Reformed Christian Studies

 By Ryan Biese - Posted at Mid the Pines: Terry Johnson annually asks good questions regarding the worship services accompanying PCA Generally Assemblies. Why does GA worship typically not reflect the historic principles of Reformed worship? I am relatively new to the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). I was reared in the mainline (theologically liberal) Lutheran Church (ELCA) with its normative principle of worship. Worship in the ELCA of the 1990s and 2000s was characterized by robes, processions, well-developed liturgy, the liturgical calendar, candles, kneeling for Holy Communion, strong congregational singing, and, alas, short homilies and sometimes kitschy attempts to make worship “relevant.” While at Grove City College , I was exposed to Reformed Worship at a local congregation , which was decidedly different from my previous experience. Worship was dialogical and characterized by speaking Scripture and singing Scripture either from the psalter or from hymns that reflected th

 By Pastor Dewey Roberts - Posted at Vanguard Presbyterian Church: Georg William Frederick Hegel (1770-1831) was a German philosopher whose dialectical method has become the dominant thought pattern for most people in the world today—including so-called evangelical pastors and theologians in the United States. His methodology is non-evangelical to the core and it is a dangerous inconsistency for any Christian to hold to it. It amounts to the denial of absolute truth. Most Christians and most pastors/theologians would deny Hegel’s dialectical method. Sadly, they still think according to Hegelian dialecticism nonetheless. So, what is Hegel’s dialectical method? The old methodology was to think in terms of truth and error; right and wrong; pros and cons. Hegel changed that way of thinking by offering a third way—the synthesis of the thesis and antithesis. Hegel’s synthesis becomes a higher truth and a new truth which replaces the old stalemate of thesis and antithesis. For many years, th

  By Pastor Dewey Roberts - Posted at Vanguard Presbyterian Church: On August 20, 1944, four American B-29’s built by Boeing were forced to make an emergency landing in far eastern Russia. One plane crash landed at Khabarovsk and the other three safely landed near Vladivostok. The crews of the three intact fighter planes thought that they would be allowed to refuel and fly out of Soviet territory, but they were wrong. Stalin had been asking Roosevelt to give the Soviets some B-29’s under the Lend-Lease program, but FDR refused ‘Uncle Joe’s’ request. The US was supplying its cunning and unreliable ally with almost everything in World War II from boots to bullets to lesser planes—but no B-29’s. The B-29 was a super fortress heavy bomber, one of the most aesthetically beautiful airplanes ever designed and built. It incorporated every state-of-the-art technology known to the aeronautical industry at the time, including cabin pressure and an analog computer-controlled fire alarm system. It

By Pastor Benjamin Glaser - Posted at YouTube:

Samuel B. Wylie - Image source: RP Witness Posted at Purely Presbyterian : Samuel B. Wylie,  Two Sons of Oil , pp. 63-71 1. It is our duty to mourn before God over all the prevailing abominations. This is one of the characters of those who are marked with the broad seal of the Holy Ghost, Ezek, ix. 4. And the Lord said, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.” We ought, also, to confess and mourn over our own sins, which, no doubt, contribute their share to the procuring and continuance of those evils. 2. We ought to pray for their reformation with earnestness at a throne of grace. 1st Tim. ii. 1, we are commanded to make prayer and supplications for all men; and, Jer. xxix. 7, the captives in Babylon are commanded to “pray for the peace of the city, and cry to the Lord for it, that in its peace they might have peace.” This prayer

Posted at This Day in Presbyterian History : [*An Address delivered under the title, “Safeguarding the Church,” before the Presbyterian Ministers’ Association in Philadelphia, March 1st, 1926 , and (under the title, “What the Church Stands For”) previously in the Washington and Compton Avenue Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, 12 February 1926. Excerpted from The Presbyterian, vol. 96, no.14 (8 April 1926): 8-11.] Before we can consider the mission of the Church, we must determine what the Church is. What are its limits? What forms a part of it and what does not? Where is the true Christian Church to be found? According to the Westminster Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church, the invisible Church is to be distinguished from the visible Church. The invisible Church consists of the whole number of those who are saved; the visible Church consists of those who profess the true religion, together with their children. There is absolutely no warrant in Scripture for supposin

By Rev. Michael J. Ericson - Posted at Presbyterian Reformed Church : March 3, 2003  A major controversy has developed over the past year in the Reformed community. While there are often differences and debates in the camp, I believe, this particular matter, is a watershed issue that could shape the direction of Reformed and Evangelical churches. It strikes at the very heart of the gospel, namely, the application of Christ’s redemption, the new birth, justification by faith alone, and conversion. To elucidate of what I speak, permit me to offer a review of the history of the controversy.  Early in 2002, the annual Pastors Conference was held at Auburn Avenue PCA, in Monroe, LA. The speakers were John Barach, Steve Schlissel, Steve Wilkins and Doug Wilson. The scope of God’s covenant with man in Christ, its administration, and appropriation were the substance of the conference. On June 22, 2002, Covenant Presbytery of the RPCUS issued a statement entitled “A Call to Repentance.”

By Dr. R. Scott Clark - Posted at The Heidelblog : Dr. Clark interviews Ken Golden, author of   Presbytopia: What It Means To Be Presbyterian   and pastor of  Sovereign Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Davenport IA. "What’s the big deal about being Presbyterian or Reformed? After all, isn’t it enough to love Jesus? Honestly, no. Of course you should love Jesus but then what? If someone else personally paid for all your legal offenses out of his own pocket, at the cost of his own life, and also gave you a million dollars that you didn’t earn. You would say, “now what?” That’s a really important question and how you answer it will shape your life to come. ..." Read more... Listen here...  (Approximately 30 minutes)

By David T. Myers Injurious to Your Health It was downright unhealthy to be the president of the College of New Jersey (today’s Princeton University) in the opening years of that educational institution. In the first nine years of its existence, five presidents were installed and five presidents were on the short list to heaven! That fifth president was Samuel Finley. Born in Scotland in 1715, Samuel Finley came over to the colonies at age nineteen. He studied theology at the celebrated Log College under the Tennents, was ordained into the New Brunswick Presbytery as a revivalist preacher. He was clearly a New Side Presbyterian. Assigned first to a brand new Presbyterian church in Mitford, Connecticut, he discovered that the governor of Connecticut really did not want him, or for that matter, the Presbyterian Church. He was escorted, or should I say, expelled from the colony. It is clear from his later ministry that this was all due to the providence of God. Read more

By Dr. David W. Hall - Posted at This Day in Presbyterian History: Image from Wikipedia One illustration of how religion and politics were interwoven, especially the religion and politics of strongly Scottish Calvinist sentiment, can be seen from the experience of Ulster Presbyterian missionary Francis Makemie (b. 1658). Makemie had been reared on tales of the Scottish rebellion that adopted the Solemn League and Covenant, and he was educated at the University of Glasgow one generation after Samuel Rutherford. Commissioned by the Presbytery of Laggan, a fiercely Calvinistic stronghold, the first Presbyterian minister on the North American continent landed on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay in 1683. Over time, he earned a reputation as a threat to the Anglicans in the area, and he was reported to the Bishop of London (who never had authority over Makemie) to be a pillar of the Presbyterian sect. His work was commended by Puritan giant Cotton Mather, and his correspondence w