Creation is constantly testifying to the sovereign power and meticulous care of God. I challenge you to read psalms like Psalm 104 and ask God to open your eyes, to slow you down, and to stir up wonder in your soul. As we engage in the rest of our summer activities and enjoy God’s creation, I am praying that God calibrates our eyes, ears, and heart through his Word to receive the testimony of his creation, leading us to join the psalmist in saying, “Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great!” (Psalm 104:1)

It happens every summer.
We make plans to slow down and rest after a busy school year, only to realize in July that we have neither slowed down nor rested. Also, while we have been enjoying God’s creation, I realize that I haven’t allowed my time in nature to do what God intended or what creation itself longs to do. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been outdoors this summer, enjoying hiking, fishing, and canoeing. But it isn’t enough to be active or even to enjoy creation. The question is, “Are we listening to it?” And if we are listening, are we allowing what we hear to cultivate wonder and lead us to worship?
Far too often, our pace and plans take us from one activity to the next, or we visit beautiful places without pausing to listen and hear what God could be saying to us in those places. He is speaking, but are you listening?
Creation is Testifying
David begins Psalm 19, saying:
The heavens declare the glory of God,and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.Day to day pours out speech,and night to night reveals knowledge.There is no speech, nor are there words,whose voice is not heard.Their voice goes out through all the earth,and their words to the end of the world. (Psalm 19:1–4)
The heavens that he spoke into existence with a word are constantly echoing back praise to him and testifying about his matchless glory to the ends of the earth. Are you listening?
In 2002, Paul Marcarelli broke onto the scene as the Verizon test man. Whether he was popping up out of sewers, trudging through swamps, sitting in a busy office, or walking through a desert, he always asked, “Can you hear me now?” It was brilliant advertising, asking a relevant question in those primitive days of cell phone usage for the masses as it was a question that all of us have asked: “Can you hear me now?”
That’s actually a question that we need to consider about God as we engage in a summer of fun activities in beautiful places: “Can you hear him now?” If creation is declaring his glory, are we listening? More than that, are we letting what we hear affect us in the way that it should?
Don’t get me wrong, we say things on our vacations like, “Aren’t those mountains majestic?” or “Isn’t the ocean so powerful?” But too often, I stop the meditation short in the realm of my personal enjoyment. I have to imagine that the mountains are saying something like, “If you think I am majestic, you should see the One who made me.” Or the ocean is declaring, “You should see the power of the One who put me in place and told me exactly how far I could go toward the land.”
In all of their beauty, the mountains and oceans that we enjoy on our vacations are merely signposts to a greater majesty and glory. Are we listening?
In Knowing God, J.I. Packer says, “Christian minds have been conformed to the modern spirit: the spirit, that is, that spawns great thoughts of man and leaves room for only small thoughts of God.”
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As an ordained PCA minister, his participation in Revoice and his determination to embrace a gay lifestyle and culture has given comfort and aid to one of the great modern movements attacking the church and orthodoxy.  Furthermore, he has continued to write, speak, and make money off his self-ascribed role as a gay martyr trying to help a misguided denomination that may “still have time to care.”

