BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too...

Complaint against Metro New York Presbytery filed with General Assembly's Standing Judicial Commission...

(Tim) Since Metro New York Presbytery chose not to grant three of the four amends sought by those filing a complaint against her previous action by which she endorsed woman deacons and men and women serving together in the diaconate, without sexual distinction, the presbytery has now been taken before the Presbyterian Church in America's highest court, General Assembly's Standing Judicial Commission.

Here is the text of that complaint as it was filed.

Let us pray that God blesses the hard work these men are doing for the purity and peace of Christ's Bride, and her faithful witness to a world that hates biblical sexuality.

* * *

Complaint

TE Mark Robinson, et. al. vs. Metropolitan New York Presbytery

And now, this 4th day of June, 2009, come TE Mark Robinson and RE James Macbeth and complain against the action of the Metropolitan New York Presbytery (the “Presbytery”) taken on May 8, 2009 in denying certain amends requested in the complaint filed against the Presbytery by the complainants hereto on April 10, 2009.

The complainants allege that the Presbytery erred in denying TE Mark Robinson and RE James Macbeth’s requested amends and in so doing condoned substantial and continuing violations of certain provisions of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America (“PCA”), especially those touching on the office of deacon and diaconal ministry. In support of said complaint the following is set forth...

A parable for those with disciplinary authority over NCal, Atlanta, and Metro NY Presbyteries...

(Tim) We've all been through it many times, with many different families. Struggling to survive, financially, and no high salary on the pastor's conscience keeping him from asking the Lord for His provision, one of the few wealthy families the church has managed to get bonded within her fellowship becomes an increasing problem and it becomes apparent the only answer is formal discipline.

The years past are littered with informal discipline: many pastoral visits to the home, pastoral counseling sessions, post-small group exhortations from fellow believers, deacons, and elders; the wife has had the sweetest and wisest Titus 2 women go aside with her to entreat and exhort her concerning the damage her sin is causing to her own home and the Household of Faith. But all the informal, quiet, gentle ministry has been to little avail.

The family's wealth has complicated matters beyond the simple question of the church's fiscal solvency. The pastor and elders wonder--at first privately, but then openly in elders meetings when harm the family has caused others in the flock is on the agenda--how the congregation and community would be able to understand the discipline of such a beautiful and gifted and (shall we say rich?) family. No one would deny the family's generosity has been used by God to strengthen the fellowship. They have been a blessing in many ways and are loved for it. But also for who they are: hospitable, kind, loving, generous.

Of course, the wealth also has been a key contributor to their failures. There's been a bodaciousness to the sin that's seemed to have its origin in the pride of wealth. But as the private admonitions have failed to produce any substantive change, the family's wealth and resources have continued...

Please pray for Metro NY Presbytery, today...

(Tim) Metro New York Presbytery is meeting today and will respond to the complaint filed against her recent action by which she joined Northern California Presbytery (and more recently, Metro Atlanta Presbytery) approving churches not ordaining male deacons and having female deacons serve alongside those unordained male deacons, without sexual distinction.

Please pray for the men of this presbytery, that God would lead them to sincere repentance.

A reformed congregation that doesn't use grace to silence the fear of God...

(Tim) Conrad Mbewe serves as the pastor of Kabwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia--one of the more vital reformed witnesses the Lord has raised up in our time. The congregation is known for reaching into the dregs of society in a non-patronizing way, doing frontline evangelism, training pastors at a pastors college they sponsor, planting churches around the country, etc. As I said, the Lord's presence and blessing are obvious to those familiar with the congregation. This is a reformed congregation with a large heart, no censorious spirit, expansive in its witness and hopes, and living in the fear of God.

Maybe that's the thing that most strikes me about Pastor Mbewe and his people: they have not used reformed doctrine as a pathway to cheap grace that silences the fear of God. Everything is not "grace, grace, grace" to them. Their harp of ten thousand strings does not harp on that one string so long.

This is a test. Read through Kabwata's prayer letter noting the parts we must admit would never be written; or, if written, never quite make it past the editor's keyboard of our own churches' newsletters. To help with the task, I've put several in bold italics.

If the letter piques your interest, here's Pastor Mbewe's blog where you'll find a truly Biblical apostolic African voice.

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KABWATA BAPTIST CHURCH PRAYER LETTER

“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

March 2009

Dear brothers and sisters,   

We open this prayer letter with the words of Scripture, “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:5-6). That is our testimony as a church as we review the last few months of the year 2008, including the first few months of this year.

MEMBERSHIP
The year 2008 was full of tears, as we lost precious church members who graduated from the church militant to the church triumphant. We also wept much over the excommunications that were necessary in order to avert the judgment of God upon the church...

PCA and woman deacons: N. Calif., Philadelphia, and Metro NY Presbyteries act on identical proposal; 3 complaints filed...

(Tim) In the past month or two, members of three presbyteries have made a concerted effort to get their presbyteries to adopt an identical proposal endorsing unordained women and unordained men serving together "as equal partners" in the diaconate.

Each of the presbyteries was called to endorse the following declarations concerning the propriety of woman deacons serving within the PCA:

Therefore, be it resolved that (Metro New York, Philadelphia, or Northern California) Presbytery;

Acknowledge that ministers or sessions may hold and practice the following views ...while being “in conformity with the general principles of Biblical polity” (3rd ordination vow, BCO 21-5 & 24-6).

1. Only men are ordained as deacons and they conduct the diaconal ministries of the congregation.

2. Only men are ordained as deacons, yet Sessions select and appoint others--men and/or women--to assist the deacons in their work.

