Brothers and Sisters,

I have a hard word for you today. But it’s a word spoken in love. I was originally ordained to the ministry in the PCUSA, but I left in 2002 for the PCA. There was a time when I was angry at my fellow Evangelicals in the PCUSA. Now I am not, and have not been for years. I have been blessed abundantly in the PCA.

Recently I read a story on the Aquila Report about the rising sense of despair and “helplessness” among the Evangelicals in the PCUSA. There was a line that arrested my attention in that article. A statement from the Biblical Presbyterian Network said:

“And yet, even our denomination fails, stumbles and so often impedes the work of God’s Spirit, we acknowledge that this reality does not change our calling to be faithful where we are.”

The hermeneutics of the pro-gay crowd are well known. When confronted with the clear texts of Scripture, their arguments basically boil down to one of four choices:

1. Paul and Moses (or Pseudo-Paul and the JPED writers) would never have written what they wrote in the Bible if they had known what we know today. They are simply reflecting the cultural biases and ignorance of their time. Now we know better, so we can adjust our views to fit the new reality.

2. Those passages actually do prohibit certain kinds of homosexual behavior, but they are not talking about us and our situation. Creative interpretation of these texts and others will serve to show that we are actually quite in line with God’s will here.

3. Whatever God has said and done in the past, he seems to have changed his mind or moved on. I’m in touch with God in my life. I feel like I’m doing the right thing for me. Therefore it must be the right thing.

4. Of course there’s always the “take your Bible and stuff it” hermeneutic, which is closely related to option #1. This hermeneutic is often employed, but generally not openly. When it is, it’s usually under the guise employed by the feminist theologians: “These parts of the Bible are not Scripture for me. They say things which oppress me and inhibit my liberation. God wants me to be free. She doesn’t want me to be oppressed. Therefore, these bits are not Scripture to me. The other bits over here I like, so I’ll consent to let them be scripture.”

The Scriptures and the various confessions of the PCUSA are crystal clear on these issues. There is no room for creative interpretation. To hold such a position on these issues is simply sinful. It is willful rebellion against the revealed will of God.

But the Word of God and the Confessions speak on other issues besides homosexuality. For instance, they teach us how to handle heresy. When it is nascent, we must root it out and purge it before it leavens the whole lump (Gal. 5:7-10, 1 Cor. 5:1-12).

Once the whole lump is leavened, we have no choice but to withdraw ourselves. Churches can so degenerate as to become “synagogues of Satan” (Scot’s Confession chapter 18, Westminster Confession 25.4-5). The Christian has a duty to separate him or herself from such and “come out from among them” (2 Cor. 6:14-17), and not to even eat with such (1 Cor 5:11), never mind being in a formal ecclesiastical union bound by vows to Almighty God. This is even more egregious when those vows bind you to a connectional, presbyterial system of government.

The whole lump of the PCUSA is obviously leavened. The liberals have had a lock on the positions of power for generations and are using that power to systematically advance a false gospel and disenfranchise the Bible-believing Christians who remain. It is a form of ecclesiastical child abuse.

But, when I would make the biblical and confessional arguments which demanded that the true Christian leave, the response would inevitably be, “Well, you feel called to leave. I feel called to stay and be a witness.” This (anti) reasoning was an all but impenetrable fog and proved to be impervious to both logic and rhetoric.

One lady once admitted to me that it was mostly about preserving women’s ordination to the gospel ministry. Apparently there are lots of female elders and deacons in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, but each Presbytery decides if it wants women ordained to the gospel ministry. Almost no Presbyteries have done so, apparently. Women with seminary educations wouldn’t have the same freedoms and opportunities in the EPC as they have in the PCUSA, so they’d rather stay in the PCUSA and keep “fighting.” (They are not really doing this; “protesting” might be a more congenial word. “Whining and hand-wringing” might be more accurate.) Along the way they persuade whole families and churches to stay with them. They induce them to sin.

Please permit me to be blunt. The Evangelicals who are making arguments for staying like the one noted above are using the exact same hermeneutical tactics as the pro-gay crowd. You are using the ceremonies of Baal to worship the God of Israel. The Evangelicals who are pro-women’s ordination are also borrowing a page from the pro-homosexual hermeneutical playbook. The Word of God is clear. Your “feelings” and your “sense of call” are appeals to a mysticism that leads you to an unscriptural and sinful position. They are rationalizations designed to allow you to disobey the clear Word of God.

Why are you shocked or dismayed that you have gone from defeat to defeat in the PCUSA? Do you really think God is going to bless your efforts when you refuse to obey him at a fundamental level?
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The commentator, Brian Carpenter, is pastor of Foothills Community Church (PCA) in Sturgis, S. D.