THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH

THE 2004 REFORMED FAMILY BIBLE CONFERENCE

Over four hundred people attended the Second Annual Reformed Family Bible Conference sponsored by the RPCUS and the Trinity Presbyterian Church, Tazewell, Virginia this past June. The Conference was held once again at Bluefield College located in the beautiful mountain town of Bluefield, Virginia. Besides those from the local and surrounding community there were 248 registered conferees from Virginia, West VIrginia. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois, Ohio, Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, and Ecuador. This year's theme was THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH. Follm..ving is a brief introduction to messages given by the speakers at the conference. At the end you will find how you can order audio/video copies of the messages.

DOUG PHILLIPS, President of Vision Forum .Ministries. gave two lectures, "Six day 24 hour Creation" and I'The Biblical Teaching of Interposition," two subjects Christians desperately need to be aware of today.

The biggest problem we face today in the battle of evolution and creation, Phillips proclaimed, is not from evolutionists; it's not from universities; it's not from the world. The biggest problem we face today, he asserted, is from within the proclaimed, professing church of Jesus Christ. Churches are so concerned about accommodating the thinking of the world that they are sacrificing the most fundamental, most basic truth of Scripture upon which every major doctrine we hold dear emanates, creation in six literal 24 hour days. The most important debate and battle, Phillips said, is whether there was death before Adam. Every single creation compromise rests on the idea that there was death before Adam.

In His second message, Doug addressed the "Doctrine of Interposition." This, he said, is the number one political issue of the year and even of the decade. This is a doctrine that most people have never heard of and most likely will never hear of in their churches.

What is the doctrine of "Interposition"? Black's Law Dictionary defines the doctrine of Interpositionas "The doctrine that a state in the exercise of its sovereignty may reject a mandate of the federal government deemed to be unconstitutional or to exceed the powers delegated to the federal government." This is the doctrine which allows states to say ('I'm sony you've exceeded your power and what Y0!l have done is unconstitutional." This doctrine is based on the lOth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, reserving to the states the powers not

delegated to the federal government. There would be no United States of America today, Phillips said, without the Doctrine of Interposition, a doctrine which has been acknowledged and held for centuries, based on the principle of checks and balances and that God, not man, nor kings, is sovereign.

This issue as it has arisen today, particularly in the case of the former State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore of the State of Alabama, asks the question (lCan the State acknowledge God?" and "What is the meaning of the rule oflaw?" Upon your view of the rule oflaw rests the future of untold hundreds of millions of babies, said Phillips.

Teaching Elder JOE MORECRAFT preached three sermons on "The Gospel of Truth for Family, Church, and State," the first of which is printed in this issue. The other two will be published in forthcoming issues.

Pastor WAYNE ROGERS spoke on "The Book of Proverbs - The Gospel of Truth for Everyday Living." Solomon, 'the primary author of the Proverbs, Pastor Rogers preached, was not only a type of Christ, but was also a type of man created in the image of God and of Christians recreated in the image of God. Like Solomon, he said, we are Kings and Queens of creation. As kings and queens, we, like Solomon, need God's wisdom to rule and govern ourselves, our families, and our society". God's wisdom comes from His inspired and infallible Word. The fear of God and trust in His sufficient and authoritative Word is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, Provo 1 :7, 5:5-6. The Book of Proverbs stands as a reminder that man is a king to rule God's created world, that he is to live in terms of God's holy, righteous, just, and good law-wisdom, and that in order to be successful he must fear and trust the Lord.

PASTOR JEFF BLACK addressed the subject of "The Crucial Importance of Parents Teaohing Children History." Pastor Black suggested that we are suffering from a case of national Alzheimer's. We are historically illiterate. We have lost our memories. We have become confused and don't know where we are or ought to be or how to get to where we ought to be, if we knew where that was! Most Christians today think that the major attack on Christians comes from science. Black submitted that the primary threat is not science but hlstory~ Parents have a moral, spiritual duty to teach history to their

. children he argued. Pastor Black showed from Biblical example how historical ignorance leads to confusion. History, he asserted, is necessary to the preparation of one's heart for serving the Lord. One studies history, he said, with this goal in mind, Psalm 78:8: to engender in the student of history confidence in God. Without a knowledge of history we are disarmed and our children will not be sharp arrows.

Tbe RPCUS Family Conference

PASTOR BRIAN SCHWERTLEY taught on "Self-control in an Age of Dissipation." This subject is v~ry important, II said Schwertley, "because as Christians we are called to a life of self-control, discipline, godliness or sanctification in a very ungodly, dissolute, hedonistic culture. If we do not maintain holiness, self~control or discipline as defined by Scripture alone, then in our private, family. business and church lives we will go backward and not fOIV/ard. We will not preserve and transform culture but rather he transformed by it (i.e., syncretism). We will not he instruments of godly dominion but instruments of decay, ethical scattering, moral chaos or dissolution. This message is not only available from the conference but is in print on Pastor Schwertley's website, www.reformedonline.org.

PASTOR PAUL McDADE spoke on "Secular Psychology VS. the Gospel of Truth." The opening lines of Satan's attack recorded in Gen. 3, "Yea hath God indeed said," vs.I, is the introduction of ambiguity on the part of the creature as to objective truth and absolute authori1y. This Satanic attack still going o~ today. McDade recommended the work of Dean Gotcher & Institute for Authori1y Research (JAR) who argues that what is happening to our society today by the social psychologists is the movement from moral absolutes to moral subjectivism and consensus building. This Transfonnational Social Psychology is permeating our society today in academia, civil government, and even in business, and because it is so deadly, McDade asserts,

. it behooves us to be aware of it. Like Satan himself, it rp.ay appear as an angel of light but in the end under its tongue is the poison of asps.

