The Protestant Laird's Yard

The timeless perspectives of J Gresham Machen

2011-12-13T10:46:00.000-05:00

The foreordained mortal vessel of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church speaks to us across the chasm of no fewer than nine decades. His mistrust of the ill-calibrated idealism of otherwise stalwart Presbyterians like Woodrow Wilson or William Jenning Bryan is forensically well placed...You'll find out why...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgaIEs9UlFk

Checkmate,apostate!!!!

2011-06-14T10:55:00.000-04:00

How everything is a part of God’s will

Posted Friday, June 10, 2011

However much I sometimes feel downcast by what comes across to me occasionally as a tone of contempt in responses to my comments here since the spring, I am very grateful for our continued exchange. So first, I just want to say thank you for this dialogue. I want to speak to some recent replies, especially to the points made regarding my thoughts about Job and that book’s relevance to our present moment in the PCUSA.

Mateen Elass deems what I trust we both agree to be a pillar of Reformed theology – God is sovereign over all – to be insufficient evidence of God being in “the passage of 10A and all it forebodes.” I shared my own conclusion as to how I see God being in the vote of 2008-09 and of 2010-11: God wills such a close vote in order to get us to talk with one another. The language in the new G-6.0106b also requires talking together at the level of congregation for elder and deacon and presbytery for minister in order to discern the gifts, suitability and readiness for service of all candidates.

I understand that Rev. Elass considers such a dialogue to be undesirable. I disagree. In accord with Jesus’ prayer in John 17, I see talking with one another as God’s will for us: Talking to each other, respectfully, is the way we become one in Christ.

I appreciate the reference to Augustine that Rev. Elass offers to clarify the quality of God’s sovereignty, “Even the things that happen against God’s will do not happen apart from God’s will.” That’s exactly what I mean. The way I would say it is this: What appears to us as against God’s will must be part of God’s will because God is sovereign over all. Of course atrocities test our faith in God. But that is exactly what faith comes down to, trusting that all that happens is part of God’s will. We need think no further than Judas whose betrayal led to the crucifixion, which assures that all people shall be drawn to Jesus (John 12:32). All this was God’s will.

Greg Scandlen’s comments about Satan touch upon the same dynamic of how God works in the world. Far from being apart from God in Job, God and Satan are in dialogue with one another. When God sets the limits on how Satan may treat Job (arguably, then, part of God’s will), Satan complies. In other words, Satan is not outside (or over against) God’s sovereign will in Job or in other appearances in Scripture. Again, our duty in the face of this is clear: We are to trust in God.

When John in Revelation equates the anti-christ with the whore of Babylon we need to remember that Babylon was actually an instrument of God’s judgment in the eyes of the Old Testament prophets. Similarly, imperial Rome, for whom Babylon was a symbolic stand-in in Revelation, was definitely perceived as contrary to God’s grace by the horribly persecuted Christians of John’s time. But was Rome acting contrary to God’s sovereign will? What was Rome when Constantine made Christianity the state religion? Who took over whom, actually? We continue to talk about this – a very good thing.

Ken Swanson mentions that Prof. Robert Gagnon has written on same gender love and the Bible just as Prof. William Stacy Johnson has. True. They present contrary interpretations of Scripture. If there were one and only one meaning of Scripture there would not be libraries full of books delving into the meaning of the Bible. What God wills us to do when we disagree is to talk – I have said this before.

I understand that the perennial response of people who are unfamiliar with something is fight or flight, the two options to the passage of 10A I see suggested most often on this site. I offer for your prayers that God’s will, manifest in a host of ways both in Scripture and in experience, is another alternative – being with that new thing.

That is a key reason why I appreciate the new G-6.0106b. “The Holy Spirit gives us courage to hear the voices of people long silenced,” says The Brief Statement of Faith. The voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians will no longer be silenced. Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” I am confident, as we join with these faithful Christians, we will realize how God blesses us all through them.

We will know them, not by our various interpretations, but rather by their fruits as Jesus counsels us to do.

Reverend Janet Edwards

Co-Moderator, More Light Presbyterians

My response:

Edwards did not respect the Biblical/confessional sensibilities of evangelical Presbyterians

Posted Monday, June 13, 2011

Are you really surprised at the currents of contempt when people respond to you, Janet [letter to the editor, posted June 10]? If this is how you really feel, it shows that from day one you neither recognized the intelligence nor respected the Biblical/confessional sensibilities of Presbyterians on the evangelical front. You clearly thought that by smokescreens and disingenuous posturing you could actually dupe people into believing the "justness" of your cause. Your endeavoring to cavalierly side-step the Bible, the Westminster and Dordrecht standards and the rich traditions bequeathed to us by Christ Himself has, in point of fact, earned you much justifiable contempt.

Your rejection of Christ's call for repentance of abomination is horrifying and you have made an absolute mockery of witness, fellowship and true discipleship. Your ilk have, in effect, hijacked the largest Reformed body in this quarter of the earth and turned its central framework into little more than a harlot for the apparatus of the radical, godless left and you have the temerity to feign dismay that people have called you on your fraudulence, repeatedly? I'm rather downcast that you have underestimated the resolve and piety of millions at the grassroots level; who are opting out of the PCUSA at a rate doubtlessly accelerated by its official enshrinement of obscene secularism. The Father, in His righteous wrath, has visited the cause of your apostate cartel with fruition; as I have determined your success to be part of a Divine indemnification for the sin of laxity on our part. In that sense alone, you might just have a valid point by discerning the presence of God!

I've opted to refrain from referring to you as "Reverend" because the last thing I want to do, Janet, is tacitly endorse what you revere. You have trivialized many of the admonitions of your revered ancestor's landmark sermon, in 1741, yet unwittingly, you embody much of what John Calvin himself was referring to in Secret Providence, Section 5. A torch has been lit at the grassroots level that, with God's help, will lead the elect to a truer, nobler and greater revival and repentance. For this, I'm grateful, emboldened and truthfully sorrowful and penitent for my own laxity.

Eric Wells

Boardman, Ohio

Eastminster Presbytery may have voted yes for Apostasy...

2011-05-24T19:02:00.000-04:00

But...In case you all were wondering......

The day before the vote,I tried to warn them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

Tomorrow is a day that carries with it the potential for profound changes in the way our faith is seen,interpreted and conducted.A day that could either set the tone toward healing and a renewed fervor in our commitment to the Kirk militant,or accelerate the rate in which the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been traveling in its course toward inefficacy and desuetude.

We've all beheld the overwhelming empirical evidence that it is only the churches and presbyteries within our body politic that cling to traditional values that continue to thrive.The ratification of Amendment 10-A to the constitution of the Presbyterian Church would,based on that empirical evidence,prove the deadliest of hemlocks.All official or tacit imprimaturs of lifestyles or predilections that transgresses the Law of God by the PCUSA have lead to increases in departures from its fold.Indeed,acceptance devoid of accountability is license!

As a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Boardman,Ohio,I bask in the evangelical tone and undercurrents of its liturgy and people.Though far from perfect,we have,for the most part,been unscathed and our liturgy unimbrued by the maelstrom of grotesque relativism and the radical conjectural appropriation that has become pandemic for Presbyterianism at the national level.At the same time,many in our congregation recognize the stability we have enjoyed will go from tenuous to prohibitively difficult to maintain to impossible,should Amendment 10-A become the law of the land and hurl the national body politic over the apocalyptic cliff!

That being said,I pensively urge this body to resoundingly reject the tendency that rejects the reliance on Biblical and catechetical architecture for its sustenance.I urge this body to reflect Biblical values and those on which the Westminster Confessions and the Canons of Dordrecht expound.I cannot promise that either I or my church could remain in a fold that responds to abominations by mainstreaming its unrepentant merchants with semantics,manipulations in syntax and disingenuous hermeneutics! Vote no on Amendment 10-A

In Christ,

Eric Wells of Westminster Presbyterian Church,Boardman,Ohio

A Laird's perspective on Amendment 10-A

2011-05-21T17:25:00.001-04:00

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

¹⁴Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
¹⁵And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
¹⁶And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
¹⁷Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
¹⁸And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty

May 10 is the day that the last vestiges of accountability in the Presbyterian Church were officially done away with.

Anything goes,at this point....and I do mean anything...........

I was led to this faith tradtion at the age of seventeen (decreed before the foundation of the world was laid). I have to say these past twenty-three years have witnessed a church tradition that slowly, gradually and blatantly shifted emphasis from ..............

Railing against the vicissitudes of crass relativism to an embrace of the same!

Arminianism, gone amuck! The belief in free will (as anathema as even that is to our faith-being the least destructive!

Tempering, tampering and teetering with our rich heritage and traditions to better reflect the world around it;

and

Scriptural, catechetical and historical sustenance to parochialism and a "fetish" for the cosmopolitan!

The current national "leadership" of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is not entirely to blame....

The Spirit of Slumber which the Poison of the old Serpent has brought upon the children of Men is to be deplored exceedingly. Awaken us out of this [terrible] stupidity, O God of all Grace, lest we perish [eternally].

_Rev Cotton Mather

The Rev. Jim Tuckett of the Westminster Fellowship made an excellent point in a phone conversation I had with him quite a while ago that I didn't think of and he was right.In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) there is no formal "plan of attack" against the merchants and onslaught of liberalism.

There's much more that could be said....but it makes little difference at this point; for a precipice has been crossed from which there is no possibility of return.

For those of us who remain stunned, albeit in anticipation of Amendment 10-A, weep not as for a recent decedent. The fact is the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) died quite some time ago and the passage of Amendment 10-A is merely part of the natural process of putrefaction!!

