Theses for the PCA
...prompted by a scandal that no one asked for or (seemingly) expected
By Brad Isbell
THE FACTS seem to be roughly as follows:
A PCA minister is leaving for Rome to serve in some sort of lay order. He claimed to have long been influenced by Rome.
He was allowed to address his congregation during a Lord’s Day worship service, preached, read a letter (correction: quoted portions thereof) to them, served the Lord’s Supper, and gave the benediction. (Read an account of the entire service here.)
The minister, also a musician, performed a keyboard piece with the church band at the end of the service and was rapturously applauded. Hoots and hollers abounded. His children and wife smiled as they stood before the church.
The coordinator of the PCA’s home mission board was present and participating in the service (he lives in the area), and at the end of the service called forward the church’s elders and “shepherdesses” to lay hands on the man to send him on his Romeward way with what appeared to be a blessing. He said about the family, “…this is just ‘see you soon,’ not full goodbye”—a curious statement.
A church communication suggests that the congregation has now lost all of its ministers, and their future is uncertain.
In case you didn’t know, this sort of thing isn’t done in a Reformed church, due to the whole Reformation thing. Rome is not a true church; Rome doesn’t have the gospel; Rome does not “maintain the Word and Sacraments in their fundamental integrity.” This sort of thing isn’t done in a Reformed church…until it is.
Rough days are coming in the PCA. This incident will cause weeping, gnashing of teeth, sending of letters, and having of meetings. But controversy (and the fact that something like this, which I’ll call Tibergate, is still controversial) is good. It proves one of Machen’s famous lines:
In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the things that are least worth holding; the really important things are the things about which men will fight.
When the fight is gone, the faith is gone. Let us fight for the faith and, Luther-like, let us post theses as and when needed. Here are twelve:
A Reformed minister coming under the bishop of Rome is apostasy.
We do not celebrate apostasy.
We do not commend ministers and their families to false churches.
We do not allow ministers who have denied our doctrine and the validity of our sacraments to administer sacraments in our churches.
The souls of those attaching themselves willingly and happily to false churches are in grave peril.
Celebrating rather than warning those who are leaving the faith is not love but the deadliest form of hate.
Commending those who leave the faith speaks more loudly to our members than our orthodox sermons ever can.
When people tell us who they are, we should believe them. And people usually tell us who they are.
It is possible to prioritize relationships (personal and tribal) to such a degree that truth, sound doctrine, and good order are lost.
Reformed churches rightly confess that the Reformed faith is the biblical faith in its best form and should never be ashamed of it, denigrate, or neglect to defend it from all enemies, within and without.
Those who have left the Reformed faith inwardly and convictionally should not be allowed to minister or bear the title of Reformed minister outwardly.
If ministers hide their apostasy, the fault is their own—their ordination vows have been violated. If church courts know of apostasy (or even an inclination towards it) in a minister and fail to act, the fault is the court’s.
Much more will be learned about this matter, but we know enough already to say that serious irregularities have occurred. Investigations must commence for the peace and purity of the church, specifically the Presbyterian Church in America, whose motto is:
Faithful to the Scriptures
True to the Reformed Faith
Obedient to the Great Commission
What on earth? I have a decades-long history of working with Roman Catholics in the pro-life movement and have friends who are definitely conservative Catholics, some of them even in Latin Mass traditionalist circles. We're very aware of our differences and understand why we can be friends, and we can work together in politics (i.e., what Kuyper taught), but we can't be in each other's churches.
I can't think of any of my conservative Catholic friends who would handle matters like this if an ordained priest were leaving the Roman Catholic Church to become a Protestant. Laymen leaving a Roman Catholic parish for an evangelical Protestant church might be handled more gently as "separated brethren," but an ordained man knows, or is SUPPOSED to know, what his church teaches. In any case, he had formally vowed before God to teach it during his ordination, so even if ignorant, his ignorance has no excuse.
Our churches are different. Catholics who take their doctrine seriously understand that.
Protestants should too.
That's especially true for Reformed people who, unlike many broad evangelicals, have formal confessional statements explaining why our forefathers left the Roman Catholic Church.
Our congregation often hears the praises of the PCA for its doctrine and polity. Does the PCA believe it enough to contend for, or choose to capitulate to culture, showing more concern for unity than truth? (Wokeness, racial reconciliation, affinity groups, egalitarianism)