“I object to these cowardly, anonymous attacks upon a good and godly man, one who has been consistently recognized as a leader in the Reformed churches, and one of the most gifted preachers of his age.”

Those words above were written by Ken Pierce, a Presbyterian Church in America Minister and pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS. They were written and posted on one of several blogs on the web which in addition to offering support to those bringing the lawsuit against the ARP Synod, are containing more and ad hominem attacks against the men involved with the Moderator’s Commission, and most especially against its chairman and current Moderator of the Synod, Dr. J. Richard deWitt, Pastor Emeritus of First Presbyterian (ARP) Church of Columbia, SC. (Not that such blogs are not allowable – of course they are. But among believers there should be no room to attack persons; state your ideas and let others judge their correctness.)

One of the reasons The Aquila Report is a Web Magazine rather than a blog is for just such a reason. Blogs tend to bring out some of the worst of us; we write, many times without identifying ourselves, and believe we can say anything we want to. Ken was responding to just such at attack on Dr. deWitt.

Without identifying the blog article or its source, let me quote directly from the blog article in question. The topic is a church in the Reformed Church in America that was forced out of the denomination for not fully supporting their denomination because of theological decline in the denomination, and Dr. deWitt was, at the time, Senior Pastor of the church. (At least Dr. deWitt is consistent in his actions toward theological decline!) The author insinuates that Dr. deWitt was not being loyal to his denomination through his leaving.

“Again the pattern repeats — I’m sure we’re all shocked, shocked I tell you, to learn that de Witt’s description of fact was incomplete. Read on for more omissions that led to distortions.”

“Grasshopper, makes a habit of jumping from denomination to denomination?”

“So Grasshopper has jumped to the ARP Church and to its only college. How much damage will he do before he moves on? As Wikipedia notes, ‘Locusts are several species of short-horned grasshoppers.’”

Below is the full text of Mr. Pierce’s defense of Dr. deWitt.

I object to these cowardly, anonymous attacks upon a good and godly man, one who has been consistently recognized as a leader in the Reformed churches, and one of the most gifted preachers of his age.

Dr. de Witt has long served as a trustee of the Banner of Truth trust, alongside other godly and gifted men, including ARP minister Sinclair Ferguson. He has written several profitable books, served respectable tenures at several large congregations, and is probably most known for his translation of the standard work on Pauline theology by his kinsman, Herman Ridderbos. He has been sought after as a conference preacher throughout his long career, and has been active in conservative movements in the old Southern Presbyterian Church.

I have the advantage of having known Dr. de Witt for almost fourteen years, and having had the privilege to serve under him at Seventh Reformed for two.

The above article does not tell the full story of Dr. de Witt or of the Seventh Reformed Church. Ministers routinely change denominations, particularly among the same Reformed family of churches. And, church realignments are by no means uncommon or a modern phenomenon. In fact, the most prominent, influential, and largest ARP church, First Columbia, is itself a refugee from the Presbyterian Church (US). Her current minister was a minister in the Church of Scotland before he joined the ARP. Previous ministers have been EPC, and PCUSA.

What Seventh Reformed did was take a stand for historic Christian and Reformed orthodoxy in the midst of a denomination that had drifted away from those things –precisely the opposite of the current situation.

Whatever the intention of the Seventh Reformed elders may have been (they may have just been weary of the battle), I assure you that the intentions of Dr. de Witt and his predecessor, Charles Krahe, were not to leave the RCA. Both had long associations with the denomination. Dr. de Witt was himself a son of an RCA minister, ordained in the RCA, went to the Netherlands to study theology, and returned, taking a call a call to a PCUS congregation in Kingstree, SC. This was not an uncommon move in the past between denominations with identical theological commitments.

He remained in the PCUS, and its successor denomination, the PCUSA, for decades, until the congregation he served felt it necessary to leave. Likewise, his tenure in the ARP has not been a short one.

The issue is not blind obedience to church courts. Sometimes, church courts are greatly mistaken –witness Luther at Worms. Then, the thoughtful Christian and faithful congregation are bound by the higher allegiance to Scripture to disobey them.

In the case of Erskine and the ARP, they are surely correct. Is it such a radical thing that a denominationally-controlled college ought to labor under the rubric of that denomination’s confessions, and certainly not be hostile towards them?

The ARP could not have a better, more learned and scholarly, more godly and gifted man at its helm than John R. de Witt. I am grateful to count him as a friend and a mentor. And, make no mistake about it –he has many friends, of long standing. That is hardly true of a man who, as you seem to intimate, simply lives to make trouble.