Not precisely a vindication of a Presbyterian named Aaron Burr

2011-04-21T15:35:00.000-04:00

"Political opposition can never absolve gentlemen from the necessity of a rigid adherence to the laws of honor and the rules of decorum...."

Two centuries ago,these words were spoken by a very no-nonsense Presbyterian man.Although he was not particularly noted for an inviting demeanor to strangers,he was particularly beneficent and kind to those with whom he was close.While we're at it,he assisted a number of young people with their education expenses!
A man "ahead of his time"(just an expression,folks....We Calvinists know they're really is no such thing),he held progressive views on the peculiar institution (slavery) and was in favor of equal rights for women.In his political career,this scion of prominent Presbyterian ministers was known for his equitable manner,despite the detractors he gained by being ambitious to an arguable fault!
His penchant for fairness and generosity,undergirded by an abiding Presbyterian piety are of little note to the world at large.A sad reality when taken into account that he was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States!!!

As a wee lad in Manhattan (I was born there),I could look out of my parents' bedroom window and see the Palisades of New Jersey.It was there,at a few minutes past seven on a misty Wednesday morning

......that he put a bullet into Alexander Hamilton!The ball struck Hamilton just above the right hip.It crashed through his second and third false ribs,ripped through his liver and diaphragm and came to rest between the first and second lumber vertebra!
At that point,as it was almost immediately determined that Hamilton's condition was moribund,William P Van Ness,Burr's second,grabbed him by the arm to the boat they rowed in on.And back to Manhattan they went where Burr had a breakfast of two eggs and toast.

Within the context of the era in which both men lived and the magnanimity and rancour that accrued between the two men over the course of fifteen years,it's rather credible that the rivalry would crescendo as it did.In that era,personal honor was valued as the breath of life and

...when Hamilton and/or a member of his clique went as far as to allege incest between Burr and his daughter,Theodosia....WOW!!!

When Burr sought redress in genteel fashion,Hamilton responded in this fashion (condescending and cowardly,if you ask me):

N York 20 June 1804
Sir:
I have maturely reflected on the subject of your letter of the 18th Instant, and the more I have reflected, the more I have become convinced that I could not without manifest impropriety make the avowal or disavowal which you seem to think necessary.
The clause pointed out by Mr. Van Ness is in these terms: “I could detail to you a still more despicable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of Mr. Burr.” To endeavor to discover the meaning of this declaration, I was obliged to seek in the antecedent part of the letter for the opinion to which it referred, as having been already disclosed. I found it in these words: “Genl. Hamilton and Judge Kent have declared in substance that they looked upon Mr. Burr to be a dangerous man, and one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of Government.” The language of Dr. Cooper plainly implies that he considered this opinion of you, which he attributes to me, as a despicable one; but he affirms that I have expressed some other still more despicable; without, however, mentioning to whom, when or where. ‘Tis evident that the phrase “still more despicable” admits of infinite shades from very light to very dark. How am I to judge of the degree intended. Or how should I annex any precise idea to language so vague?
Between Gentlemen despicable and still more despicable are not worth the pains of a distinction. When, therefore, you do not interrogate me as to the opinion which is specifically ascribed to me, I mist conclude that you view it as within the limits to which the animadversions of political opponents, upon each other, may justifiably extend; and consequently as not warranting the idea of it which Dr. Cooper appears to entertain. If so, what precise inference could you draw as a guide for your future conduct, were I to acknowledge that I had expressed an opinion of you, still more despicable than the one which is particularized? How could you be sure that even this opinion had exceeded the bounds which you would yourself deem admissible between political opponents?
But I forbear further comment on the embarrassment to which the requisition you have made naturally leads. The occasion forbids a more ample illustration, though nothing would be more easy than to pursue it.
Repeating that I can not reconcile it with propriety to make the acknowledgment or denial you desire, I will add that I deem it inadmissible on principle, to consent to be interrogated as to the justness of the inferences which may be drawn by others, from whatever I may have said of a political opponent in the course of a fifteen years competition. If there were no other objection to it, this is sufficient, that it would tend to expose my sincerity and delicacy to injurious imputations from every person who may at any time have conceived that import of my expressions differently from what I may then have intended, or may afterwards recollect.
I stand ready to avow or disavow promptly and explicitly any precise or definite opinion which I may be charged with having declared to any gentleman. More than this can not fitly be expected from me; and especially it can not reasonably be expected that I shall enter into an explanation upon a basis so vague as that which you have adopted. I trust upon more reflection you will see the matter in the same light with me. If not, I can only regret the circumstances and must abide the consequences.
The publication of Dr. Cooper was never seen by me ‘till after the receipt of your letter.
Sir, I have the honor to be
Your Obdt. S^t
A. Hamilton

My purpose here is not to attempt to vindicate Burr.The third Vice-President of the United States was looked upon as inclined to place personal interests ahead of-and at the expense of-the good of the fledgling union!He could be rather aloof at times and his temper was the fodder of "legend" among Washington insiders.Yet,as I said before,the cultural norms of the time in which he lived coupled with the severity of Hamilton's incessant provocations left Burr with little room for exploring alternatives!And at the risk of redundancy,he was not inclined at all to wax the disingenuous.

You knew,good,bad or indifferent,where you stood with Aaron Burr..........

...........which is a lot more than I can say for a distant descendant of his whose penchant for egregious Scriptural and catechetical dismissiveness will doubtlessly earn her an all access backstage laminate with a lanyard attached when she reaches the banks of the River Styx!Speaking of course of the "Rev"(in quotes-in her case) Janet Edwards.Her smoke screening and incessant incendiary platitudes are not at all reflective of the honor based codes by which her forebears lived and helped to forge a great nation!

Edwards,pictured here in Pittsburgh,wrote this letter recently to the Layman:

Thousands of faithful Presbyterians understand
same-gender love and commitment to be a good thing

Posted Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Out of all the points made by Charles Jeffery in his letter posted on April 6, 2011 there are two that I feel most compelled to respond to, hoping it will continue our dialogue.

First, Jeffery shares that he has “same-sex attraction.” All that he writes suggests that he considers this a sin and he commends reparative therapies that he has found helpful. I want to remind us all of the voluminous evidence that these therapies have been harmful to lesbian, gay and transgender people – evidence in the form of scientific studies, personal testimony and the experience of one leader after another in these programs whose behavior belies success.

We have the reports of thousands of faithful Presbyterians who understand same-gender love and commitment to be a good thing (and not a sin). They testify that they come to this conclusion on the basis of Scripture, tradition and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Reputable scholars like Jack Rogers, Mark Achtemeier, Arlo Duba and William Stacy Johnson support this view. When there are many views, I hope we can find a way in the church to live together. For Jeffery and others who see things differently, I hope they also take to heart what Paul tells us, “Love does not insist on its own way.” (1 Corinthians 13:4)

Second, I was heartened when Mr. Jeffery writes, “I agree.” Every morning I begin my daily devotions with these words, “God of love, use my hands, my thoughts, my work of this day to share in a communion of love with everyone.” For me, there is no exception, no “but not that one” to that commitment to share in a communion of love. And this arises from the very deepest heart of my faith in the Triune God attested to in Scripture in passages like this one from Isaiah: “For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.” (Isaiah 56:8) This compels me to reach out to you all of The Presbyterian Layman.

I am not interested in thrust and parry, which has diminished the PCUSA for far too long. I am interested in honest, heartfelt dialogue, which, as I say, is the living embodiment of the love of God within the Church. So I am glad Jeffery responded to my thoughts and even found places where we agree. I encourage us all to see where those are and then to ponder how we can build upon them.

There is so much more to be said. I trust this has prompted your further thought and comment and I look forward to your response. Peace be with you all.

Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards

Co-Moderator of More Light Presbyterians

May God have mercy on what this denomination has become!!!!!

A rather interesting dialogue....

2011-03-19T16:11:00.000-04:00

I was at the Southern Park Mall yesterday and ran into a man from my church that went into the ministry several years ago.Not long after I joined my current congregation he was a guest preacher one Sunday and I remember being impressed by his intellect and penchant for mellifluous homiletics.He now pastors a church in Niles,Ohio that,from his view,will be out of existence before too much longer.As per the buzz around the denomination,I thought I would engage him on the subject of Amendment 10-A;which would enshrine abominators and be to countless communicants and entire congregations-the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back".Yet,at a few of his subtexts,I was a bit taken aback!

I told him how weary I am becoming with all the posturing,a la carte ethics and disingenuous hermeneutics and how many in our congregation have expressed interest in pulling out of the Presbyterian Church(USA),should Amendment 10-A pass.his reaction was almost equivalent to...eh,nice knowin ya!"

He goes on to reassure me that Christianity,globally,is not only alive and well,but is growing by leaps and bounds.This is something I've known for a while;as The Protestant Laird's Yard has viewership hailing from every continent on Earth and for that ALL credit is due to God alone in Christ Jesus.My focus was on its marginalization and shrinkage since the "heyday" of Presbyterianism in the US during the 1950's.His reaction was one of

"Oh,well"...

The corporate logo kind of fits;as I shuddered in shock at his reaction.This minister is a man I've admired and have been on good terms with.He is a man whose exegetical punctiliousness could serve as a rudder in these tumultuous times for our denomination.

NOW,I'M A LAIRD-NOT A THEOLOGIAN.................

My question is at what point did Presbyterians in the ministerial,sessional and diaconal vein throw their hands up.At one point did "leaders" in our denomination embrace the philosophy,en masse,that it is no longer "feasible" to maintain the proprietary attitude the faith and its traditions?He even went as far as to say it was "sinful" to feel a sense of ownership over the church and its teachings because,afterall,it's God's church.I countered that it is sinful only if we endeavor to supplant Biblical and catechetical warrant with concensus and we are foreordained to be stewards:

.........That was what I meant!
Even issues that,while paltry by comparison to Biblical and confessional warrant,resonate deeply as to the richness of the culture of our faith.

