byterian Church which he solemnly declared he received and adopted as his own. In view of the fact that according to the admission of the Los Angeles Presbytery, if the majority of the pulpits were occupied by graduates of the Bable Institute and Talbot Seminary, the doctrinal position of the Presbyterian Church would be quite different from what it is today, and in view of the fact that the Bible Institute position on this point is identical with the statement of the Westminster Confession of Faith, one is forced to the conclusion that the Los Angeles Presbytery has likewise officially repudiated the historic po sition of the Presbyterian Church and has taken its stand with Dr. Bonnell, the outstanding heretical spokesman of his denomination. No Material Heaven or Hell Further on in his article, Dr. Bon nell says, “Most Presbyterians do not believe in a material [literal] heaven or hell . . . they accept these de scriptions [found in the Bible], as symbolic . . . sin carries its own ap propriate penalty, and righteousness is its own reward.” Contrast this statement with the statement in the Larger Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and which is re peated, in essence, several times throughout the Confession (Answer to Question #89 ), “ at the day of judgment the wicked shall . . . be cast from the favorable presence of God and the glorious fellowship with Christ, His saints, and all His Holy angels, into hell, to be punished with unspeakable torments both of body and soul with the devil and his an gels forever.” In view of the state ment of the Presbytery in its com plaint against the Bible Institute, we must conclude that on this doc trine, also, these men stand with Bon nell as definitely opposed to the his toric position of their denomination. The Virgin Birth; Symbolic Again, Dr. Bonnell states, concern ing the Virgin Birth of Christ, “ Some find a symbolic, rather than a physi cal, meaning in the accounts of the birth of Jesus . . . Except in minor Presbyterian groups, the doctrine of the Virgin Birth is not used as a test of orthodoxy . . . in ordaining
ministers and elders.” But, the West minster Confession of Faith which he and the members of the Los An geles P r e s b y t e r y very solemnly adopted as their own at the time of their ordinations, states, (Chapter VIII, Paragraph II), “The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father, did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet with out sin: being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and dis tinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined to gether in one person, without con version, composition or confusion. Which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only me diator between God and man.” No Physical Resurrection And yet again, in his article, Dr. Bonnell states, regarding the resur rection, “With a few exceptions Pres byterians do not interpret the phrase in the Apostles’ Creed, ‘the Resur rection of the Body’ as meaning the physical body . . . they understand ‘the resurrection of the body,’ as a reference to the spiritual body.” But, the Westminster Confession of Faith, (Chapter XXXII, Paragraph II), states, “ at the last day, such as are found alive shall not die, but be changed: and all the dead shall be raised up with the self-same bodies, and none other , although with dif ferent qualities, which shall be united again to their souls for ever.” Today, as all during its history, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Inc., has believed the Scriptural doc trines of the Virgin Birth and the resurrection exactly as presented in the Westminster Confession of Faith. If the graduates of The Bible Insti tute occupied the majority of the pulpits and pastorates in the Presby tery of Los Angeles and proclaimed these truths, and if such preaching revealed the fact that the “ doctrinal position and program of the Pres byterian Church would be quite dif ferent from what they are today,” then it must be assumed that the
members of the Presbytery likewise repudiate the Confession of Faith and take their stand with Bonnell. In view of these things, it must be agreed that the doctrinal position of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Inc., is quite different from the posi tion of the Presbyterian Church. Shades of John Calvin, John Knox, John Witherspoon, and a great host of other theological and spiritual giants of former generations! These men held to the same doctrines which were enunciated in the great West minster Confession of Faith and which has stood as a mighty confes sion of faith through the centuries as it bred and fed spiritual giants! Historical Presbyterian View Historically, Presbyterians have be lieved in the inerrancy of the Scrip tures, that the very words were in spired in the original languages. Pres byterians have believed that Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh, that He was born of the Virgin Mary. Presbyterians have believed that He died on Calvary’s Cross as a substi tutionary atonement for sin and that all who put their faith in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. Presbyterians have believed that Je sus Christ actually arose from the dead, having the same body which was laid away in the tomb, but in a glorified state, and that we are to have bodies fashioned like unto His glorious body. Presbyterians have believed in a literal heaven as the eternal place of habitation for the redeemed, and a literal hell as the eternal place of habitation for the unredeemed, where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and where the fires of hell will for ever be burning and not be quenched. Through the centuries, Presbyterians have accepted all of the great doc trines found in the Word of God, and have boldly and unequivocally pro claimed them in thousands of pulpits throughout the world. Presbyterians have believed in preaching the gospel, knowing that it alone is the power of God unto salva tion. Presbyterians have believed so definitely in the reality of hell for the punishment for the unbelievers that they have gone to the corners of the earth as missionaries, and those
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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