Parker T. Williamson
Executive Editor
Rehearsing Handel and Rutter, counting candles,
dusting off shepherd’s crooks and reshaping angel wings …
from cathedral to countryside chapel, the church prepares for
Christmas.
It’s all about Jesus.
Meanwhile, at denominational headquarters, the General
Assembly Council trifles with a different gospel. It’s
not that they deny Jesus. They say they affirm the church’s
faith. But fearing that Jesus alone may be too confining, they
have given their imprimatur to a more inclusive scene. There’s
room in this inn for Gaia, the “earth mother,”
Buddha, Sophia, wiccans, warlocks, and whoever else might be
conjured by human imagination.
We don’t believe it, say members of the General Assembly
Council, but we will include in our programs those who do.
Declining to uphold the church’s faith, some council
members seem to have forgotten the duty of their office.
Scripture describes the result: “In those days there was
no king [authority] in Israel; every man did what was right in
his own eyes.”
The council’s refusal in September to insist on the
faithful proclamation of the gospel by every agency, program
and employee under its jurisdiction hurls our congregations
into a full-blown integrity crisis. How can we be loyal to our
Lord and Savior while supporting a denominational budget that
platforms pagan alternatives? None of us wants to make that
choice. The council should not force us to make it.
A call to leadership
There is a solution to this dilemma. Highland Park, Montreat
and other Presbyterian churches have proposed it. They are
calling on the General Assembly Council to require all of its
agencies to do their work under the authority of Scripture and
in conformity to the denomination’s confessions. It is
not enough for council members personally to affirm Biblical
faith. They must insist that those whom they superintend do so
as well.
Some denominational leaders argue that this would box them in,
rendering them unable to engage the religious pluralism that
they say characterizes the modern world. But there is nothing
particularly modern about the pluralism that they applaud.
Today’s ideologies are mere re-runs of the paganism that
was rejected by first-century Christians. Our call today –
as it was centuries ago – is to give these aberrations,
not a platform, but an answer. That answer is Jesus Christ.
At issue here is not the “right” of some to follow
different deities. If people choose to believe that God is a
turnip, of course they have that right. But the Presbyterian
Church (USA) is not obliged to showcase such notions.
As our congregations turn their hearts and minds toward
Bethlehem, let us renew our commitment to the King of kings
and Lord of lords. In a welcome statement to the Presbyterian
Coalition, John Detterick, executive director of the General
Assembly Council, urged the church to make that commitment.
Will the council follow his lead?