January 2015

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January 11: Van Horn on WSC Q. 2

11 January, 2015 in January 2015 by archivist | No comments

Our plan this year is to visit each Lord’s Day the studies on the Westminster Shorter Catechism prepared by the Rev. Leonard T. Van Horn. Rev. Van Horn was one of the founding fathers of the PCA, pastored churches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Mississippi., and Tennessee. He served for a time as Vice President at Covenant Theological Seminary and served as a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary. Rev. Van Horn wrote these studies while serving as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Port Gibson, MS.    

STUDIES IN THE WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM
by Rev. Leonard T. Van Horn

Vol. 1 No. 2, February, 1961

Question 2. —  What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?

Answer — The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glori­fy and enjoy Him.

Scripture References: 2 Tim. 3:18. Isa. 8:20. I John 1:3. Luke 16:29,31.

Study Questions :

1. What is the meaning of the word “rule” in this question?

When this word is used in a religious sense it means a direction or a command. It naturally implies the idea of straightness by which a man may attain the best possible end.

2. Why is it necessary to have such a rule?

It is necessary as man needs an objective standard by which he may pattern his life. The Word of God, as his rule, must be the supreme authority in the life of the man. It should be noted that if man has placed something else above the Word of God, whether it is con­science or tradition or the church, he will tend to use that authority to interpret the Word of God in many facets of his life.

3. What do we mean when we say the Scriptures are the Word of God? We mean that they aie the Word of God in written form. We place no limitations on that statement. We mean that the Bible is the Word of God and the words in the Bible are the very words of God. We mean that the Bible is trustworthy because God inspired it and inspiration includes the very words of Scripture.

4. Some say that the Bible “contains” the Word of God. Is this true?

If they mean by it that the word of God forms the contents of the Bible it is true. But if they mean that the word of God forms only a part of the contents of the Bible and the rest makes up the words of men, they are not speaking the truth. Or if they mean by it that the Bible only becomes the Word of God when the Holy Spirit makes some portions of it applicable to the hearer, they are not speaking the truth. This would make man the judge of the Word of God. When’our Shorter Catechism speaks of “the word of God” it means what the Westminster Standards have historically meant, that is, the Bible, is the Word of God as to both its contents and its form, so that there is nothing in it that God did not want to be in it, and reversely, it contains all that the Lord wanted to be contained therein.

5. Since this Word of God is to be our only rule, how can we know that it is the Word of God?

We know it by our simple acceptance of God’s statement that it is the word of God and that it is perfect. The Holy Spirit shows us Christ as our Saviour and brings the conviction to our hearts that it is the Word of God and we accept it by faith. Our Confession teaches us that our full assurance of the fact that the Bible is in­fallible and has the authority of God is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

It is strange that so often the Christian who realizes the theological fact of the authority of the Scripture is the very person that does not live under that authority as he should. There is a great need today for Christians who do not only believe in the authority of the Scriptures but who live as the Scriptures command them to live.

It has been said by many that one of the hardest places for a Bible- believing Christian to live in a way that is consistent with the Word of God is in a conservative Seminary. This sounds surprising and yet so many times it is true. A Professor in a theological seminary once said he thought the reason for this was that there was indeed a concentrated study of theology but not enough concentrated devotional study of the Jesus Christ of the Scriptures. Possibly what is true of many of our semi­naries is equally true of many of our churches. Lip service to our creeds is present but heart service to our Saviour is sometimes missing.

Our church today is in the midst of many problems. There are the inroads of a subjective theology where man becomes the judge of Scripture; the cry that is being raised against the conservative position; the emphasis on organizational unity. All of these should motivate us to examine once again our position regarding the authority of Scripture. And in the midst of our examination we should realize that Scripture holds for us a high standard of personal holiness. It is good to be able to say that we believe in our Westminster Standards. It is good to be able to say that we have a great heritage from our forefathers of the Reforma­tion. The danger with us today is the danger of insisting we believe, in­sisting we have a great heritage without insisting in our daily living that we practice what we say we believe.

