For numerous reasons it is my belief that now is not the time to leave the PCA, and I would encourage churches and teaching elders contemplating such action to stay and “fight the good fight.”  I would encourage more churches to become actively involved in both their presbyteries and at the General Assembly level. The ruling elders of our denomination have recently risen up and enabled us to have a greater voice for our conservative beliefs, and we must not retreat. 

Probably no one is more disappointed in the failure of Overture 15 than I am. Overture 15 would have codified the position that Side B homosexuals will not be allowed to be ordained as officers in the PCA. Last year, I predicted it would not pass the two-thirds threshold vote required of presbyteries, but until recently, I still maintained a small amount of hope.
How a statement so straight-forward and plain could fail is incomprehensible.  In days when perversion is becoming rampant in our society, we did not make a clear and unequivocal stand on this important issue. We failed to bear a good testimony to a generation living in darkness.
Like many of my brethren in the PCA, I must not only deal with disappointment but also with fatigue.  After fighting this battle for several years, I am tired and weary. Something in me just wants to give up, transfer to another denomination, or just become part of a local independent church. Some PCA churches undoubtedly will withdraw into their own local shell and isolate themselves, ignoring what goes on in the broader church.
I know that those who voted against the Overture will have well-developed and refined theological arguments for their vote.  I suspect that their consciences are clear.
However, one of my major concerns is perception. For example, I have heard others outside of the PCA interpret our action as opening the floodgate for homosexual preachers.  I do not think they understand all the nuances of the action, but regardless, this is how the PCA is now perceived in reformed and evangelical circles. At times, perception is everything.  This may not be everything in this case, but it is a major consideration.
I have dedicated much of my life to the PCA.  I am hurt because her character has been tarnished. It is akin to someone impugning the reputation of my own wife.
Yet, I am reminded of a few biblical passages that give me some encouragement.  “And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for we shall reap if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9).  For we have “not resisted to the point of shedding blood (Heb. 14:4).” Weariness is never a reason to give up the fight.  Weariness produces a temptation that must be resisted.
I am encouraged by several of things in the PCA.  First, it was heartening to me that even though the majority report of the Committee of Commissioners at the 49th General Assembly voted against the Overture, a minority report supporting the Overture was adopted by the Court.  According to the latest report at www.pcapolity.com, 45 presbyteries have now cast a positive vote for Overture 15, a majority of the total of 88 presbyteries, with 12 more still to vote.  I am also encouraged that a number of other overtures on this same issue will be forthcoming at the 50th General Assembly in Memphis. Greg Johnson and the Memorial Church have left the PCA.  This has promoted the peace and purity of our denomination.  There is an awareness among conservative presbyteries that we need to put more of our men on the GA Nominating Committee.  Thus, even with this defeat, overall, there are positive signs of hope.
Then too, I can always come home to my own Presbytery (Westminster) where we have already taken our stand on this issue. Only a judicial case against us could possibly change our minds, and I do not see that happening. In a document adopted by our Presbytery, (a document that does not rise to the level of our confessional standards), we have stated clearly that “men who identify as homosexual, even those who identify as homosexual and claim to practice celibacy in that self-identification, are disqualified from holding office in Westminster Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America.”  Any man who seeks to become a part of this Presbytery will be sent a document containing this statement, and told if he does not agree with it, then he need not apply for membership. He will not pass our examination. I would encourage other presbyteries to follow our example.
For numerous reasons it is my belief that now is not the time to leave the PCA, and I would encourage churches and teaching elders contemplating such action to stay and “fight the good fight.”  I would encourage more churches to become actively involved in both their presbyteries and at the General Assembly level. The ruling elders of our denomination have recently risen up and enabled us to have a greater voice for our conservative beliefs, and we must not retreat.
We are Presbyterians and we do believe that the church is connected by way of graded courts. We are not Congregationalists. We believe that our system of government is biblical, or so at least we took a vow declaring it to be so.  Every elder in the PCA has an obligation to participate in the work of the church at both the Presbytery and General Assembly level. To fail to do so, apart from providential reasons, is to fall short of our calling by God.
It is my personal conviction that Presbyterianism in America reflects modern consumerism more than it does the Bible or even the examples of our heroes of the past.  We are raised in a culture of a multitude of choices evident every time we go shopping.  We can buy a Chevrolet or a Ford. We are free to move from one state to another at our own discretion.  Sadly, this consumerism mentality has negated a right reading of the Scriptures and carried over into our “religious” choices.  American religiosity now allows us to move with ease from one church to another, and from one denomination to another any time we like. This is not to say that it may be necessary in some cases, but the choice is just too easy.
We recently celebrated the life of J. Gresham Machen, 100 years after he penned his landmark book “Christianity and Liberalism” in 1923.   However, little attention was given to the fact that he was suspended from the ministry by a Permanent Judicial Commission of New Brunswick Presbytery. He then appealed the matter to the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly and lost the appeal.  When under duress, he did not immediately transfer to another denomination, or walk down the street to form a “Continuing Presbyterian Church,” never to be heard from again.  He used every avenue available to him in the Church.  He stayed in his church for the duration of the fight.  Not only should he be a model for us theologically, but also ecclesiastically.
Machen’s day was a different era. Thoughts of transfer, starting a new denomination, or even quitting was never the first thing on their minds.  His fame was greatly enhanced because of his courage before the church courts, and thus he became the hero that he is today. Heroes are not created by disappearing into a fog of obscurity, but by being suspended from the ministry (defrocked) by your own Presbytery for unjust cause. Heroes are made by those who endure to the end.
So, how do we overcome our discouragement.  We rise to the occasion and fight on.  We do not succumb to temptation and flee when the opposition appears strong, but rather we choose the pathway of endurance, while praying for victory.
Larry E. Ball is a retired minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is now a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tenn.
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Satan loves to trivialize and diminish the horrors of sin by cloaking it in soft, therapeutic language. He loves to deceive us into playing the victim rather than the perpetrator. Don’t fall for it, Christian. As the Scriptures testify, sin is real and there is death and hell to pay for our rebellion against God’s kindness and grace. The good news, however, and the ground upon which all our hope is founded, is that Christ is an equally real and mighty Saviour.

Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it out into the wilderness by the hand of a man ready to do this. (Leviticus 16:21 LSB)
In our modern, over-psychologized world, the biblical concept of sin has been all but obliterated. Simply consider the way transgressions have been usurped by “struggles,” iniquities by “trauma,” guilt by “poor self-esteem,” and sins by “breakdowns” and “stress.” Indeed, if any fault is admitted on the part of the person in question (and such occasions are rare), responsibility for these faults is usually off-loaded onto some ready-made excuse like so many sacks of grain onto a Peruvian pack mule.
In other words, we moderns deeply resent the idea that we might actually bear moral culpability for our actions, and thus we are only too willing to shield ourselves from the implications of such a prospect. As Malcolm Muggeridge wisely noted, “The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.” We simply hate that we are sinners.
In the Scriptures, however, sin is not the kind of thing that can be done away with through the mere swapping of terms. It is not, like a stray cat or dog, something that can be renamed and domesticated. In fact, sin is startlingly objective in character, placing us under a real and equally objective state of condemnation and guilt. This is because sin in the Bible is not the mere breaking of arbitrary rules; it is personal and calculated rebellion against the infinitely good and holy God. It is open defiance against the Lord of heaven and earth, rank ingratitude toward the Giver of all grace.
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Wisdom can be sought, learned, and increased. But the seeking begins with Jesus Christ and Him alone. Without Christ, without submitting to Him, we are forever condemned to the foolish harm of our souls, and the souls of those around us.

Did you know that people pass electricity through their brains (tDCS, “transcranial direct current stimulation”) in the hope of being more intelligent? They do this before IQ testing, hoping to gain an edge over others.
Intelligence is a valuable commodity. Higher intelligence opens the door to better university degrees at better universities. Better degrees open the door to more lucrative careers. More lucrative careers open the door to the Nirvana of homeownership, meals with top chefs, private schools for the kids, better medical and dental treatment, early retirement, travel, and all-important experiences.
Thus, intelligent people are the new rock stars. Jordan Peterson’s recent lecture tour in Australia was a sellout. The ubiquitous Stephen Fry—urbane, witty, mellifluous—hosts the British TV show QI and makes one feel that one could never fly at quite his own altitude.
In this environment it is difficult not to measure and value ourselves according to our intelligence.
Wisdom is far more valuable than intelligence.
God’s Word does not rate intelligence this way. A quick concordance check of the NIV Bible shows that the word intelligent appears nine times, clever appears twice, and the words smart, intellectual, bright,and brainy not at all. But the words discern and discerning appear 34 times, understanding appears 115 times, and wise and wisdom 455 times. Know and knowledge appear 1,250 times. Think, thought, consider, meditate, reason, and ponder appear 405 times. We are commanded 14 times to “Wake up!” In the KJV, the command “Behold!” appears 1,326 times. The Bible highly rates wisdom, wisely alert thought, and wisely used knowledge. Bare intelligence is irrelevance.
The reason is this: there is no necessary correlation between intelligence and morality, or intelligence and wise conduct. You can be a fool with a very high IQ. You can be an evil genius. You can be dim, and good. You can be slow on the uptake, yet wise. You can be dull, and yet very skilled at the worthwhile thing that you do.
At the end of the day, a person’s contribution to the world, their society, and their friends and family will be determined not by their intelligence per se, but by their wisdom and goodness.
Wisdom is about knowing how to act correctly in any given situation.
According to the New Bible Dictionary the Hebrew word ḥokmā, “is intensely practical, not theoretical…. wisdom is the art of being successful, of forming the correct plan to gain the desired results.” And so the craftsmen of the Tabernacle were given ḥokmā to undertake their highly skilled workmanship (Exod. 31:6). The Bible associates wisdom with skilled metalwork, woodwork, jewelry, embroidery, weaving, trading, politics, leadership, and military and nautical ability. Wisdom is not about being smart. Wisdom is about knowing how to act correctly in any given situation, to do a given task well. This is driven home by the startling observation of Proverbs 30:24–28:
Four things on earth are small,but they are exceedingly wise:the ants are a people not strong,yet they provide their food in the summer;the rock badgers are a people not mighty,yet they make their homes in the cliffs;the locusts have no king,yet all of them march in rank;the lizard you can take in your hands,yet it is in kings’ palaces.
Ants, badgers, locusts, and lizards frequently shame the sharp, clever, and intelligent. For whereas the latter so often misuse their intelligence to harm themselves and those around them, “dumb animals” act prudently, constructively, and well. (The lizard is my favorite: he lets men sweat and toil to build a great and luxurious palace, says “thanks for that” when it is done, and simply moves in.)
While intelligence may be fixed, we can increase in wisdom.
The implication is that whereas IQ, like your height and eye color, may be relatively fixed, wisdom can be sought, learned, and increased. It should grow deeper and wider with age and experience (Job 32:7, Heb. 5:12). With every journey around the sun we should learn by experience how better to look after ourselves and those around us.
That is why we will now hear, from Proverbs 8, Wisdom shouting out to us from the street corners, urging us to take hold of the gifts that she longs to lavish upon us all:
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