The Free Offer of the Gospel, Common Grace, and Pragmatic Church Growth: Conclusion

 

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:16-17 KJV)

“ . . . In classical Greek pornos frequently, even usually, refers to homosexuals.  Other passages, . . . very explicitly condemn homosexuals.  For many years, even centuries, the Church has had little cause to apply these prohibitions in cases of discipline, for there was little or no such sin within the Church, but now, in the end of the twentieth century, the apostate denominations are not only condoning unnatural vice, they even form homosexual congregations.”  Dr. Gordon H. Clark

 

The Free Offer of the Gospel, Common Grace, and Pragmatic Church Growth:  Conclusion

 

I grew up in a different time in the early 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s.  As a baby boomer, I lived through the time of the invention of the color television set, the personal computer, the internet, and the evolution of the modern cellphone.  The technological advances have been enormous.  The internet and computer Bible software have greatly enhanced the spread of information about theology, biblical studies, apologetics, and a host of other sources of information about the Christian worldview.  Unfortunately, the dark side of technological advancement is the applications of those technologies for disinformation, misinformation, and outright propaganda.  In my view, this undermines the doctrine of common grace because instead of advancing the kingdom of God on earth it has instead promoted compromise, shallowness, and misusing proselytization as a form of evangelism. 

Simply getting new members to join a church is not the same thing as the command given by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20.  The imperative given there is to go into the world to all nations and to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  But does the church growth movement do that?  I am not the first to answer that question in the negative.  Church has become more about appeasing sinners than speaking the truth.  Church has become more about pleasing seekers with good entertainment than about worshipping God or hearing the unadulterated word of God preached.  Instead of putting God first and the people of God first, the pragmatists have undermined solid biblical teaching and book by book expository preaching to replace it with meeting the emotional, psychological, and felt needs of the unbelievers. This approach has even descended to the level of giving homosexuals a special status.  All sin is sinful and there is nothing special about sexual immorality, especially a sexual immorality that violates basic biological nature.  God created humanity as male and female.  Genesis 1:27.  Furthermore, God made Adam head over his wife, Eve.  Patriarchy troubles modern egalitarians, but this is what the Bible says. 

God is not literally a man, yet the Bible always addresses God by masculine titles.  God is our Father, and His Son is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit is not presented by male titles, yet the pronouns used of the Holy Spirit are always masculine, not neuter.  (John 16:7; John 14:16; John 14:26.  See also:  Got Questions:  Is the Holy Spirit a “He,” “She,” or “It,” male, female, or neuter?).

The Apostle Paul makes it perfectly clear that Christians are to shun those who refuse to walk in faith and who are caught up in sexual immorality:

6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. (1 Corinthians 5:6-7 NKJV).

I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner-- not even to eat with such a person. (1 Corinthians 5:9-11 NKJV).

You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. (Galatians 5:7-10 NKJV).

Moreover, this includes both those outside the church and those who are members of the visible church.  Although it is true that the Presbyterians are not naïve about whether or not a person who makes a profession of faith is truly regenerate or not, they do require that the person makes a public profession of faith before being baptized and joining the church.  In regards to children who were baptized in infancy, they must be catechized using the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and they must make a valid profession of faith and be confirmed before partaking of the Lord’s table.  Some Presbyterians have taken this to the extreme by taking a Lutheran view of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper.  But anyone familiar with church history can see that John Calvin reached a consensus with the Zwinglians on the sacraments called the Consensus of Tigurinus.  Calvin and the Zwinglians were in agreement in rejecting any sacerdotal powers in the waters of baptism or any real presence in the sacramental elements of bread and wine.  Instead, the true power of the sacraments was in being truly regenerate, having a genuine faith, and resting in the Gospel message of the word preached along with the sacrament.  Thus, it was more than just becoming a member of the church and partaking of the sacraments as some sort of magical real presence of Christ in the bread and wine.  Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the father of the English Reformation, also took a Zwinglian and Calvinist view of the sacraments.  His treatise on the Lord’s supper plainly says that the bread and wine are called by the names that they represent and that eating the tangible elements is a metaphorical and spiritual eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ.  Only a true believer can partake of the body and blood of Christ because faith is the necessary element that makes a person worthy to partake of the consecrated bread and wine:

WCF 29.8  Although ignorant and wicked men receive the outward elements in this sacrament; yet, they receive not the thing signified thereby; but, by their unworthy coming thereunto, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, to their own damnation. Wherefore, all ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Him, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table and cannot, without great sin against Christ, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto. (Westminster Confession of Faith.  Westminster Standards.)

