Fathers and brothers of MOP, SEAL does not take any pleasure in disagreeing with our dear brother TE Johnson.  Nevertheless, because we believe these two teachings of TE Johnson contradict God’s Word as confessed in the Westminster Standards and are injurious to the peace and purity of the church, we must speak up.  Indeed, if you believe that someone is in that kind of error Scripturally speaking, it would be unloving if you did not point it out.  “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6).

The Open Letter from Southeast Alabama Presbytery to Missouri Presbytery begins with the following:

To Our Fathers and Brothers of Missouri Presbytery,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We are thankful for you in Him, and we are filled with grateful joy that because of the redemptive work of His life, death, and resurrection, hell-deserving sinners like us have been saved, forgiven, and declared righteous in the sight of Almighty God by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

In your letter to us, you stated:  “We are thankful for both your concern for and commitment to protecting the peace and purity of the church by sharing concerns in a way that honors the relationship between us as fathers and brothers in Christ.”  We wholeheartedly agree with you that this should be our goal, and likewise we are thankful to you for communicating with us in that manner as well.  Speaking of the relationship of Missouri Presbytery (MOP) to Southeast Alabama Presbytery (SEAL) and other courts of the church, you have said:  “We believe we need each other, and so we invite our brothers in these courts to work with us as we continue to think, pray, and reason together.  We all need to do it with mutual trust…”[1]  We heartily agree with you on this, brothers.  We love you.  We need you.  And we want to continue to think, pray, and reason together with you.

In that spirit, SEAL would like to respond to MOP’s communication to SEAL.  To make it clear for those who may not know, in August 2019, SEAL sent a Report to MOP entitled, “A Report to Missouri Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America to Request Investigation of Teaching Elder Greg Johnson” (SEAL’s Report may be found in the Appendix to this letter).  The reason for SEAL’s Report was to express its concern over the teaching of Pastor Greg Johnson, a teaching elder (TE) who is a member of MOP.  In response to SEAL’s request, MOP has completed an investigation of TE Johnson and has found no strong presumption of guilt.[2]  Again, for those who may not know, according to the PCA Book of Church Order, this was not a trial.  This was an investigation by MOP to determine whether or not it would institute process and undertake a trial.  MOP has decided not to do so and has written to SEAL (as well as to three other courts who also sent letters requesting investigation).  MOP’s response to SEAL is entitled, “Missouri Presbytery Ad Hoc Committee to Respond to Memorial Presbyterian Church: Report of Its BCO 31-2 Investigation of TE Greg Johnson.”

We know that MOP will join with SEAL in affirming that not all conflict among believers is inappropriate.  In fact, faithfulness will sometimes require godly conflict.  If a Christian observes teaching that is false, dangerous, and injurious to the peace and purity of the church, he has an obligation to speak up.  Though some will undoubtedly misinterpret his intentions or disagree with him—and though this will bring him into a conflict of sorts—he has this responsibility nonetheless.  This is true even when it means contradicting a dear brother in Christ with whom one would love to enjoy time of fellowship and breaking bread together.  TE Johnson is a dear brother in Christ; because he is such, we believe we have an obligation to speak up for the peace and purity of the church.

Though we have sought to have this discussion privately between SEAL and MOP as presbyteries, given that MOP is publishing its response to SEAL online, SEAL has decided to make this an open letter.[3]

In the body of the Open Letter SEAL states:

In contradiction to our confessional understanding of Scripture, TE Johnson teaches that it is acceptable to identify as a (celibate) homosexual Christian.  In other words, while Scripture says, “Homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God, and such were some of you”—TE Johnson seems to say “Homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God, and such are some of you.”  This is a conflation of the state of sin and the state of grace…

this conflation of the state of sin (when we could say we are fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers, etc.) and the state of grace (those who no longer view ourselves that way but as washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God) strikes at the vitals of religion…

In contradiction to our confessional understanding of Scripture, TE Johnson treats “gayness” or homosexuality (at least some aspect of it) as fitting in the same category as conditions such as paraplegia or infertility or cancer…

It appears that TE Johnson is assuming a premise such as the following:  Homosexual or “gay” orientation is a category which includes homosexual lust (which is sinful and can lead to sinful actions) but is broader than homosexual lust and includes “homosexual” biology, “homosexual” sociology, and/or other non-sinful yet fallen components of homosexuality.

However, this premise contradicts Scripture:  Homosexuality is a term that is never used in Scripture to refer to our broken, fallen biology or sociology or to any other non-sinful aspect of our condition but is always and only used to refer to sin.  Even granting that one’s fallen biology and/or sociology can make one more prone or more tempted toward homosexual desire (which is sin) or homosexual behavior (which is sin), there is no biblical or confessional basis for referring to this fallen biology/sociology as itself “homosexual”…  his conflation of sin and misery is a categorical error that strikes at the vitals of religion.

The Open Letter ends with the following:

Fathers and brothers of MOP, SEAL does not take any pleasure in disagreeing with our dear brother TE Johnson.  Nevertheless, because we believe these two teachings of TE Johnson contradict God’s Word as confessed in the Westminster Standards and are injurious to the peace and purity of the church, we must speak up.  Indeed, if you believe that someone is in that kind of error Scripturally speaking, it would be unloving if you did not point it out.  “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6).

And so we close as we opened reaffirming that we need each other.  We invite you to work with us, to pray with us, and to reason together.  We call upon you, in brotherly love, to reconsider the teaching of TE Johnson as unbiblical and unconfessional on the two specific points we have mentioned.  We plead with you to not allow TE Johnson to propagate these teachings and to urge him to change his views.  Fathers and brothers, we reach out to you because we are not your enemies; we are your friends.  And real friends speak the truth in love.

Read the entire Open Letter here.

[1] “Missouri Presbytery Ad Hoc Committee to Respond to Memorial Presbyterian Church: Report of Its BCO 31-2 Investigation of TE Greg Johnson,” 4.  Henceforth, MOP Report.

[2] MOP Report, 91.

[3] SEAL privately sent its Report to MOP in August 2019, purposely making sure not to publish it online to give MOP time to read and respond to SEAL’s Report.  Now, basically one year later (August 2020), MOP is responding to SEAL—but not in a similarly private way.  Given that MOP has made its response public, SEAL is making this letter public.