The authority of the Scripture is just as effectual, just as binding, in our practice as it is in our principles. There is great danger that the whole tone of the Christian mind in regard to practical Christianity is being lowered. The danger of lowering it in daily, personal living. The danger of lowering it in the concessions we are making to those who deny the faith, who deny it in their actions and aims if not in their statement of belief. The danger of lowering it in the talking a lot about God without walking with Him day by day, moment by moment. Sepa­rated Christian living, according to the authority of Scripture, is not present as it should be.

Dr. J. L. Packer says it this way, “To accept the authority of Scrip­ture means in practice being willing, first to believe what it teaches, and then to apply its teaching to ourselves for our correction and guid­ance.” (Fundamentalism and the Word of God, Pg. 69).

We have a rule by which we may glorify and enjoy Him. Possibly we should remember that Scripture is profitable not only for “doctrine” but also for “instruction in righteousness.”

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January 10: Politics and Religion

10 January, 2015 in January 2015 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

Given some recent discussion on the Web, over whether it is appropriate to speak on political matters from the pulpit, the following seemed an appropriate post today, an excerpt from the diary of the Rev. Jacob Jones Janeway, a prominent Philadelphia pastor in the early 19th-century.

J.J. Janeway

Politics ran high, and Philadelphia was the headquarters of the excitement. The old federal party was fast losing its power. “War with Great Britain was advocated by one party, and deprecated by the other. The rancorous debates were unfavourable to religion, and the hopes of the pious were mocked then, as they have been since. Dr. Janeway would have been more than than human, not to have felt some of the influences around him. But we see from his journal, the jealous guard he maintained over his heart.

January 10, 1808, Sabbath.

“Praise to God for prolonging my life to another year. Oh! may this year be spent in the service of my God. Make thy grace, O my God, sufficient for me, and thy strength perfect in my weakness. At the commencement of the year I felt not right; may the latter end be better than the beginning. In conversing on politics, I am too apt to be too engaged, and to feel too keenly. May God give me grace to govern my temper and conversation, and preserve me from taking too great an interest in them. In the heat of debate, I am urged to say what is imprudent and unbecoming. Two instances of such behaviour have occurred last week. May no more occur. I fear lest our expectation of a revival of religion, may not be realized. O Lord God, let the blessing come, and bestow on us a spirit of prayer, that we may wrestle and prevail. Hope, still hope, my soul.”

LIFE OF DR. J. J. JANEWAY, pp. 130-131.

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January 9: The Auburn Affirmation (1924)

9 January, 2015 in January 2015 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

The Root of the Presbyterian Apostasy?

When church historians evaluate the history of American Presbyterianism, the publication of the “Auburn Affirmation” will stand out in importance like the nailing of Luther’s ninety-five theses on the Wittenberg Germany church door in 1517. Except this Affirmation, unlike that of the German reformer, constituted a major offensive against biblical Christianity.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1923 had repeated the earlier high court’s affirmations of five essential truths which made up the fundamentals of Christianity. They were the inerrant Scripture, the Virgin Birth, the substitutionary atonement of Christ, His literal bodily resurrection from the dead on the third day, and supernatural miracles.  However the very next year, on January 9, 1924, one hundred and fifty Presbyterian elders issued an affirmation in Auburn, New York which stated that these five fundamentals were not necessary and essential doctrines for the church. Eventually the number of ministers to sign it would increase to 1,294 ordained ministers, about ten per cent of the clergy on the rolls of the Presbyterian church.

[« The Auburn Affirmation as it appeared in its first edition, including a list of 150 signers.]

The Auburn Affirmation used many familiar terms on which unsuspecting Christians might be deceived. Thus, it affirmed inspiration, but denied Scripture to be without error. It affirmed the incarnation, but denied the Virgin Birth. It affirmed the atonement, but denied that Christ satisfied divine justice and reconciled us to God. It affirmed the resurrection of Christ, but denied Jesus rose from the dead with the same body in which He was crucified. It affirmed Jesus did many mighty works, but denied that He was a miracle worker.

The tragedy of this Affirmation was that not one of its signers were ever brought up for church discipline by their respective presbyteries. This sin of omission hastened the apostasy of the church, as many of the signers would later find placement in every agency of the church.

