PRRMI letter to the GAC The Layman Online Wednesday, June 23, 1999 Editor's note: The following letter was sent by Brad Long, executive director of Presbyterian and Reformed Renewal Ministries International to the General Assembly Council. It was delivered to GAC Executive Director John Detterick and GA commissioners on Tuesday, June 22, 1999. Letter to the GAC: Your letter justifying your acceptance of the Women of Faith awards just made a divisive situation worse. No nice arrangements of words can justify the naming of three women whose behaviors, and their own stated agendas and writings, embody radical feminist and pagan ideologies that are contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grieved that your committee did not discern that these whom you have honored as "women of faith" embody the same pagan ideologies of the November, 1993 ReImagining Conference. By letting these awards stand you are now offering official approval of theologies that a past Assembly rightly declared to be "beyond the boundaries of the reformed faith." You may be caught up in your own willful blindness, but the local congregations in this denomination are not so deceived. Many are offended and outraged. The award recipients are promoting apostasy. Extending official recognition and commendation to them invites God's rightful judgement against the PC (USA). To uphold this selection in the name of diversity and inclusiveness is to reveal the extent of the deception that has penetrated the leadership of the church. Further you mock your own ideal of "diversity." These three women are cut from the same bolt of cloth. This choice does not reflect the Christ-centered diversity of Christian Women. You are not giving glory to Jesus Christ nor are you advancing His Kingdom. This "in your face" stance is anathema to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and destroys the basis that we have for unity in the church. This is responsible for the schism in the soul of the denomination. In describing the 40 to 41 vote by the GAC the Rev. Cathy Chisholm stated "The spirit was really with us." In your letter you also stated, "We even dare to believe the Holy Spirit is leading us and teaching us how to be one body in spite of our differences and conflicts." No doubt you are being led by a spirit, but it is not the Holy Spirit. According to Scripture and our historic creeds, the Holy Spirit's passion and purpose is to give glory to Jesus Christ and to seal the gospel as revealed to us in Scripture upon our hearts. (John 16:13-14, 1 John 2:22-23) It is contrary to the Holy Spirit's purpose and nature to:
What is required of the GAC is not a skillfully crafted letter which recognizes and regrets the anger and pain of evangelicals, but repentance. If there is not true repentance then you should be removed from office as unfit to exercise spiritual oversight of this Church. Your recent actions reveal your heart and your goals for this Church. You have held up to the world your models of faith. And we emphatically declare that these are neither our models nor the models we intend for our children. We are not going there with you! The giving of this award demonstrates that due process, debate and even changes to the constitution of the church do nothing to stop this tide of heresy entering our beloved church. It is time for those who insist on following these models to cease bringing dishonor to Jesus Christ and leave the PC (USA). It is time for individual Christians and congregations who love Jesus Christ and are submitted to the Bible as the word of God, to quit paying for agencies of the General Assembly who are so deceived that their due process awards persons who are destroying the very gospel we are charged to take to the world. I believe the Holy Spirit says to all of us who seek God's grace and favor upon the PC (USA), it is time to "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you–even Jesus." Acts 3:19-20. Under the Mercy, Dr. Brad Long Executive Director of Presbyterian and Reformed Renewal Ministries International CC: Rev. John Detterick Rev. Cliff Kirkpatrick Rev. Cathy Chisholm General Assembly Commissioners Presbyterian Renewal Network |
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