In the same way, in order to become a member of the visible church, one must be more than a seeker who is looking for something.  In fact, the Bible says that there is no such thing as a “seeker”.

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” 13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:10-20 NKJV)

 . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23 NKJV)

The pragmatic church growth movement turns the moral law and the Gospel on its head.  Instead of calling for repentance and faith, the pragmatists seek to appease unbelievers and entertain them with hypnotic contemporary praise and worship music which they have adopted from the Pentecostal/Charismatic style of worship.  There is a watered-down liturgy where a weak confession of sin is read and then a very weak corporate pronouncement of absolution.  The absolution is supposed to be a Gospel absolution, not a sacerdotal pronouncement of forgiveness as a power given to a priest or presbyter.  Of course, the church does possess the keys to the kingdom, but those keys are the preaching of the Word or Gospel message of the Bible and the right administration of the two Gospel sacraments:

1 The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of His Church, hath therein appointed government, in the hand of Church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate. 2 To these officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed, by virtue whereof, they have power, respectively, to retain, and remit sins; to shut that kingdom against the impenitent, both by the Word, and censures; and to open it unto penitent sinners, by the ministry of the Gospel; and by absolution from censures, as occasion shall require. 3 Church censures are necessary, for the reclaiming and gaining of offending brethren, for deterring of others from the like offences, for purging out of that leaven which might infect the whole lump, for vindicating the honour of Christ, and the holy profession of the Gospel, and for preventing the wrath of God, which might justly fall upon the Church, if they should suffer His covenant, and the seals thereof, to be profaned by notorious and obstinate offenders. 4 For the better attaining of these ends, the officers of the Church are to proceed by admonition; suspension from the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for a season; and by excommunication from the Church; according to the nature of the crime, and demerit of the person. (WCF 30:1-4, Westminster Confessional Standards).

According to the modern church growth model, seekers should be the emphasis, not the edification of the church as a whole.  Anyone who questions the shallowness of the preaching or the ameliorated preaching of the moral law is seen as a troublemaker and a disturber of the peace of the church. 

The Revoice movement, following the church growth pragmatic principle, seeks to downplay homosexuality so that “celibate” homosexuals can join the church while still “identifying” as “gay” or “lesbian” Christians.  This is allowing wickedness and immorality into the church.  As I said in an earlier blog post, a minister preached a fairly good sermon against wokeness just prior to the November general elections.  Then in the middle of the sermon he invited homosexuals to the church and said that they are welcome there.  Would he make the same offer to current adulterers or fornicators?  “If you’re here and you’re a whoremonger or an adulterer, you’re welcome in this church.”  (See: Hebrews 13:4 KJV).  I think not.  I strongly object to the Tim Keller and Gospel Coalition approach to evangelism.  I would go so far as to say that Tim Keller was a reprobate, not a true believer.  Those who follow Tim Keller’s church growth pragmatics do not deserve the name of Christian or even Presbyterian.  They are enemies of Christ.  Any church or denomination following that model is not planting churches.  They are planting apostasy and unbelief by accommodating to the culture of homosexuality, compromise, and concession to the enemy.

