PCA Progressives Outmaneuver Conservatives… Once Again

By Dewey Roberts - Posted at Vanguard Presbytery:

When I woke up on Saturday, October 23, 2021, there were two texts that had been sent to me earlier that morning. One was from a pastor in the PCA. The other was from a pastor in Vanguard. The sentiments were the same for both of them with respect to the most recent decision of the PCA’s Standing Judicial Commission. On October 21, 2021, the SJC denied all the complaints against the actions of Missouri Presbytery for protecting and exonerating TE Greg Johnson in his professed same-sex attraction. The vote was 16-7. That means the issue is dead. It is over. If there had been at least 1/3 of the SJC jurors to vote against the decision of the highest court, then it would have automatically triggered a floor vote by the next General Assembly on whether to accept the majority report or the minority report. No such vote will be forthcoming now.

But wait… the SJC voted on these same complaints against Missouri Presbytery at their March 2021 meeting and the vote then was 16-8 which should have triggered that floor vote. A funny thing happened along the way of that decision being brought to the floor of the 2021 PCA GA. The details for getting both the majority and minority reports before the meeting of the General Assembly in June of 2021 were filed a day or two late. Wow! But… none dare call it intentional! It was just that they ran out of time. Sure! So the cases were before the SJC again at the fall meeting and the new vote was 16-7 with one person being absent. It fell one vote short of having 1/3 of the commissioners as a minority. I feel sure that if that absent juror, Sean Michael Lucas, had been present the vote would have been 17-7. Thus, the decision of the SJC is final. The case is closed. Greg Johnson can continue to promote his homosexual views with impunity.

Those of you who have followed my writings know that I warned you for over a year that this is exactly what would happen in this case. I predicted that the SJC would defer to the lower court and rule that there were no procedural grounds for the higher court to deal with this matter. That is almost verbatim what the SJC wrote. They wrote that there was “no reversible error.” I have also told you that the view of the SJC is that judicial oversight of the lower courts is disallowed. All judicial oversight belongs solely and only to sessions and presbyteries. All the highest court can do, in the flawed opinions of the SJC members, is to correct procedural errors. Anything beyond a procedural mistake is not reversible. Period. So, it should not have come as a shock to any of you receiving this email that the decision is what it is. Only ostriches could be surprised at this happening.

Wokeism: When the Cure is Worse Than the Disease

Posted at Churches Without Chests : Africa receives some American errors that are quite beneficial. For example, before the NBA finals, the Super Bowl or the World Series, sports merchandisers produce memorabilia of both finalists winning, so as to be able to immediately sell when the final is over. Unfortunately, half of that merchandise represents an alternate universe: where the team that lost actually won. What happens to the champions-that-never-were T-shirts and caps? Much of it is donated to third-world countries, where needy folks wear shirts displaying an event that never happened. Hey, we’re not complaining. Another shirt on a poor man’s back is a good thing, even if it celebrates what never occurred. Error is sometimes beneficial. Some imported errors are profoundly destructive, though. The worst of them are theological errors, for what touches Scripture touches ultimate realities. Two such errors that originated in America are particularly devastating for a country like m

MAGA's Morality Problem

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert speaking with attendees at the 2021 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo by Gage Skidmore (Source: MAGA's Morality Problem | Shane Vander Hart ) By Shane Vander Hart When a voting base dismisses the importance of private virtue, we shouldn't be surprised when their leaders lack it. Elected officials having affairs and the like is not new, we've seen Republicans and Democrats caught in scandals. What is new, however, are those being dismissive or defensive of the behavior. Does personal morality and character matter when considering political candidates and elected officials? For me, for me that is an unequivocal yes. The MAGA movement disagreed excusing and elevating a serial adulterer to the White House. We are seeing the fruit of this position today. Continue here.

God, History and the Nations

By Bill Muehlenberg - Posted at CultureWatch: Published September 12, 2023 Good news about rogue rulers and evil tyrants: A major problem we have as mere fallen and finite creatures is that we lack perspective. We do not see the big picture and we do not consider the long term. Christians can be just as guilty of this as non-Christians. We can too easily become overwhelmed by events going on around us. This can especially be true regarding wicked rulers and evil nations. I have been around for a while now, and I recall worrying greatly about things like the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. Communism seemed to be the wave of the future back then. But of course the wall came down in 1989, and over seven decades of godless Communist rule came to an end – at least in that part of the world. And many empires have come and gone over the centuries, be they the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Romans, and so on. Yet when we see powerful and evil nations today, it still can seem like they are

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