The Forming of the PCA: Part 6

Read Part 1.
Read Part 2.
Read Part 3.
Read Part 4.
Read Part 5.

There are many questions circulating out there by some elders of the PCA concerning the future of our denomination. Since this is a Pastoral blog, I believe it a good thing to look back at some of the writings of the fathers of our denomination as they were nearing the end of the PCUS and considering themselves what was to become of their own denomination, which in the end led to the formation of the PCA.  I believe we can learn from them, and so the following is Part 6 of this little series looking back to 'the fathers of the PCA.'  Please take time to read the entirety though it is long for a blog.  Trust me this is crucial.

Take note of the year this was written and also that this is a transcription of a public speech (address) and was transcribed on a typewriter.  Therefore, you will notice many spelling errors.  They didn't have spell check in those days I am afraid.

September 1st, 1971 Presbyterian Journal (Pgs. 7-9, 18)
"Getting Set For What's Coming"
By W. Jack Williamson

We have rounded the bend and are heading toward the continuation of a Presbyterian Church loyal to Scripture and the Reformed Faith. Praise be the almighty God! 

I believe that the Holy Spirit has led us to consensus: "to accept the apparent inevitability of division of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, a division caused by the program of the radical ecumenists, and to move now toward a continuing body of congregations and presbyteries loyal to Scripture and the Westminster Standards."

We see today the clear teachings of the Gospel being muted in favor of humanism, universalism and syncretism. We see a constant and progressive lowering of moral and spiritual values in some of the pronouncements of our Church. For many years faithful men and women have attempted to warn our people of this tragic situation developing within our Church. We have attempted to reverse the trends and although we have slowed them down, we have not stopped them.

There are many men teaching in our seminaries and Church related colleges who do not believe or teach the faith of our fathers. There are many men and women in our pulpits who do not believe or accept the basic tenets of our faith. There are many men and women in the official employ of our Church who are not faithful to our standards. We have lost both ability and the will to discipline those practicing and promoting such heresies.

One of the three main elements of the real Church is the right administration of Church discipline. However, we have so neglected this element that our beloved Church is both de facto and de jure apostate. It is simply a false statement to assert that the Church, under the umbrella principle of "unity in diversity," should be allowed to remain a conglomeration of believers and unbelievers.

According to Matthew, when t h e disciples asked our Lord to explain the parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus said, "the field is the world." (sic) It is not in keeping with Scripture to think of the Church as our mission field.

Root of the Matter

Jesus sends His disciples under a great commission to go into all the world and evangelize, but in our Church today we are in a position where most of our time, energy and money are being spent to evangelize the Church! We are so introverted with our conflicts within the Church that we are sadly neglecting the real battleground where aching hearts and blighted souls are being lost on sin's destructive shoals.

The trumpet is making an uncertain sound. This is a condition that we must not, we will not permit to continue.

The basic issue is the authority and integrity of the Bible. The questioning of this authority and the erosion of this integrity have been principally responsible for causing our apostasy. Certainly it is not necessary for me to document for you that long list of official and unofficial acts, pronouncements and programs of our Church which clearly prove its disdain for both the authority and integrity of the Word of God.

If the trumpet is to make a certain sound, a reaffirmation of this authority and integrity of Scripture in a new Church structure is necessary.

How will almighty God take care of the situation? No man knows. We know that God is sovereign, that His Gospel has not changed, nor has the power of the Holy Spirit been withdrawn, but the "how" and "when" are locked in the secret counsels of His own will. We know that God can bring a great revival that can convict and change those in positions of leadership in our Church. We should pray fervently and constantly for such a revival. In our human judgment, however, we see no signs of any such revival.

We know that God can give us victory in the courts of our Church. We should pray and work fervently and constantly for such a victory, but we see no signs of any real trend toward unseating those who have so firmly grasped the ecclesiastical reins of our Church.