3. Only men are ordained as deacons and women are selected and appointed by the Session to serve as deaconesses who assist the male deacons.

4. Only men are ordained as deacons, yet the congregation elects women with the approval of the session to serve as deaconesses who assist the male deacons.

5. Men are ordained as deacons and women are commissioned as deaconesses without ordination, though both the men and the women are elected by the congregation and serve as equal partners in the diaconal ministry.

6. Both men and women serve as equal partners in diaconal ministry and are often described as “deacon” or “deaconess” though no one is ordained to this ministry.

The proposal was eventually displaced by another proposal submitted to Philadelphia Presbytery by Steve Smallman (former member of the RPCES study committee headed by Jim Hurley that overtured Synod in favor of woman deacons) and Phil Ryken (Sr. Pastor of Tenth Presbyterian).

Northern California and Metro New York Presbyteries adopted the proposal.

Although the original proposal called for Metro New York Presbytery to overture General Assembly with these six declarations, Tim Keller (who was a signatory to the proposal) specifically recorded that he did not agree...

Cardinal Mahony faces scrutiny...

(Tim, w/thanks to David C.) From both outside and inside the Roman Catholic church, we've watched the exposure of sodomite priests across North America this past decade or so--priests who have raped minor boys they vowed to protect as church fathers. We've read the secular media's investigative reports. As a subscriber, I've also read the most conservative publications of the Roman Catholic communion respond to each revelation. Then too, I've followed the matter through personal letters received from a friend who was a priest, but now is doing prison time for crimes he claims he's innocent of.

Three things have stuck in my mind...

How the world sees Christ through His Bride...

(Tim) Like it or not, to the American unbeliever today we are all "evangelicals." That is, we all believe in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, honor His Word, and call those lost and without hope in this world to repentance for their promotion and commitment to baby-killing, adultery, child molestation, sodomy, and greed. To them, we are not split into Reformed and Arminian. They can't distinguish between Reformed, Evangelical, and Emergent, let alone Barely-Reformed and Truly-Reformed.

So when Rick Warren prays, he prays for us. When Franklin Graham speaks, he speaks for us. When Tyndale House publishes, they publish for us.

Tragically, this means those who watch HBO's documentary, The Trials of Ted Haggard--or interviews Haggard and his family are doing for The Oprah Winfrey Show and Larry King Live--will believe they are peering through a periscope into our souls, our marriages, our families, our churches, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Filmed by Nancy Pelosi's daughter, Alexandra, this documentary is what has given rise to this latest shame of ours. Due to be aired by HBO this coming Thursday, January 29th, Haggard taking his story public and appealing for sympathy led to another tragic revelation.

Simple tests for Christian slander...

He who conceals hatred has lying lips, and he who spreads slander is a fool. (Proverbs 10:18)

(Tim) This afternoon, I was talking with a man who was describing how a young couple had been alienated from their church, in large part because of a bad report they heard from a couple who had left that church to escape the discipline of its elders. And yesterday, I heard a similar report from a couple who had been subjected to their church leadership repeating evil and malicious words against another church, while every indication was that their leaders had never spoken personally to those they were attacking. "Lying lips" and "he who spreads slander" are constants in pastoral ministry, and always have been. Thus the Apostle Paul writes:

 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. (Ephesians 4:31)

Man leaves church angry and bitter at church's leadership for their correction or rebuke of him. He's accepted into another neighboring church without question. Yet he's not content to have left his former church. From bitterness, he slanders it to anyone who will listen--starting with his new pastor, church board, and members.

But maybe it's not slander at all, right? Churches do abuse people and you can't be too careful guarding against church popes and dictators who oppress the souls under their care. So how do you know when you're listening to slander and when the bad report is actually true?

A few simple tests will make things clear.

First, ask the person badmouthing their former church whether he has been formally disciplined by that church...

Newsweek hates homosexuals, actually...

(Tim) When I was a child, Dad subscribed to Time for a time. Then came the day they ran an ad for men's cologne pictured in a bottle shaped like a phallus. Dad wrote them strenuously objecting to such degradation.

Since then, our family hasn't been big on news magazines. The only one that's ever entered our home is World, to which we have a lifetime gift subscription kindness of its founder. Truth be told, I'm not at all fond of Time and Newsweek (especially), and Newsweek's current issue provides a good example of my reasons.

The cover story is a puff piece on sodomite marriage. The really disgusting thing, though, is that Newsweek's editors allowed their female (and yes, I believe sex matters here) religion editor, Lisa Miller, to play the schoolmarm to the nation on the true doctrine of Scripture concerning sodomy. The story's title tells it all: "Gay Marriage: Our mutual joy; Opponents of gay marriage often cite Scripture. But what the Bible teaches about love argues for the other side."

Yes, of course; Newsweek's religion editor is going to lecture us on the Bible's teaching on love. And I'm guessing she believes in the slaughter of little babies in their mother's womb, too, and could lecture us on Scripture's doctrine of love there, also. Our chattering class has Goebbels' principle down cold...

WIC/CE&P, Covenant, Westminster, Tenth, and ACE preacher and speaker holds membership in feminist organization...

NOTE FROM TIM: I've just taken the liberty of changing a couple sentences and adding some quotes to clarify this piece. So if you already read this post in its first day on the blog, please read it again. Having two writers contributing to this piece allowed a couple things through we'd normally have caught. They've now been corrected.

(David and Tim, w/thanks to Dave) Search for "Langberg" on the Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE) web site and fifty-seven links are returned offering products produced by Westminster Theological Seminary adjunct professor Diane Langberg. (Here and here are sample pages.)

