Wow! We left the Episcopal Church some years ago and the story was basically the same with the names and dates changed. Once partaking of the progressive Kool Aid, it makes a thirst for more and more. Decline trajectories are rapid and follow the same pattern. I pray the CRC will hold firm and thank Abide for leading the charge.
Loving these articles and your detailed historical analysis of these denominations! Reading this brings clarity to why our nations are currently under Gods judgement, as well as many “churches”. When a denomination decides to allow, and even finance the sacrificial murder of children, you know they are FAR from serving the Lord. They have officially come under the headship and dominion of another god, and therefore are guided by another dark and evil spirit, and not by the Holy Spirit. This explains why all logic and reason goes out the window, and they begin frantically and forcefully fighting to implement wickedness. It’s because “[They] are of [their] father the devil, and [their] will is to do [their] fathers desires.” - John 8:44
There is no better explanation for what we are witnessing than the way Jesus describes it in this chapter of John. This world is black and white, good and evil. Light does not mix with darkness, and you cannot serve two masters. The fruit is becoming more evident and the divide is becoming larger and more clear than ever as to who is serving God, and who is serving the Devil. Praise the Lord for the revealing, pruning, refining, and purifying work He is doing in His holy catholic Church!
The most disturbing thing this article reveals is not that sexuality is a problem for the the Church, but that the Word of God seems to be a problem for the Church. Either Christians believe and obey (even wrestling like Jacob) as God commands throughout His word, or they cease to be identifiable as Christians. For these denominations (CRC included) sexuality is not a single problem, but a cultural barometer of our view of scripture.
It's a good, well researched article but painful and disheartening to read because denomination after denomination continue to go down this path eventhough its very clear it leads to death. I hope the CRCNA does not follow, but the people seem so complacent and unwilling to do the unpleasant tasks necessary to maintain adherence to biblical principals.
Thank you for this concise and thorough review of the PCUSA's turmoil. I am a small group leader and bible teacher at a small community church that is under the PCUSA umbrella. I am a member of that church, but I do not consider myself a member of the PCUSA. A huge amount of autonomy is obviously being extended, at least to small churches in this part of the country, when it comes to the doctrinal issues of the mother ship. The confession, policies, preaching and programs of the church where I serve reflect traditional, bible based, reformed theology. I would imagine that many churches that have remained in the PCUSA are in this situation.
Like most matters of culture and politics, it's hard to overcome inertia and take action as long as the "we're not like them, it will never happen here" illusion remains intact. However, there is more than one way to respond in overcoming that illusion. I think we must pray for discernment in following Christ through traditional doctrine such as the Westminster Confession and the Apostles Creed when we find ourselves at the point of taking action. We must be careful that we do not let ourselves be blinded by the two instinctive choices of flight or fight that are the default of our fallen human nature. Nor can we make excuses for those who would do violence to the word of God by false teaching.
Like David's comment, I have history and a stake in this church. I try to remember Paul's teaching in Ephesians 6 when coming to terms with the issues that can arise by serving and giving in a church that is associated with but does not practice an organizational doctrine I do not accept. Of all the items in the full armor of God, the only offensive weapon is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. The other parts of the armor are all defensive, so that we might stand firm in the day of evil, which we are surely in today. Standing and resisting by staying in my church family and teaching biblical truth is where the Holy Spirit has led me. If the fall of the PCUSA is to be reversed, I think that is how it begins.
Greg, thanks for your comment and may God bless your efforts to remain confessional in the PCUSA. The only thing I wonder about is do you know where your denominational dollars are going? I don't know enough to comment but the things I have heard would make me very reticent to stay if my offerings had to fund some of those things.
Seeing this on an aggregator's recap of articles from the past year. As unfortunate as this will be, I will more than likely soon be pushing my wife that it is well-past time to leave the PC(USA), because the main reason for staying has been more sentimental than anything else. She grew up Presbyterian in the PC(USA)'s sister denomination, Cumberland Presbyterian. Her dad's family were lifelong members of the Southern denomination. She was baptized Presbyterian. Our current congregation where she remains a member (but I do not due to a misunderstanding) has been very supportive during a very difficult life transition, and due to her adverse effects of her medical disability, regular church attendance on her part makes starting over with a new congregation very challenging. Unfortunately, there a concerns even with our local congregation as during Advent this year, our lessons and carols service featured as readers a local rabbi and a local lay leader of a Muslim interfaith organization. I sent a letter to our pastors and certain members of session, but have yet to receive even the slightest acknowledgement of the letter from our pastors and I was at church this past Sunday. It seems that unless I have something positive to say, any criticism or questioning of a matter, is being ignored as our senior pastor has increasingly been all smiles when I would see him the very next Sunday after raising an issue, but there is absolutely no mention of a text, email, whatever. This tells me that it is time to leave, no matter how much of the more extreme nonsense our congregation is not pursuing.
