Presbyterians Week Headlines
[1] Report of the 76th General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church
[2] PCA-Connected U.S. Senate Candidate Foments Political Firestorm with Remarks about Rape and Pregnancy
[3] Being a Pastor and Speaking Out in Today’s Culture
[4] First Baptist Dallas [Texas] Dr. Robert Jeffress Called to Repent of Leading Christians Astray
[5] Headlines from LifeSiteNews.com
[6] Raging Heathen and Vain Imagining
[7] The Religion of Peace
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[1] Report of the 76th General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church
The 76th General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC) met at the Lakeland Bible Presbyterian Church in Lakeland, Florida, on 9-14 August 2012. Outgoing moderator the Rev. Tito Lyro opened the meetings with a sermon on the Power of the Gospel, the theme of this year’s Synod. He reminded the commissioners that although the gospel is very simple in its essence, yet it is never so simple that it can be fully comprehended, and always powerful when accompanied by the workings of the Holy Spirit. God always uses the gospel to accomplish His own will and therefore we can proclaim it with confidence and assurance of the Lord's blessing.
The sermon was followed by communion served by members of the Florida Presbytery.
Nineteen ministers and nine delegate elders from four presbyteries were seated as commissioners to this year’s Synod.
Dr. Kevin Backus, who has served as a minister at the Grand Island Bible Presbyterian Church in Grand Island, New York, for thirty years, was elected moderator. He appointed Dr. Len Pine as Vice-Moderator. Other officers are:
Stated Clerk – the Rev. John Dyck;
Asst. Clerk – the Rev. Steven Brinegar;
Treasurer - Mr. Frank Williams;
Asst. Treasurer - Mr. Eric Lasch.
There was only one overture brought to our synod this year. It came from the Great Western Presbytery and resulted in an amendment to the Standing Rules of Synod regarding the proper recording of presbytery minutes.
Synod approved of the following independent agencies as approved agencies of the BPC:
Fundamental Presbyterian Publications
Presbyterian Missionary Union
The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions
Western Reformed Seminary
Interchurch Relations:
The Bible Presbyterian Church has relations with two other ecclesiastical bodies:
Fraternal relations with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Hanover Presbytery, and Corresponding relations with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
After representatives attended last year’s meeting of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC) as observers, the BPC is not pursuing any relation with that body at this time.
Resolutions:
The following resolutions were passed by this year’s synod, and should be available on our website (www.bpc.org) shortly:
76:01 Memorial Resolution for Elder (Coach) George W. Johnson, Jr.
76:02 Thanks to the Lakeland Congregation
76:03 On Church Planting
76:04 In Defence of Marriage
76:05 The Apostasy in the PC(USA)
76:06 Anti-Religious Freedom in the US Health Care Act
The Power of the Gospel
The theme of Synod, “The Power of the Gospel,” was well developed throughout the week. There was a special message on the Power of the Gospel at Work in Princeton, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Princeton Seminary. The Rev. G. W. Fisher spoke on the power that once was evident at Princeton, but which steadily waned after the first 100 years.
Banquet:
Synod concluded with a banquet at the Lakeland Yacht and Country Club, with the Rev. Keith Coleman as the banquet speaker.
Next year marks the 75th anniversary of the Bible Presbyterian Church. Special arrangements are being made as we meet 1-6 August 2013 for our 77th General Synod in Grand Island, New York. It will be our 77th synod because there was more than one synod that met in a couple of years in our history.
John Dyck, Stated Clerk, BPC
+ Bible Presbyterian Church, Contact Page
[2] PCA-Connected U.S. Senate Candidate Foments Political Firestorm with Remarks about Rape and Pregnancy
By Darrell Todd Maurina
By now, probably everybody who cares anything about politics or about right-to-life issues knows about the U.S. Senate candidate from Missouri who made really dumb statements about female biology in rape cases.
What may not be widely known is that U.S. Rep. Todd Akin is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America, is a graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, and apparently was a ruling elder at Twin Oaks PCA in Ballwin, a St. Louis suburb, though he's no longer listed as being a member of that church's session (i.e., board of elders or consistory).
For those who haven't seen the video of Rep. Todd Akin's interview with Charles Jaco of KTVI in St. Louis:
http://fox2now.com/2012/08/19/the-jaco-report-august-19-2012/
In his interview, Rep. Akin correctly says rapists need to be punished and the baby does not deserve death. However, the key problematic statement is here: "It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."