Check out CBE's  directory for a recommended counselor in Pennsylvania and you will find Calvary Presbyterian Church (PCA) member Diane Langberg.

Several years ago, controversy erupted within the Presbyterian Church in America over whether or not a certain woman actually preached at Covenant Theological Seminary. The controversy came to a head at the 29th General Assembly when Covenant's president, Dr. Bryan Chapell, explained the chapel address had mostly not been preaching although some parts strayed into "sermonic (and) some applicatory material." Bryan Chapell explained to the Assembly:

That Diane Langberg had been told ahead of time what the standards were for her speaking during the chapel time;

That after she spoke at Covenant Seminary, Diane Langberg received a letter reminding her of the standards, and expressing concern that those standards had not been followed; and

That the administration of Covenant Seminary met with students to explain the situation and to assure the seminary community that what had happened was not according to the standards they were committed to upholding.

Note that the chapel message at the root of the controversy was given by Dr. Diane Langberg. Yet, despite her being at the center of this controversy...

Two years ago, the Christian education arm of the Presbyterian Church in America, Christian Education and Publications (CE&P), held its 2006 International Women in the Church Conference in Atlanta. The three women employed to teach the 4,000 assembled women of the PCA? Joni Eareckson Tada, Paige Benton Brown, and Dr. Diane Langberg.

Again, at Women in the Church's (WIC) 2007 Leadership Training Conference Dr. Diane Langberg was a plenary speaker.

Diane Langberg was principal speaker at Tenth Presbyterian (PCA) Church's 2008 TenthWomen Conference.

And this same Diane Langberg is featured speaker at the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals' Princeton Regional Conference on Reformed Theology--together with Al Mohler and Don Carson.

Tim Keller blithely continues down the broad egalitarian path...

(Tim) Several years ago, I was talking with one of the patriarchs of the PCA about a series of pieces we'd published here exposing the promotion of false doctrine within one of our largest denominational institutions. Although we've worked together in other battles outside the denomination, any thought of discipline or conflict inside these hallowed grounds of the PCA was beyond the pale to this church father. He expressed his disapproval of what I'd written with the simple statement, "Tim, I'm a loyalist when it comes to (that institution) and the PCA."

What is loyalty?

Was Hezekiah loyal when, informed by Isaiah of the coming Babylonian captivity his people and his own sons would suffer, he responded, "'The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.' For he thought, 'There will be peace and security in my lifetime?" Was the Apostle Peter loyal when he left the Gentiles and went over to the Jews at church potlucks? Were those giving preferential treatment to rich men within the church loyal in seeking to provide for the church's financial well-being? Was Eli loyal when he allowed his sons to continue to profane the holy things as they held sacred office?--family first, you know.

From loyalty, Monday we called attention to the fact that friends from CBMW days seem to have no problem with a woman, Dr. Diane Langberg, publicly teaching men doctrine at a theology conference their professional association, the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, is co-sponsoring. There they all are--John, Al, C.J., Lig, Phil, John--and they're promoting the ministry of a woman teaching men. In fact, beyond promoting, a couple of them (Don and Al) are sharing the pulpit with her.

From loyalty, yesterday we ran a piece on the apparent lack of discipline of faculty members at our denomination's Covenant College, pointing out that one third of them support Barack Obama's presidential bid and half of them decline to acknowledge abortion to be "Very important" in their choice. To put this in perspective, imagine a PCA college in Germany during the Third Reich, keeping in mind that the number of little babies slaughtered now by abortion absolutely dwarfs the number of Christians and Jews Hitler's men slaughtered during the Nazi regime.

Once again, from loyalty to this faith community known as the PCA, we turn to the Rev. Dr. Tim Keller...

The pastor's divisive calling...

God has ordained the Sacraments to divide men...

(Tim) From The Huffington Post, here's some commentary on the congregational applause that greeted Senator McCain's statement at the Rick Warren pow-wow, that life begins at conception:

These are church people. What they say and what they do often doesn't match.... As loudly as they may have applauded McCain's straight talk about abortion, a lot of women in that audience have had abortions. A lot of their mothers, their sisters and their daughters have too.

How do I know?

I know because evangelicals who've studied each other have shown again and again that evangelical behavior differs very little from that of the rest of the country.

The writer is correct to say the church is filled with women who have murdered their babies. Even if you don't believe the pollsters, do the simple math and you'll see that the over two-thirds of Americans who claim to be Christians have to account for the murder of millions of the babies murdered since 1973's Roe v. Wade. And although the writer doesn't mention it, the church is also filled with the men who fathered those children and demanded or acceded to their murder.

Acknowledging this, we need to keep some things in mind.

First, regardless of how they identify themselves spiritually or theologically here on earth (membership in the PCA, for instance), like unrepentant adulterers and thieves, murderers who refuse to confess their blood-guilt and ask for God's mercy will not be in heaven. As the Apostle Paul puts it so bluntly:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. (1Corinthians 6:9,10)

Second, as a minister of the Word and Sacrament, the essence of Pastor Warren's calling is to be as constant and explicit in making this dogmatic pronouncement as the Apostle Paul in the Word of God. He cannot fail to discipline those who, while murdering their unborn children, attend his church and take the Lord's Supper there.

Church discipline is the mercy of God...

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12:11)

(Tim) Last week, I received this e-mail from a former member of the church where it originated. I've kept the church's name hidden, but think the firm godly response of the pastors and elders to this situation is a model for all those who serve as officers in Christ's Church. Be encouraged, brothers. And pray for the brothers and sisters of this congregation--particularly those who have fallen into sin.