For instance,the wearing of orange on the feast day of Patrick of Ireland is done out of deference to Protestant William and the Glorious Revolution of 1688.Why are the younger generations so abysmally oblivious to this fact?It need not delineate antagonism toward Catholicism.It merely is indicative that an appreciation for certain historical gravities is a fruit of election.

Is it too late? Is this denomination doomed to have the remainder of its historical,Scriptural and catechetical parameters stripped so "all may freely serve"?Are those who continue to cling to the Truths of Christ relegated to vagrancy in the ranks;to be dealt with severely if any action,reaction or inaction may prove offensive to the dictums and such of the godless left.

Inclusiveness???!!Bringing all people together??!! Into what,some partisan void??!! Reminds me of what Tacitus said to the Romans at Carthage

"We have created a desert and called it peace".

Just a reminder...

2011-03-16T16:27:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to wear your orange tomorrow!!! Love you all!!

No on Amendment 10-A

2011-03-07T16:20:00.001-05:00

Isaiah 5 (King James Version)

20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Just penned this letter to my presbytery on Amendement 10-A;which would guarantee full inclusion of unrepentant gays and lesbians into full ministry.......

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

Tomorrow is a day that carries with it the potential for profound changes in the way our faith is seen,interpreted and conducted.A day that could either set the tone toward healing and a renewed fervor in our commitment to the Kirk militant,or accelerate the rate in which the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been traveling in its course toward inefficacy and desuetude.

We've all beheld the overwhelming empirical evidence that it is only the churches and presbyteries within our body politic that cling to traditional values that continue to thrive.The ratification of Amendment 10-A to the constitution of the Presbyterian Church would,based on that empirical evidence,prove the deadliest of hemlocks.All official or tacit imprimaturs of lifestyles or predilections that transgresses the Law of God by the PCUSA have lead to increases in departures from its fold.Indeed,acceptance devoid of accountability is license!

As a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Boardman,Ohio,I bask in the evangelical tone and undercurrents of its liturgy and people.Though far from perfect,we have,for the most part,been unscathed and our liturgy unimbrued by the maelstrom of grotesque relativism and the radical conjectural appropriation that has become pandemic for Presbyterianism at the national level.At the same time,many in our congregation recognize the stability we have enjoyed will go from tenuous to prohibitively difficult to maintain to impossible,should Amendment 10-A become the law of the land and hurl the national body politic over the apocalyptic cliff!

That being said,I pensively urge this body to resoundingly reject the tendency that rejects the reliance on Biblical and catechetical architecture for its sustenance.I urge this body to reflect Biblical values and those on which the Westminster Confessions and the Canons of Dordrecht expound.I cannot promise that either I or my church could remain in a fold that responds to abominations by mainstreaming its unrepentant merchants with semantics,manipulations in syntax and disingenuous hermeneutics! Vote no on Amendment 10-A

In Christ,

Eric Wells of Westminster Presbyterian Church,Boardman,Ohio

On a personal note,there is a plethora of heterosexual sins from which I stand FAR FROM GUILTLESS.There is a HUGE difference between laying one's sins AT the cross and making them into the shape OF the cross!!

A hunter's prayer request

2011-02-26T16:55:00.000-05:00

James 5:14-15 KJV

14Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him

I'd like to make a personal prayer request for the physical and spiritual healing of a very good friend of mine named Robert Boone.Robert is a kind,well given,pious kind of fellow that to know is to admire and hold in Christian love!Bob is the second cousin-thrice removed of the famous American frontiersman and hunter:
Col Daniel Boone.

Bob was recently diagnosed with Macular edema;as a possible result of scarring behind the retinas.His appointment with the eye specialist is either this Monday or Tuesday.At either rate,I implore the elect to keep Bob and the rest of the Boone family in your prayers at this rather harrowing hour!

Bearminster Presbytery,Synod of the Grizzly

2011-02-17T13:33:00.003-05:00

Several weeks ago,my minister delivered an inspiring sermon which included a story of a friend of his that had the harrowing experience of being chased by a

"silver tip" in Montana.

Rev Joachim goes on to tell about how the young man faced the option of going the way he knew upon descending the tree top he sought refuge in from certain injury-if not death,or taking a trail with which he was unfamiliar....in total pitch black night!The core thrust of that great sermon was that in the walk of faith in Christ,we are called upon to step out in faith (i.e. "darkness" or "unfamiliar territory").

Truly an ordeal that would make even the most experienced outdoorsman or long time NRA man (like myself) truly bristle!As a Presbyterian,however,I look upon this most powerful North American predator as a source of perspective when I consider the following:
*Grizzlies can accelerate from 0-30 mph faster than any sports car ever made
*break the back of any elk or caribou with a single strike
*snatch a fish out of water with lightning speed with either hand
and while we're at it,they have a sense of smell that is at least four times keener than that of bloodhounds!

Strength,speed,agility...Where do you suppose the Grizzly acquired these gifts?

Perhaps during his college football years??!!

Think maybe Bo Pelini charters private jets between Nebraska and Kodiak Island to recruit bears to fill up his defensive line??!!
Do you suppose he would pick up a fullback or tight end,while he's at it??!!
Wonder if Mippy (Mary Pat,his wife) flies along for the ride when she has nothing else to do??!!

Maybe I'll ask my good friend Jaime Mendez(pictured here with his wife,the beautiful actress Essence Atkins) if he played alongside any Grizzlies while setting the record for interceptions at Kansas.

To the Presbyterian mind,the notion of "free will" is no less ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.................... for all functions,needs and duties in the natural order of things,the strengths the Grizzly possesses were guaranteed him by God.

.......as were those foreordained to be the portion of the elect!!

To sum it up,SOLI DEO GLORIA

2 Corinthians 12

9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Now.....I'm a Laird...not a theologian....but as I see it,that verse from Paul's letter teaches three things:

1.God's grace is not afforded to the elect because of the Father's knowledge or observation of our strength,virtue,valor or intelligence.Salvation is our portion in spite of His foreknowledge of our weakness,decadence,cowardice and idiocrity!
2.For all functions,needs,roles or duties in the fellowship of believers in Christ,you're not going to be prepared-through Christ Jesus,you already have been!
3.Pray! Talk to Him! You'll know what to do when the time comes for you to do it.The elect have His assurance already.The elect are reminded in the Canons of Dordrecht,first Head of Doctrine,Article 12:

The elect in due time, though in various degrees and in different measures, attain the assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable election, not by inquisitively prying into the secret and deep things of God, but by observing in themselves with a spiritual joy and holy pleasure, the infallible fruits of election pointed out in the Word of God - such as a true faith in Christ, filial fear, a godly sorrow for sin, a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, etc.

The inclinations to perform good works are no less foreordained than the works themselves.Those who endeavor to gain God's favor by promising to do this or that set themselves up for spiritual damage because they are offering what is not theirs to begin with!!!!

ARTICLE 10. The good pleasure of God is the sole cause of this gracious election; which does not consist herein that out of all possible qualities and actions of men God has chosen some as a condition of salvation, but that He was pleased out of the common mass of sinners to adopt some certain persons as a peculiar people to Himself, as it is written: "Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she (Rebekah) was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" (Rom 9:11-13). "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed." (Acts 13:48).

The world of academia/accreditation is no exception.During the mid-seventeenth century revival in Scotland,Rev Jonathan Edwards was overcome by a sense of euphoria;as he predicted the momentum would spill over to this quarter of the world and awaken sentiments he surmised were missing(as per Isaiah 59:19).He essentially forgot the words that came out of his landmark sermon:

"But the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow."

Those who labor to obfuscate the difference between God's fruits and the will of man are to blame for much of what ails Presbyterianism in this quarter of the earth!!!!

Southard cleared....My God,what next??!!

2011-02-09T15:25:00.000-05:00

I continue to be shocked and saddened by the culture of reckless Scriptural dismissiveness in the PCUSA.The recent decision of the Permanent Judicial Commission that cleared the Rev. Jane Southard, is yet another example of the left's ingenious impeity! Outrageously,she gets a default vindication because the Spahr ruling had not been promulgated?! To add insult to injury,no fewer than 6 members of the GAPJD call for greater clarity in the "constituional" definition of marriage.

Every living organism owes its existence to the family/reconstructive construct not articulated by any church constitution,but rather by the blueprint for life engineered by God,Himself.It's only got confusing when pluralistic thought was enshrined;enabling the radicals to harness the mechanisms of runaway judicialism,coupled with semantic gymnastics.These created a new calculus that allows the "Catechetically-challenged" to steer conveniently clear of Biblical warrant.

Those of us of traditional Westminster/Dordrecht Quinquarticular thinking are due of a share of the blame,as well.The Bible makes it abundantly clear that it's never enough for the elect to behave reactively/curatively/prophylactically.The walk of faith involves proactive vigilance...

May God have mercy on the PCUSA!!!!

Another distortion from the extreme left

2011-02-07T11:59:00.000-05:00

Hebrews 10:25-31 (King James Version)

25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
28He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
29Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
30For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

In view of the prosecutorial portion of "Rev" Southard for having performed a same sex "marriage", the nefarious "Rev" Janet Edwards had this to say in her blog:

1/28

When I was a child in the 1950’s, my father delighted in telling a joke about the four approaches to the law in Europe:

In England, everything is permitted except that which is prohibited.
In Italy, everything is permitted including that which is prohibited.
In Germany, everything is prohibited except that which is permitted.
In the Soviet Union, everything is prohibited including that which is permitted.

