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Will the real Church please stand up?

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The Presbyterian Layman – Special Report – Confessing Church Movement
Volume 34, Number 3, Posted April 20, 2001

Williamson
Parker T. Williamson
Executive Editor
The question has been asked before. At Caesarea Phillipi, Jesus’ disciples gave a public opinion report: “Some people say you’re Elijah; some say John the Baptist; some say you’re Jeremiah or one of the prophets. …” Simon Peter declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter’s confession came, not from culture (“flesh and blood did not reveal this to you”), but from God. And when God spoke through Peter, the real Church stood up.

It happened again when a priest nailed his convictions to the sanctuary door. Martin Luther’s theses stood in sharp contrast to the ideology of a corrupt ecclesiastical establishment. When Luther confessed, the Church stood up.

Demoralized by World War I, the German people yearned for a new national identity. Adolf Hitler rose to the occasion, seducing national church leaders into Third Reich politics. But at Barmen, the real Church took its stand. Defying Hitler, faithful Christians declared their allegiance to the one Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other, they declared.

The Church emerges when Christians dare to distinguish gospel from culture. Such confessions win no popularity contests. They draw fire not only from non-Christians, but also from leaders of establishment religion who have accommodated to a non-Christian culture.

That line is being drawn again today. From coast to coast, Presbyterian sessions are confessing their commitment to the Church’s faith. They, like their forebears, contend with decisions of an ecclesiastical establishment that no longer obeys Scripture.

Despite pleadings from our congregations, the General Assembly Council has circled its wagons around agencies that continue to welcome “ReImagining God” rituals, bless homosexual behavior, substitute “diversity” for the gospel, deny that Jesus is the only Savior and demean Christians who revere God’s Word.

Besmirched by the cultural accommodations of their leadership, Presbyterians suffer guilt by association. What people in the pews experience is worse than embarrassment. It feels more like shame. Pastors have tried to hide denominational news from their people because they know it makes them restive. (Recently, The Presbyterian Outlook, closely aligned with the Louisville establishment, even suggested that tactic to its mostly clergy subscribers!)

But in this information age, the truth cannot be hidden. Thus, church sessions across the country are feeling compelled to do what many of their national leaders will not. They are confessing historic Christian faith.

In Pittsburgh and Orlando, Baton Rouge and St. Louis, Houston and San Diego, the real Church is taking its stand. Where will all this lead? God alone knows. Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit moves where he chooses. But this much we do know: A movement that is not of our own making has begun. Presbyterians are raising the standard. Sessions are standing in the great Reformed tradition, confessing Jesus Christ (Solus Christus), the authority of God’s Word (Sola Scriptura), and God’s call to a holy life (Sola Gratia). Wherever this leads, it has to be good.

Thanks be to God.
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