I note the most recent discussion pointing to many in the Episcopalian Diocese of Sydney corrupting the biblical revelation of God as Creator.
I once posted a blog asserting the danger of the Diocese moving along the path toward Apostasy from the Gospel in what may otherwise be seen as Partial Apostasy. In light of recent discussion it is apt to revisit the works of John Owen, Puritan, in "Apostasy from the Gospel", Puritan Paperbacks, Published by Banner of Truth Trust, 1992.
Speaking on the topic of "Apostasy from the Doctrine of the Gospel" on pages 92, Owen says "So none will remain constantly faithful to Christ who is not able to spiritually discern the glory of his person and his offices" and on page 93, "The whole foundation of all gospel faith rests in the glory of Christ's person and offices (Heb. 1:2, 3; Col. 1:15-19)".
It is clearly observed that John Owen makes the aforesaid assertions drawing upon Scripture passages citing the office of Jesus Christ as Creator.
Please, please, Episcopalian Diocese of Sydney, the alarm bells are ringing and you must awake to the dangerous position in which you are to be found. You do not listen to us but surely you will listen to the bells activated by sound biblical scholar and Puritan, John Owen.
Listen further. On the subject of "If we would defend ourselves from all temptations to apostasy, then we must beware of national sins" John Owen says (on pages 163 & 164) "... We must be led by Christ and his Word and not by popular opinion, which says 'Everybody does it!' God's Word is clear. 'Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you' (2 Cor 6:17) ... We must be among them but not of them and certainly not corrupted by them and by national sins."
"If Christians will immerse themselves in the world so as to learn their ways and be led by their opinions, they will be carried with them into eternal perdition."
"Under the Old Testament, God could not trust his people to live among other people, nor others to live among them, knowing how unable they were to withstand the temptations to conform to the ways of the ungodly. So all nations were to be driven out of Canaan (Lev. 18:30). The neglect of God's wisdom and the transgressions of his will by mixing with other nations and learning their ways led to their ruin."
"Under the gospel, God's true church is to be kept pure and holy by the Holy Spirit dwelling in them and among them. God now entrusts all that are called to the obedience of faith to live in the midst of the nations. Yet he still warns them of its dangers and requires them to watch and keep themselves unspotted from the world (James 1:27)."
"Objection. 'But if we do not conform in some things to the world's customs, we shall be despised in the world and nobody will take any notice of us.' Answer. What I mean is that submission to the world in yielding to its predominant vices, especially those vices which affect us in the place and time in which we live. Before we were converted, we did the popular thing, so now they think it strange that we no longer walk with them, and so they speak evil of us (1 Pet. 4:3,4). Do we really wish to renounce God and Christ in order to be popular with the world? (1 John 2:15-17: James 4:4)."
"What we must do is to outdo the world in honesty, kindness, gentleness, usefulness, moderation of spirit, charity, compassion and readiness to help others in their need."
Many and varied are the sins of the world and expressed all around us in what John Owen would call national sins. One of these national sins in our time is that of believing an interpretation of origins which is totally incompatible with the revelation of Jesus Christ Incarnate and in Word. Any attempt to marry the 'national' interpretation of creation with the revelation of Jesus Christ is nothing but that heinous sin of synchretism applied by Israel of old. It was an abomination to the Lord then and surely remains an abomination to Him now.
Don't do it! Don't dare do it, Sydney Episcopalians. Don't cast this warning aside with thoughts that John Owen and the Scripture passages he quoted refer to fleshly lusts and sins and have no relevance to the view that Jesus Christ used evolutionary processes to create. Idolatry is a sin of the flesh. It is man developing an image of God using elements of the world and is an inferior representation of the true God - man making his own god. To develop an image of Jesus Christ totally contrary to how he acted in His creative and recreative activity - as recorded in Scripture - and worse, to ascribe to Him a dead-end, suffering and death riddled process of creation is to ascribe to Him a beastly nature which is a great insult to Him. It is a vile sin of the flesh you engage in.
This is a serious problem. You must repent of it. As much as a Cancer has to be cut out early for life to be sustained so must this abomination be cut out early to prevent its course being fatal.
In closing, I draw everyone's attention to the final quote I have provided from John Owen. This subject in which we are engaged is extremely serious but let us conduct ourselves in a manner which outdoes "the world in honesty, kindness, gentleness, usefulness, moderation of spirit, charity, compassion and readiness to help others in their need". There is a lesson for me here as much as anyone else.
Sam Drucker
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments:
Sam, you've done it again! A timely reflection on the attitude of heart that guided our Puritan forebears. There may be much in puritanism that we'd not follow today, but their desire to be faithful to the word irrespective of the social opprobrium it might bring is admirable. In the land of SAD there appears to be an attitude that is somewhat different, one that ducks and weaves, rather than stands to be counted...on origins anyway.
Sam, you've hit the nail on the head once again.
What the SAD compromisers have done is a serious offence but they don't see it.
Animals whose smell is most offensive to humanity have no idea they are offensive. Even their like kind can't pick up their offensiveness. So it is with the offensive imaging of god many SADs engage in.
Thanks for the insightful posting.
Neil
Idolatry is very serious.
Sam Drucker
As with most 'established' churches, the underlying idolatory is that they are obsessed first and foremost with preserving their church system, just look at the fuss at GASBAG, or is it GAFCON? Less about the scriptures, and more about 'being anglican' IMO. Not that I agree with the bad guys, but that the 'good' guys are trying to preserve their system and putting energy there, rather than into the gospel, it seems to me.
Here's some direct evidence that Moore is on the slippery slope, from one of its former leaders who has apostatized to feminism, and of course disparages the plain reading of Scripture in favour of uniformitarian "science". The Movement for the Ordination of Women ( MOW) and the end of the moratorium (Religion Report, ABC (Atheist Bolsheviks Collective)):
Keith Mascord: ... I stand here today as someone who has come to see that there are better ways of reading the Jewish and Christian scriptures, more intellectually consistent, and satisfying ways: ways that take better account of all that we know.
I stand here today as the former head of the Ministry Department of Moore Theological College where I taught for ten years, full time, and for five years part time. ...
Winds of change have begun to blow, not loudly, not loudly enough, but the wind is blowing. I've heard this from bishops and archbishops, archdeacons and senior clergy here in Sydney. I've heard it whispered in the corridors of Moore College. I have heard it from many, many lay people who frankly are puzzled, baffled by the way of being towards women that makes no sense of their experience of life in the 21st century world. People throughout this diocese are beginning to ask questions about a way of reading scripture that if it was consistently followed, would mean that we would also need to believe in a young earth, a flat earth, a gigantic flood that inundated the earth just a few thousand years ago. We've learned some things in the last few years about the world, about cosmology and geology and anthropology that simply must be factored into any intelligent reading of the scriptures.
Very interesting! Keith Mascord is at least consistent in his worldly interpretation of Scripture.
The present generation in the Sydney Episcopalian Church, or at least the majority of it, has partially adopted the Mascord approach to Scripture. The next generation will take the logical course and join him.
Sam Drucker
Post a Comment