It might have been a little advanced for me at the time, but I’ve always remembered his joke with fondness. As I reflect on it today, I see how relevant it is. Embedded in this story are polity differences that I see troubling the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) so deeply right now.

Next week, when we learn of the verdict in the appeal hearing for Rev. Jean Southard, the PCUSA could reach a new level of clarity on which approach to law we, in the church, are living under today. Rev. Southard is appealing her case to our church’s highest judicial level, the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission.

I see Rev. Southard as having acted in the office of Minister of Word and Sacrament with the assumption that the PCUSA is modeled after what my dad called the English approach to the law: Everything is permitted except that which is prohibited.

When Rev. Southard was asked by two of her faithful parishioners to officiate at their legal wedding, she looked at the rules. There was no mandated prohibition in The Book of Order or in the GA actions (1991 AI) or in the GAPJC decision known as Benton against ministers presiding at the marriage of two men or two women. Rev. Southard was free then to follow her conscience with respect to the love and commitment of the couple before her.

- Rev Janet Edwards' take on Rev Southard's case!!!!

I'M A LAIRD,NOT A THEOLOGIAN...........

Yet,by Janet's own admission,this was a joke-a joke in which I find absolutely no humor for it is rooted in the great-granddaddy of all misnomers in the history of our faith!She essentially took the distinctions between the regulative and normative principles of liturgy and worship and supplanted them with cultural labels.

Fact is,the regrettable influence of textual criticism traces its ultimate heritage to certain German influences that made her 6th great-grandfather
along with Dickinson,Aaron Burr,Witherspoon,Increase Mather and many others recoil in righteous angst.

Are entire ethnic groups to blame? Of course not!Yet German textual criticism and French transcendentalism are bastard offshoots of the European enlightenment that have blended over the years into a hemlock for our faith. The effects:
*validating heresies ranging from pelagianism to free will
*flagging antinomianism which has eroded the belief in Scriptural inerrancy and the need for catechetical literacy
*begging ad hoc liturgy and worship

...and have ultimately created a climate for Presbyterianism in this quarter of the world that more closely resembles the Balkans than the Body of Christ.The PCUSA a tone of cliquishness,vulgar secular revisionism and quasi-zen judicialism that has afforded apostates more plausible deniability than that ever afforded to Oliver North,Lizzie Borden,O.J. Simpson and Claus von Bulow combined!!!

Alack,alack! The true "fruits" of pluralistic thought!

Yet another church in Arizona...and a grim prognosis from a respected authority!!

2011-02-01T12:01:00.000-05:00

I was given the distinct honor of reuniting with the Rev James Tuckett;who presides over the Westminster Fellowship.Having lived in Kansas for many years,he now enjoys a comfortable life in the nation's fifth largest city.We fell out of contact not because of any harsh words or disagreements at all.I've been out of the proverbial loop for quite a while and I'm thrilled to be "back".

There are many who opine and argue hither and thither about the current course and ultimate fate of Presbyterianism.Yet there are few who can command my attention and deference the way Rev Tuckett can.He is convinced,as I am come to be,that the spiritual malady that has gripped Louisville is terminal and,in many respects,evangelicals are no more guiltless than the Lisa Larges and Janet Edwards types!

In our quest to maintain a certain "gentility" and "decorum" in our faith tradition,those of us of traditional thinking have forgotten the following:

Matthew 10:34 (King James Version)

34Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Ephesians 6:12 (King James Version)

12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

2 Timothy 4:2-5 (King James Version)

2Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
5But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

We have forgotten,or opted to forget,the adversarialism that IS the walk of faith in Christ

“The Spirit of Slumber which the Poison of the old Serpent has brought upon the children of Men is to be deplored exceedingly.Awaken us from this terrible stupidity,O God of All Grace,lest we perish eternally”

Rev Cotton Mather

To this end and in the same course,aim and vein,the elect are reminded also in the Second Helvetic Confession Chapter 17,section 5

WE MUST NOT JUDGE RASHLY OR PREMATURELY. Hence we must be very careful not to judge before the time, nor undertake to exclude, reject or cut off those whom the Lord does not want to have excluded or rejected, and those whom we cannot eliminate without loss to the Church. On the other hand, we must be vigilant lest while the pious snore the wicked gain ground and do harm to the Church.

As it turns out,my church(for the most part),is not given to the kind of crass metropolitan heterodoxy.Still,I've resolved,that if ever I come to part with my current church,the OPC or the PCA will be where I hang my hat!!!!

Requiescant In Pace

2008-12-28T22:46:00.009-05:00

Dominic Joseph Diaz

January 3,1995-November 30,2008

Yet again was I stunned by the lamentable intelligence of the departure of a beautiful child of a family with whom I've befriended.Dominic was indeed a lad of boundless energy and potential,in both academia and athleticism, who was loved and admired far beyond his own awareness.The heights to which his acumen would have propelled him is a question that will remain forever unreplied to.

It is at times like these,those of exquisite pain and loss in which oft we labor to make sense,that we are reminded of the mortal importance of clinging ever fervently to the Cross of Christ.!!!

Dominic has been spared the tumultuous ebb and flow of sojourn on this sphere.A foreordained place on the shores of the new Canaan,at the Feet of the Lamb,be his portion.A gallant young champion now crowned with a halo of everlasting life whose examples of resilience and punctilious compunction in life's endeavors were,by the grace of God alone, bequests to those whose lives he touched.

Cease, cease, dear friends & don't complain
Your loss is my eternal gain
And when our sufferings here are o'er
May we all meet to part no more.

This Protestant Laird will miss you,Dominic

A very dear young friend....Asleep in Jesus

2008-09-28T19:18:00.006-04:00

Stephen Lewis Kness II

Sunrise January 8,1988-Sunset September 13,2008

To God for mercy he did cry,
Oh! Christ prepare me for to die;
We trust he's reached that peaceful shore,
Where death and suffering are no more.

A complete,rather than primary,reliance upon providentialism has been the hallmark of the Reformed faith since the days of Calvin and Knox.It is occasions such as this which subject the mettle of this core Presbyterian tenet to its severest test,by far.............

Several days ago,I telephoned some very fear friends of mine and was stunned by the sad intelligence of the death of their son.I along with the virtual whole of our congregation feel the horrific sense of loss.

Stephen Lewis Kness II was a loveable young man who was uniquely gifted in many things.A talented musician,he participated in a variety of competitions throughout the valley and earned a lofty reputation for skill and precision.Yet,amidst the approbation by which his acumen was met,he never lost the peculiar humility that typifies a heart where the love of God through Christ abode;a fact underscored by his commitment to the Westminster Youth and Nehemiah initiatives,among others.

At times,we all are called upon to assume a struggle which upon its face appears all but insurmountable.This young man endeavored laying his iniquities at the Cross of Christ and a valiant struggle for wholeness and had presumed it better he fought the fight devoid of any mortal vessels who loved him so.........

The latter portions of this resolve would prove the lament of many; as those of us he left behind would never have dreamt the armistice for which he yearned and for which we all prayed and hoped would take the form of his summons to the bivouac of eternal peace at such a young age.

May Almighty God in His mercy vouchsafe that the elect resolve to cling ever more fervently to His Will and to answer the call to arms with an intrepidity that rivals this young champion who lies stilled until the rapture is nigh...and yet,unvanquished!!

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

He is now safe in the bosom of the Promised Redeemer!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Semiseptennial of the passing of England's Lord Protector,Oliver Cromwell

2008-09-03T03:03:00.001-04:00

We study the glory of God, and the honour and liberty of parliament, for which we unanimously fight, without seeking our own interests... I profess I could never satisfy myself on the justness of this war, but from the authority of the parliament to maintain itself in its rights; and in this cause I hope to prove myself an honest man and single-hearted.
- Statement to Colonel Valentine Walton, 5 or 6 September 1644

Three hundred and fifty years ago,at about four o'clock on a Friday afternoon,Protestant England bid farewell to its Lord Protector.Referred to as the "late usurper" by the Presbyterians of his age,he was reputed both as a champion or bulwark of Protestantism as well as a ruthless regicidal depot used as the Devil's instrument to-at minimum- tacitly endorse pluralism in our tradition of faith.

Distantly akin to the House of Tudor, he was born on the 25th of April in 1599.His first comparatively obscure forty years on this Earth reflected the typical yeoman lifestyle and station of East Anglia mid gentry.How decadently ironic that this foreordained vessel to challenge the legitimacy of the English Crown,like no other of common birth,would himself be of distant progeny to the House of Stuart!!!

He endeavored to study at Sidney Sussex College; an institution that was established in 1596 with decidedly Puritan roots.

some good and godlie moniment for the mainteynance of good learninge

Although he did not finish his studies here,having left the institution in June 1617,immediately upon the death of his father,his exposures while at school,coupled with those he enjoyed by way of his father-in-law and the Puritan members of the London gentry galvanized his resolve toward the particular style of Independent Puritanism for which he was so noted. In 1970,Cromwell's head was interred beneath the chapel,by the way.

The factors in the struggle between Parliament and the English Crown are as numerous as they are complex.Time forbids a lengthy exploration into each variable,yet this article will take an unflinching look at the more significant ones.

Like his father,James VI, Charles was committed to uniting England and Scotland;a most unsettling notion for many! Not especially noted either for his powers of oration or diplomatic skill,his rather maladroit style did much to exacerbate tensions and subject the nation to much undue strife and grief;much of which was in the vein of an expiation of the demons wrought by goals unfulfilled by his father's tenure!

To heighten matters,his pretty wife...

..Henrietta Maria,happened also to be Catholic.England was a time bomb!

