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who could not go have given mil lions of dollars to send others, to pro claim these unsearchable riches of Christ, in order to save men from the very hell which is spoken of in Scripture as the final place of habita tion for all those who have not ac cepted Jesus Christ as their own per sonal Saviour. The great Presbyterian Church of the past has had an enviable record among the denominations for its out spoken and outstanding testimony concerning these great truths that are found in the Word of God. But, according to the statement of Dr. Bonnell, evidently speaking for the Presbyterian Church, USA, in his above-mentioned article, and accord ing to the statement of the Los An geles Presbytery, all of these great truths are to be relegated to the past, and according to these gentlemen, the sooner the past is forgotten the bet ter. For, the “ doctrinal position and program of the church is quite dif ferent . . . today.” It appears that now the leaders of the denomination are not particularly concerned about the doctrinal position of its ministers or lay leaders in the denomination, but instead they are concerned only about the fact that ministers and lay leaders, give proper allegiance to “ her program as administered by her boards and agencies.” This most la mentable condition is very clearly pointed up by recent action of the Los Angeles Presbytery. ; Yes, it is readily admitted that if graduates of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and Talbot Theological Seminary ever came to occupy a majority of the pulpits and pastorates in the Los Angeles Presbytery, that “the spirit, doctrinal position and program of the church would be quite different from what they are today.” It is equally true that if such were the case, the spirit, doc trinal position and program of the church would instead be the same as that which has characterized the Presbyterian Church throughout the centuries and from which it has so completely fallen away, as no longer even to allow members of the de nomination to have anything to do with Christian training institutions such as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Inc.
doctrines proclaimed in the West minster Confession of Faith. Be cause of this fact, it is quite insuffi cient to claim that a conservative preacher has liberty in his church to preach as he wants to and to support only those Presbyterian missions and missionaries sound in the faith. In the first place when a conserva tive man leaves a church, a liberal or machine man all too frequently suc ceeds him. And the good he has done is soon forgotten and the truths which he once proclaimed are com pletely denied by his successor. Ul timately this will be almost a uni versal fact because there is not even one outstanding fundamental Presby terian Seminary in the country from which graduates are turned into Pres byterian pulpits. And the denomina tion has officially all but closed the doors on graduates of independent fundamental seminaries. In the sec ond place, missions are, in large measure, supported by Bible-believ- ing Presbyterian Christians. But for every dollar that is given by a con servative Presbyterian toward des ignated conservative Presbyterian missions, it merely releases another dollar to be used by the machine in support of modernistic missionaries and missionary programs. There must be a sense of apprehension in a con servative pastor’s heart every time a new Christian is brought into the membership of a Presbyterian Church, knowing full well that sooner or later he will be supporting a Christ-dis honoring theological machine. The majority of the rank and file of Presbyterian church members are no doubt sound in the faith. It is tragic to realize that their money is being used, either directly or in directly in the propagation of doc trines which are utterly contrary to the truths which they hold near and dear to their hearts. Christian peo ple of the Presbyterian Church and of all denominations everywhere should be urged to be more discern ing than ever in their giving, to make sure that they are giving only to worthy causes where the Word of God is and will continue to be pro claimed and where Jesus Christ is lifted up to the salvation of souls and building up of saints in our most holy faith. END.
A Faithful Minority In fairness to all concerned, it should be stated that there are some Presbyterian ministers who are per fectly sound in the faith so far as their theological position is con cerned. An appreciable number of leading clergymen in Los Angeles Presbytery were opposed to the action of the Presbytery and who, if they had been able to have their way, would have gladly allowed Presby terian ministers to labor without bounds in the work of the Bible In stitute of Los Angeles, Inc. For ex ample, Dr. Kerr of the Glendale Pres byterian Church, upon hearing the recommendation of the General Council as presented to the Presby tery, expressed the feelings of these brethren when he arose and said, “ I feel that the report is unduly drastic and that it is not justified by established fact.” But, alas, these brethren were in the hopeless minor ity. Once again, the Presbytery has officially revealed the modernistic depths into which it has sunk. It is unfortunate, indeed, that al though these minority clergymen are theologically orthodox, yet they must continue to support a “machine” which at every opportunity denies the very truths which they proclaim. The recent history of Presbyterianism is filled with one defeat after another for those who believe the Bible to be the Word of God, who proclaim the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ, and who take their stand on the These are the men These are the men of the Los Angeles Presbytery General Council (as listed in the February, 1954, Southern California Presbyterian) that drafted the stinging indictment against the Bible Institute of Los Angeles: Rev. W. Irvin Williams, Chairman, First Presbyterian Church, Covina; Rev. Francis Bennetts, South Gate Community Presbyterian Church; Rev. Carl Christ, Tustin First Presbyterian Church; Rev. Ganse Little, P asaden a Presbyterian Church; Rev. Owen Hutchison, Silverlake Community Presbyterian Church; Rev. Rubin Pieters, First Presbyterian Church, Long Beach. Laymen members were: Dr. Frank Harnett, John McLaren, George Hamagel, Jr., Hugh Abernathy, R. J. Wig.
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