by Dr. Grady S. McMurtry of Creation Worldview Ministries - compares and contrasts God’s directives for stewardship of his creation with God-less environmentalism;

-- An Interesting Parallel – by Christian Observer Contributing Editor Dr. Joe Renfro - examines parallels between the decline of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) and the public school system as both entities have moved their emphasis to social activism and have eschewed their biblical foundations;

-- Looking Up – transcript of the New Year’s message from Dr. Joe Renfro’s “Christ Over All” Sabbath radio program, discussing the biblical perspective on the victorious life of the Christian;

-- Two Godly Men for Our Season - five links have been added to the list of Internet resources in the article which celebrates the December 2009 twentieth anniversary of freedom for the people of Romania; and,

-- Regular features including weekly Sabbath School Lessons by Christian Observer Assistant Editor Dr. Robert LaMay, and daily devotionals by T.M. Moore.

+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org


[2] Death of Centenarian the Rev. Samson Kilolo in Mwingi, Kenya

Howard Carlson reports that centenarian the Rev. Samson Kilolo, a founder of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Kenya (IPC), has died in Mwingi, Kenya, and was buried 2 January 2010.

Carlson describes Kilolo as a man of great energy, who in the 1950s was imprisoned for two years on suspicion of aiding the Mau Mau movement. When Kilolo entered prison, there were no Christians among the prisoners, but when Kilolo was absolved and released, almost all of the prisoners were now believers in Christ. At the prisoners’ request, Kilolo stayed an extra two weeks in prison to prepare leaders for the Christian movement there.

Kilolo suggested to the early Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC) missionaries that Kilolo’s young nephew Solomon Muthukya be appointed to assist BPC missionary Victor Hall. Mr. Hall discipled Solomon Muthukya well, and through Victor Hall and Muthukya Solomon, the IPC was born; but the energy and influence of Samson Kilolo laboring in the background is what gave the IPC its strength.

Samson Kilolo was a great lover of truth. When an issue over pagan tribal practice (concubines) entered the IPC through one of its leaders and the sin was not disciplined, Kilolo wept in Synod. Carlson relates that he was present at the IPC Synod meeting to hear Kilolo tearfully mourn that this leader, whom Kilolo had helped nurture and had blessed as the young man departed for theological studies, had now unrepentantly turned away from the pure walk of the Christian. Kilolo then suspended his own relationships with the IPC Synod as long as the unrepentant man should serve in high office in the IPC.

Carlson concludes: “Kilolo was a true son of the Reformation. He would have stood out in any church body. His family, church, and we, have lost a great warrior-friend.”

+ Bible Presbyterian Church

+ Independent Presbyterian Church of Kenya, Post Office Box 37, Mwingi, Kenya, 254-1-42-22-035


[3] ARP Missionary to Pakistan Sarah Hunter Pressly, 88, Dies 31 December 2009

The Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) magazine reports that Sarah Hunter Pressly, 88, of Due West, South Carolina, widow of Dr. Francis Young Pressly, died at her home on 31 December 2009.

Dr. and Mrs. Pressly in 1947 became missionaries to Pakistan, and Mrs. Pressly continued serving in Pakistan after Dr. Pressly’s death until her retirement in 1987.

Mrs. Pressly is survived by a daughter and her husband, a son, a brother, two grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

A funeral service was held 5 January 2010 at the Due West ARP Church, and Mrs. Pressly was buried in the church cemetery.

+ Associate Reformed Presbyterian Center, 1 Cleveland Street Suite 110, Greenville, South Carolina, 29601, 864-232-8297, Fax: 864-271-3729


[4] Poverty Drives 225,000 Haitian Children into Slavery

Mission Network News in a 4 January 2010 article titled “Poverty Forces Kids into Slavery,” describes how 225,000 children in Haiti from families suffering from poverty and starvation are being sold by parents to wealthier families that take the children into their home where they perform unpaid domestic work in exchange for being raised in the wealthier circumstances. Most of the sold children, called “restaveks” are girls, and many of them are subjected to physical and sexual abuse in their new homes.

In the article, Eva DeHart of the ministry For Haiti With Love (FHWL) describes how several hurricanes and a cycle of floods and draughts have exacerbated poverty in the normally-impoverished nation of Haiti, and how FHWL seeks to provide for the physical needs of the poorest people and to bring to them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which provides an alternative to the culturally-entrenched voodoo that the Haitians so readily turn towards in times of trouble.

Voodoo reflects French and African cultural influences, and is a religion that is a satanic amalgam of African animist tradition and Roman Catholic tradition, practiced in Haiti for the past three centuries that became an official religion in Haiti in 2003, just ahead of Haiti’s bicentennial as an independent nation.

+ Mission Network News, 1159 East Beltline Avenue Northeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525, 616-942-1500, Fax: 616-942-7328

+ For Haiti with Love, P.O. Box 1017, Palm Harbor, Florida 34682, 727-938-3245, Fax: 727-942-6945, forhaiti@aol.com


[5] Mugabe Government Deploys Army to Begin Evicting Remaining 300 White Zimbabwean Farmers from their Property

Voice of America reporter Blessing Zulu reports in a 31 December 2009 article titled “Zimbabwe Military Deploys to Remove Country's Remaining White Farmers” that the government of communist dictator Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe has deployed the Zimbabwe National Army to immediately evict 152 of the remaining 300 white commercial farmers in Zimbabwe from their property so that the farms can be turned over to politicians of the former ruling Zanu-PF party. Zulu’s sources report that all remaining white Zimbabwean commercial farmers are to eventually be evicted.