In addition,King Charles I was dedicated to steering England away from Calvinism.He pitted the Calvinists in Parliament against the savvy ecclesiastical acumen of William Laud,the Archbishop of Canterbury..
...whose High Church predilections would lead to his ultimately having met the headsman's axe on the 10th of January 1645.

.........the climate of Mother England was in a most desultory state!Indeed,one that Oliver Cromwell was foreordained to remedy.........or perhaps poised to exploit!

In 1647 Parliament was quite polarized over the issue of kingship.February of that year saw Cromwell sidelined with illness;only to find both houses of Parliament pushing for a settlement that would restore Charles I and draft a Presbyterian model.

The Westminster Assembly was summoned by Parliament(initially in 1643). To this end,the term Presbyterian came into widespread and popular use.It was completed by the Westminster Assembly in 1647 and adopted by the General Assembly in Scotland the following year!These expedients have formed the backbone of Presbyterian/Reformed worship traditions in the English speaking world,subordinate only to the Word of God!

In 1648,a Second Civil War began.Suffice it to note the inextricable link in all unrest pandemic in this period of English history;with mere breathing spells between.The Scots invaded England aiding Charles whose aim was to reclaim power by way of force.In the end,Cromwell,firm in the belief that he was a chosen instrument for the manifestation of God's will,was triumphant.

It was around this time that the powers and styles of oration in Cromwell began to shift rather dramatically!His delivery became,decidedly,even more Bible-based.In the Eight chapter of the Book of Isaiah,verse 14,we read:

14And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

For the Cromwellian faction,this was a "rallying cry".The Parliament's haphazard negotiations which tacitly endorsed "Divine Right",coupled with the humiliating defeat of the Royalists was interpreted by many that it was time to purge England...period!

Charles was brought to trial for high treason...............

"I would know by what power I am called hither ... I would know by what authority, I mean lawful; there are many unlawful authorities in the world; thieves and robbers by the high-ways ... Remember, I am your King, your lawful King, and what sins you bring upon your heads, and the judgement of God upon this land. Think well upon it, I say, think well upon it, before you go further from one sin to a greater ... I have a trust committed to me by God, by old and lawful descent, I will not betray it, to answer a new unlawful authority; therefore resolve me that, and you shall hear more of me.

I do stand more for the liberty of my people, than any here that come to be my pretended judges ... I do not come here as submitting to the Court. I will stand as much for the privilege of the House of Commons, rightly understood, as any man here whatsoever: I see no House of Lords here, that may constitute a Parliament ... Let me see a legal authority warranted by the Word of God, the Scriptures, or warranted by the constitutions of the Kingdom, and I will answer."

This was Major General Thomas Harrison, a distant cousin of this Protestant Laird and the seventeenth of the fifty-nine to sign the death warrant of King Charles I.Ultimately,he would object strenuously to the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell;being imprisoned four times in its duration.Unyielding to the end in his belief that Christ Himself would reign in England in 1666(as espoused by his leadership over the Fifth Monarchists),he opposed the Restoration of the English crown,as well.He was hanged,drawn and quartered at Charing Cross on the 13th of October,1660.

"...God hath covered my head many times in the day of Battle. By God I have leaped over a wall, by God I have runned through a Troop, and by my God I will go through this death..."

He entered no plea,as to have done so would validate the legitimacy of the ad hoc tribunal which comprised his trial-a legitimacy he genuinely believed they did not have!

Nevertheless,he met his end on Tuesday January 30,1649.His head was severed with a quick,clean stroke!It is said there were those who dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood of the martyred king (a conjectural pretext for his martyrdom's cult following).Yet,this is largely thought an apocryphal mechanism promulgated by avid Royalists.

England,at that point,became a Commonwealth.

In truth,about the only thing that rivaled the complexity of the inherent parochialisms that led to the English Civil War of the 1640's was the station in which Presbyterians in the kingdom found themselves.Cromwell quite sternly objected to Scottish Presbyterianism;as he regarded the hierarchical structure too rigid and authoritarian,among other things.Although sentiments against Cromwell were never as strong in Scotland as they were in Ireland,they are quite worthy of note!

This is the ninth Earl of Glencairn,William Cunningham;who had been an ardent supporter of Charles I.He led an effort during Cromwell's Protectorate known as "Glencairn's Rebellion".Although hardly the tactical equivalent to Joan of Arc at Orleans in 1429,his efforts were regarded as part of a curative the Scots needed to guard against the systematic suppression of their rights!

The English Presbyterian Richard Baxter said of Cromwell:

"He thought secrecy a virtue, and dissimulation no vice, and simulation, that is in plain English, a lie, or perfideousness to be a tolerable fault in case of necessity".

Actually,Presbyterianism was not Baxter's only religious tie.While thought of as Calvinistic in the moderate sense,he rejected the doctrine of Particular Atonement.This Protestant Laird is inclined to infer Baxter's core position in the quinquarticular controversy to be less predicated upon Biblical and catechetical warrant than consensus and partisan expediency!

On the other hand,there were Presbyterians(as well as Baptists and Congregationalists) without whose support Cromwell could not have achieved what he achieved and Cromwell himself is classified as a Calvinist whose influence hinged to a large measure upon dwindling Presbyterian influence in the English Parliament.Rather difficult to discern who was rallying and waging war for whom and/or in whose name,isn't it?

Is it easy to see why mother England was in such a politically desultory state?

Was Oliver Cromwell a foreordained champion or a regicidal demagogue? The arguments to support/refute are virtually limitless and,among certain realms of the Reformed historical intelligencia, are waged no less fiercely today than when he lived.May this Protestant Laird share his perspective?

It has been three hundred-fifty years since Oliver Cromwell's roll was called.While it is not our place to speculate whether or not the Kirk triumphant was his portion when his flesh failed him,we err against the Church of Jesus Christ to not weigh his bequest to Protestantism and to Mother England!

As an American,this Laird defers to the platform of individual liberty for which Cromwell stood;as this is one of the few nations on this planet where The Protestant Laird's Yard may be maintained without fear of legal sanction.Yet,as the magistrate beareth not the sword for naught(as per Romans 13:4) and as one of some Plantagenet ancestry,the notion of Divine Right of Kings should not be ruled out capriciously,either.It may be safely wagered that Cromwell was,to appreciable measure, no less ruled by inherent parochialisms than were the bourgeois Presbyterians in the English Parliament from whose disenfranchisement he benefitted.This,coupled with Charles' pandering of Archbishop Laud and the Calvinists against each other proved quite the lethal mix for England and the greatest challenge to the monarchy since the Magna Carta!!!

Let we who are alive today be ever mindful of what went awry in that time.Let's not delude ourselves into thinking that such tumult cannot happen.Take a look at how marginalized our faith has become and how secularization,political correctness and Scriptural revisionism,fueled in part by textual criticism,have reduced the gravity of the Father's Word and Covenant.

It can be stated that,in the spiritual civil war presently waged in this quarter of the earth,the situation is no less riotous!

Spirit of the Cherokee

2008-08-14T07:59:00.001-04:00

Cherokee Legend

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone.
He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the
blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry
out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot
tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into
manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally terrified.
He can hear all kinds of noises.
Wild beasts must surely be all around him.

.............................................Maybe even some human might do him harm.

The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat
stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could
become a man! Finally , after a horrific night the sun appeared and he
removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on
the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting
his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watching over
us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do
is reach out to Him.

If you liked this story, pass it on.
If not, you took off your blindfold before dawn.

Moral of the story:

Just because you can't see God,

Doesn't mean He is not there.

'For we walk by faith, not by sight.'

The Reverend Stephen Foreman (1807-1881) ,born of a Cherokee Indian mother and a Scottish father,was a vessel foreordained to advance the Kingdom of Christ among his people.He studied at Union Theological Seminary,Princeton and was licensed to preach by the Union Presbytery of Tennessee in October of 1833.His work predestined included translating the Books of Isaiah,Psalms and the New Testament into the Cherokee language.Noted for preaching with a certain fluent animation in the Cherokee tongue,he also proved an instrument,to the Glory of God,in the establishment of the first Presbyterian Church at Tahlequah.

Soli Deo Gloria

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008)

2008-08-09T19:37:00.006-04:00

Bernie Mac is gone...

It is with a profound sadness that this Protestant Laird announces the passing of a true comedic genius.Often incorrigibly raunchy,yet tempered with a legitimate,galvanized reality,the comedian known as Bernie Mac slipped the bonds of this mortal life this morning in Chicago and now is with the Savior.

While the overwhelming majority of his humor was hardly fodder for an episode of the Coral Ridge Hour,he espoused a gritty relevance that,while side-splittingly funny,was never exploitive!That is more that anyone can say for those with dark agendas cloaked in pious garb!

As his career matured,he endeavored to embody the virtues of the devoted family man......

.......he starred in the Bernie Mac Show,which aired in 2001 and ran for five seasons and garnered a plethora of awards for excellence.In TV Guide's list of the 50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time,he ranked 47th.An impressive benchmark for a series whose run was not an especially protracted one!

Bernie Mac waged a valiant struggle against sarcoidosis for several years.Amidst the onslaught of this most debilitating malady,he pressed on in a tireless quest. He would later be ranked 72nd on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand Up Comedians of All Time.

In 2007,he announced on The Late Show with David Letterman that he no longer would do the stand up routines for which he was noted.Endeavoring to focus more on film production and to take more time to spend with his family,he thus reflected the fruits of a genuine epiphany that comes from only one source.

This Protestant Laird's prayers are with his wife,Rhonda,their daughter,Je'Niece and granddaughter Jasmine; as well as the tens of millions of fans of this comic giant,both in and outside the United States.

You always kept it real,Bernie......We thank you for that and may the angels lead you into Paradise!!!!