The church growth movement recommends reaching out to select groups of people of one cultural group or class.  So, most church plants are directed toward suburban middle class white people.  The reason for this is obvious.  First, they have good jobs and financial security; they are able to contribute to the financial needs of the church.  This undermines the Gospel because it makes the end goal the successful planting of a financially self-sustaining church.  Furthermore, the end justifies the means.  The church planter is using utilitarian ethics to accomplish a goal.  As I said in an earlier post, parachurch ministries and even church plants were focused on homosexuals, the end result of which was disappointing.  Instead of producing a church of true converts, the result was a church full of outwardly repentant and celibate homosexuals who still identified as homosexuals instead of moving on, getting married to the opposite sex, and having a family.  Even the pastor whom I wrote said that he did not expect the homosexual to actually be attracted to the opposite sex or get married.  But the Apostle Paul expected young widows to remarry instead of being busy bodies and gossipers making trouble in the church.  Only those with the gift of celibacy should remain single, according to Paul.  (See 1 Corinthians 7:1-9; 1 Timothy 5:11-15).

One Arminian based parachurch ministry located in Orlando, Florida dissolved the ministry after its president and leadership, all former homosexuals, recanted their conversion to Christ and went back to living in their immoral and perverse homosexual lifestyle.  (See:  Exodus International:  Religion News: Ex-gay group Exodus International shuts down, president apologizes).  The efforts to cause reprobates to believe the Gospel and be converted using worldly psychology and conversion therapy does not work.  The Bible says that it is God who converts the sinner, not persuasion or secular science pretending to be “Christian”.  It is the power of the Gospel message as it is enabled by the Holy Spirit which brings about the effectual call and repentance.  Only God can bring an elect sinner to the point of conversion.  Even here, the sinner is passive in regeneration and in the perseverance of the faith which results from regeneration.   (John 3:3-8; Jude 1:24-25; 2 Timothy 1:12; 1 Corinthians 1:8). 

I therefore oppose all business and corporate models for church planting.  My approach, should I ever plant a church, would be to preach the Gospel without fear of man’s opinions.  We are to please God, not man.  If it be God’s will, then the church plant will succeed without compromising the moral law or the Gospel.  (See: Galatians 1:6-10 NKJV; Acts 5:34-39 NKJV). 

I will close here with the full quote from Dr. Gordon H. Clark’s commentary on 1 Corinthians 5:8-13:

Although the case under discussion was one of incest [1 Corinthians 5:1-5], Paul uses the term “fornicators” (pornois).  Of course, incest is a kind of fornication, since a biblical marriage cannot there exist.  However, in classical Greek pornos frequently, even unusally, refers to homosexuals.  Other passages, for example, Romans 1:24, 26-27, very explicitly condemn homosexuals.  For many years, even centuries, the Church has had little cause to apply these prohibitions in cases of discipline, for there was little or no such sin within the Church, but now, in the end of the twentieth century, the apostate denominations are not only condoning unnatural vice, they even form homosexual congregations.  If these denominations were not apostate, if they were Christian, they would preach hell fire and warn these dregs of depraved humanity that against them the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, and perhaps by God’s grace induce them to cleanse their filth by the blood of Christ.

. . . In one’s everyday business, it is impossible to avoid all such associations.  . . . The command in 1 Corinthians, on the contrary, forbids the Church to have fornicators, homosexuals, incestuous persons in its membership.  The command also covers other sinners:  thieves and idolators.  Hodge remarks that this is the earliest known instance of the use of the word eidololatres.  Liddell and Scott give no earlier instance.

Dr. Gordon H. Clark.  First Corinthians. 1975.  Second edition.  (Jefferson:  Trinity Foundation, 1991). P. 84.

What changed?  What has changed is that theological liberalism and apostasy has taken over many, if not most, of the supposedly Evangelical churches, denominations, colleges and seminaries.  If we do not take a bold stance against apostasy, there could be only a small remnant of true churches left.  May God have mercy on us.

See previous posts here:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

Gordon H. Clark: God's Elect: A Small Remnant in an Apostate Nation

Liberals who loudly assert that the Constitution erects a great wall of separation between church and state when Christians protest against abortion and homosexuality, never see a low fence when it comes to the State's curtailing of the practice of religion.  As one half drunk communist said to me as he was returning from Russia, "you can pray all you want."  Yes, but you can't put your religion into practice. 

. . . . . the IRS and the Supreme Court do not know God.  They want to usurp his place as Father.  From all appearances this liberalism--which is not liberalism at all, but reactionary totalitarianism--will increase.   