Church discipline, lies, and pride...

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. (John 10:1)

(Tim) Today, when a church member is lovingly corrected or rebuked, it's normal for him to respond by rejecting the discipline. When the older women encourage a younger woman to stop gossiping, often the younger woman will lie about what the older women said; or worse, accuse them of evil motives in saying it. If youth leaders ask to meet with a father and mother about their teenage son's obsceneties or physical aggression toward other boys in the youth group, the Dad makes excuses for his son, then goes to the elders with the report that the youth leader is lying about his son.

If initial steps to correct a member are stiff-armed, more formal steps will usually fail, also. When the elders ask the member to meet with them, he'll refuse; and if they ask a second time, he'll refuse again and likely leave the church.

But leaving, such souls aren't done with the church--not by a long shot. They have to justify their departure so they slander the church they've left behind. The lies may attack the elders, older women, deacons, pastors, or youth leaders. They may even attack the church's children.

Regardless of where the attack's aimed, it's here the danger occurs for the leaders of the new congregation. These bright new faces will arrive in our congregation with subtle (or not-so-subtle) demands that we listen...

A muddled mess...

(Tim) Really, this article is precious. What a perfect demonstration of a journalist's muddle-headed misunderstanding compounded by some who are playing to the masses and others who are seeking to limit any possible legal liability.

The Inquirer reports Enn's book, Inspiration and Incarnation, is a problem because it "encourages Bible-believing Christians to accept that the Bible was the work of both humans and God."

Well, first; not to put too fine a point on it, but have you all noticed that we can't call the race by the name God gave it any more? It's not "adam" or "man," but "humans." In this case it's particularly funny because we're talking about the Bible, the book "holy men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

And second, is the journalist really so ignorant as to think that anyone in history, let alone the good souls of Westminster, actually deny the Bible is the work of both God and man?

There came a man sent from God whose name was...

(Tim, w/thanks to David) Well actually, I don't know his name, but he caused Sodomite Gene Robinson's sermon in an Anglican church in England to grind to a halt by calling the bad Bishop to "Repent! Repent! Repent! I stand on the Word of God! Repent!" (See link below.)

Why is this wicked Episcopal bishop over in England preaching just now?

Archbishop Rowan Williams is presiding over the once-a-decade Anglican meeting of bishops known as the Lambeth Conference held in Canterbury. He's invited almost all the 800 Anglican bishops worldwide. Only a few were barred from attending. One of them--the most significant one--is Bishop Gene Robinson who the United States Anglican communion known as the Episcopal Church elevated to the bishopric despite his being an unrepentant sodomite. After his elevation, the first person to greet him in the chancel area as a part of the liturgy was his sodomite lover, followed by his ex-wife and two adult daughters.

Trouble is, by far the largest part of the Anglican communion today is in the Southern Hemisphere and, being somewhat backward, African and Central and South American, and even Australian, bishops and archbishops are scandalized by this heresy and threatening or carrying out schism. (Well, actually, not schism; it's impossible to be guilty of schism when you're separating from those who bless sodomy and elevate sodomites into the bishopric. Really, it's church discipline, but from the bottom up which is not the way things ordinarily are supposed to go.)

But back to the Archbishop of Canterbury His Grace Dr. Rowan Williams. He's in an awkward position...

Sinews of discipline at Westminster Theological Seminary...

(Tim, w/thanks to James) Friends, here's one to keep your eyes on. David and I believe the training of pastors is best done in the context of the local church, but if we were asked which seminaries we believe hold true to biblical faith, Westminster Theological Seminary would make the short list.

Now, though, they have a professor who has written things that call his commitment to the authority and plenary verbal inspiration of Scripture into question. After suspending him from teaching, they're investigating the matter formally.

Lots of sheep think the seminary's action is scandalous. You know, criticisms of the "Don't you idiots know that the church has repented of heresy trials?" sort. Well, there you have it: "No heresy any more," say the sheep, "so don't bother guarding us--we don't need your care." How David and I thank God for allowing us to serve congregations who love us precisely because we seek to guard them as the Apostle Paul exhorted the elders of Ephesus to guard their own congregation, warning them: "From among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them" (Acts 20:30). Further, our congregations have chosen elders who share in that work with us, rather than seeking to silence this aspect of our (and their) calling. What joy!

This past week, I finished Calvin's letter to Cardinal Sadoleto. Let me end the post with this excerpt:

...the miserable condition into which the Church had fallen was owing to nothing more than to its enervation by luxury and indulgence. For the body of the Church, to cohere well, must be bound together by discipline as with sinews.

Roman Catholic and Protestant divorce and remarriage...

(Tim) Divorce is one of the most difficult questions pastors and elders face as we shepherd God's flock. Providing spiritual counsel in cases where husband and wife don't get along is relatively easy. Much harder are those cases in which husbands or wives physically abuse their spouses, fathers or stepfathers sexually abuse their children, husbands or wives commit serious sexual sin (what Jesus refers to as "porneia" in the exception clause of Matthew 19), or husbands demand their wives and children deny the faith. Each of these matters requires the most careful study of Scripture, prayer, and pastoral counsel. Sometimes the result is a session (board of elders) recommendation of divorce.

In the twelve years since Church of the Good Shepherd was founded, our session has made such a recommendation two or three times, each by unanimous consent. Sometimes it's hard to say whether the believing or unbelieving spouse is the one taking the initiative in the divorce. This is why it's impossible to say precisely how many times we've counseled divorce. We don't make the decision--the innocent party does. Yet neither do we abandon that innocent party to their own counsel. Our Westminster Standards are correct..