A Deacon's "perspectives" - Earl Apel of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church Cincinnati, Ohio ...

2008-08-05T00:53:00.006-04:00

In spite of the richness, clarity and judiciary culture and tone of our tradition of faith in Christ, or perhaps because of these, we have in our Presbyterian churches a myriad of profane cliques who have mastered the art of feigning cognitive dissonance when given portions of our beliefs are not in proportion to their whims. Their profanity becomes validated when the penchant for the scripturally cogent is not pursued with extreme prejudice. In Ephesians, are we not enjoined to put on the whole armor of God? Is the Sword of the Spirit not the Word of God? Are we not charged to substantiate church doctrine with Scripture, i.e. a fortiori?

In this vein none, save the mind of a typical New Age heretic like the one pictured above,Earl Apel, would look at G-6.0106b and deduce the following:

"G-6.0106b does not address homosexuals or so-called homosexual practice at all. In fact, it notes there are standards (more than one) and notes that among those standards is one that would obviously apply to heterosexuals (men and women) since marriage does not apply to homosexuals in the PCUSA. So if there is more than one standard, it makes perfect sense that there are also standards for homosexuals not stated here that include loving, committed relationships that, in fact, can be blessed in the PCUSA and so are not sin. And there are numerous other standards not explicitly stated by G-6.0106b."

Our tradition of faith is so vast and its history so multi-factorial that it's impossible for every catechetical vignette therein to explicitly condemn what was referred to a century ago as "that unspeakable act". If we are to follow Earl Apel's logic (God forbid), we can focus only on this and say that, because G-6 makes no mention whatsoever of the Lord's Supper, perhaps we should ban communion!

This Laird supposes such a move would reduce communion tokens,like this one from Perthshire, Scotland,to the equivalent of....what......contraband??!!

This is just a clever attempt, one employed ad infinitum by the apostate factions I would add, to side-step the moral gravity of Leviticus 20:13.Another grave consequence of this is that the construct of the family, with all concomitant values and obligations, preliminary and incumbent, have been compromised-perhaps irreparably!

It's got a lot of us beside ourselves,Arch!

The elect are reminded in the Second Helvetic Confession, reaffirmed by the Protestants in Scotland in 1566, Chapter 17,Section 5.140 that "...while the pious snore, the wicked gain ground and do harm to the Church." The elect, in the wholesale sense, seem to have all but completely lost sight of the gravity of THIS catechetical dictum. As a result, perhaps even reflective of a Divine expiation for the laxity of the righteous, thistles like this are allowed to bloom in the garden of God's Kirk where the TULIP once abode.

Yet...for whatever it's worth........

It does nothing to tarnish the image of the City of Cincinnati in this Laird's mind.

...........all large cities have some form of pollution or another,after all............ :-)

Two juggernauts that have forgotten how to prioritize!

2008-08-05T00:31:00.003-04:00

General Motors and the PCUSA-two entities that have had a definite material impact on the life of this Protestant Laird,to say the absolute least!

The former had,once upon a time,annual profits that exceeded the Gross National Products of the four Scandinavian nations combined and at one point,rivaled Italy's GNP.

Translation:The CEO of GM quite literally wielded world influence that was exponentially greater that MOST heads of state!

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (GM) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River . Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race . On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile . The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat . A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action . Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing .

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion . They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing . Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents, and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager . They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder . It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the rower . There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes, and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses . The next year the Japanese won by two miles .

Humiliated, the America n management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment . The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India . Sadly, The End . Here's something else to think about: GM has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US , claiming they can't make money paying American wages . TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US . The last quarter's results: TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while GM racked up 9 billion in losses . GM folks are still scratching their heads . IF THIS WEREN'T TRUE, IT MIGHT BE FUNNY

This is also a parable of the ineffective "renewal" efforts in the PCUSA. If real Christians were not suffering, it, too, might be funny.

Blessed are the saints who have been equipped with the sound doctrines of TULIP!

The Old Gray Dog
James E. Tuckett

Thanks,Rev.Jim. After this analogy,there's nothing that could come from this Protestant Laird,or anyone else,that wouldn't prove anti-climactic!!!!!

An Open Rebuke to the...err...ahem...."Reverend" Bill Schmuck...ahh Klutz.....I mean.......Curmudgeon.....

2008-07-18T08:56:00.003-04:00

Misinformed… or irreverent?
July 8, 2008
Just when I think I've heard the epoch of Biblical dismissiveness or catechetical/historical laxity and indifference, I yet run across something so devoid of sedateness via a moral compass that I become infuriated anew. This time by a so-called minister of the Word and Sacrament named Bill Smutz, whose position is, in my humble view, tantamount to heresy!

The usurpation of circumstance by the Father's Right Hand of Providence in the affairs of men and nations and the recognition of the same by the elect are irrefutable. Our nation's government itself is based on the Presbyterian construct.

Has Bill Smutz never heard of John Calvin referred to as "the virtual founder of America?" There are several reasons for this:

On May 31,1638,the Reverend Thomas Hooker delivered a sermon based on Deuteronomy 1:13-17,upon which the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was singularly based. The latter was required reading for each constitutional delegate, as per the orders of none other than the Hero of the Monongahela, His Excellency George Washington.

On Oct.3,1789,Washington,then president, issued a Thanksgiving proclamation which contained these words:

"Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us ..."

To Bill Smutz, Washington was engaging in dangerous mischief when he said this.

To use Bill's verbiage-"dangerous attitudes and practices" was the evident end and aim of my distant cousin, General William Henry Harrison;

whose presidential inauguration speech in 1841 offered these reflections:

"However strong may be my present purpose to realize the expectations of a magnanimous and confiding people, I too well understand the dangerous temptations to which I shall be exposed from the magnitude of the power which it has been the pleasure of the people to commit to my hands not to place my chief confidence upon the aid of that Almighty Power which has hitherto protected me and enabled me to bring to favorable issues other important but still greatly inferior trusts heretofore confided to me by my country."

....as well as....

"I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion and a thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness; and to that good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, who watched over and prospered the labors of our fathers and has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in excellence those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest of our beloved country in all future time"

While serving as the Territorial governor of Indiana, Harrison and wife,

Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison, were foreordained mortal catalysts in the establishment of the first Presbyterian congregation in Indiana in March of 1806.

That's Indiana,Bill! The same state that the church you "pastor" is located

There would be no such place as the United States without God and His Kingdom on Earth. Phrases like "God Bless America" underscore the elect's appreciation of the magnanimity of God's unmerited, yet nonetheless inerrant Will! Either Smutz is lamentably misinformed or he suffers from a spiritually lethal mix of irreverence and Anglophobia, for which the Father's discernment through the Savior's blood provide the only remedy.
Eric Wells
Boardman, Ohio

Rainbow Jihad

2008-07-11T10:42:00.008-04:00

Bradley Fowler-charlatan, sodomite,convicted felon and new cause-celebre for the godless left!

$70 million sought from Zondervan, Thomas Nelson Inc.
Homosexual man says publishers' Bibles
violated his rights, inflicted emotional pain

The Layman
Thursday, July 10, 2008

A homosexual Michigan man is suing two Christian publishers over their versions of the Bible. The lawsuits claim that because these Bibles refer to homosexuality as a sin, his constitutional rights have been violated and he has suffered emotional pain.

Bradley LaShawn Fowler, 39, of Canton, Mich., is seeking $60 million from Zondervan and $10 million from Thomas Nelson Inc. Both lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The case against Zondervan was filed Monday and the Thomas Nelson case was filed in June, the Grand Rapids Press reported.

A judge refused Monday to appoint a judge to represent Fowler in the Thomas Nelson case. Fowler is representing himself in both cases.

Fowler claims in his lawsuits that Zondervan and Thomas Nelson's versions of the King James Bible manipulated Scripture without informing the public, WorldNetDaily reported. They did so, he alleges, by using the word "homosexuals" in 1 Corinthians 6:9. Because his family's pastor used one of these Bibles, his family considered him a sinner and he suffered "20 years of emotional duress and mental instability," he told the TV station.

A Zondervan spokeswoman told the TV station that her Michigan-based company doesn't translate the Bible or own the copyright for any of its translations, but instead relies on the "scholarly judgment of … highly respected and credible translation committees." Also, Zondervan never alters the text of translations it is licensed to publish, she added.

Err...ahhh...ahem...this begs a question....

....We're supposed to think of of THESE GUYS as the GREATEST ENEMIES of Christianity??!! As bad as they are,they aren't destroying Western Civilization from within!

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Leviticus 20:13

Bradley Fowler is aiming to hold a publishing company accountable for the eternal decree of the Father's creation.This decree has ensured the very survival of mankind from the day he was formed from the dust of the ground!This wayward soul claims a version of the King James Bible caused his pastor and family to consider him a sinner,causing him "20 years of emotional duress and mental instability".

Has it ever occurred to him that if it looks,acts and flies like a duck,people are unlikely to behave as though it's a mountain lion!

Folks,It gets no more patently ridiculous than this!Don't be surprised if this Fowler person receives a call from Bruce Chow and the PCUSA Stated Clerk's office with an offer to assume legal expenses in the spirit of social justice.

It will doubtlessly be justified by portraying him as an "oppressed" minority.The victicrats will have a field day describing the pastor's perspectives as "hate speech"

........................and placing Fowler in the hallowed pantheon reminiscent of Matthew Shepard.

Any day now,he'll be appearing on Oprah!

Perhaps we should file a joint class action lawsuit against those who have tirelessly endeavored to undermine Biblical authority.Our sensibilities have been grievously offended,our perspectives have been deliberately mis-characterized and our spirits have been traumatized in the wake of the efforts of these parties.Those who cling fervently to the immutable truths of the Risen Christ are the true victims of this post-modern culture!