Most of the top Republican leadership is calling on Rep. Akin to drop out because of his "open mouth, insert foot" moment in front of a local reporter. Just a few hours prior to writing this article, I received a press release from U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, along with former Missouri senators John Ashcroft, Kit Bond, John Danforth, and Jim Talent, calling for Akin to step aside.
The reason this is all over the national news is because a loss by Rep. Akin could easily prevent the Republicans from getting a Senate majority this fall. Missouri was considered a likely pickup for Republicans until Rep. Akin's comments.
No matter what we think about Rep. Akin, we need to look at this as an example of the need for Christian politicians to use wisdom in what we say and how we say it.
Otherwise, bad things happen like this article by Patheos.com, a left-wing Christian website, entitled "Rep. Todd Akin’s views typical in southern PCA churches":
Todd Akin was a follower of the late D. James Kennedy. Kennedy, founder of Florida’s Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, was not a fringe character in American evangelicalism. He was well-known and well-respected — and his views on rape victims were the same as those expressed by Akin. Todd Akin is a product of Covenant Theological Seminary — that’s where you go if you want to be trained in patriarchal misogyny with a side of disturbing nostalgia for the Old South.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/08/21/rep-todd-akins-views-typical-in-southern-pca-churches/
When we enter the political realm as Christian conservatives, we will be watched by secularists for opportunities to attack us and our faith.
Christian conservatives have a bad habit of not asking ourselves what our words sound like outside our subculture.
It wouldn't at all surprise me if Todd Akin had been told hundreds of times that rape rarely results in pregnancy, and repeated that in front of a reporter who knew how explosive that comment would be.
This whole stupid discussion about whether rape can result in pregnancy isn't an issue addressed by Scripture -- perhaps because the Israelites knew all too well from the experience of conquest that pregnancies definitely do sometimes happen as a consequence of rape, especially when the rape is repeated many times over many days. More recently, the Russian military during World War II used rape as a tactic of warfare, as have armies for millennia, and the evidence of the effectiveness of rape in producing children is all too clear in both modern and ancient history. At best, Akin can argue that rape is less likely to result in pregnancy, not that it doesn't happen some of the time.
However, there are plenty of Scriptural arguments that sound really bad to a secular audience. If we're going to make those arguments we need to know right up front that they will cause some of our enemies to mock, some to get angry, and others to scratch their heads. That's not necessarily bad, but we need to avoid unnecessary offense at the same time that we understand that some offense is necessary to win. Truth hurts.
We need to be prepared to defend pro-life positions using arguments that convince not only ourselves but others.
It's one think to say something dumb from the pulpit, but it's more difficult when tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people hear it. Akin really blew it, and we need to be careful to avoid similar mistakes.
Darrell Todd Maurina’s coverage of the Dutch Reformed world, including the conservative secession from the Christian Reformed Church, appeared regularly in Christian Observer in the 1990s. He is presently a member of Gospel of Grace ARP Church in Springfield, Missouri.
[Editor’s Note: For email recipients of Presbyterians Week, please replace the significantly inaccurate bio statement that accompanied the 15 August 2012 Presbyterians Week article by Mr. Maurina with the paragraph above, along with the editor’s regrets, and with the editor’s relief that he is not a candidate for political office.]
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[3] Being a Pastor and Speaking Out in Today’s Culture
Commentary by Dr. Michael A. Milton
A pastor I know recently told me that he was criticized for being “too political.” He has heard such an indictment all his ministry, he said. Today he leads a major ministry in America and battles daily for the rights of pastors to speak so that believers can speak. Recently, he has preached of the evils of and disastrous consequences of same sex marriage and the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” His prophetic word upsets the establishment. His voice is prophetic. His heart is pastoral. Can the two coexist?
I have heard the similar charges in my ministry through the years. I accept the critique. However, if the matter is important enough for me to address in preaching or writing, I believe I am just being pastoral to God’s people. I cannot compartmentalize the Lordship of Christ to only one area of life. He is Lord of all.