--Dr. Gordon H. Clark

This has been one of the most hotly debated and inflammatory presidential election cycles in the history of the United States of America.  The difference is that this time around the media has no monopoly on the news cycle.  The media still has a lot of power to deceive the low information and low education masses with their propaganda.  However, they no longer can monopolize the information available.  The internet, like Gutenberg's printing press, has opened up the potential for social media and blogs to counter the propaganda of the liberal progressives and the inane pseudo-conservative pundits on the radio, satellite and cable television.

Interestingly enough, despite the information superhighway, the vast majority of the populace in our nation does not know how to think critically.  Few if any understand the difference between propositional logic and irrational antinomies.  Politicians can spout off blatantly contradictory statements and the people accept them as just "politics".  Sophistry seems to be acceptable because "everyone does it".  Yet Donald Trump, who lies more than the other politicians, claims to be a truth teller while contradicting himself every other day.

What should a Christian do in such circumstances?  First of all, the sovereign grace Christian knows that all things work for his or her good.  (Romans 8:28-39).  This means that suffering and persecution are not pleasant to go through but they nevertheless work for the good of God's elect.  The rich may prosper in this life but their end is eternal torment in hell unless they obey the Gospel.  (Jeremiah 12:1-3; Job 12:6, 21:7; Psalm 73:3; Luke 12:16-21; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17).

The late Dr. Gordon H. Clark was a consistent Puritan and did not call for a complete separation between church and state.  He supported the constitutional principle that the state should not establish any Christian church nor interfere in religious matters.  The state has no right to levy taxes against churches as a way of controlling the doctrines of the church.  Unfortunately, secular humanism has been the established religion of the secular state for many decades now.  Dr. Clark's remarks in his commentary on First John were made in 1980.  But his remarks are almost prophetic because the situation today is even worse than it was in 1980:

1 John 3:1

3:1 See what love the Father has given us in order that we may be called children of God.  And we are.  Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him.

The text:  Why the Textus Receptus omitted the two words "and we are" is a mystery.  The manuscript evidence is very strong; several ancient versions, and some early church fathers as well, have it.

The love of God for his elect is variously described in the New Testament.  Here the purpose, or a purpose, of God in loving us is that we may be his children.  And so we are, for God's purposes never fail and Christ shall see the results of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied that he accomplished his purpose.  [Isaiah 53:11].

This entails what to some may appear as a disadvantage, namely, the world does not recognize us, does not know us, approve of us.  Of course, in one sense the world knows us very well.  At this writing the Internal Revenue Service has instituted rules to harass and very likely to suppress Christian elementary and high schools.  Christian colleges have for some years suffered harassment.  The courts incline to regard children as wards of the state and to deny parents their rightful authority in the upbringing of their offspring.  Liberals who loudly assert that the Constitution erects a great wall of separation between church and state when Christians protest against abortion and homosexuality, never see a low fence when it comes to the State's curtailing of the practice of religion.  As one half drunk communist said to me as he was returning from Russia, "you can pray all you want."  Yes, but you can't put your religion into practice.

What is the reason for this?  John states it clearly:  the IRS and the Supreme Court do not know God.  They want to usurp his place as Father.  From all appearances this liberalism--which is not liberalism at all, but reactionary totalitarianism--will increase.  Hatred of Christ seemingly will wax worse and worse.  We pray that totalitarianism, terrorism, socialism, and all the antichrists may be overthrown; but we have no indication that God will do so in the near future.  Even the churches, the large liberal churches, contribute huge sums of money to support guerrilla warfare.

Dr. Gordon H. Clark.  First John.  1980.  Second Edition.  (Jefferson: Trinity Foundation, 1992).  P. 90.

What Dr. Clark said 37 years ago is even more pertinent today since the perverse lobby for homosexuality and sex change operations has given the government even more authority to silence Christians and the Bible.   For those who think that Donald Trump is a better choice than the liberal progressive and socialist, Hillary Clinton, I can only say dream on.  Trump is just as much an anti-Christ as Hillary Clinton.

 13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

 14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
 15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:13-17 KJV)

Can Your Name Be Blotted Out of the Book of Life?