As far as the broader denomination is concerned, the PC(USA), despite having an official polity of "diversity of thought", at every turn only uses that if a conservative or moderate challenges the biblical nature of something, as an excuse to ignore error. I know from personal experience. In August 2020, the current editor of the social justice magazine, Lee Catoe, wrote a piece that was en vogue for a while amongst particularly the LGBT crowd, as well as the black womanist crowd, regarding Matthew 15 on Jesus and the Canaanite woman. For the uninformed, during the last decade the false, lesbian bishop in the UMC out in Colorado basically denied the sinlessness of Jesus using this passage, so the tribalism of the theological left kicked in and LGBT and womanist false preachers and teachers, in particular, started parroting her. Basically, the false teaching accuses Jesus of misogyny, xenophobia, "a ministry on the wrong track" until this encounter, and you get the idea. Notably, Mr. Catoe published this heretical non-sense, TWO WEEKS BEFORE his ordination by Middle Tennessee (Nashville) Presbytery. Also, it's worth noting that over a 12-month period in PC(USA) articles/webcasts this appeared at least three times as featured in PNS articles, following this publication.
I complained to Diane Moffett's office, currently President and Executive Director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, as well as then Stated Clerk J. Herbert Nelson's office. Long story short, Mr. Catoe's direct supervisory, Mrs. Laurie Kraus, head of the disaster relief, stated that he has a heart for Jesus - to which my thought was the Mormons state that they have a heart for Jesus, too, yet they are a false religion. The Presbytery hid behind bureaucratic BS in dismissing my complaint to them. And in a joint email from Mrs. Moffett and Mr. Nelson - I cannot bring myself to referring to any of the wolves as Reverend, unlike the Apostle Paul where the High Priest was concerned - I was told that the purpose of the social justice magazine was to challenge our thinking and that while they disagreed with me over the "exegesis", which was really eisegesis, I was allowed to hold a dissenting view under "diversity of thought". At NO POINT did any of these people want to engage on the point of question why this was not an incorrect teaching, but rather dance around the issue and patronizingly pat me on my head and tush and send me away. (Another thing that I learned from this episode is the PC(USA) loves credentialism, so a CPA, who has an MBA and is an accomplished career banking auditor, should not have the temerity to engage in serious theological thought and therefore question a Princeton Seminary graduate such as Mrs. Kraus. I might also add I was raise Baptist, so I probably have more knowledge of Bible basics than your average Presbyterian these days.)
Of course, under particularly Mr. Nelson and Mrs. Moffett's leadership, if anything diversity of thought does not exist, because at every turn, if you are a conservative or even a moderate, depending on the issue, you are accused of having nefarious motives at every turn. All one needs to do is look at the statements issued by Mr. Nelson on a host of issues between 2019 and 2022 to see the underlying message from the abortion to the medicalization of gender confused children, which interestingly these wolves ignore that a cross-section of society and religions are opposing, NOT just conservative Christians. Tim Keller was correct, when he stated that this denomination is merely the religious arm of the political left. And the only reason why Mr. Jimmie Hawkins and Mr. Nelson pulled back from hyperpartisan activity is because I and others filed official complaints with the IRS, Congress, and the State of Texas after the Washington Office engage in blatant partisan political activity by providing office space to the Democrat members of the Texas legislature a few years ago during their protest.
My apologies Aaron for the extended comments, but if from my recent experience I have sinned in any way, it is my absolute loathing of what the institutions of this denomination have become. I pray that God in his mercy and the work of the Holy Spirit reverses this as we must remember one of the Church's darkest moments during the Arian Controversy, when nearly all the bishops were Arians, except a few. And I also pray that these wolves, false preachers and teachers, whatever you want to call them, come to salvation, because I highly doubt any of them are actually Christians. Again, the Mormons, the JWs, the Boston Church of Christ movement in the 90s, etc. all claim Christ, but....