Words to Live By:  “Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you in regard to our common salvation. [But] I found it necessary and was impelled to write you and urgently appeal to and exhort [you] to contend for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints [the faith which is that sum of Christian belief which was delivered verbally to the holy people of God”]—Jude v. 3 (Amplified)

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January 8: Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

8 January, 2015 in January 2015 by archivist | No comments

Prestigious Congregation Votes into the Presbyterian Church in America

Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church has had a remarkable history.  The Fort Lauderdale, Florida congregation began in an elementary school cafeteria in 1959 with forty seven people under the ministry of D. James Kennedy. 

Graduating class at Columbia Theological Seminary, 1959.
From left to right Masaya Hibino, Seth Q. Shaver, Sam B. Laine,
David B. Pedersen, Clarence D. Weaver, Jr. and D. James Kennedy.

Preaching his first year of ministry in what he claimed were the fifty-two best sermons ever heard by an American congregation, the attendance dropped from forty seven to seventeen!  Upon receiving an invitation from a rural pastor in Georgia to come and preach a week of evangelistic meetings, he gladly accepted, anything  to get away from the fiasco then in the making in Florida.  Upon arriving in Georgia, the rural pastor, Kennedy Smartt, informed him that in addition to the public proclamation of the Word, Jim Kennedy would be going door to door in the area to personally present the gospel.  This badly scared Jim Kennedy. He used to tell people that he couldn’t do personal evangelism because of a “back problem.” If pressed, the “back problem” was a yellow streak down the back.

After a bungled attempt at the first “cold” door, the young minister then watched Pastor Smartt lead the person to a profession of faith.  In fact, over the next week, he watched Kennedy Smartt lead soul after soul to Christ.  What he didn’t know at the time was that the two rural congregations had prayed for the salvation of specific people for two years.  Further, just prior to the evangelistic meetings, a young banker has dropped dead.  That fact, plus the prayers, made the diagnostic question which began with “Suppose you were to die today,” suddenly real to every citizen in the area.  D. James Kennedy would return to his young dying congregation with a new emphasis in soul-winning.

Using the method and later making it his thesis for his Ph.D. degree from New York University, the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church became the fastest growing church in the Presbyterian Church in the United States, with 8000 in attendance at the dedication of their new building in 1973.

[» Construction of the stainless steel spire, with cross being hoisted in place »]

All was not well however with their membership in the Presbyterian Church, U.S. Theological liberalism was gaining ground, despite the best efforts of conservatives to win the battle for the Bible.  After years of seeking to reclaim the denomination back to its historic stance of biblical faithfulness, on January 8, 1978, the church voted to throw its support to the Presbyterian Church in America.

Words to Live By: “The visible church is a society made up of all such as . . . do profess the true religion, and of their children.”  (L.C. 62)  This answer centers around the phrase “the true religion.” Suppose a denomination with a great past of faithfulness to the true religion slowly but surely turns away from the faith of their spiritual fathers.  Suppose that any and all attempts to turn it back fails.  There is only one remedy, and that is to leave it for a denomination which still proclaims the whole counsel of God.  And that is what this congregation, and countless others, did back in 1973. Praise God for the Presbyterian Church in America.

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January 7: Rev. Alonzo R. Cocke, D.D. [1858-1901]

7 January, 2015 in January 2015 by archivist | Permalink

Freely adapted from a tribute written upon his death, the original source now long lost in antiquity. . . 

cockeARIt was on this day, January 7th, in 1858 that Alonzo and Frances Rice Cocke praised God for the birth of a healthy son, and they named him Alonzo Rice Cocke. He was a decendent of both the Rev. Samuel Blair, pastor of the historic Presbyterian church at Faggs Manor, Pennsylvania, and of the Rev. David Rice, who went from Virginia to Kentucky after the Revolutionary War, and did much to establish Presbyterian churches west of the Alleghanies.