Professor Herman Hanko of the Protestant Reformed Church in America comments on this issue on the PRCA website:

The Arminians are fond of appealing to these passages and others like them to prove their terrifyng doctrine of the falling away of true saints. I remember talking to a lady once who was brought up in Arminian circles who told me that she had accepted Christ at least six times and had been baptized three times, because every time she had accepted Christ, though she was sincere, she had fallen away again.  -- Herman Hanko.

Click here to read the full article:  Blotted Out of the Book of Life.

Christianity and Society: "The Church Effeminate"

The prevalence of homosexuality in a culture is a sure sign that God has already executed or is in the process of executing his wrath upon society for its apostasy.  --Stephen C.. Perks


Andy Underhile of the Contra Mundum blog sent me this article from Christianity and Society about the judgment of God against pagan societies. We in the United States would do well to take heed. Here's the lead in: 

 Recently I was asked whether it would be correct to say that, in the history of the world, whole dynasties and indeed civilisations have foundered on the rock of homosexuality.  My answer was that I would not put it this way. Of course I believe that homosexual practices are immoral, and forbidden by God’s law. However, in Romans 1:21-32 Paul puts it this way: Men turned away from serving God to serving the creature. As a consequence God gave them over to impure passions. Homosexuality is God’s judgement on a society that has turned away from God and worships the creature rather than the Creator. Spiritual apostasy is the rock upon which cultures, including our own, founder, and homosexuality is God’s judgement on that apostasy. This is why homosexuality was a common practice among the pagan cultures of antiquity, indeed is a common practice among most pagan cultures, including now our own increasingly neo-pagan culture. In short, the idea that the toleration of homosexuality is an evil that will lead to God’s judgement is unbiblical because it puts the cart before the horse. It is the other way round. The prevalence of homosexuality in a culture is a sure sign that God has already executed or is in the process of executing his wrath upon society for its apostasy.

The cause of this judgement is not the immoral practices of homosexuals (immoral though homosexual acts are); rather it is spiritual apostasy. The prevalence of homosexuality is the effect, not the cause of God’s wrath being visited upon society. And in a Christian (or perhaps I should say “post-Christian”) society this means, inevitably, that the prevalence of homosexuality in society is God’s judgement on the church for her apostasy, her unfaithfulness to God, because judgement begins with the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

This is not a popular message with Christians. It is easy to point the finger at gross sin and immorality, but the church is much less willing to consider her own role in the social evils that blight our age. The spiritual apostasy that led to our present condition started in the church, and much of the debacle of modern society that Christians rightly lament can in some measure be traced to this apostasy of the church as the root cause. And even now the church refuses to take her responsibility for preserving society from such evil seriously and has abdicated her role as the prophetic mouthpiece of God to the nation.  . . .

Stephen C. Perks

Click here to read the entire article:   Volume 10 No 1., January, 2000, Christianity and Society:  "The Church Effeminate".

The Liberal and Relativistic Theology of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer Leads to Apostasy

[The following excerpt is from an article which appeared in The Churchman.  The article is based on a book by Samuel Leuenberger which outlines the history and the revivalistic theology of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer which is preserved in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, still the official prayer book of the Church of England.  Leuenberger's criticism of the 1980 alternative services book in England applies with equal repercussions for the American 1979 book of alternative services which is also known as the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, although it bears little resemblance to the official 1662 prayer book.  The article is called Archbishop Cranmer’s Immortal Bequest:  The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England:  An Evangelistic Liturgy.  It appeared in Churchman 106/1 1992.  Leuenberger's critique of the theology of the 1979 "prayer book" is prophetic here.  The intention of the 1979 book is to lead people away from God's revelation of Himself in Holy Scripture and toward a more this worldly theological liberalism and relativism.  We can see the results of that sort of thinking in the current state of apostasy of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion at large.  Even GAFCON is infected with this liberal version of the prayer book since it can be found in wide use in the new Anglican Church in North America.  Liberalism is at work through the Anglo-Catholic elements of GAFCON, which mistakenly claims to be  faithful to the Anglican Formularies, being the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal.  The reality, however, is that GAFCON perpetuates the same compromises which will eventually lead to the same outright apostasy the organization  is supposed to be prophetically challenging.  You can read Leuenberger's entire article by clicking on the title or here:  Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's Immortal Bequest.]

