War on a Sinking Ship

Nearly three years ago there was a prophetic word of warning issued to the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC) on the pages of Sword and Shield. That word was,

War has come now upon the Protestant Reformed Churches. The war is between the denomination and God. That is what happens to the church that departs from the truth, graces her evil with the name of God, gives aid and comfort to false teachers and corrupt men, and loves not the truth unto death. An adversary is among the churches.¹

In denial that war has indeed come upon the denomination, Protestant Reformed ministers and professors speak loudly and write much about God’s chastisement of the denomination, like dedicated deckhands shuffled chairs on the deck of the Titanic as the ship lunged inexorably toward its doom at the bottom of the ocean.

That war has come upon the Protestant Reformed Churches is the witness of her own 512-page PRCA Synod 2024 Agenda. One wonders what former Standard Bearer editor Prof. Russell J. Dykstra has to say about this 512-page quagmire of an agenda.² It turns out that the troublemakers whom the leaders of the PRC through her assemblies worked so feverishly to cast out were not the problem of large synodical agendas, after all. “The denomination thinks that she kicked out the adversary, but she invited him in. She kicked Christ to the curb and invited the devil in.”³

Foolish Attempts to Save the Ship by Appeals and Protests

That Christ has been kicked to the curb and the devil devours in the denomination is writ large upon the pages of the PRCA Synod 2024 Agenda. Rev. Kenneth Koole’s theology—“that if a man would be saved, there is that which he must do”⁴—has won the victory in the PRC. That there are four appeals to Synod 2024 regarding Koole’s theology is astonishing. Where have the three appellants and the consistory of Grandville Protestant Reformed Church been since 2015? Do they really think that the leaders of the PRC actually agreed with the doctrinal decisions of Synod 2018? Have the appellants not witnessed, as Paul—who kept the raiment of those who slew Stephen—the casting out of the city and the stoning of those who dared to defend the sovereignty of God in salvation? Do the appellants now think that the same assemblies that kicked Christ to the curb and invited the devil in have now seen the light?

Appellant Dan Van Uffelen highlights the foolishness of his appeal with several candid, blistering observations about how things work in Classis East of the PRC. In the introduction to his appeal, he writes,

With these decisions [to exonerate Reverend Koole], I believe Classis East undermined a fundamental principle of Reformed church government by sidestepping the binding character of Article 31 of the Church Order. Further, by declaring Grandville’s references to Synod 2018 to establish a judgment of false doctrine to be insufficient, Classis undermined the settled and binding decisions of Synod 2018 (along with the decisions of every other major ecclesiastical assembly) and thereby threatened the unity of our denomination. Consequently, Classis made erroneous doctrinal decisions that conflict with the decisions of Synod 2018 and contradict the clear teachings of God’s Word and the Reformed Confessions.⁵

The guiding principle in Protestant Reformed ecclesiastical assemblies is the honor and reputations of men, especially the preservation of the reputations of long-
serving Protestant Reformed clergy and the ministers’ and professors’ access to denominational funds for a comfortable living.⁶ Publicly, Protestant Reformed leaders write sanctimoniously about the “settled and binding” character of ecclesiastical decisions. Take, for example, Professor Gritters’ editorial in the Standard Bearer of August 2020, in which he wrote,

What is first required of a Reformed church member is the recognition that these decisions [of Synods] are settled and binding. “Settled and binding” are the words used in the Church Order (Art. 31) to describe the nature of ecclesiastical (consistory, classis, or synod) decisions. “Settled” means that the matter is finished. “Binding” means that the decision is legally in force, may be enforced or applied, and must be honored and submitted to by all parties. Even if someone disagrees with a decision, he is still required to submit, to acquiesce. He may claim freedom of conscience in the matter, but he is forbidden to agitate against the decision. He may not propagate his contrary views. This is a strong and important principle in Reformed church government.⁷

And remember Professor Cammenga’s shouting “settled and binding!” from the rooftops a few short years ago? As long as the Protestant Reformed leaders supposed that article 31 of the Church Order could be used as a club to silence opposition to false doctrine, these leaders were valiant defenders of article 31. When the decisions of Synod 2018 are assaulted…crickets.

Why is this? When the doctrine of what man must do to be saved and the reputations of those who defend this doctrine are at stake, it follows that man wins in the ecclesiastical assemblies. And man’s rule in the assemblies is God’s judgment on those assemblies and their decisions. Man’s rule becomes completely arbitrary and lawless.

Appellant Van Uffelen points out that Classis East argued that

the decisions of Synod 2018 are not the equivalent of biblical and confessional proof. Grandville should have applied the biblical and confessional basis of the decisions of Synod 2018 to this concrete case.⁸

The appellant identifies with a question the logical conclusion of the reasoning of Classis East:

If it were inappropriate and insufficient to appeal to synodical decisions in order to establish judgments of orthodoxy and false doctrine, why would synod bother to make doctrinal decisions at all?⁹

Besides, argues the appellant, Classis East “unwittingly,” in one of its grounds, acknowledged that Grandville’s consistory did use the confessions in its charge of false doctrine against Reverend Koole.¹⁰

Having kicked Christ to the curb and having invited the devil in, the assemblies, ruled by man, will continue to plunge the Protestant Reformed Churches further into doctrinal departure.