Like Samuel of old he was early called of God. He professed conversion at the age of eight, telling his mother he hoped it was the grace of God that made him happy and even at that young age, was said to have shown a perfect understanding of the plan of salvation. His father having died, his religious training rested upon his mother. When he was just nine years old, he joined Diamond Hill Church, of Roanoke Presbytery. After reading the life of General Lee, he said, “I had rather preach the gospel than be the greatest general that ever was.”

Alonzo studied at the New London Academy and later at Washington and Lee University, graduating in his twentieth year with distinction. He went to Union Seminary in Richmond, a school founded by a distinguished member of his mother’s family, finishing his course at the age of twenty-two. He preached at Covington, Va. and Hot Springs, Ark., declining calls to these churches. His first regular pastorate, beginning in 1880, was with the Windy Cove Church and when the congregation at Millboro was particularized, he served both churches as pastor.

As we see so often with pastors in the nineteenth century, he waited until he had a pulpit to serve before taking a wife, and so in 1880 he was married to Miss Jeanie Leyburn, of Lexington, Virginia, who was very helpful to him in his work. One child, Frances Lea came to bless their lives. It was here at the Windy Cove Church where he met the saintly Rev. Samuel Brown who was like a father to him in his friendship.

At last, Rev. Cocke was compelled to resign his beloved pastorate on account of ill health in 1884. After recuperating he took a course under the brilliant Dr. R. L. Dabney in Texas. While there he taught some of the classes of Dr. Dabney who said of him, “Such a display of didactic skill and tact showed him to be a born teacher.” Great inducements were offered him to remain in Texas, but personal and domestic duties caused him to return to Virginia.

He was called to Waynesboro in 1886. The church there had 105 members, but during his pastorate it increased to five or six hundred with two organizations. In all, eight hundred were added to the church. During his pastorate there he filled the chair of Philosophy at the Valley Seminary. He was offered the Presidency of Agnes Scott Seminary, in Decatur, Georgia, and the chair of Systematic Theology in South Western University, Clarksville, Tennessee. He was appointed chaplain of the University of Virginia but served only one term (1895-96), as his congregation was unwilling to sever the pastoral relation.

Rev. Cock’s zeal for winning souls was earnestly displayed at the University of Virginia. Beginning in 1897, Dr. Cocke wrote the Practical and Illustrative Department of The Earnest Worker. He authored Studies in Ephesians and Studies in St. John and No Immersion in the Bible. These works were all enthusiastically received by his friends. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was confered on him on the same day by Washington and Lee University in Virginia. and Central University, in Kentucky.

“Such was his culture of mind and heart, his ability and many sided activities, his rare union of pastoral and preaching gifts, his tact, his sympathy and his cheerful courage, that a large promise of usefulness in the service of God and man was before him,” thus wrote one of his friends. One of the members of Windy Cove Church writes, “We know that earth is better and brighter, lives richer and fuller, hopes and aspirations more glorious for those who came into close contact with his saintly life.

Rev. Cocke not only preached the glorious gospel with great earnestness and power–he lived it. He lived among his people and he loved them–each man, woman, and child felt sure of a sympathetic friend in him of him more can it be said than of any one I have ever known, ” ‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.’ ” One of the last sermons he preached was from the text of Revelation 21:21, “Each of the gates made of a single pearl.” He seemed to be gazing beyond the Pearly Gates into the celestial city. Those beautiful gates opened for him in a few days. He died at Mercy Hospital, in Chicago, on August 23, 1901, at the age of forty-three, following an operation. His body was brought back to Waynesboro and interred in River View Cemetery, where he awaits the resurrection call. For him to live was Christ and to die was gain.

Words to Live By:
To whom much is given, much is required. But do you feel your gifts to be small by comparison? Then be faithful with what the Lord has given you, for he who is faithful in the small things will be intrusted with greater.

Bibliography:
1. Studies in Ephesians. Lectures delivered at the Presbyterian church at Waynesboro, Va. Chicago : Fleming H. Revell, 1892. 137 p.

2. No Immersion in the Bible; or, Baptism as taught and practiced by Christ and the apostles. Richmond, Va., Presbyterian committee of publication, 1893. 80 p.

3. Studies in the Epistles of John, or, The Manifested Life. Richmond, VA : Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1895. 159 p.

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