In private business this process is taught and used for example in TQM (Total Quali1y Management). Educationally, the government program that won't die is OBE (Outcome Based Education). In Civil Government the military has it's version, TQL (Total Quali1y" Leadership). You've perhaps also heard of Values Clarification; Mastery Learning; Higher Order Thinking Skills; Group Dynamics; Dilemma Questions, Lifelong Learning, or Reaching your Potential. In each of these programs, there is a process of behavior change that is built in. Soine of the leading features in the process are as follows:

1) There is desire to create an adaptabili1y to change. This means that in terms of morals and ethics you must be vacillating. There are no moral absolutes & you must not insist on them in social settings.

2) To this end the psychologists have studied language, euphemisms, designed to create moral change: homophobia, reproductive rights, pro~choice, etc.

3) The goal is to move you from a facts based position, reduce it to an opinion, then to feelings, and finally an arbitrary relative position that is an expression of yourself.

"Is Abortion wrong? Well, I think. ... , I feel like it is ..... , It is wrong for some people ..... /I

4) The greatest good is tIm's, social harmony .... so that we can build a massive non~Christian empire on earth. We can do this with diverse and conflicting ethical systems. Synthesis is the aim, with everyone willing to compromise their own ethics.

5) The process can be summed up with this phrase: "We dialogue to consensus, over social issues, in a facilitated meeting, with a diverse group. " Consensus is only valuable if everyone has moved from their position (thesis).

McDade said that his college students know that anytime there is a group project, the Christian will be put in with the homosexual and radical feminist and Buddhist. The assignment will be over a social or moral issue, and. the grade will be a group grade. Here the diversity malces your ethics impossible, on a democratic basis. You either stand as a mar1yr or else compromise. And it is designed that way.

This process of Social change that we see all around us has been purposefully designed ~ it is no accident. And if we are going to stand against it, we will have to be self-conscious about it. How do we get out of this? Repentance & Faith! "Quit your compromise." said McDade. "God. is more important than the group. Truth can not be compromised for the sake of the group. We must stand with Jesus: 'It is written.'"

PASTOR DON CROWE - The Covenanters: Men Who Lived the Gospel of Truth. Pastor Crowe called us, in the words of 1 Chron.16:15, to "Remember His covenant forever." Remembering is a very important part of our worship and service to God, he said. Vlhat happens if we don't remember? It makes you easy prey for deception because you don't remember your heritage, your roots. There is a kind of "Tumbleweed" theology today, Crowe pointed out. The definition of a tumbleweed is "A plant that breaks away from it's roots and is driven along by the wind." That's the way people are who are not rooted in the faith, the Reformed faith.

The Covenanters of Scotland were a people who stoodl When the winds of false doctrine blew, when the fires of persecution raged, and when it was all over there they were, standing, even unto death. The (mly place the Covenanters would move would be into the windl They had their roots deeply in the Word of God, who loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and were faithful in keeping that testimony unto the end.

PASTOR WILLIAM F ARR - Missionary to Ecuador, who was home of furlough, updated us on his labors. William has been a missionary in Ecuador for 55 years. This was only his third visit home in those 35 years! Because Spanish has become his "native" language it's difficult for him to speak in English now. He ministers to the whdle spectrum of ages there. He teaches 140 students 1"-7" graders in a school, 60 High Schoolers, and 77 seminary students ranging from age 18 to 84. William and his wife Mercy, an Ecuadorian, lives and works in a valley between Quito, the capitol city, located in the mountains, where 80% of missionaries are stationed, and Guayaquil, the largest citr, on the coast. William says that where he lives you "See bananas, eat bananas, and grow bananaS!" Learn more about his conversion, call to the mission field, ministIy, and Ecuador from the recorded message. A video is also available of one of Pastor Morecraft's visits to the field.

The conference meSS

Pastor Brian Schwertley-Self Control in an Age of Rebellion

Pastor Morecraft-The Gospel of Truth for the State

Judy Rogers Concert

Individual Cassettes: $4 each; Cassette and CD Sets: $40; DVD and VHS Sets: $70. Please add $5.00 for Shipping

For information about next years conference contact: Trinity Presbyterian Church, P. O. Box 442, Tazewell, VA 24651; 276-988-9541. Email: fjlester@netscope.net

THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH FOR THE FAMILY

I. The Mother and Father as Mediators of the Gospel of Grace and Truth Under Christ

A. THE UNIQUE MEDIATORSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST Paul declared to Timothy: There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man ChristJesus ... - I Timothy 2:5. Hebrews 12:24 refers to Jesus as the mediator of a new covenant. ..

Jesus Christ was sent to earth by God the Father to bestow God's unmerited grace upon sinners, saving us from our sins; and to reveal God's truth to mankind, giving us true insights in to the character and will of God and the nature of life in this universe so we can live for our Creator's glory. Therefore, when Paul says that this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, he was speaking of this redemption and revelation. For this reason John says of Him: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. -- For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Iesus Christ.- John 1: 14, 17

"Grace" is God's undeserved favor by which sinners are saved from sin's consequences and power and accepted with God as His children, Ephesians 2:8,9; and His saving power by which we are enabled to live for His glory, I Corinthians 15:10. "Truth" is the revelation of the character and will of God in inerrant propositional form in the Bible and in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Living Word of God, John 1: If. By means of the written Word the Spirit brings us true knowledge of the Living Word, the embodiment of the truth of God. As Jesus said: I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.- John