A Christian Observer correspondent reports that the affected Zimbabwean farm families are packing whatever belongings can be fit into their vehicles in preparation for vacating their farms, and requests prayer for the families.

+ Voice of America, 330 Independence Avenue Southwest, Washington DC 20237, 202-203-4959, 202-203-4960, askvoa@voanews.com


[6] Predominantly White PCUSA Church in Springfield, Ohio, Calls a Black Pastor

Staff Writer Bridgette Outten of the Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun writes in an 1 January 2010 article titled “Predominately White Oakland Presbyterian Church Appoints its First Black Pastor,” about the predominantly white congregation of Oakland (Ohio) Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)) of Springfield, Ohio, having been without a permanent pastor for the past two years until recently calling twenty-nine year old the Rev. Derrick Weston, who in addition to being several decades younger than the congregants, most of whom are over sixty-five, is black, and is the church’s first minority pastor in its nearly ninety years of existence.

Pastor search committee chairman David Hartley explained Weston’s call, saying: “It wasn’t about race at all. [Weston] was the best candidate for the job. We believe the Holy Spirit led him to us.”

Pastor Weston preached his first sermon for his new congregation on 3 January 2010.

+ Springfield News-Sun, 202 North Limestone Street, Springfield, Ohio 45503, 937-328-0300, Contact Form

+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005


[7] Christian Anti-Defamation Commission Reports Top Ten Anti-Christian Attacks in 2009

10. Pro-life Pastor Reverend Walter Hoye of Oakland, California, was jailed for exercising peaceful, pro-life speech.

9. Rev. Fred Winters was murdered while preaching in his pulpit in Maryville, Illinois.

8. Home Box Office's program "Curb Your Enthusiasm" aired an episode where the main actor urinates on painting of Jesus.

7. The overt homosexual participation in Obama's presidential inaugural events by "Bishop" Vickie Eugene Robinson, the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington DC, and a homosexual marching band.

6. Police called to East Jessamine Middle School in Lexington, Kentucky, to stop eighth graders from praying during their lunch break for a student whose mother was tragically killed.

5. Pro-life activist Jim Pullion was murdered in front of his granddaughter's high school for showing the truth about abortion.

4. An activist judge ordered a mother in New Hampshire to stop home schooling her daughter because the little girl "reflected too strongly" her mother's Christian faith.

3. The Federal Department of Homeland Security issued a report entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate" that labeled conservative Christians as extremists and potential terrorists.

2. President Obama's appointment of radical anti-Christians like homosexual activist Kevin Jennings as the "safe school czar;" pro-abortion advocate Kathleen Seblius made Secretary of Human and Health Services, and Chai Feldblum, pro-homosexual and anti-religious liberty judge nominated for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

1. The Federal Hate Crimes Bill that attacks religious liberty and freedom of speech. For the first time in U.S. history, ministers are vulnerable to investigation and prosecution for telling the truth about homosexuality.

+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, Post Office Box 1115, Vista, California 92085, 866-508-2232, Fax: 760-630-2232, contact@christianadc.org


[8] Calvin College Hosts Post-Reformation Digital Library

The H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies at Calvin College now hosts the Post-Reformation Digital Library (PRDL), a collection of resources relating to the development of theology during the Post-Reformation/early modern era of the 16th–18th centuries.

The PRDL is a select bibliography focusing on primary source documents on early modern theology and philosophy, spanning publicly-accessible collections from major research libraries, independent scholarly initiatives, and corporate documentation projects.

The core of the PRDL project involves the organization of thousands of documents available in digital form from sources including Google Books and the Internet Archive. Also included are the offerings of select digital libraries from Europe and North America, which are beginning to make digitized forms of their holdings available to the public. The project covers the work of hundreds of authors from a wide variety of theological, philosophical, and ecclesiastical traditions.

+ Calvin College 3201 Burton Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546, 616-526-6000


[9] Reformation Heritage Books Publishes “Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation, Volume 1: 1523-1552”

Reformation Heritage Books has published “Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation, Volume 1: 1523-1552,” the first of a projected three volume set, which compiles numerous Reformed confessions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries translated into English. For many of these texts, this is their debut in the Anglo-Saxon vernacular. It provides the English-speaking world a richer and more comprehensive view of the emergence and maturation of Reformed theology in these foundational centuries for Reformed thought and foundational summaries of Reformed doctrine for these centuries. Each confessional statement is preceded by a brief introduction containing necessary historical and bibliographical background. The confessions are arranged chronologically, with this first volume presenting thirty-three documents covering the years 1523-1552.

+ Reformation Heritage Books, 2965 Leonard Street Northeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525, 616-977-0599, orders@heritagebooks.org


[10] Geneva Psalter in Spanish Available in May 2010

Publicaciones Faro de Gracia, a reformed Spanish literature ministry has contracted the publication of the Geneva Psalter in Spanish, slated for release in May 2010. This ministry also ships sets of ten puritan titles in Spanish, sponsored at US$30.00 apiece, to hundreds of Hispanic pastors throughout the Latin world to help them build a pastor’s library.

Donations and sponsorships may be made to www.farodegracia.org, or by writing to oficina@farodegracia.org.

+ Publicaciones Faro de Gracia, Post Office Box 1043, Graham, North Carolina 27253, 336-792-2690, oficina@farodegracia.org