Another evidence that war has come to the PRC is the plague of sexual abuse from top to bottom within the churches. The Protestant Reformed denomination has become a habitation of cruelty. Why is this? When professors, ministers, elders, consistories, classes, and synods have for many years now exerted themselves in aiding and comforting oppressive false teachers—Rev. Ronald Van Overloop and Rev. Kenneth Koole, for example—and when the churches have exerted themselves in silencing and censuring the truth (witness the outrage and opposition to the publication of Sword and Shield) and have slandered, oppressed, and cast out as troublemakers those who defended the truth, is it possible that a plague of abuse is God’s judgment on the whole business?

In the PRCA Synod 2024 Agenda are six protests of the decision of Synod 2023 to hire a third party to investigate sexual abuse within the Protestant Reformed Churches. The protestants make some sobering statements about the spiritual state of the denomination. Rev. W. Bruinsma contends that

the very action of hiring a third-party organization casts aspersion on the offices of elder and pastor…

Not only does this make office bearers suspect in their labors in this regard, but it suggests that elders and ministers are incompetent in their work of investigating, assessing, and ultimately dealing with sin.¹¹

Reverend Bruinsma also candidly points out the clear violation of the antithesis by synod’s decision to hire Guidepost to do the third-party investigation. Guidepost’s claim on Twitter, writes Bruinsma, is that

Guidepost is committed to strengthening diversity, equity and inclusion, and strives to be an organization where our team can bring their authentic selves to work. We celebrate collective progress toward equality for all and are proud to be an ally to our LGBTQ+ community.¹²

By the admission of the protestants, the Protestant Reformed denomination is in bed with the world and willingly turns to the world to seek relief from the plague of abuse within the PRC. And this amalgamation with the world is necessary because, by the admission of Synod 2023, Guidepost is being used “for the purpose of ‘remov[ing] barriers…of broken down trust’ in our consistories.”¹³

No Right to a Separate Existence

Also scattered throughout the PRCA Synod 2024 Agenda are increasing evidences that the Protestant Reformed denomination has no right to a separate existence within the Reformed church world. Rev. G. Eriks suggests the following way forward in dealing with the “overwhelming plague of sexual abuse in our churches.” He writes,

I believe there is another way to seek help against the overwhelming plague of sexual abuse in our churches; a way that is in line with the truth of Scripture.

1. Seek out other conservative reformed/presbyterian denominations for help with investigation and how to proceed.

a. In many ways the PRCA has isolated itself from the reformed church world so that we do not go to others for counsel and help.
b. Instead of going to those who confess the Reformed faith and have a faithful view of the authority of Scripture, we are willing to go to a secular organization.
c. We can learn from these other denominations how they have addressed sexual abuse in their denominations and from the mistakes they have made.¹⁴

Who these “other conservative reformed/presbyterian denominations” are Reverend Eriks does not say. Nor does he elaborate on how they are confessionally Reformed. He simply states it as a matter of fact. And know well that “the PRCA has isolated itself from the reformed church world.”

Another example of how things are going in the Protestant Reformed Churches and a window into how others view the denomination is found in the Theological School Committee (TSC) Report. The TSC is recommending to Synod 2024

that Mr. Joseph Dick be admitted to the seminary as a diploma non-licentiate student beginning with the Fall Semester 2024. Upon completing his studies in our seminary, Joseph plans to seek ordination in the United Reformed Churches in North America.¹⁵

Mr. Joseph Dick is the son of Rev. Mitchell Dick, champion of homeschooling and, since his departure from the PRC, a pastor in the United Reformed Churches (URC). Apparently, the Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches is now viewed as a suitable institution to train ministers for the URC. And the TSC views this instruction as part of the mission of the Protestant Reformed seminary.

Found in the report of the Reformed Witness Hour Committee (RWHC) is the following:

The third unique item we dealt with this year was hosting the West Michigan Conservative Reformed Young Adults (WMCRYA). The WMCRYA is a group of young people, roughly college age, from various Reformed denominations in the West Michigan area who routinely fellowship with each other. They gather roughly once a month at one of the local churches for a time of singing and refreshment. The RWHC provided this group dinner after church one evening. In exchange for dinner, we were able to give a short presentation on who the RWHC is and what we do.¹⁶

The leaders of the Protestant Reformed Churches have successfully expelled from the denomination the doctrines that once gave the denomination a right to a separate existence in the Reformed church world. Those who defended the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation have been cast out or have left the denomination. What remains is a denomination of the same flavor as the United Reformed Churches and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. And everyone in the Protestant Reformed Churches from top to bottom knows this: seminary professors who prepare students for ministry in the URC, ministers who teach and write blatantly false doctrine, elders who condone the false doctrine of their pastors in the consistory room and at classes and synods, Protestant Reformed young people who join in singing hymns with the young people of other Reformed denominations that teach blatantly false doctrine, and finally the young people, well taught by their pastors and parents, who join in marriage with the young people of the United Reformed Churches and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church with the blessing of their Protestant Reformed consistories.¹⁷

When Protestant Reformed observers go to the yearly gathering of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC), there may appear to be a formal distance between the PRC and the URC above the table. But under the table, in the everyday lives of the members of these denominations, they are holding hands and playing footsie. The PRC once dwelt in safety alone. No longer. The world and the carnal, nominally Reformed have inundated the Protestant Reformed Churches. And no one seems to notice or care. Life goes on and celebrations are planned.

But war has come upon the Protestant Reformed Churches, and an adversary is among the churches.

“Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:4).