Lesson of History

We see in history that when God's chosen race became so apostate as to reject His Word inscripturate and His Word incarnate, He raised up a new Israel instead of reviving the old. In the new Church of the Middle Ages, God did not give the reformers victory in the existing apostate structure, but led them to reaffirm their loyalty to the final authority and integrity of His Word in a new structure.

We see a generation of faithful men and women being gradually called to their heavenly home; and we see them being replaced each year from our seminaries with a vast majority of young men and women thoroughly indoctrinated in the apostasy and heresy of t h e i r teachers. (sic) In our human judgment, this condition in our beloved Church cannot get better but will progressively deteriorate.

This is why I believe the Holy Spirit has led us to a consensus to accept the apparent inevitability of division in our Church and to move now toward a continuing body of congregations and presbyteries loyal to Scripture and the Reformed Faith. I firmly believe we are in the position described so clearly by Charles H. Spurgeon about 80 years ago. Listen carefully to the exhortation of that great man of God.

Turning Point

"We admire a man who was firm in the faith, say 400 years ago...but such a man today is a nuisance, and must be put down. Call him a narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one. Yet imagine that in those ages past, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and their compeers had said, 'The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our chambers, put on our nightcaps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better.'

"Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous bogs of error would have swallowed all. These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on...

"It is today as it was in the Reformers' days. Decision is needed. Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day? We who have had the Gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors, who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it....

"Look you, sirs, there are ages yet to come. If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to His truth today. We have come to a turning point in the road. If we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our children's children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to His Word."

Yes, my dear friends, I am convinced we have come to that "turning point in the road." God has turned our spiritual eyes in a new direction, toward a new goal. I do not believe that the time or the method for reaching that goal has yet been clearly and certainly revealed. But whereas in years past we have been confused as we looked in many directions, now God is showing us that we should take positive action and move in the direction of a continuing Church loyal to Scripture and the Reformed Faith. In this movement that which is first and foremost required of us is that we exercise and exhibit true Christian statesmanship. Such statesmanship circumscribes our movement with certain principles for this hour: 

We must move only as God's Holy Spirit moves us. We must remember God's rule that it is "not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." If this movement be truly of God, it must be led by men and women filled with His Holy Spirit. It must be undergirded with much prayer. 

Christian statesmanship requires that we curb our human impatience and impetuosity. We must not take precipitous and premature action. We all are sick and tired of these trends in our Church, and we want some immediate relief, but we must not run ahead of God lest we fail. As Gamaliel so aptly put it, "If this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it."

Just as God has so clearly turned our eyes from wandering to and fro over a multitude of solutions to a consensus of a new direction, so surely He shall show us so clearly the time and the way, if we wait patiently on Him. We move only as His Holy Spirit leads. This is God's revealed way.

Moving Together

We must move together. Although we are saved as individuals, we are called into a corporate fellowship, the Church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. One of the great problems for men and women of courage and conviction is their fierce individualism. Such men and women have a tendency to hear no voice but their own. This tends to create an independence which is detrimental to our corporate fellowship. 

This attitude can lead individuals and congregations toward a feeling of self sufficiency and isolationism as an insulation against the troubles of the times. Following such a course may give temporary relief to a few, but it is to neglect the warrant of Scripture as to our corporate responsibility. A necessary and desirable diversity in unity binds us in the true Church. Otherwise, we are subjected to the real, twin dangers of narrow sectarianism and further division over minor issues.

This tendency to adamant individualism could lead us in a movement that overlooks our corporate responsibility to those thousands of sheep who are even now in the clutches of the wolves and know it not, or knowing, cannot help themselves. They must have our help if they are to be rescued. Christian statesmen must consider their corporate responsibility to the fellowship, for this is the mandate of Scripture.

Dr. Morton Smith, member of the College of Scholars of Presbyterian Churchmen United and professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, in a recent article stated this principle in the following manner:

"Another implication that must be seen from these Biblical principles is that the idea of an entirely independent and separate congregation is not Biblical. This is clear from this 15th and 16th chapters of the Book of Acts. (sic) Thus, for those who grow restive under their present Church situation, the avenue of independence is not really a Biblical option for them."