Senator Kennedy's soul...

(Tim) Throughout my adult years, Senator Ted Kennedy has been our nation's most visible proponent of wickedness in high places. Chief among his high crimes has been his ruthless promotion of the altars of Molech upon which many millions of little ones have been sacrificed. And from Chappaquiddick on, his personal life has been notorious.

Yet, even a month ago at the Papal Mass held at Nationals Park, the Roman Catholic church could not bring herself to enforce her own rules of discipline against him or fellow Roman Catholic pro-abortion Senators John Kerry and Christopher Dodd. They all received Communion.

While confessing Christians such as President Bush are issuing statements commending Senator Kennedy as a great statesman, my hero Joe Scheidler has struck the right note in calling us to pray for the Senator's soul:

We're all praying for him. We hope his ailment will bring conversion. We can't wish anyone eternal punishment.

May God have mercy on Senator Kennedy's soul as he faces death and judgment.

Ah yes, let a study committee handle it...

(Tim) For the record, I'm disappointed Rocky Mountain Presbytery's City Church in Denver was allowed to take the PCA's ball and go home without being disciplined for her rejection of biblical sexuality and polity. A plant of the Presbyterian Church in America, she (and particularly her pastor) should have heard a clear "No" from her presbytery, somewhere or sometime. Instead, she saw her presbytery enmeshed in a bunch of split votes that demonstrated tepid leadership, at best; and trendy postmodern commitments to biblical sexuality, at worst.

What would a pastor or session have to do in order to receive a clear disciplinary "No" from a presbytery of the PCA today in this matter of sexuality?

I can hear some responding, "No one's ordained a woman elder or pastor, yet."

If we think it's possible to avoid declaring the boundaries of biblical sexuality at every point leading up to the eldership, but then to hold firm there, our problems are much deeper than the biblical doctrine of sexuality...

Covenant children and the emasculation of the church, with a tribute to my father...

…Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed… For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him. (Genesis 18:18,19)

(Tim) When the Lord entered into a covenant with Abraham, He was pleased for that covenant’s fulfillment to be dependent upon Abraham “command(ing) his children and his household… to keep the way of the Lord….” Still today, it pleases God to use means to accomplish his will, and he has declared the Church should be built up, instructed, and guarded by men—not angels. Where those men are missing or their work is soft and effeminate, the Church has suffered the removal of her vital manhood; she has been emasculated. (n. 1)

When we speak of the emasculation of the church, though, we are not saying she has been robbed of her Bridegroom nor that her adoptive Father has cast her out of his household. Christ is “faithful over God’s house as a son” (Hebrews 3:6 RSV), (n. 2)  and we have his promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. So then, the Church can never be emasculated in any definitive sense, even though her officers may be characterized by a womanly softness and sentimentality.

Such, though, is the church of our time. About twenty years ago I heard Elisabeth Elliot Gren say, “The problem with the church today is that it’s filled with emasculated men who don’t know how to say ‘no’ to a woman.” At the time, I was floored by Elliot’s audacity, but now I realize she was guilty of understatement. Christian men today have a problem saying “no” to almost anyone—not just women. Preachers, elders, and Sunday school teachers place an overwhelming emphasis on the positive and have an almost insurmountable aversion to the negative.

In the mid-eighties, my father was asked to represent the pro-life side at a campus-wide dialogue on abortion held at the Stupe, Wheaton College’s student union. He began his presentation with the statement, “I am not here to represent the pro-life, but the anti-abortion side of this issue..."

Father-hunger and pastoral ministry...

Yet most I thank thee, not for any deed,
But for the sense thy living self did breed
That Fatherhood is at the world’s great core.

-George MacDonald (1)

(Tim) Some years back when I first entered the pastorate, I sat in a small-town café listening to the son of a prominent church member summarize his relationship with his father: “Nothing I did ever pleased him.” In his late twenties, the son was a neer-do-well; divorced and not able to hold down a job, his children were shunted back and forth, week-by-week, from one broken home to another.

He came to church only on Christmas and Easter so our breakfast appointment was about the only chance I had. His eyes revealed the last flicker of what once had been the bright flame of father-hunger—that hunger God places in the heart of every son. None of my seminary professors had mentioned this hunger to me and I was at a loss as to how to cure his soul. Not knowing how to respond to this great sadness, I was silent...

Conniving at our people's sins...

Why, look at us! Check it out! We have women deacons. Unordained, of course, but women they are and they do everything our male deacons do--disciple, teach, cast vision. Look at us! Check it out! We have women serving the elements at the Lord's Table. Women, mind you! Aren't we forward-looking and progressive? Can't you iPod joggers settle into this comfy chair? We've made it just for you. No fuddy-duddy patriarchs holding us down or setting us back. We've captured the center of the city because we're the only ones that can do it without making asses of ourselves. Look at us! Check us out! We do art. We write music. We have important people who are rich in our congregation. And they respect us because they know we can be trusted to think through the implications of Scripture for our time and culture without falling into the many errors of past centuries. You know, errors like fuddy-duddy thinking about women in leadership.

(Tim) For most of the first ten years of pastoral ministry, I served in a denomination whose polity required each church to elect female elders in proportion to the number of females in the congregation. Also, every pastoral search committee was required to sign an EEO-type contract promising they would give equal consideration to women for their pastoral position. So I’ve had experience working with women elders within the local congregation, as well as female pastors and elders at the presbytery (regional) and general assembly (national) levels. There were some wise and godly women elders within our congregations (I had a yoked parish of two churches), and still today my wife and I are close to several of these sisters in Christ.