Wow! We left the Episcopal Church some years ago and the story was basically the same with the names and dates changed. Once partaking of the progressive Kool Aid, it makes a thirst for more and more. Decline trajectories are rapid and follow the same pattern. I pray the CRC will hold firm and thank Abide for leading the charge.
Excellent analysis and factual data. Proves the point!
Loving these articles and your detailed historical analysis of these denominations! Reading this brings clarity to why our nations are currently under Gods judgement, as well as many “churches”. When a denomination decides to allow, and even finance the sacrificial murder of children, you know they are FAR from serving the Lord. They have officially come under the headship and dominion of another god, and therefore are guided by another dark and evil spirit, and not by the Holy Spirit. This explains why all logic and reason goes out the window, and they begin frantically and forcefully fighting to implement wickedness. It’s because “[They] are of [their] father the devil, and [their] will is to do [their] fathers desires.” - John 8:44
There is no better explanation for what we are witnessing than the way Jesus describes it in this chapter of John. This world is black and white, good and evil. Light does not mix with darkness, and you cannot serve two masters. The fruit is becoming more evident and the divide is becoming larger and more clear than ever as to who is serving God, and who is serving the Devil. Praise the Lord for the revealing, pruning, refining, and purifying work He is doing in His holy catholic Church!
The most disturbing thing this article reveals is not that sexuality is a problem for the the Church, but that the Word of God seems to be a problem for the Church. Either Christians believe and obey (even wrestling like Jacob) as God commands throughout His word, or they cease to be identifiable as Christians. For these denominations (CRC included) sexuality is not a single problem, but a cultural barometer of our view of scripture.
It's a good, well researched article but painful and disheartening to read because denomination after denomination continue to go down this path eventhough its very clear it leads to death. I hope the CRCNA does not follow, but the people seem so complacent and unwilling to do the unpleasant tasks necessary to maintain adherence to biblical principals.
Thank you for this concise and thorough review of the PCUSA's turmoil. I am a small group leader and bible teacher at a small community church that is under the PCUSA umbrella. I am a member of that church, but I do not consider myself a member of the PCUSA. A huge amount of autonomy is obviously being extended, at least to small churches in this part of the country, when it comes to the doctrinal issues of the mother ship. The confession, policies, preaching and programs of the church where I serve reflect traditional, bible based, reformed theology. I would imagine that many churches that have remained in the PCUSA are in this situation.
Like most matters of culture and politics, it's hard to overcome inertia and take action as long as the "we're not like them, it will never happen here" illusion remains intact. However, there is more than one way to respond in overcoming that illusion. I think we must pray for discernment in following Christ through traditional doctrine such as the Westminster Confession and the Apostles Creed when we find ourselves at the point of taking action. We must be careful that we do not let ourselves be blinded by the two instinctive choices of flight or fight that are the default of our fallen human nature. Nor can we make excuses for those who would do violence to the word of God by false teaching.
Like David's comment, I have history and a stake in this church. I try to remember Paul's teaching in Ephesians 6 when coming to terms with the issues that can arise by serving and giving in a church that is associated with but does not practice an organizational doctrine I do not accept. Of all the items in the full armor of God, the only offensive weapon is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. The other parts of the armor are all defensive, so that we might stand firm in the day of evil, which we are surely in today. Standing and resisting by staying in my church family and teaching biblical truth is where the Holy Spirit has led me. If the fall of the PCUSA is to be reversed, I think that is how it begins.
Greg Williams
www.christiansoldier21.org
Greg, thanks for your comment and may God bless your efforts to remain confessional in the PCUSA. The only thing I wonder about is do you know where your denominational dollars are going? I don't know enough to comment but the things I have heard would make me very reticent to stay if my offerings had to fund some of those things.
Seeing this on an aggregator's recap of articles from the past year. As unfortunate as this will be, I will more than likely soon be pushing my wife that it is well-past time to leave the PC(USA), because the main reason for staying has been more sentimental than anything else. She grew up Presbyterian in the PC(USA)'s sister denomination, Cumberland Presbyterian. Her dad's family were lifelong members of the Southern denomination. She was baptized Presbyterian. Our current congregation where she remains a member (but I do not due to a misunderstanding) has been very supportive during a very difficult life transition, and due to her adverse effects of her medical disability, regular church attendance on her part makes starting over with a new congregation very challenging. Unfortunately, there a concerns even with our local congregation as during Advent this year, our lessons and carols service featured as readers a local rabbi and a local lay leader of a Muslim interfaith organization. I sent a letter to our pastors and certain members of session, but have yet to receive even the slightest acknowledgement of the letter from our pastors and I was at church this past Sunday. It seems that unless I have something positive to say, any criticism or questioning of a matter, is being ignored as our senior pastor has increasingly been all smiles when I would see him the very next Sunday after raising an issue, but there is absolutely no mention of a text, email, whatever. This tells me that it is time to leave, no matter how much of the more extreme nonsense our congregation is not pursuing.