To coin a phrase from the radical left, "We shall overcome!"

The General Assembly-a Circus of heretics!!!!!

2008-06-19T21:32:00.005-04:00

For when our Saviour promises that what his servants bound on earth should be bound in heaven, (Matthew 18: 18), he confines the power of binding to the censure of the Church, which does not consign those who are excommunicated to perpetual ruin and damnation, but assures them, when they hear their life and manners condemned, that perpetual damnation will follow if they do not repent. [Excommunication] rebukes and adminiverts upon his manners; and although it ... punishes, it is to bring him to salvation, by forewarning him of his future doom. If it succeeds, reconciliation and restoration to communion are ready to be given. ... Hence, though ecclesiastical discipline does not allow us to be on familiar and intimate terms with excommunicated persons, still we ought to strive by all possible means to bring them to a better mind, and recover them to the fellowship and unity of the Church: as the apostle also says, "Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother" (2 Thessalonians 3: 15). If this humanity be not observed in private as well as public, the danger is, that our discipline shall degenerate into destruction.

Institutes of The Christian Religion 4.12.10

It is beyond comprehension that the mass exodus taking place in the PCUSA is not an absolute top priority of business at the GA!Then again,with leadership of Reyes-chow's caliber,it's hardly surprising that the Stated Clerk's office expects this trend to only accelerate.
In flawless concert with the enemies of the true Reformed Faith,he writes:

"homosexuality is not sinful by nature and should not be an excluding factor for ordination or marriage. That said, I know this is not where our denomination is right now and I appreciate the passion with which those who disagree engage in the discourse."

On his website,he poses this question:

"...when it comes to homosexuality, regardless on which side of the aisle you live on, how long can one be engaged in a community where the position is held in the contrary? Could we agree to disagree about the ordination of women? Could we agree to disagree about interracial marriage? I don't think we could, but yet for some reason we believe we can in this case."

After a most hearty contest with nausea,this Protestant Laird again wrote The Layman:

A request to the Office of the General Assembly
June 26, 2008
Are we too far into the protocol of the 218th GA to make another request? If not, I'd like to ask the Office of the General Assembly to assist in defense of the following:

1. The Trinity -- An effort has been under way for quite some time now to emasculate the Triune Godhead. Apparently, it's not flush with the pseudo-evolutionary motifs of those whose views are well outside the milieu of classical pre-suppositional apologetics.
2. The Bible - The beliefs in the immutability and inerrancy of the Father's Word to the elect have been systematically assailed and undermined for decades in the Presbyterian Church by neo-heretical agents within its very walls.
3. Confessions - The latest victim is the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563. Certain portions are being stricken for fear of offending those whose aim is to make a mockery of Christ's Kingdom by endorsing that which the Bible clearly speaks of as an abomination. Frederick the Pious, who was the instrument of God in the introduction of the Reformed faith to the Holy Roman Empire, is doubtlessly looking down at this abhorrent spectacle in sadness!
4. Traditional ordination standards -- The clarity thereof has been deliberately obscured for the benefit of feminism, globalism and various other perversions.
5. The family -- The complementarian model for marriage between man and wife outlined in the Word of God and its proponents have somehow been miscategorized with the African slave trade, the Nazi Holocaust and their promulgators.

The above request will cost nothing ... except an earnest petition to the Father to forgive the laxity that partly facilitated the lofty toleration of doctrinal error and those who are unable/unwilling to honor His Word in His own House!

This initiative might take a little longer than expected, as we are 57,572 shy of the manpower we had this time last year!
Eric Wells
Boardman, Ohio

Presbyterian Crystallnacht

2008-06-08T11:52:00.003-04:00

Whitewater Valley Presbytery Powerful administrative commissions could remove sessions, pastors of churches rethinking PCUSA ties By Patrick Jean Staff Writer The Layman Friday, June 6, 2008 A regional governing body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Indiana has approved powerful administrative commissions that could remove the sessions and pastors of two small congregations which are rethinking their future in the denomination. Acting on a voice vote at their stated meeting June 4, Whitewater Valley Presbytery commissioners approved a recommendation from the presbytery's committee on ministry to form two administrative commissions, said the Rev. Jason Bantz, pastor of College Corner First United Presbyterian Church in College Corner, Ohio. The administrative commissions are for Bantz's church and for Wallace Street Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, Ind. According to the recommendation, the commissions' functions include two sweeping powers "to take effect when it should become evident to the commission that minister(s) or congregation members are moving toward expressing a desire for separation and the reconciliation is not likely": 1. "Authority to dissolve the session and assume the full powers and jurisdiction of the session," to occur when a church's session "calls for a congregational meeting for the purpose of considering actions leading to separation from the PCUSA." Also, if such a meeting "has occurred prior to this action of presbytery, the power shall be effective immediately." 2. "Authority to dissolve the pastoral relationship upon evidence that the pastor has advocated separation from the denomination or upon renunciation of jurisdiction, fully observing the due process requirements of the [PCUSA] Constitution (G-9.0505b(2), G-6.0701, G-6.0702)". College Corner Church's congregation voted June 1 to request dismissal from the PCUSA, and to authorize the church's session to proceed with disaffiliation from the denomination if the presbytery refuses the dismissal request. 'Political maneuvering and intimidation' Bantz said he sent a 10-page paper to every church in the presbytery June 2: five pages about his church's Biblical stance and the past two weeks of developments surrounding the congregational vote; a four-page position paper on the "right of voluntary association/affiliation" for PCUSA churches; and a one-page substitute motion to be presented at the presbytery meeting. The substitute motion would have proposed that the administrative commission for College Corner Church: Act upon the church's request for dismissal within 30 days and dismiss the congregation to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church with its property. Negotiate a settlement with the church's session "for the financial provisions attendant to this dismissal." Bantz said he and nine members of his church attended the presbytery meeting. After the committee on ministry presented its motion recommending the administrative commissions, Bantz asked to speak to the motion. He said he was allowed, but not before presbytery commissioners were told that Bantz's church had filed a property ownership lawsuit and obtained a temporary restraining order against the presbytery and that Bantz was no longer considered a minister in good standing in light of the actions. "I tried to say some gracious words that it's a blessing to be in this presbytery, lots of good things going on, and our issues aren't with people or this presbytery, but with the issues in parts of the denomination," he said, highlighting four issues: "the full truthfulness of Scripture, and Christ's singular ability to save, and the sanctity of life to the unborn, and God's heart and design for human sexuality." Bantz also spoke about the substitute motion, but said he was told to stop before he could read it - violating an agreement he thought he had in advance with the presbytery to make a presentation. Someone from the floor called for a vote on the original motion shortly afterward, and it passed by a two-thirds majority on a voice vote, he said. "It was, to me, some political maneuvering and intimidation going on," he said. "I don't want to say 'deceit,' that's a strong word, but … I wanted to share that and I think after the question was called, nobody higher up … stood up for me. … I don't want to speak to their motivation, but it seemed like they were trying to push these commissions through and people didn't have all the information." The Rev. Robert "Bob" Anderson, Whitewater Valley's interim executive presbyter, could not be reached for comment. 'We're going to be all right' Bantz said he felt four emotions after the meeting: frustration, sadness, anger and anxiety. "But talking to people as we got home and even this morning, we definitely do feel pretty good, that we're going to be all right whatever happens," he said. Bantz said he is encouraged not only by his faith, but by the presbytery's strong-arm tactics with his church and at the presbytery meeting. "I think that in a sense, they're shooting themselves in the foot," he said. "I think people in the presbytery that did agree with us are kind of angry. I think that could rally some support." Bantz also feels his church's session and property are protected by the temporary restraining order. Both sides will be back in court June 10 for a hearing on an injunction, he said. "I think the point is that we're not opposed to dialogue … but maybe the best thing is to let the attorneys talk," he said. Bantz will inform his congregation of the administrative commission this Sunday. "Some of us are discouraged," he said. "Some of us are angry. I think for me, I was surprised but I really do feel strengthened by it, that God's with us and we're going to be all right." Wallace Street Church's pastor, the Rev. Douglas Barnes, said he will not comment until the process has concluded. A third administrative commission was approved, for a church that is closing: Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Ind.


Respond to this article

This Protestant Laird did just that!!!!

Neither the employment of commissions armed with the power to dissolve sessions nor,for that matter,

..........any other tactic evocative of Tiananmem Square in 1989 will prevent those whose aim is classical Presbyterianism from its lawful and just pursuit.It will serve only to galvanize the resolve of those who see the handwriting on the wall;pursuant to the ungodly culture being promoted by the so-called leadership in Louisville:

TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Daniel 5:27

As greatly as Presbyterians championed the cause of independence of the 13 colonies from Mother England,it is melancholically ironic that those of you at the pinnacle of the nation's largest Presbyterian denomination willfully aim to suppress not only the rights of free speech and assembly,but religious freedom!

At exactly what point was the Risen Christ supplanted as the Bridegroom of the Kirk by Joseph Stalin? Have you strayed so far from the traditional Biblical course that you've completely lost sight of the gravity of the
Divine commission? Are you so completely devoid of the knowledge of a wrathful God that you feel you can not only bond His people with smoke and mirrors and gunboat parliamentarianism,but make mockery after mockery of His true will,liturgy and purpose and emerge completely unscathed?In His own house,no less!

That awful day will surely come,
Th’appointed hour makes haste,
When I must stand before my Judge,
And pass the solemn test.