So, is it right that pastors should remain silent about important matters in society that are being debated in the public square because someone is trying to establish in our culture that there is no place in politics for religious beliefs or moral convictions that have been born out of a faith commitment? Because people (and fellow pastors) squirm when sin is exposed in politics or culture, does that mean we should refrain from preaching? No. It may mean just the opposite.
Is a pastor solely limited to sharing the Gospel to his flock on Sunday mornings? Or was the late Dr. John Stott right that one of our identities as Gospel preachers, in a faithful Biblical portrait of a pastor, is a “herald”? The pastor is not a prophet, yet he most certainly does carry a prophetic voice and speaks with Biblical authority to other Beast-like powers when there are souls at risk or the honor of Christ and His Church under siege.
I have an intuitive concern that the liberal professor who won’t let the young believer raise her hand in a state university and speak from her conviction is now trying to govern public discourse. Well, I am not governed by political correctness that has been born out of a liberal educational system or by the pressure of a liberal press but by the one and only true God. The public square is not the university professor’s classroom nor is it the TV news studio. This is my Father’s world. Therefore, I speak, and I speak publicly, as the Lord gives an open door, through media, because I am compelled by compassion for souls that may be victims of systems that will ultimately enslave them.
I believe that pastors must speak to our declining culture, whatever their pulpit. I am pastorally concerned that that there are dangerous idols masquerading under the banner of politics in this increasingly secularized culture. These heaven-rejected powers prefer that we keep quiet. But when the powers move beyond the Machiavellian machinations of politics to the advocacy of principles at odds with God’s Word we must call them out.
The prophets and church fathers of old spoke forth concerning the actions of governments, individuals yielding power, and the idols of culture. Our Lord Jesus did when he said of Herod “Go tell that Fox” (Luke 13:32), St. Paul did, the church fathers did, and the Reformers did. In the Twentieth Century I thank God that J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937) was not afraid to speak to the ungodliness in his culture (read Stephen Nichols’ fine biography of Machen). And what of Bonheoffer opposing the idolatry of Statism and the ungodliness of the Church being subservient to National Socialism? How about Solzhenitsyn exposing the inhumanity of Soviet Communism and the sun human conditions of the gulag?? What about the preaching of Martin Luther King, Jr as he warned of the evil of a racism that had to be eradicated from our own culture? Today pastors like Ugandan Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi preach against the powers of darkness, expose evil in government, and even in churches in our own nation as missionaries to America, and warn people while compassionately inviting them to Christ. Why? Because pastors are like watchmen on the wall (Ezekiel 33) required by God to sometimes we must warn of coming danger, even if others cry “Off limits!”
To do otherwise is to be disobedient to our calling. God says if there is harm to his people because the watchmen were silent they will have the blood of the people on their hands. This is a sobering warning to pastors and trumps any criticism of being “too political.”
Yet the challenge of discernment is acknowledged. What must we do?
(1) Pastors must represent no man but God and party but His Kingdom. We therefore refuse to be used as pawns by any political party. We are aware of Psalms 2 that the rulers of this world conspire against God and His Son. We study. We pray. We speak, therefore, when we must, on behalf of the truths of God’s Word to help people.
(2) Pastors must diagnose the presenting ill to discover the real issue beneath it. Only then do we speak. Diagnosis requires prayer, wisdom, courage, and the leading of the Lord. Speaking requires courage and counting the cost. If it is a real or potential spiritual harm coming from the presenting issues of culture or politics, then we must deliver the diagnosis and offer the cure in the Person of Jesus Christ and His Word. If I happen to yell “Warning!” and the demon under the cloak of culture is a straw-man then I have expended my pastoral capitol, perhaps compromising my ability to preach into real or more critical situations. But if it is not a straw-man, and instead an instrument of the “devil, the flesh or the world” that would further mar the image of God in man or further distance us from God, then woe to me if I speak not.
So we must preach, even when the culture labels our message “off limits.” We will live with that criticism because we are pastors and we follow One and His disciples who also were criticized (and crucified) for assuming an authority that challenged theirs.
(3) Pastors must pray for each situation that startles our shepherding instincts, and weigh whether a given issue is an assault on our conscience worth exposing. It is understood that some matters are just politics or a reflection of a sick culture, and a pathology more ably addressed by other men and women.
(4) Pastors must ground their preaching in God’s Word, the Bible. We have no authority apart from His Word. We must also always offer the way out through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To do less is to be embroiled in the political debate. But preaching with a conclusion that leads to freedom in Christ is above the storm, where it should be.
