Timber Ridge: Losing Sleep over It

2 Peter 1:16-21, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷ For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.' ¹⁸ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
 ¹⁹ And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. ²⁰ Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. ²¹ For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

Romans 10:12-17, "for there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'
 ¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'
 ¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed our message?' ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."

2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."

Revelation 22:18-19, "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life in the holy city, which are described in this book."

Matthew 5:17-20, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. ¹⁹ Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

I could go on and on, but I need to get to why I titled this Timber Ridge.  Timber Ridge was a PCUSA church.  About 8 years ago, they broke out and became EPC.  Ever since then, Greater Atlanta Presbytery has been at their throats over their property with lawsuits and appeals that went all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court.   Last February, our Supreme Court ruled in favor of Timber Ridge.  The whiny PCUSA appealed even that, the highest court in our state.  Finally, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Presbyqueerians and Timber Ridge will lose their property.  This time, the church is tired of fighting.  They have been there in McDonough since 1829, buried their ancestors there, married people there, and people were saved there.  They would rather lose their property and almost 200 years of legacy than stay in an apostate denomination and I applaud them.  


This is my current church's mother church.  We are no longer their plant, but we greatly grieve for them.  And this, my friends, is why we don't throw the Bible out as our ultimate authority in the church.  There are plenty of lovely people who still uphold the Bible's morals, but they threw out the Bible as God's first-hand word.  The PCUSA, or whatever it was before north and south united, made a grave error when they started to follow Karl Barth and Neo-orthodoxy.  

Now, without God's Word ruling the church as the inerrant standard by which we live, there is no reason why we should not allow openly gay people to preach in our pulpits.  

Without the WOG, why can't we abort our children?  We'll just invent this age of accountability and assume they're in heaven living better lives anyway, forgetting that even unborn children are born separated from God and in their free will they will reject God unless he intervenes.


Without the WOG, who needs Christ?  We are all basically good people who will all die someday in our sins.  We try to atone for all our wrongs, but we reject the idea that our perfect God gave his life for us because he knew we could not pay our price for our sin, which is eternal damnation.


And without the WOG, why do we even need to care for the poor, the disabled, the elderly, build homes for poor people, feed the hungry, fight against genocide, and yes, minister to post-abortion folks and the openly gay people in hopes that they will turn from their empty lives and surrender to Christ?


If it was not for the WOG, I would be stuck in my old sins with no hope beyond this wrold.  And with it, lives are changed, and back to Romans 10, unrepentant sinners can awaken to God's truth, believe in Christ, and be saved.  God has provided no other standard.  He's provided accountability, such as the Holy Spirit and our Church family, but both of those testify to the divinity of the Scriptures, the Words that created the universe and the only ones that can raise a dead sinner from the dead.