At the foreordained hour,divine justice will most assuredly be meted out on "High priests of post-modern Baalism".The Father's Right Hand,His Holy Arm,will smite those of you in Louisville,Pittsburgh,New York City,Houston,Indianapolis,Cincinnati and all points in between who have been thus inclined and engaged.

Make NO mistake-the Bible leaves no margin for error..........

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5:20

You will,if not in this mortal life,then certainly on the Day of Judgment,rue the day you endeavored to turn the Presbyterian Church (USA) into the irrelevant,impious,hermaphroditical bureaucratic juggernaut it has come to be perceived as!

Eric Wells,
Boardman,Ohio

We need Presbyterians like King Saint Ferdinand III

2008-05-18T08:55:00.017-04:00

As The Protestant Laird's Yard is singularly dedicated to preserving and promoting Protestant apologetics,many readers will undoubtedly wonder why the crest of a long dead Roman Catholic monarch would head any article herein.

Yet a wise man once said that "man learns from history what he does not learn from history".This offering's intent is to demonstrate how the valiant in Christendom have been summoned on numerous occasions to defy the forces of those who would subjugate the Kingdom of Christ on this Earth.This Protestant Laird,however intransigent in defense of the Reformed Faith,holds this foreordained urge nonetheless to transcend lines of cultural and/or theological demarcation;as the immutable Providence of God is stayed by none-save God,Himself!!!!!!!!!!

That being said,the above crest is the United Arms of Castile and Leon,which were initially flown by King Ferdinand III,who was born either on July 30 or August 5,1199.

King Saint Ferdinand prized,above all else,a restoration of what is now called Spain to Christianity.To this end,he consecrated his life and his reign was noted for his wise and just leadership in the legitimate admonition of Christ!!!!

His father was Alfonso IX of Leon,whose crown was placed under interdict;as his successive marriages drew the ire of the Vatican.Ferdinand's mother was Berenguela of Castile,who was actually a second cousin of Alphonso IX!She had been engaged to wed Conrad II,Duke of Swabia,who was the fifth son of Frederick III of Barbarossa,yet Conrad was murdered in 1196 by a man whose wife Conrad was said to have raped!!!!!

Compelled and appalled by the legal and moral contumacy of Ferdinand's father,as Alphonso IX also fathered several illegitimate children,

Pope Innocent III,one of the most powerful of the Medieval pontiffs, annulled their marriage in 1204 and eventually Berenguela took her children to the court of her father,Alphonso VIII of Castile.

Ferdinand became King of Castile in 1217 and married Beatrice,daughter of King Philip of Germany,two years later.Beatrice's moral virtue was well noted throughout Europe.Their nuptials assuaged many a Castilian subject;as it was feared Ferdinand might be given to the same marital discord as his father.
To this joyful union seven children were born.Incidentally,one was a daughter named Eleanor,who would be the cherished wife of a man who ranked 94th in a 2002 poll of 100 greatest Britons.He was one of a handful of medieval rulers NOT noted for extra-marital affairs and illegitimate issue.She was the apple of the eye of none other than:

Edward I "The Longshanks"

While we're at it, Ferdinand's great-grandparents were two of England's best remembered and celebrated rulers of the High Middle Ages.Both of whom were noted for outstanding legal cognizance and intellect-yet neither was ostentatious.........God Bless 'em.

Quite compellingly portrayed by Peter O'Toole and the late Katherine Hepburn in the 1968 classic The Lion in Winter....

King Henry II,who secured Plantagenet continuity on the English throne,albeit in an at times "tumultuous" union with

Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine

Anyway,as many were opposed to the unions of Castile and Leon,Ferdinand did not finally ascend to the throne of Leon until 1230.He thus became the first to preside over both kingdoms since the death of Alphonso VII in 1157.The civil unrest;pursuant to the unification of these two mighty bodies is rather paltry,by both administrative and historical gauges ,compared to that for which his glorious and pious reign would be duly noted.

Al-Andalus الأندلس

Between the early 8th and the late 15th centuries,much of the Iberian Peninsula (modern day Spain) was under the control of...you guessed it............ The Moors

In 711 AD,a Muslim army from North Africa invaded what was then Visigoth Christian Spain.Led by a brilliant Berber Muslim commander named Tariq ibn Ziyad طارق بن زياد,by the close of the decade,the majority of the peninsula was under Islamic jurisdiction. Now,non-Muslims within that territory(known as Mozarabs) were tolerated,provided they paid the jiyzah (Islamic poll tax levied against non-Muslims).

In succeeding generations,the level of toleration in Al-Andalus toward non-Muslims began to..shall we say...catapult.New laws were implemented to the clear disadvantage of the followers of Christ,particularly.It got to a point that the building of new churches or even the ringing of church bells was forbidden.

Between the years 850AD and 859AD,roughly 48 people,mostly Christian monks,were executed for crimes against Islamic law...

Most notable of the Martyrs of Corboba was Roderick,who was beheaded on March 13,857.

The Reconquista

Over a period of 750 years,several Christian kingdoms would come to reclaim the Iberian peninsula for the faith,the name of which is Spanish and Portuguese for "reconquest".The reign of Ferdinand figures quite prominently in this glorious collective usurpation of Christian duty,as stewards of the Covenant and as beneficiaries of the propitiatory substitution of the Lamb,to proclaim and spread the Faith!

In peace,Ferdinand retained a disquieting piety.On the eve of any battle,he would spend hours in his quarters praying for the fruition of Christianity in the region and the deliverance of the same from the Saracens!

Hence,in a fashion that can only be described as singularly predicated upon favorable Providence,Ferdinand triumphed against Islamic forces by capturing the towns of Ubeda in 1233,Cordoba in 1236,Jaen in 1246 and Seville two years after that!These,coupled with his concurrent occupation of Murcia,made him the de facto conqueror of virtually all of Andalusia!

Following the conquest of Cordoba,Ferdinand rendered Liber ludiciorum into Castilian and applied the standards of this ancient Germanic code for the first time since modern day Spain was controlled by the Visigoths.It would ultimately prove the basis for medieval Spanish law.He is credited also with having established a permanent border with the Kingdom of Aragon,in 1244.

In the vein of equity,he divided the lands conquered between the knights,nobility and church.In the vein of piety,he founded churches(several of which were converted from mosques he conquered),hospitals and would prove a vital catalyst in the strengthening of:

The University of Salamanca

This is Catedral de Burgos,one of Europe's most beautiful houses of worship.Construction of it began on July 20, 1221,per the mandate of Ferdinand III.

On May 30,1252,the crown of everlasting life was bestowed upon Ferdinand by the King of Kings and he was succeeded to the thrones of Castile and Leon by his son,Alphonso X.In 1671,he was declared a saint by the pope born Emilio Bonaventura Altieri a.k.a. Pope Clement X.

His body sleeps in the Cathedral of Seville,in the joyous hope of the resurrection!!!!Well done,thy good and faithful servant!!!!

This great king and champion for the Christian faith,known to his countrymen as San Fernando or "El Santo",has many places across the former Spanish Empire named in his honor.

................................................................................This includes the oldest cathedral in the United
States,San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio,Texas,where this likeness of this great king is on display.Of the worthiest note in this Protestant Laird's mind is the look of tranquility on the statue's face.All compliments to the sculptors,as that quite well portrays the countenance exuded by those foreordained to champion the perpetuity of the Bride of Christ!!!!

This Texas cathedral also holds the mortal remains of a famous figure of Scotch-Irish and Huguenot ancestry,namely:

....one who "killed him a bar when he was only three"....as well as the other valiant souls who gave their last full measure of devotion......... at the Alamo!!

Now,those who have followed faithfully the articles herein have probably sensed a vignette,however subtle, of partiality held by this Laird toward this champion of Christianity now long passed from labor to reward...

Your assumptions are correct...

Fifteen generations removed from Saint Ferdinand is a lady named Sarah Ludlow.Quite noted for her keen literary and domestic acumen.She would become the wife of Captain John Carter.Their son,Robert "King" Carter is the maternal grandfather of
His Excellency Benjamin Harrison V of Virginia

Hence,this Laird's partiality!.....It's a blood thing :-)

Above all else........it's a Christian thing!!!

Perhaps the time has come for a Presbyterian Reconquista!!!!

In our age,given its rather pandemic secularistic urges,it's difficult for many to digest the idea of such zealotry and "extreme prejudice" in the matter of the furtherance of the Father's Kingdom on Earth.While so many in mainstream American Protestantism have endeavored to the limits of their energies and powers of meticulous exactitude to criminalize the mindset. If alive today,the Guevarist elite would undoubtedly try to label Ferdinand as either racist or delusional because it's not "normal" to exude that type of adherence to what the United Nations has coined "dogmatic"!

This Protestant Laird offers a different view with respect to this Castilian king.Not because of our distant and collateral tie of blood,but rather through the oneness through Christ,the gift of faith,the immutability of Providence and a proprietary attitude concerning His Church on Earth!If the foreordained course of the Presbyterian church (USA) is true reform,it will undoubtedly require extreme diligence,measures and resolve;as the internal enemies of true Reformed doctrine (i.e.Westminster standards and Dordrecht quinquarticular considerations) are far too deeply entrenched to afford us the luxury of parliamentary gentility!The Laissez-faire Biblical and confessional approach,coupled with enforcement of Utopian Socialist motifs by way of property rights by synods and runaway presbyteries,underscoring the spiritual and moral corruption at the helm, is nothing but extortion!!!!!!

Those churches and communicants who remain yet inclined to seek renewal and/or a return to classical,scripturally cogent liturgy and prayer are subject to blacklisting,ostracism and all other variations of partisan martyrdom!!!

Hence,this Protestant Laird safely speaks for the majority of the PCUSA when he asserts:

We need more Presbyterians like King Saint Ferdinand III