My pulpit (including this column) is not for sale to any political party. I care not a whit for using my position to promote any political agenda. I do care for souls. That is my job. And I will preach. That is my calling.
Jesus said that we need to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16). Thomas Watson, one the most pastoral of 17th century Puritans said of this passage in his Body of Divinity, “To understand worldly affairs is the wisdom of the serpent; yet to not neglect the soul is the innocence of the dove.”
Dangers exist on all sides for the pastor. But, who said the job would be easy? Yet to silence the pastor in any realm is to cause the Church to retreat into a secluded ghetto where we can no longer be salt and light in the world. And that cannot be. We are pastors. We are shepherds. We comfort the afflicted and on occasion may afflict the comfortable, as it is sometimes put. The ground of our ministry is love from a pure conscience. Let us not abandon our post as long as God gives us the strength to stand. Let us be silent no more.
Michael Anthony Milton (Ph.D., University of Wales) serves as the chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary (one of the largest accredited seminaries in the country), a U.S. Army chaplain (instructing at the Armed Forces Chaplain School) and the James M. Baird Jr. chair of pastoral theology at RTS/Charlotte. He is an author, songwriter, singer, ordained minister, former pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, Tenn., and he previously served as the president of RTS/Charlotte. Dr. Milton also hosts a national Bible teaching television program, Faith For Living, reaching 70,000,000 potential households through DirecTV, Legacy TV network, YouTube and iTunes. It is also available as a free app in the Android and iPhone markets. The Faith For Living radio program is broadcast on several stations in the southeast. For 16 years he served in the business world and has also served as a top-secret Navy linguist.
+ Reformed Theological Seminary, 2101 Carmel Road, Charlotte, North Carolina 28226, 704-366-5066, Fax: 704-366-9295
[4] First Baptist Dallas [Texas] Dr. Robert Jeffress Called to Repent of Leading Christians Astray
Dr. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas [Texas] is called to publicly repent for disobeying Scripture by endorsing Mormon Mitt Romney and to publicly renounce the Mormon cult. “Jesus is the second Person of the Godhead and our Creator. For Jeffress to lead Christians to Romney who thinks that Jesus is a created being, the spirit brother of Lucifer, means Jeffress is knowingly sinning and leading the USA away from the Biblical Jesus,” believes Pastor Steven Andrew, president of USA Christian Ministries.
The Holy Bible and our Founding Fathers teach to vote for Christians (Exodus 18:21, 2Corinthians 6:14-18, 1Corinthians 6:1-5, Matthew 28:19-20…). Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners…” John Jay said, “it is their duty…of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
Mormons have a different Jesus. They believe Romney will become a God and Christians are inferior. Galatians 1:9 teaches Romney is ‘accursed’.
“The Bible gives hope for the USA’s healing if Christians support Christians instead of non-Christians Romney and Obama,” says the ministry president. Hasn’t Jeffress read, ‘Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Therefore the wrath of the LORD is upon you (2Chronicles 19:2)’?”
“It is alleged by men of loose principles, or defective views of the subject, that religion and morality are not necessary or important qualifications for political stations. But the Scriptures teach a different doctrine. They direct that rulers should be men who rule in the fear of God, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness…” said Noah Webster, known as “the Schoolmaster of the Republic”.
“No previous generation of Americans would allow today’s sin. Lukewarm preachers cause God’s judgments of a poor economy, corruption and debt, Deuteronomy 28 and Ezekiel 22:26-30 explain. First Baptist Dallas’ Dr. Robert Jeffress is teaching errors. Leading Americans away from Jesus Christ is a greater sin than abortion and homosexual sin (Exodus 20:2-3),” he continues.
“God loves Americans. If Christians obey Scripture and start publicly calling for Christian front runner Ron Paul to be President, the Holy Spirit will be in the White House,” he says. Paul has the support to win and beats Obama in polling (Rasmussen Reports, April).
“Romney was silent on Chick-Fil-A, fund raises with the abortion pill, and wants the Boy Scouts to admit homosexual sinners. Obama and Romney disobey the Constitution and want Americans jailed for life without a trial with NDAA. Ron Paul will bring back Christian liberty, Constitutional rights and cut the deficit. Paul is Biblically correct to end the unjust wars putting Muslim governments in,” he explains.