The Very First Church

We have the pattern of the first century Church in the Apostolic Age: When problems arose, they met together in council in Jerusalem to hear each other, reach a consensus and move together. In the days ahead we must be keenly aware that Satan would divide us by using our own pride in our individual opinions. We must be humble even as Christ our king was humble. We must be willing to subordinate our judgments to those of the corporate fellowship, unless to do so would violate our conscience. This will mean that we will not move exactly as any individual desires but we will be exercising Christian statesmanship in our corporate responsibility as we move together.

We must move with honor. The head of the Church is Jesus Christ, the King, and He is worthy of all honor. We are His ambassadors. As Christian statesmen, we must do nothing that would bring dishonor to His name. The end does not justify the means for us. We are men under vows. We have sworn allegiance to a constitution. We are bound in honor thereby. No unconstitutional movement can be justified unless and until all constitutional doors have been closed and the situation would bind the conscience to sin.

These doors are not yet closed. Instead, before us now for study, is the draft of a plan of union with the UPUSA. In it is a provision for congregations and ministers to elect not to enter, the so-called "escape clause." This is a constitutional door which can be used with honor. I am fully aware of all the reservations and conjectures about the possibility of this door being closed because of the opposition to it in both Churches, but I would remind you that a door was contained in the 1954 plan of union with the UPUSA, and in the plan of union with the RCA.

Both Dr. J. Randolph Taylor and Dr. Robert Lamar, the co-chairmen of the committee for drafting the plan, have publicly and privately committed themselves to the preservation of an equitable escape clause. I believe that men of good will shall prevail in recognizing that when Christians have irreconcilable differences, it is much better to depart in peace in a spirit of fairness than to attempt to force a position which violates the conscience of others.

I am aware of the tactic of unreasonable delay. Those in control have said that a plan would be presented to the 1973 General Assemblies. I will accept the good faith of those who have so promised until they have proven otherwise. But all these considerations are mere speculations on the future. Only God can control that door. Until He closes it or permits it to be closed through unreasonable delays, I believe Christian statesmanship requires us to wait, for when we move, we must move with honor.

We must prepare for the move. We would still hope and pray that God would bring a great revival or give us victory in this present structure; but Christian statesmanship requires us to prepare for the alternative of a new structure. We must remember that whereas the issue has long ago been clearly delineated for most of us, it has not been so clearly defined for many of our brethren who have been lulled to complacence and indifference by the modernists. We must prepare them.

We must undertake a massive campaign to inform each local congregation and minister in our Church. The ultimate decision must be made at the congregational level. Multitudes of congregations are still in the darkness. We must see that the light is shed abroad in our Church in order that the faithful will be able to make an informed and intelligent decision.

In the next two to three years each congregation in our Church is going to have to make a decision as to its future. We must prepare them for this day of decision. The issue must be clear. The issue must be simple. Many are now confused by the complexity of the conflicting issues. UPUSA union presents a clear and simple issue that all can understand. So does a confessional change. Restructuring does not present such an issue. The people are not prepared to move because of restructuring.

Those in positions of leadership are preparing the form of a new structure. May I suggest that it is time for local sessions and congregations to grapple seriously with this question. A simple resolution such as this might be adopted by your session or congregation:

"Be it resolved that this session (congregation) hereby approves in principle the continuation of a Presbyterian Church loyal to Scripture and to the Reformed Faith, and hereby resolves, should such a Church come into being in God's providence, to be a part of it."

These are days for preparation; and we must be preparing for the move.

Hence, I have suggested that true Christian statesmanship for these days immediately ahead dictates that: We move only as God's Holy Spirit moves us. We move together. We move with honor. We move after due preparation.

May God grant us wisdom and give us courage for the making of these days. May we remember this faithful saying of the Apostle Paul: "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus...Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end."