For decades, radical left theology has been making gradual
inroads into the nation's churches. Inserting the God factor has granted a
divine imprimatur to leftist tenets, something secularist political
organizations can't match. Congregants who attend Main Line liberal houses of
worship (Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians) have
been led to assume God has given the nod to policies endorsing political
correctness, radical feminism, abortion, same-sex marriage, redistribution of
wealth, multiculturalism and other leftist causes.
Devoted churchgoers may have noted the politically-correct
linguistic gymnastics which have been and still are bending scripture, liturgy,
and hymnody to the left. The bible has been scrutinized for patriarchal heresies
and changed to accommodate radical feminism. God is to be referred to only in
gender neutral terms, never as "He." As the LA Times noted,
the Episcopal hymnal of 1982 eliminated male imagery of God as Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, replacing it with gender-free terms such as Creator and Redeemer.
"Militaristic" hymns such as "Onward
Christian Soldiers" were to be eliminated. The hymn "Rise Up, O Men
of God" was retained, but was changed to read "Rise Up, Ye Saints of
God." Matters are even more advanced across the pond in England, where
a hypersensitive vicar piously eliminated the singing of "O Little
Town of Bethlehem" because he believed "the words did not reflect the
plight of current occupants of Jesus' birthplace." The revisionism aimed
at accommodating the sensitivities of perpetually aggrieved groups apparently
will continue until the Judgment Day no one believes in any longer.
According to the Aquila Report, a conservative
publication devoted to what remains of orthodoxy among Presbyterian and
Reformed churches, moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow preached a "lively
sermon." He concluded the aging trend of the membership could be
reversed if the church would forsake the old way of being Presbyterian and open
itself to a new way of being Presbyterian. "We have no idea what that's
going to be, in fact we're going to open ourselves up to the possibilities God
may have for us." The good reverend just might have something there.
Attracting younger folks might not be too difficult if little Johnny can
entertain any notion of what it means to be Presbyterian, including coming to
church dressed as a giraffe; or, should current political/theological trends
within the denomination continue their inroads, as a girl. But perhaps no
observer should have been surprised at grownups parading as animals in supposed
honor of Native American heritage, as the PCUSA has suffered through more than
one heretical kerfuffle inspired by the latest leftist fads.
In 1994, radical feminists within the PCUSA conducted
ceremonies featuring the worship of Sophia, goddess of wisdom. According to
the New York Times report on the meeting, the Sophia devotees prayed,
"Our maker Sophia, we are women in your image; with the hot blood of our
wombs we give form to new life. With nectar between our thighs we invite a
lover," they continued, and "with our warm body fluids we remind the
world of its pleasures and sensations.” The Times author wryly noted,
"Phrases like that may be familiar to devotees of feminist religious
rituals, but they are likely to stop conversation at the average church
picnic." Apparently calling on Sophia to provide male lovers was found too
limiting by some. One speaker called for "lesbian, bisexual and
transsexual women to join her onstage. The audience applauded as about 100
women answered."
The speaker of 1994 would be pleased to know that in 2011,
the denomination voted to allow openly gay and lesbian clergy. As Mark
Tooley of the American Spectator reports, transgenderism is now
permeating the liberal churches. He writes, "Last year's Episcopal General
Convention officially affirmed transgendered clergy, protecting against
'discrimination' based on 'gender identity and expression.' One bishop
celebrated with a transgendered themed prayer: 'Spirit of Life, we thank you
for disordering our boundaries and releasing our desires as we prepare this
feast of delight,' she began. 'Draw us out of hidden places and centers of
conformity to feel your laughter and live in your pleasure.' "Tooley adds
the PCUSA, apparently anxious not to be outdone by their Episcopal brethren,
now has one Presbyterian clergy who is "a post-operative transsexual from
male to female, additionally now professing to be lesbian and married to a
woman." The reduction of the
PCUSA and other Main
Line denominations to what is increasingly a leftward leaning sideshow might be
hilarious if it were not more heartbreaking than funny.
The church, now increasingly committed to a paganism
characterized by what should be acknowledged as a sex cult, was once an august
institution deeply rooted in an orthodoxy firmly planted in biblical soil. The
Presbyterian Church, along with Reformed churches, was at one time profoundly
influenced by a Calvinism that characterized the thinking of men such
as Abraham Kuyper.
Kuyper articulated a powerful Christian worldview that was
to influence the thinking of Cornelius Van Til at Princeton and
Westminster Seminary. Kuyper insisted Christians needed to have a Christian way
of looking at all spheres of life and culture -- personal, church, and public.
His Stone Lectures, given at the now left-leaning Princeton Theological
Seminary, have retained their relevance, particularly for the world of
politics, in which Kuyper was heavily invested. In view of it's the vast
reformed heritage, a heritage that included such theologians as Charles
Hodge and B.B. Warfield, just how the PCUSA has been reduced to such
trendy trivialities is hard to comprehend.
What happened ? Syncretism, sometimes called the most
powerful enemy of the Church, is what happened. Basically, the PCUSA
allowed the increasingly radicalized secular culture surrounding it to speak
into, inform, and ultimately to define the Church. It forgot its biblical roots
and jettisoned the historic theological view that the Church is to speak to the
world, not vice versa.