It has been a week since the end of the 2022 PCA General Assembly.  I have been considering what was accomplished, and unfortunately, I believe we deserve an F for this year’s effort.
On the bright side, for those of us who have been concerned about our denomination’s retreat from orthodoxy, there were a few victories.
We pulled out of the National Association of Evangelicals, although it was troubling that the PCA’s leadership argued strongly for remaining in the NAE.  A cursory review of the NAE’s webpage issues section and Twitter feed reveals a leftward tilt and a faulty view of Biblical roles established for the church different from the state.
We overwhelmingly approved an overture to call on public officials to repent of the sin of abortion.
We approved Overtures 29 and 15, both designed to significantly tighten character requirements in the Book of Church Order so that, if approved by the presbyteries, those who identify as a gay Christian or same-sex attracted Christian cannot hold office in the PCA.  The language for Overture 15 to amend the Book of Church Order 7-4 is as follows:
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 the Presbyterian Church in America.
Even considering these three actions, I still grade the General Assembly poorly because it is common knowledge that O15 is likely to fail on the presbytery approval circuit.  The Assembly had an opportunity to directly address the heresy of Pastor Greg Johnson.  We did not.
Some would say the word heresy is too strong.  Afterall, Greg Johnson publicly embraces the Westminster Confession, the Book of Church Order, and the RAO.  He even affirms and compliments the PCA’s Report on Human Sexuality.
But with Johnson, the key to understanding his heretical view lies in a statement he made while standing at the microphone and voicing opposition to this year’s Overture 29.  He said he was opposed to O29 because the denomination had failed to include language that expressly states that God loves gay people.
This statement reflects what Johnson asserts in his writings and interviews: that there are people with an inherent sexual identity, separate from their sexual behavior, labeled as gay, homosexual, or same-sex attracted.
Johnson has played fast and loose with nuanced language from the day that he embraced Revoice and began his campaign for sexual understanding within the PCA.  Johnson agrees that any desires outside those sanctioned by God are sinful; he is willing to say that sexual relations of any kind outside of marriage are sinful; he calls himself a broken man, a sinner, and proclaims that he is living a celibate life despite the fact that he struggles with sexual attraction for men.  That’s all well and good, but this owning of the concept that there is a sexual identity separate from the sexual act is out of accord with Scripture.
It is because of this concept of a different sexual identity that Johnson embraces a gay lifestyle (without the sex) in his clothes, appearance, and appetites.  I deduce that this is what fuels his frustration as he writes about the failures of conversion therapy and slanders the collective church for being too focused on converting homosexuals to heterosexuals instead of just caring for them.
This concept of a different identity also explains Johnson’s vision of spiritually caring for gays.  It consists of treating them with great compassion and tenderness as though their sexuality is as pre-determined as the color of their eyes, expecting them never to get better, weeping with them over their self-sacrificing celibacy, and celebrating their contributions to the arts, music, culinary science, design, and culture.  Johnson and many of his allies label any opposition to their vision for care as homophobic, and the PCA pastors and elders in support of Johnson generally describe us on the other side as ignorant, un-Christlike, and un-pastoral.
It is time for some clarity of thought on this in the PCA.  What Scripture and nature teaches us is that there are two sexual identities: male and female. By our identities, we can know what we are to do with our sexual organs.  Unfortunately, because of the Fall, we are all broken, perverted, and have desires that must be wrestled and restrained.  When we do not restrain them, we are given over to fornication, adultery, pedophilia, incest, rape, homosexuality, and the list goes on.  While some men may struggle with certain sinful inclinations for a variety of reasons, any one of us on this side of heaven is not above temptation by any perversion.
But there is hope.  Scripture says it is possible to not only restrain desire for bad behavior but train our inclinations in a new direction.  Most of the epistles of the New Testament follow a common pattern.  We are reminded of our life before Christ, instructed in what Christ has done for us, and then told how to live as a new creature, born again, and able to live for God.  We are told to “work out our salvation” and that the foundation for this new life is the renewing of our mind.  That should be of great encouragement to anyone struggling with sexual sin because the harbor of all sexual perversion is our minds.  When our mind is renewed, there is less opportunity for the sinful desire to take root and even less of a chance we will act upon it.