5. The Alternative Service Book 1980 in the service of Pluralism and Ecumenism

The last chapter of my study is concerned with The Alternative Service Book 67 which has been in use since 1980. Since 1966 experimental liturgies have been preparing the English people for its introduction, and in the last decade these have had such an influence that the old prayer book has largely fallen out of use, although it is still the official prayer book of the Church of England. Unfortunately the Anglo-Catholic movement of the last century, with its vehement denial of the principle of Sola Scriptura,68 has had a major influence on this new prayer book. Once the principle of Sola Scriptura is out of the way the door is wide open to heretical doctrine. The twentieth century attack which resulted in this attempted liturgical revolution has been led by men such as Bishop John Robinson (1919-1983) whose series of books had a marked effect upon the laity.69 The greatest failing of The Alternative Service Book 1980 is that it lacks the Reformation character. Man is no longer seen as being born in trespasses and sin: therefore the confessions are much shorter. The main emphasis is man’s guilt with respect to his neighbour: the old prayer book stresses man’s guilt with respect to God. The exhortations have been done away with and thereby the revivalistic flavour has also been excised. The possibility of damnation is not mentioned, as it was in the old prayer book, and God is not understood as a judge. Universalistic tendencies70 become obvious, while the difference between being a believer and an unbeliever is totally obscured.  From a formal point of view one has to notice that the sequence of the liturgical elements in The Order for Holy Communion is almost identical with present day Roman Mass. The canon has been restored, the epiclesis reintroduced.71 Also there are many alternatives for certain liturgical elements, and these many alternatives smuggle in pluralism. There are different confessions of sin72 and absolutions to choose from: the one confession of sin reflects a more conservative biblical theology while the other reveals a modernistic conception. These many alternatives as representative of different theological ideas express a relativistic notion of truth.  It is very difficult for the churchgoer to develop roots in such a prayer book, and this is probably deliberate. The people are being trained for an unlimited openness, in preparation for acceptance of the new world church, without resistance.  It seems to me that the strong adaptation of the eucharistic liturgy and of other formulas to the form of the Roman church has to be understood as a liturgical preparation for the planned Super-church. The highest principle will be unity and not truth. In that cause anything that legitimately and Biblically could cause separation has been avoided. However the proclamation of Biblical doctrine does always, both rightly and inevitably, differentiate believer from unbeliever, and truth from error, while The Alternative Service Book 1980 is masterful in avoiding any such scandal. This new liturgical book is therefore a very serious sign of apostasy within the Church of England.

--
Reasonable Christian Blog Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost; Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. 1662 Book of Common Prayer

Global South Meeting in Singapore Sounds the Warning

Click on Global South for the full story.

I am pointing out in particular one part of the statement that stands out in my mind as the most important:

16. In contrast, we continue to grieve over the life of The Episcopal Church USA (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada and all those churches that have rejected the Way of the Lord as expressed in Holy Scripture. The recent action of TEC in the election and intended consecration of Mary Glasspool, a partnered lesbian, as a bishop in Los Angeles, has demonstrated, yet again, a total disregard for the mind of the Communion. These churches continue in their defiance as they set themselves on a course that contradicts the plain teaching of the Holy Scriptures on matters so fundamental that they affect the very salvation of those involved. Such actions violate the integrity of the Gospel, the Communion and our Christian witness to the rest of the world. In the face of this we dare not remain silent and must respond with appropriate action.

Really, the TEC has demonstrated a total disregard for the mind of God as it is revealed in the very words of Scripture. If there is to be any redemption for the Anglican Communion it will be a return to the Holy Scriptures as the final Word of God in all matters of doctrine, morality, ethics, and fellowship. The best we who are Reformed, Evangelical and Anglican can do is to break fellowship with those who refuse to repent of their immorality and their unbelief.

The peace of God be with you!

Charlie