And what can keep sin out of the State when sin reigns in the Church? The destruction of fairness and justice is very frightening because it spells out social collapse and tyranny.

The triumph of liberalism was complete. They had gained a whole denomination and its properties. And they had won the fight in their own way without once meeting the issues.

Being a student at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, in 1933–36 was like being on a launch pad during the countdown. The head of the seminary and those who supported him in his stand against unbelief in the Church were in deep trouble.

   

Events had moved inexorably. The Rev. J. Gresham Machen, the world‘s leading conservative New Testament scholar of his day, and other professors had left Princeton Seminary in 1929 when the Presbyterian Church USA (now the United Presbyterian Church USA) reorganized that school. They came to Philadelphia with some 30 students and started Westminster Seminary.

The denomination’s 1934 General Assembly made a significant ruling: If the Church’s members did not give to the regular boards and agencies of the denomination, they would be just as guilty as if they refused to partake of the Lord’s Supper! It was the Lord who commanded, “This do in remembrance of me,” but it was men who were commanding us to support boards and agencies in which various forms of unbelief were condoned and propagated.

Fighting the rising tide of liberalism in the Church, Dr. Machen and others continued to insist that only those missionaries faithful to the Word of God should be supported. For this “offense,” they were tried in presbytery and found guilty. Appeals taken to the 1936 General Assembly were upheld.

The three-day trial of Dr. Machen in Trenton, N.J., was surprisingly tragic. Although he was being tried· for criticizing the Church, he was not allowed to bring in any proof that the criticisms were valid. Dr. Machen and his able attorney had amassed abundant material to show that the Presbyterian Church was unfaithful to the Word of God and the Westminster standards, but all such evidence was ruled out of court.

This situation prevailed in later trials where outspoken enemies of Dr. Machen were seated on his jury. This was challenged, of course, but promptly overruled. During a break in one trial, I overheard two lawyers say that such a thing could never take place in a civil court.

And what can keep sin out of the State when sin reigns in the Church? The destruction of fairness and justice is very frightening because it spells out social collapse and tyranny. To borrow the words of Jesus, “If this is done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”

Meanwhile, students at Westminster wondered about their own fate. Would we be put out of the Presbyterian Church, too? And what would become of us who were about to graduate? Would we be ordained in presbyteries dominated by the liberals?

The 1934 General Assembly ruling demanding that ministers support the Church’s boards and agencies, no matter what, also decided the fate of students graduating from Westminster Seminary. All men were asked in their ordination examinations and vows if they would support the boards and agencies of the Church; some from various other seminaries gave unqualified affirmative answers and were thus ordained.

But Westminster students were in much agony over the extra-Scriptural requirements. I went to the leaders of three presbyteries with this question: Will we be required to make such a pledge in our ordination vows?

The conservative ministers seemed confused; they hinted at the sin of splitting the Church. Besides, they said, “We hear that Machen is not a pre-mil.” But the liberal ministers were sure. Yes, certainly, they said, you must make that vow. To one leader in the Philadelphia area a group of us put this question: How can we make an ordination vow before God and man to support evil or unbelief? His reply? “It’s about time you fellows realized that the Presbyterian Church has power.”

The high principle which came out of the Protestant Reformation was to the effect that the truth of God’s Word could not be separated from the authority of God’s Word. To that authority we owe our primary obedience if we would declare the truth of the Word.

No human authority, whether in Church or State, can command anyone to disobey the Word of God. Herein is the coiled mainspring of freedom. All men, whether law–makers or law–keepers, must serve first of all that supreme authority. The second section of the Westminster Confession in the chapter on Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience was precious to us:

“God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are are in anything contrary to His Word, or besides it in matters of faith and worship . . . .”

Calvin taught our world that temporal powers do not lose authority, but rather they gain true authority by being subject to this principle.

A conflict had developed between the word of man and the Word of God. The Scripture left us no-alternative. We were obliged to obey God rather than man.

The 1936 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA met in Syracuse, N.Y., in the early spring. The decisions of the lower courts against Dr. Machen and others were appealed to the Assembly. When the time came for that item of business, the Assembly sat as a judicial court of Jesus Christ. A most solemn occasion, its decisions were to be the decisions of Christ, the head of the Church.