And yet, wise and godly women placed in the position of elder are tenaciously focused on the protection of relationships within their congregation. It is both their strength and weakness that they want to deny or postpone any threat to relationships, even when the good of the larger household of faith would be put at risk by inaction or the postponement of discipline...

Form for excommunication...

(Tim) A friend sent an E-mail asking if I had a form or liturgy for excommunication that his session might be able to use. We've had several excommunications over the past eleven years, and have been greatly blessed to have adopted as our bylaws those written by Ken Sande and circulated by Peacemakers for adoption by churches affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America. Regularly, I recommend those bylaws to other pastors and elders (including churches not affiliated with the PCA). They're superb and provide great protection for the church in this litigious age--particularly the membership covenants these bylaws require every new member to sign.

Among the documents provided by Peacemakers in support of their bylaws is a packet of church discipline forms and letters that can be used as boilerplate text by particular churches in their own disciplinary cases. The following statement was used at Church of the Good Shepherd in a tragic case where a man cast off his wife and refused the ministry of the board of elders calling him to repentance. The names and dates have been changed to protect this man's identity, but I post it here with the hope that it may serve others with the sad responsibility of this same work within their own congregation.

This letter is largely, but not completely, the work of Peacemakers, and I happily acknowledge their excellent resources as the foundation of our own labors here at CGS... 

Church discipline today...

(Tim) For anything other than flagrant, rococo sexual sin, it's about as close as we get to church discipline, ain't it? Come on guys, tell the truth.

(Thanks, Archie.)

Mainline sodomites and evangelical feminists: Who really loves Jesus?

The 2006 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) met a few weeks ago and approved a measure that clears the way for practicing homosexuals to be ordained and installed as pastors and elders of the church. Many news organizations covered this event, but no one commented on the most newsworthy aspect of this radical step--namely, that the measure was itself the product of a Task Force that included a number of evangelicals, and that the evangelicals were instrumental in selling this proposal to the church. How does it happen that evangelicals promote the normalization of sodomy and advocate a plan that clears the way for sodomites to shepherd God's flock? There's a lesson here--a very important lesson--particularly for evangelicals who think all that's important is that people "love Jesus" and have prayed the sinner's prayer. Please read on...

Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. (2 John 1:5-11)

The late Elizabeth Achtemeier was adjunct professor of Bible and homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia and served on the board of Presbyterians Pro-Life, a reform organization within the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA). Particularly because of her courageous opposition to some of the most poisonous aspects of feminism within mainline Presbyterianism, it came as no surprise that Elizabeth was appointed to the PC(USA) General Assembly's blue ribbon Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity as a representative of those on the evangelical end of the denominational spectrum.

This so-called "PUP Task Force" was formed several years ago to try to mediate the chronic tensions over sodomy that have split the PC(USA) since the mid-seventies. The denomination made a conscious effort to balance the membership of the PUP Task Force between those who still hold to Scripture's condemnations of sodomy and those who have rejected Scripture's condemnations and demand the Church endorse sodomy by accepting practicing sodomites as members and placing them in the office of pastor and elder.

When Elizabeth died in the middle of the Task Force's work, her son Mark Achtemeier, a PC(USA) seminary professor teaching systematic theology at Dubuque Theological Seminary, was appointed to take her place and he served on the Task Force through the completion of its work this past year. The Task Force brought a number of recommendations to the (national) General Assembly this year, all of which were carefully crafted to end the divisive battle over the normalization of sodomy.

Up until this time, those seeking to normalize sodomy and to ordain sodomites to the offices of pastor and elder had to contend with PC(USA) denominational standards that forbade such ordinations. If churches defied these standards, they could be brought up on charges, although through the years a variety of technicalities were used to escape accountability. True, the denomination's definitive guidance was a roadblock to those seeking to normalize sodomy, but the practice across the country was a far cry from that definitive guidance. Lesbians and gays were active at all levels of the church as members, leaders, and officers, and there was little accountability for those who flaunted their rebellion against God's Word.

Yet even as they rebelled against Scripture's doctrine of sexuality and got away with only a few slaps on the wrist, the sodomy lobby worked feverishly to change church law so that sexual perversion would no longer be formally condemned and informally overlooked, but positively celebrated. Nothing less would do. Thus for years every level of church government found its time consumed by the battle, and people grew so weary of the controversy that the PUP Task Force was appointed and given a mandate to find a way out of the quagmire.

This year's national General Assembly was D-day, and the Task Force released its recommendations a few months before the Assembly so there would be plenty of time for commissioners to weigh its recommendations before the assembly convened. When those with biblical commitments saw the report and read through its recommendations, they were sickened to see that the Task Force had thrown in the towel and called it quits. Assuming the General Assembly adopted the Task Force recommendations (which it now has), they knew the definitive guidance would become obsolete. Rather, local rule would prevail. True, in theory this meant conservative churches and presbyteries could enforce the definitive guidance if they so chose, but only within their own jurisdiction. Meanwhile, liberal churches and presbyteries would be cut loose to do as they thought best--including ordaining and installing self-affirming active sodomites as pastors and elders. Really, the recommendations amounted to a ceding of the historic Presbyterian principle of connectionalism to the all-American ecclesiastical default of congregationalism.

But as shocking as the parameters of the surrender were, the shock turned into disbelief when the names of those who had signed on to the surrender included a number of evangelicals, including Elizabeth Achtemeier's son, Mark. People were flabbergasted. How could Elizabeth's son betray Scripture and the souls under his protection in this way? Did he care nothing for those tempted by same-sex intimacy? Was he really prepared to join the long line of self-proclaimed prophets who cry "Peace, peace" where there is no peace? As the smoke cleared, there was no denying that Mark Achtemeier had been co-opted by the sodomites...