Liam Goligher, current pastor at Philadelphia's 10th
Presbyterian Church, which split from the PCUSA, puts it this way: When Tenth
left PCUSA, the principle objection lay with authority. In the end what rules
the church? Is it culture or is it scripture? Tenth took its historic
commitments seriously and submitted to the supreme authority of Scripture as
God's word written. [...] It is Tenth's clear and unadorned adherence to
biblical orthodoxy that has led to the 'trumpet giving no uncertain sound.' It
means preaching and worship ring with certainty and authenticity and where
others are swept here and there by the changing tides of cultural change, Tenth
has remained firm and secure in the rock of God's revelation.
The Church has traditionally believed in a God who has
revealed himself in scripture and a God whose authority transcends all times,
places, nations, empires, and their governments. This means any church still
committed to the idea of a transcendent and sovereign God who has spoken and
who has laid down irrevocable rules for the conduct of mankind will inevitably
find itself in continual conflict with secularist thinking and structures.
Unfortunately, if the impulse of the Main Line denominations
has included a syncretism that includes worshipping a pantheon of gods and
goddesses, the response of the conservative churches to the relentless pounding
of a left-leaning, secularist world view has often been flight rather
than fight.
Many conservative churches have attempted to separate the
Church from politics and the culture in general by adhering to a reductionist
theology that speaks of personal salvation only; and by creating a
neo-monastic, isolated subculture that is a sort of preserve or a safe house
for Christians amounting to a full-fledged retreat from encounters with the
surrounding culture.
The other reaction too often has been a focus on minutiae
coupled with a reluctance to articulate and expound a comprehensive Christian
world view that includes such areas as politics, economics and the arts. Many
times conservative churches have exhausted themselves in pointless fights.
One such fight, for example, involves adherence to the
tenets of the Temperance movement. In many conservative churches, grape juice
rather than real wine is routinely used for the sacrament of Holy Communion
lest teetotalers are offended. Congregations actually have split over such issues,
thus proving that those who refuse to be troubled by large matters will
inevitably be troubled by small matters. The Church fails when it focuses on
the little stuff while ignoring or lightly addressing world views that are
inimically opposed to her beliefs.
Currently, neo-gnosticism, secularism, modernism, and
relativism are some of the "isms" challenging the Church. Failure to
detect and to confront what are essentially ideologically hostile takeovers has
resulted in a slow syncretism that has softened and eroded the radically
prophetic and culture changing nature of both Judaism and Christianity.
The consequence: A new Hellenization has succeeded in
changing -- and in some cases completely assimilating -- Christian culture and
identity. Archbishop Charles Joseph Chaput of Philadelphia is one Native
American who undoubtedly would not have joined in the skunk, rabbit, and
giraffe parade of the PCUSA. He recently spoke of the necessity of resisting
syncretism and the need to fight to retain the cultural identity and influence
of traditional Christianity in the midst of what is increasingly a hostile
environment: The world we [Christians] live in is not a friend of the gospel
... It has contempt for Jesus Christ, contempt for the Cross, and contempt for
the people who carry their own cross and follow him. Christians now live in a
world which is not only inimical to God, to His Son and to the Christian
lifestyle, but openly hostile and aggressive towards those who are attempting
to live in accordance with God's plan for humanity. They are constantly
bombarded with propaganda vilifying them and promoting sinful conduct and evil
of every kind in the name of freedom and equality. In addition, the laws of the
land are increasingly compelling Christian institutions and individuals, under
pain of prosecution and punishment, to act in a manner directly contrary to the
divine law.
As Russell Shaw has noted, the problems that confront
orthodox Christians cry out for the establishment of a new and viable Christian
culture. At the heart of this establishment is a need for Christians to
acknowledge and profess that they are not like everyone else, to stand up for
their unique identity, an identity that distinguishes and sets them apart from
secular society. Rather than absorb and mimic the contemporary cultural milieu,
the Church must do the hard work of re-establishing and defending orthodox
Christian theology and Christian institutions while defending both from the
ongoing inroads of the almighty State.
The endeavor is daunting. But the work must be done lest the
Church continue to fall prey to ideological phantasms bearing little or no
resemblance to the Christianity that at one time had and still has the
spiritual power to be a light that changes the world.
Source: American Thinker, June 9, 2013, The Radicalization
of the Church by Fay Voshell, fvoshell@yahoo.com
Fay Voshell holds a M.Div. from Princeton Theological
Seminary, where she was awarded the Charles Hodge Prize for excellence in
systematic theology. She is a frequent contributor to American Thinker and
other online publications.
Comments:
The best we as believers can do is to insist on the
rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution (as written), not as erroneously interpreted
since its writing. We have “free will”
and prefer “freedom”. We trust our
ability to take care of ourselves and do not function well when we find
ourselves “dependent” on others for our survival. Civilizations where individual
ownership of land has been allowed and encouraged rarely starve. Early American Colonists did well until their government attempted to restrict their freedom. Corruption occurs when individuals allow it. It can be rooted out, but it’s hard work and we resent having to do it.
The Bible teaches us that God has a plan for us, and we
aren’t necessarily going to like it.
In the middle ages, the Catholic Church was co-opted by
the Monarchy. Churches have erred in
recent times to the point where pagans are now converting Christians.
The U.S. government needs to back off their reckless, totalitarian
track, or they will lose the entire source of their funding.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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