But that is only part of the formula.  The other part is to use our minds to discipline our bodies for their God-ordained purpose.  Thieves are not only commanded to steal no longer but also to work.  Ultimately, they will find pleasure in that work.  Regarding sexuality, God demands that we make no provision for the flesh, and he commands men not to be effeminate or wear women’s clothes.  But in addition, we are commanded to act like men – to pursue manly things.  I would encourage Johnson to take this to heart.  Instead of getting a spray tan and having a hairstyle and clothes reflective of the narcissistic and effeminate gay movement, Johnson should wear manly clothes, do manly things, and give no quarter to the trappings of gay culture.  I have no idea if Johnson will ever have a sexual inclination for a woman or a desire for marriage, but I can assure him that this will never happen if he continues to live the way he is now.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that continuing the way he is now will cause him to be much more likely to fall back into overt homosexual sin.
This is the same advice that any Christian pastor or elder would give to a man struggling with fornication.  The advice would be to avoid wearing sexy clothes, stay away from the bars and clubs that give rise to illicit sexuality, and pursue a godly woman for marriage within the context of church and family.  Will that completely eradicate fleeting glimpses of lust?  No.  But will that more likely put that man on a course toward godly sexuality within the bonds of marriage?  Yes.
It is also time for clarity of action on this in the PCA.  First, Greg Johnson embraced a heresy in that he has declared himself gay or same-sex attracted by identity, even though not by behavior.  This view is counter to Scripture and has made him incapable of counseling anyone in his spiritual flock on sexuality.
Second, over the past 4 years, Greg Johnson and his allies have attacked disagreeing brothers in the PCA and the greater Church of Christ with accusations of homophobia and hard-heartedness.  It is additionally concerning that they seem to want to define homosexuality as just another sin, something no worse than over-indulging at the dessert bar.  Scripture refers to it as one of the great abominations and one of the final stages of men and women being “given over.”
Third, as an ordained PCA minister, his participation in Revoice and his determination to embrace a gay lifestyle and culture has given comfort and aid to one of the great modern movements attacking the church and orthodoxy.  Furthermore, he has continued to write, speak, and make money off his self-ascribed role as a gay martyr trying to help a misguided denomination that may “still have time to care.”
For these reasons, it is mind-exploding to me and to many ordained men in the PCA that the Standing Judicial Committee failed to speak to Johnson’s theology in their recent rulings.  I understand that they may have felt compelled to speak to questions of procedure only and also that they are nervous about disrupting the PCA’s system of courts or reputation for being a “grassroots denomination.”  But those concerns apply only to our man-made procedures, and as it stands now, Greg Johnson and his allies are using procedure and nuanced language to make fools out of the PCA.
It is also mind-exploding that with all we know about Greg Johnson that he is still permitted to stand on the floor of the Assembly to make arguments for or against an overture related to sexuality.  By contrast, after the Assembly was addressed by the women of the Domestic Abuse Committee, when one lone soul stood up to rightly object to women addressing the Assembly, he was booed by members of the Assembly and chastised by the Moderator.  We are in bad shape.
If heterodoxy is denominational cancer, then the PCA is eaten up with it.  Some have suggested that it is just a matter of time before Greg Johnson and those who embrace his views will voluntarily leave on their own.  Such thinking is akin to doing nothing about malignant cancer and just hoping it will go away.  Overture 15 will likely be voted down by the presbyteries.  That means two more years for the progressives to work and more time for the cancer to spread.  For the sake of the Gospel and for Greg Johnson, he needs to be excommunicated.  The sin of Achan should be a reminder that toleration of sin within the camp has collective consequences.
If we do not have the stomach for that, then this year, the leading men of the Gospel Reformation Network need to step up and form a new denomination.  Patience is a virtue but never when dealing with apostasy within the Church of Christ.  Christ and John the Baptist had great patience with the tax collectors and prostitutes but none with the spiritual treason and truth-twisting of the Sanhedrin.  Neither should we.
Brett Doster is a Ruling Elder in Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Tallahassee, Florida
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In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year that were read on The Aquila Report site based on the number of hits. We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run on five lists on consecutive days. Here are numbers 1-10.

