Why I will never be a Presbyterian, again

I hate to admit it.

But I was once a member of the Presbyterian Church USA.

It was a long time ago, but I assure you I will not be going back. Long ago, I shook the dust from my feet as I left. Never looked back.

That denomination is dead to me.

No offense if you are still a member. Just take a look at what's going on in your church – what you are a part of, what your tithes and offerings are supporting. It's an evil agenda. It's all wrong in the eyes of God.

Last week there were two new outrages from the General Assembly, the governing body of this apostate church from hell.

First, it voted 429-175 to approve of same-sex marriage – changing language that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman to "two people." The church's 172 presbyteries will vote on the change over the next year, but with a lopsided vote like that, I don't have much hope of a grass-roots rebellion. On a related matter, the assembly voted 328-238 to allow ministers of the denomination to preside over same-sex marriages in jurisdictions where such unions are legal.

The Presbyterian Lay Committee called the action "an abomination." I got news for those folks: When your "church" starts approving of abominations, it's time to find a new one. For the life of me, I don't know what's taking those folks so long. In 2011, the assembly voted to ordain clergy who have same-sex partners.

Of course, finding a new church that doesn't mock the God it claims to worship isn't getting any easier. The Episcopal Church started allowing the blessing of same-sex marriages last year. The United Church of Christ has allowed them since 2005. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America allows individual church ministers to make the call.

Same-sex marriage is not only an abomination. It's oxymoronic.

The God of the Bible literally defined marriage in the Garden of Eden. That definition was affirmed by His Son Jesus during His earthly ministry – more proof that God doesn't change His mind. He's the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He doesn't make mistakes. He gets things right the first time. In fact, He defines what is right – and wrong. And He is the one who called the very act of men lying with men and women lying with women "an abomination."

It's one thing for an atheist to support this faddish idea.

It's one thing for an agnostic secular humanist to support it.

It's one thing for a non-Christian or non-Jew to support it.

But it is another thing entirely for anyone who claims to believe that the Bible is the Word of God or calls himself a Christian to do so – let alone an entire denomination.

It's simply heretical, not to mention irrational.

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Few things could be clearer in the Bible than God's position on the fact that marriage is an institution created for men and women – exclusively.

The first mention of marriage in the Bible comes early on – in Genesis 2:24 – where it is written, following the creation of Eve, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

Most uses of the word "cleave" in the Bible interestingly involve commands by God to "cleave" unto Him. And the Bible is full of parallels between the marriage of men and woman and the relationship between people and God.

Of course, there are many so-called "Christians" who don't take the Old Testament seriously. It doesn't make a lot of sense, because it is the Old Testament that prophesies the Messiah to come and the credentials of the one whom all true Christians worship as the Son of God and their redeemer – Jesus.

But let's put that contradiction aside for the moment. Anyone who calls himself a Christian, a follower of Jesus, is without excuse on the definition of marriage because Jesus Himself defined it – in not one but two gospel accounts.

In Matthew 19:4-5, He said, "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?"

Likewise, in Mark 10: 6-9, He said, "But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

In that last phrase, "let not man put asunder," Jesus was talking about the disruption of a single marriage. It was a warning against the plunder of divorce. Yet it has even more compelling applications for those who seek to put asunder the entire institution of marriage by redefining it according to the latest popular convention.

America is in a moral and spiritual crisis right now. The signs are everywhere. Sin is rampant. Every man does what's right in his own eyes. God gave a prescription for times like these in 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

I still hold out hope that His people, which are called by His name, will humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways. I'd like God to hear that. I'd like Him to forgive our sin. I'd like Him to heal our land. But this move by the PCUSA is not a good sign – not good at all. This is brazen and willful apostasy. It encourages the worst kind of judgment.

But that's not all! That's just one of the shocking actions of the unrepentant, corrupt Presbyterian Church USA.

A day after that vote, the same body voted 310-303 to endorse divestment in companies who do business with Israel.

Why?

Because the emphasis in PCUSA is on the PC – for political correctness. Israel is God's gift to the nations of the world. That doesn't mean the state of Israel is perfect. It's governed by human beings. But it is the apple of God's eye, as we learn in Zechariah 2:8. Disciplining Israel is God's business. He's got an eternal covenant with His people.

Not only that, but it's that promise to Israel through which non-Jews are "grafted in."

"I will establish My covenant with you as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and to your descendants after you; and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:7-8)

Israel represents the single greatest proof that God is real. It's a living, breathing example of fulfilled biblical prophecy.

"Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land." (Ezekiel 36:23-24)

"The days are coming, declares the Lord, when men will no longer say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, who brought Israel up out of Egypt', but they will say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, who brought Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where He had banished them'. For I will restore them to the land I gave their fathers." (Jeremiah 16:14-15)

That's what the modern state of Israel represents.

But it's clear the leaders of the PCUSA don't know about or care about the Bible. It's clear they don't know the mind of the God they claim to worship. But even a spiritually blind, rational person should be able to see why the divestment movement against Israel is so wrong. Is Israel one of the worst nations on earth? Of course not. It's one of the best. Is Israel one of the largest nations on earth? No, it's one of the smallest. Does Israel oppress its people? No, Israel offers more liberty than most nations on earth. Does Israel oppress its neighbors? No, Israel is surrounded by nations seeking to destroy it, but shows otherworldly restraint in dealing with them – constantly bending over backward to make peace when it seems impossible.

I wonder which other nations PCUSA is divesting from. Is it divesting from nations that persecute believers in Jesus? Is it divesting from nations that slaughter their own people? Is it divesting from nations that sponsor terrorism? Is it divesting from nations that starve their own people? Is it divesting from nations that still permit slavery? Is it divesting from nations that oppress women? Is it divesting from nations that ethnically cleanse their population?

No, it's divesting from God's land. It's divesting from the only truly free country in the Middle East. It's divesting from a tiny nation under popular assault from all corners of the world. It's divesting from the only safe harbor for the most persecuted people in earth. It's divesting from God's chosen people.

That's why it's time to divest of your time, money and energy if you are still a part of the Presbyterian Church USA.

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