Page 481 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

PRESBYTERIAN

stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Is. 46:10). Indeed, teaching of the Word of God. The Bible requires careful
He will. He is Almighty God, and He is to be exalted. interpretation, it is true, but if we can’t take the Word of
It is wrong, though, and a very strange thing, indeed, God at face value, in context, there is no way we can
to define a doctrine of the sovereignty of God which dogmatically know what it is saying.
goes counter to what that God has said about Himself! I have a big God, a sovereign God, but I am neither
The Westminster Confession says, “By the decree of Calvinist nor Arminian. The Bible says God would have
God ... some men and angels are predestinated unto all men be saved. I believe that. The Bible says man can
everlasting life, and OTHERS FOREORDAINED TO say no to God. As amazing as this seems to me, I believe
EVERLASTING DEATH. These angels and men, thus it. If God wants to give man the potential to resist Him
predestinated and foreordained, are particularly and and to reject Him and to say no to Him, who am I to say
UNCHANGEABLY DESIGNED; and their number is so this detracts from His sovereignty or makes Him any less
certain and definite, THAT IT CANNOT BE EITHER Almighty God? It does not detract from His sovereign
INCREASED OR DIMINISHED. ... they who are power one iota. [See Atonement, Election, Eternal
elected ... are effectually called unto faith in Christ ... Security, Gospel, Grace, Overcome.]
NEITHER ARE ANY OTHER REDEEMED by Christ, Presbyterian church polity. The presbyterian form of
effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and church government “is based on the principle of
saved, BUT THE ELECT ONLY.” This is erroneous human representative government and of one spiritual order
philosophy, and it makes out God to be a liar, but the which is vested in the presbyters. A series of ascending
Bible plainly says salvation is for whosoever will (Jn. judicatories—session, presbytery, synod, and general
3:16; Re. 22:17). The Bible repeats this and repeats this assembly—exercise government ... ruling and teaching
and repeats this. The Bible says Christ “gave himself a elders chosen by the local congregation have spiritual
ransom FOR ALL” (1 Ti. 2:6). He purchased even wicked responsibility over the people. Elders also represent the
false teachers who are lost and on their way to hell; congregation in higher church bodies—presbytery,
when these men deny the biblical Jesus Christ, the Bible synod, and general assembly” (20th-Century). We
says they deny “the Lord that bought them” (2 Pe. 2:1). should also note that there are a few fundamental
He bought them, though they are damned and on their Presbyterian congregations today which believe more
way to hell! Away with any man-made doctrine of strongly in the independence of the local assembly and
limited atonement. which maintain rule by a plurality of elders but do not
The Westminster Confession says those who are recognize the authority of presbyters outside the
saved are “effectually called unto faith in Christ.” This assembly.
means God’s call to salvation is irresistible, but the Bible There are at least eight Presbyterian denominations
plainly says that God’s call CAN be resisted. The Lord in the U.S. THE BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH is a
Jesus Christ wept over Jerusalem and testified, “O fundamentalist group with membership of roughly
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, 10,000. It stands for old-line Presbyterian doctrine and
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often is openly opposed to ecumenism and modernism. It’s
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a origin is traced to the Fundamentalist-Modernist
hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye controversies of the early 20th century. Conservative
would not (Mt. 23:37). He would; they would not. Presbyterians who were opposed to theological
There is no irresistible grace here. He said to the modernism set up their own seminary and mission
stubborn Pharisees, “And ye will not come to me, that ye board to offer an alternative to the ones which had been
might have life” (Jn. 6:40). He would have given these taken over by liberal thought. The leaders of this
lost men life, but they would not come. He would; they conservative movement were brought to trial by the
would not. There is no irresistible grace here, either. denomination and defrocked. The apostates charged the
That God’s grace can be resisted and refused is a matter Bible believers with heresy! The group which
of Scriptural record from Genesis to Revelation. Cain subsequently pulled out of the old-line Presbyterian
refused God (Ge. 4:5-16); men living during the Great denomination formed two different independent
Tribulation will also refuse God (Re. 9:20-21; 16:9, 11). groups: The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, led by J.
Men have been foolishly refusing and rejecting God’s Gresham Machen, and the Bible Presbyterian Church,
call for the entire, wretched, 6,000 years of human led by Carl McIntire. In 1941 the Bible Presbyterians
history. joined with other fundamentalists to form the American
Away with any man-made teaching which denies Council of Christian Churches in opposition to the
these plain statements of Scriptures. Someone might liberal National Council of Churches in America. In
say, “I can explain those Scriptures.” Away with that, addition to standing against modernism and
too. I don’t want anyone explaining away the plain ecumenism, the Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC)

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