As far as the broader denomination is concerned, the PC(USA), despite having an official polity of "diversity of thought", at every turn only uses that if a conservative or moderate challenges the biblical nature of something, as an excuse to ignore error. I know from personal experience. In August 2020, the current editor of the social justice magazine, Lee Catoe, wrote a piece that was en vogue for a while amongst particularly the LGBT crowd, as well as the black womanist crowd, regarding Matthew 15 on Jesus and the Canaanite woman. For the uninformed, during the last decade the false, lesbian bishop in the UMC out in Colorado basically denied the sinlessness of Jesus using this passage, so the tribalism of the theological left kicked in and LGBT and womanist false preachers and teachers, in particular, started parroting her. Basically, the false teaching accuses Jesus of misogyny, xenophobia, "a ministry on the wrong track" until this encounter, and you get the idea. Notably, Mr. Catoe published this heretical non-sense, TWO WEEKS BEFORE his ordination by Middle Tennessee (Nashville) Presbytery. Also, it's worth noting that over a 12-month period in PC(USA) articles/webcasts this appeared at least three times as featured in PNS articles, following this publication.
I complained to Diane Moffett's office, currently President and Executive Director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, as well as then Stated Clerk J. Herbert Nelson's office. Long story short, Mr. Catoe's direct supervisory, Mrs. Laurie Kraus, head of the disaster relief, stated that he has a heart for Jesus - to which my thought was the Mormons state that they have a heart for Jesus, too, yet they are a false religion. The Presbytery hid behind bureaucratic BS in dismissing my complaint to them. And in a joint email from Mrs. Moffett and Mr. Nelson - I cannot bring myself to referring to any of the wolves as Reverend, unlike the Apostle Paul where the High Priest was concerned - I was told that the purpose of the social justice magazine was to challenge our thinking and that while they disagreed with me over the "exegesis", which was really eisegesis, I was allowed to hold a dissenting view under "diversity of thought". At NO POINT did any of these people want to engage on the point of question why this was not an incorrect teaching, but rather dance around the issue and patronizingly pat me on my head and tush and send me away. (Another thing that I learned from this episode is the PC(USA) loves credentialism, so a CPA, who has an MBA and is an accomplished career banking auditor, should not have the temerity to engage in serious theological thought and therefore question a Princeton Seminary graduate such as Mrs. Kraus. I might also add I was raise Baptist, so I probably have more knowledge of Bible basics than your average Presbyterian these days.)
Of course, under particularly Mr. Nelson and Mrs. Moffett's leadership, if anything diversity of thought does not exist, because at every turn, if you are a conservative or even a moderate, depending on the issue, you are accused of having nefarious motives at every turn. All one needs to do is look at the statements issued by Mr. Nelson on a host of issues between 2019 and 2022 to see the underlying message from the abortion to the medicalization of gender confused children, which interestingly these wolves ignore that a cross-section of society and religions are opposing, NOT just conservative Christians. Tim Keller was correct, when he stated that this denomination is merely the religious arm of the political left. And the only reason why Mr. Jimmie Hawkins and Mr. Nelson pulled back from hyperpartisan activity is because I and others filed official complaints with the IRS, Congress, and the State of Texas after the Washington Office engage in blatant partisan political activity by providing office space to the Democrat members of the Texas legislature a few years ago during their protest.
My apologies Aaron for the extended comments, but if from my recent experience I have sinned in any way, it is my absolute loathing of what the institutions of this denomination have become. I pray that God in his mercy and the work of the Holy Spirit reverses this as we must remember one of the Church's darkest moments during the Arian Controversy, when nearly all the bishops were Arians, except a few. And I also pray that these wolves, false preachers and teachers, whatever you want to call them, come to salvation, because I highly doubt any of them are actually Christians. Again, the Mormons, the JWs, the Boston Church of Christ movement in the 90s, etc. all claim Christ, but....
Thank you for sharing. The PCUSA story is a sad one indeed.