The ministry president asked to talk privately, but Jeffress wouldn’t meet. 1Timothy 5:20 says, “Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.”
+ USA Christian Ministries, 2059 Camden Avenue #280, San Jose, California 95124, Contact Page
[5] Headlines from LifeSiteNews.com
-- More British Women Aborting Their Children over Financial Worries, Say United Kingdom Doctors
-- American Psychological Association Considers Elimination of Gender Identity Disorder, Replace with ‘Gender Dysphoria’
-- Mennonite Convicted of Aiding ‘Kidnapping’ for Helping Girl Escape Court-Imposed Lesbian ‘Mother’
-- Canadian Medical Association: Babies Not Human Until after Birth
-- Northern Ireland: More ‘Life of the Mother’ Abortions in Two Years than All of England in Forty Years
+ LifeSiteNews.com, Incorporated, 4 Family Life Lane, Front Royal, Virginia 22630, 888-678-6008, Contact Page
[6] Raging Heathen and Vain Imagining
Articles from the past week regarding kings and rulers setting themselves against the LORD and against his anointed:
-- Genocide looms as South Africa’s Black President Sings of Killing Whites
-- Department of Homeland Security Purchases 750 Million Rounds of High Power Ammunition
-- Social Security Administration Explains Plan to Buy 174,000 Hollow-Point Bullets
-- Federal Auditor Reveals 2527 Department of Homeland Security Employees and Co-Conspirators Convicted of Crimes
-- New Black Panther’s Graphic Charge: We Need to Kill White Babies by Bombing Nurseries
-- Official Beats Christian Pastor in Buddhist Bhutan
-- Sri Lanka Pastor and Wife Accosted and Beaten by Buddhist Mob
-- Philadelphia Woman Faces US$600-a-day Fine for Feeding Needy Neighborhood Kids
-- Gunman Opens Fire at Conservative Family Research Council
-- Great Britain: 'Pregnant Women Have Asked for Abortions Because They Did Not Want Their Holidays Spoilt'
-- U.S. Troops to Get New Headgear for “Homeland Security Operations”
-- New Docs from Kansas Judge Reveal Planned Parenthood Charges Fraudulently Dropped
-- Obama Senior Advisor Robert Gibbs Confirms Existence of Death Panels
-- Three Delaware Daycare Employees Accused of Encouraging Toddlers to Fight Released from Jail
-- Former U.S. Marine Indefinitely Detained in Psych Ward for 9-11 Facebook Posts
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[7] The Religion of Peace
-- Radical Islam Joins the U.S. Democratic National Committee
-- Missing Christian Children Found in Radical Madrasas in Bangladesh:
Children Taken Under False Pretenses and Trafficked for Jihad
-- Iran Proposes Military Alliance of Muslim Countries
-- Canada: Muslim Anti-Stereotyping Activist Arrested for Terrorism, Gunrunning
-- Al-Qaeda’s ‘Suicide Bombers Wanted’ Ad
-- Ivory Coast: Thousands Displaced in Renewed Terror
-- Southern Poverty Law Center Reveals Itself: Participates in Conference 14 August 2012 with Islamic Supremacist Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
-- Christians under Siege in Syria
-- Muslims Riot in Northern France
-- Nigeria: Suspected Boko Haram Gunmen Kill Pastor at Home
-- Thousands from North Flee South India in Fear
-- Muslim Brotherhood [Literally] 'Crucifies' Opponents
-- Another Afghan Police Attack Kills Two U.S. Servicemen
-- Like Allah, Islamic Revolutions Devour Their Own Children
-- Sharia In Action: Eleven-Year-Old Pakistani Christian Girl With Down's Syndrome Arrested For "Blasphemy"
-- Mali's Muslim Warlord Declares Holy War on the West
-- Roman Catholic Governor of Illinois Prays to Allah during Ramadan
-- New York City Police Department Probing Bacon Hate Crime -- APB on the BLT!
-- The Mideast's Vanishing Christians
-- Oslo Muslims Demand Sharia-Controlled Zone
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+ Assist USA, Post Office Box 609, Lake Forest, California 92609, 949-380-1558, danjuma1@aol.com
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+ Assyrian International News Agency
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