In 2022 The Aquila Report (TAR) posted over 3,000 stories. At the end of each year we feature the top 50 stories that were read.
TAR posts 8 new stories each day, on a variety of subjects – all of which we trust are of interest to our readers. As a web magazine TAR is an aggregator of news and information that we believe will provide articles that will inform the church of current trends and movements within the church and culture.
In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year that were read on The Aquila Report site based on the number of hits. We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run on five lists on consecutive days. Here are numbers 1-10:

An Open Letter With A Broken Heart to My Beloved Church

[Editor’s Note: This is a letter from a member to her church explaining the reasons she left a church she loved after being a member for eight years. We are publishing the letter anonymously to avoid publicly impugning anyone’s integrity and to allow the content of the letter to be read on its merits.]

What Greg Johnson Won’t Tell You About “Double Repentance”

Here we have biblical truth, expounded clearly and succinctly. Christ’s blood does not merely take away the guilt of our sin but also removes the powerful grip it holds on us, enabling us to choose righteousness over wickedness, allowing us to actually put sin to death even at the level of our desires. “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). While Revoice proponents are busy delicately nuancing a distinction between homosexual orientation and homosexual behavior, the Lord calls us to put it all to death because it is worldly and wicked.

Disney Airs Animated Series about Satan Impregnating a Reluctant Mother Who Births the Antichrist

Artist Ricky Cometa said, “When Dana first approached me, she said that ‘we’re trying to make this demon realm part of Disney,’ which is something I didn’t think would happen.” Cometa went on to say, “We really wanted to make this demon realm feel like home, and just had to figure out how to do it.”

Overture 15 – The Tipping Point for a Split in the PCA?

The following is the wording of Overture 15 approved by the General Assembly: “Men who describe themselves as homosexual, even those who describe themselves as homosexual and claim to practice celibacy by refraining from homosexual conduct, are disqualified from holding office in the Presbyterian Church in America.”

Ash Wednesday: Picking and Choosing our Piety

When Presbyterians and Baptists and free church evangelicals start attending Ash Wednesday services and observing Lent, one can only conclude that they have either been poorly instructed in the theology or the history of their own traditions, or that they have no theology and history. Or maybe they are simply exhibiting the attitude of the world around: They consume the bits and pieces which catch their attention in any tradition they find appealing, while eschewing the broader structure, demands and discipline which belonging to an historically rooted confessional community requires.

Testimony and Covenant of the Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church

By God’s grace, under Christ’s authority, we vow to strive for purity, peace, and Scriptural order in the formation of the Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church. Therefore, we endeavor to exclude those who disturb her peace, corrupt her testimony, and subvert her established forms from her communion. Therefore, as previous generations of Presbyterians did before us, we covenant together as elders in the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ to be “True to the Scriptures, the Reformed Faith, and the Great Commission!”

What To Do About Greg Johnson?

As an ordained PCA minister, his participation in Revoice and his determination to embrace a gay lifestyle and culture has given comfort and aid to one of the great modern movements attacking the church and orthodoxy.  Furthermore, he has continued to write, speak, and make money off his self-ascribed role as a gay martyr trying to help a misguided denomination that may “still have time to care.”

A Single Woman’s Response to Greg Johnson

Christians ever identified themselves by inner desires?  Don’t we all experience a multitude of desires we deal with besides sexual ones?  As a single female Christian, it never occurred to me to identify myself related to any sexual desires.  I am not alone.  Among Christians, there are life-long single men and women, widowed men and women, divorced men and women, who have obeyed God’s commandments while remaining celibate during periods of their lives.  Furthermore, they never identified themselves by any desires they experienced during those same periods of their lives.

The End of Overtures 23 & 37

While Overtures 23 and 37 did not receive the approval of 2/3 of presbyteries, they did receive more than a majority of the presbyteries that have voted so far. The debate on the issue is not over. There are a number of presbyteries preparing to send overtures to the 49th PCA General Assembly on the qualifications for ordination to church office. 
And the number one story on The Aquila Report for 2022:

Memorial Presbyterian Church Session Calls Congregation Meeting

It is with a mixture of sorrow and hope that we, the elders of Memorial Presbyterian Church, after fifteen months spent fasting, praying, waiting, consulting and listening, now write to call a meeting of the congregation for 5:30–6:30 p.m. Friday, November 18, 2022, in the Auditorium for the purpose of deciding on matters pertaining to denominational alignment. We are recommending the congregation vote to withdraw from the Presbyterian Church in America in accordance with Book of Church Order 25-11.
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