The World Cup, racism, and the reprobate...

My thirteen-year-old son, Taylor, is a midfielder on a traveling soccer team and we share a love for soccer. Anticipating the World Cup beginning this Friday, we watched an ESPN special on racism among European football fans.

In 2004, Spain's World Cup coach, Luis Aragons, was fined after making racial remarks about Arsenal superstar, Thierry Henry. Things started to come to a head last year when Messina's Ivory Coast defender, Marc Zoro, was reduced to tears by Inter Milan fans hurling racial epithets at him. Having been abused beyond his ability to endure, Zoro picked up the game ball to hand it to a referee, and tried to walk off the field. Some of Inter Milan's quite-sportsmanlike players did their best to silence the abuse. They put their arms around Zoro and convinced him to keep playing. Racial epithets and bananas are thrown at black players on the field, but they're expected to shrug it off and keep playing.

This past March, in the Brazilian league, defender Antonoi Carlos was suspended for 120 days plus four matches after he shouted at a black opponent, calling him "monkey." Then, on April 3, Spiegel Online ran a story about FC Sachsen Leipzig's star Nigerian midfielder, Adebowale Ogungbure, being tormented after a game by fans who ran up and spit on him, calling him "Dirty N-gger," "Sh-t N-gger," and "Ape" as he walked off the pitch.

Racism threatens to tarnish the World Cup and there's a lot of talk about what FIFA officials are and aren't going to do about it. When the ESPN special was over, neither Taylor nor I had much to say to each other. This aspect of the beautiful game is ugly.

Then, this morning, I followed a link to our blog posted on another blog that is racist to the core, and also obscene, sacrilegious, and blasphemous. In the past, David and I have tried to get these wicked men not to link to us, but to no avail. They told us they'd link to anyone they wanted to and we couldn't stop them. They're right.

Judging and the holiness of God...

In the context of charges and accusations being tossed about willy-nilly against God's servants, it is salutary to be reminded of God's severe sentence upon Moses for appropriating His holiness when he judged the people at Meribah.

Scripture clearly defines when and how we should judge--and when and how we sin by judging. But the flesh tends to run opposite Scripture in both instances. So, as a warning and reminder of God's holiness in the area of judging the following thoughts from Scripture will, I trust, serve to protect us from sin.

Judging is a sin in which man seeks to exercise authority that belongs only to God. We need to remember above all that God is the eternal judge of mankind. Just as God tells us, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," to keep us from vengeance, so Scripture tells us, "For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us," (Isaiah 33:22) to keep us from judging.

God is the judge of mankind. Individual men are never allowed to judge others in the way God judges. (I say "individual men" because in certain circumstances the Church is called to judge as God judges--we'll turn to these in a bit.)

The outernet...

I've referred before to Doug Wilson's ongoing series of posts dealing with how to adjudicate charges Biblically. All are good.

But, not to take a stray dog by the ears.... Sometimes a series of charges and countercharges can leave you grasping, uncertain where truth lies.

There is seldom a divorce in human marriage or a separation within the Bride of Christ in which there are not elements of sin on both sides. Yet the presence of sinners at either end of a conflict does not mean guilt and innocence cannot be established in the specific issue in contention. It is precisely the job of spiritual leaders to investigate carefully and render judgment at such times.

But when accusations and motives seem murky and you are not in the position of investigator or judge, one good way to know something about the truth of a situation is to examine the tactics of disputants. Tactics reveal truth.

I don't mean we should look to see who speaks in saccharine tones or whose words drip ostentatious piety. I mean we should look at cold hard facts. Cold hard facts are these kinds of things: who went outside the local body first, who spread the dispute before the world? Who is accusing others of offenses against "what is written?" Who is charging others of offenses consisting primarily of tone and attitude? Who took their complaints to the internet? Who tendered apologies? Who refused apologies?

Such things are not conclusive. But they are indicative.

Collegial relations with false shepherds...

The following questions were posted to the comments section of our sister "World" magazine blog, Stealth Bible: TNIV. Here is my own response.

So what then do you make of (John Doe), one of the most vocal opponents of the TNIV, who taught at (such and such seminary) for years, and only recently moved from there to (another seminary), not out of opposition to (his prior seminary's) handling of these issues, but rather because of (personal reasons)? Did he (and others like him) who teach at schools that permit women to gain "ordination-track" MDiv's demonstrate lack of zeal and sound judgment by continuing on at (his former seminary for so long)?

Should we now shun all schools that allow women to gain ordination-track MDiv's, and those who teach at them, even though they are complementarian? Should complementarians who are looking for teaching positions in the evangelical academy teach only at those schools who won't permit women to earn ordination-track MDivs? I doubt that Dallas Seminary and Reformed Theological Seminary can house all of them on their faculties...

Since there are many complementarians who believe it is proper to maintain collegial relations with those who promote the heresy of feminism, let's depersonalize the issue and not limit our discussion to any particular individual. The man you've mentioned is one among many.

The nub of your question is the degree to which I believe there ought to be some separation between those who hold to the biblical doctrine of sexuality and those who reject and attack that doctrine. You raise the question in the context of academic institutions but I think the prior place to consider and resolve this question is the Church of the Living God referred to by the Holy Spirit as "the pillar and support" of God's Truth.

Men who are elders (or whatever they may be called in any given polity) ought to be disciplined for rejecting the plain teaching of Scripture...