The Judicial Commission filed onto the platform as we all stood. In each case, the decision of the lower court of the Church was upheld. Without any review of the evidence or the serious legal objections, Dr. Machen and others were declared guilty. The man chosen to read the decision on Dr. Machen evoked much laughter from the Assembly at Dr. Machen’s expense by the way he handled the material—perhaps it was not so serious for us after all, to be rid of this buffoon.

Long and costly had been the battle. The triumph of liberalism was complete. They had gained a whole denomination and its properties. And they had won the fight in their own way –without once meeting the issues. It has been suggested that the only ones deposed from the Church were members of the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. This is not true.

Three pastors in Wisconsin who were never on this board were deposed: Rev. John DeWaard, of Cedar Grove, was tried in his presbytery and found guilty because he criticized the unbelief in the denomination. The Rev. Oscar Holkeboer of Oostburg was deposed without a trial, because he told his congregation that the General Assembly of the Church had placed the word of man above the Word of God.

The Rev. Arthur Perkins had organized a youth conference independent of the denomination and its liberalism. He arrived home from the General Assembly to see another minister put into his church. Perkins became ill, his mind became affected, and he soon died.

A new denomination, launched early in June 1936, elected Dr. Machen as its first moderator, and chose as its name, The Presbyterian Church of America. However, the denomination we had left went to law, obtained an injunction against us, and we were not allowed to use that name. Instead of going to prison we chose another name, The Orthodox Presbyterian Church—a Church which still exists with a name like that can’t be all bad!

In recent decades at least three spiritual revolutions have shaken the Church. Out of these were born The Orthodox Presbyterian Church; The Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod; and more recently, The Presbyterian Church in America.

We may look upon these as the natural fragmentation of the Church during these last days, but this view fails to see the divine hand in Church history. Each can testify that we could not have taken such a stand were it not for the strengthening Word of God through the working of the Holy Spirit. What has really happened, then, is that God in these last days has poured out His Spirit.

Like many ministers, I was converted and called to the ministry in a fundamental, dispensational Church. I went from a university to Westminster Seminary with many a conflict and unresolved question. There I was confronted with the Reformed faith Calvinism. I fought hard against it, secretly hoping all the while that such a system of truth, such an all embracing, God–honoring system, would be true.

I can’t express what a blessed and overwhelming vision came when I discovered that I could preach the whole counsel of God. This vision was more and more realized as I went on studying as a minister, and worked in presbytery and General Assembly. Surely it is only of God that a Presbyterian or Reformed Church has as its message the whole Word of God, and also has as its governmental structure only that which is given in the Scriptures.

Through the years, denominations and “non-denominations” have been formed on rather trivial doctrines. One is founded on a certain form of government; another on how much water should be used in baptism; another on a gift of the Spirit; and so on. Knowing the weaknesses of the flesh, it is no small mercy that God has kept us from the mistake of defending or propagating one single interpretation or some man-made item of faith. We have been launched on a mighty ocean—the whole counsel of God.

We should be fully conscious of our sinfulness and unworthiness; the Spirit of God is sent to convict us of sin, and He is active. At this juncture, however, a question is forced upon us: Just why has the Lord God placed in our unworthy hands the unsearchable riches of Christ, the whole counsel of God, the world and life view of Calvinism? There can be only one answer to that question. It is spelled out in the little word others.

Many voices are crying today. But under all the tumult is the one inarticulate cry, the cry for great religion. Yes, those who were put out of the Church, and those who for conscience sake have followed, have suffered losses and limitations. But t he all of God more than makes up for any loss. Will this “allness” arrive without the losses?

The destructive forces of unbelief we once faced in Churches dominated by liberals are now energized and enlarged, crushing out truth, purity, justice and freedom, the world over. What a call to prayer to the God who lives. to the Word of God that is not bound.

The book of Esther teaches us that great favors are not given for the benefit of the receiver, who knows whether the Church has come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

David heard the wind, the going of the Lord in the tops of the mulberry trees, and Jesus promised the rivers of living water flowing from within. The days are darkening, but the winds of God are blowing, and the rivers rise.

Reprinted by permission from the Dec. 8, 1976, PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL (Asheville, N. C.).