Scripture's enemies...

'bowdlerize': syn. abbreviate, abridge, bleach, blot out, blue-pencil, cancel, censor, clean, clean out, clean up, cleanse, clear out, cross out, cut, delete, delouse, depurate, deterge, dry-clean, dust, dust off, edit, edit out, erase, expunge, expurgate, freshen, kill, lustrate, omit, purge, purify, reform, rescind, rub out, scavenge, spruce, steam-clean, strike, strike off, strike out, sweep out, sweeten, tidy, void, whiten, wipe, wipe off, wipe out, and wipe up.

In our local paper, The Herald-Times, a young woman named Arlyn Keith is a Community Columnist. From her picture Ms. Keith seems to be in her mid-twenties and her piece appearing on yesterday's op-ed page is titled, "Rock'n'roll rejects the Bible."

Keith is responding to what she considers the non-news that Jan Wenner's Rolling Stone magazine has refused to run an ad for Today's New International Version, the new Bible put together under the patronage of Rupert Murdoch's News Corps' subsidiary, Zondervan Publishing Company.

Keith yawns as she wonders why Zondervan ever thought readers of Rolling Stone would be their market segment? Acknowledging that this chic Bible has compromised the original text, the better to reach her generation, Keith writes:

I knew that Christian leaders were concerned about the disinterest my generation and those younger than us seem to have with religion, but I just did not ever expect the mountain to come to Mohammed and plead for attention. This latest edition of the Bible aptly named Today's New International Version even features, according to USA Today, a method of translation which is meant to appeal to the 18-34 age group wherein gender terminology in reference to humans is neutral. The "truth" has been made user-friendly and packaged in a politically-correct manner. I am not an avid church-goer myself and am still struggling with my views, but it does seem that some values have been compromised in the process.

Out of the mouths of babes...

After years of hard work trying to convince my family members (owners of Tyndale House Publishers and its own gender-neutered Bible, The New Living Translation), Zondervan's executives (who are presently issuing this latest gender-neutered version called Today's New International Version), and the corporate leaders of the International Bible Society (holder of the copyright on all versions of The New International Version including Today's New International Version) of the false doctrine that is the heart of this work, I despair over their intransigence. And yes, one does begin to wonder what the application of "the love of money (being) the root of all evil" is to this Bible-selling business; or, for that matter, to Wycliffe Bible Translators, mega-churches, missions agencies, seminaries, and my own church's building program?

How lightly we consider our own motives in the light of Scripture's warning, "All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the LORD weighs the motives" (Proverbs 16:2 NASB95).

No matter how often we explain to them that the secular feminists are correct in their judgment that the Bible is "hopelessly patriarchal," hope springs eternal and these false prophets try once again to clean up God's Word so a modicum of its offense is removed and evangelism moves apace into the twenty-first century.

Over the past couple of years, Christ the Word's Rev. Dr. Andrew Dionne has created a web site called KepttheFaith exposing the assault upon God and His Word these men are carrying out. Church of the Good Shepherd has funded the site and my brother, David, and I have fought this battle arm-in-arm. Go to the site and read and pray. Secularists and seekers such as Keith can treat this matter lightly, easily seeing the charade. But Tyndale House, Zondervan, the International Bible Society, and all the reverend doctors paid to do the bowdlerizing take this matter very seriously seeing their reputations are on the line.

They're right. Were one of them a member of Church of the Good Shepherd, the elders would declare him to be in violation of his membership vow to honor and obey the inerrant Word of God, and call him to repent.

Chesterton nailed it almost a century ago:

It is remarked, "We need a restatement of religion"; and though it has been said thirty-thousand times, it is quite true.

It is also true that those who say it often mean the very opposite of what they say. As I have remarked elsewhere, they very often intend not to restate anything, but to state something else, introducing as many of the old words as possible.

(G. K. Chesterton, The Thing, p. 190, "Some of Our Errors".)

Church discipline brings legal threats...

If, as I believe, there are three marks of the Church--the true preaching of the Word of God, the right administration of the Sacraments, and the right (biblical) practice of church discipline--then the following news piece, Woman Can Sue Pastor for Revealing Infidelity, is just one more in a long line of warnings that biblical churches will suffer growing persecution for their faith. This is, of course, to make no judgment about the likely outcome of this case as it goes to trial, nor to assume that this particular pastor and church are following biblical procedures in their practice of this discipline.

But the case is one of many harbingers of things to come and the wicked will not treat lightly those who model here on earth the coming Last Judgment of the Holy God when, eternally, there will be the separation of the sheep and the goats:

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. (Matthew 25:31-33)

Eight and a half years ago, when our congregation was founded, we took Ken Sande's bylaws and adopted them for our own...

A Little Leaven...

We all process life through our own personal filters and, after twenty years in pastoral ministry, mine are hopelessly pastoral. So you may smile to hear that reading this news item led me to daydream, just for a moment, about how much easier it was for these leading men of the village to bathe Mr. Kasokong than it is for elders of Christ's church to work to end similarly public scandals within God's Household.

'Smelly' Kenyan given public wash

Fed up neighbours in Kapenguria, a remote town in north west Kenya, have forcibly washed a 52-year-old bachelor.

The farmer John Kasokong had allegedly not bathed for 10 years and his odour reportedly overpowered local people.

Irritated by his state, four muscular men trapped him while on his way from his farm and tied him down with ropes before giving him a thorough wash.

Many people are said to have watched the public drama including the local chief.

Neighbour Rogers Kimwei said they could not bear Mr Kasokong's body odour and were forced to hatch a plan to clean him.