A South Dakota pastor crusades
to save the Reformed Church
As mainline Protestant churches continue "falling away" [see 2 Thessalonians 2:3], affirming homosexual behavior and rejecting Scripture, one man in South Dakota wages a lonely crusade to keep his denomination from plunging over the brink after the others.
John Thornton, part-time visitation pastor at Community Reformed Church of Sioux Falls, which is affiliated with the Reformed Church in America (RCA), is trying to contact all of the RCA's 900 churches in a campaign to rally the clergy to hold to God's Word. At last count, Thornton had e-mailed 400 churches.
"I have gotten 32 positive responses," he told Concerned Women for America (CWA). "Less than 10 percent--but there is hope! And I've gotten three hostile responses, and one threat to report me to the denomination for spamming."
The immediate inspiration for Thornton's e-mail crusade is the release of a new book by Dr. David Myers, What God Has Joined Together? A Christian Case for Gay Marriage. Myers is a professor of psychology at RCA-affiliated Hope College in Holland, Michigan.
"There is no 'Christian case for gay marriage,'" Thornton said. "Jesus defined marriage as between one man and one woman [Matthew 19: 3-9; Mark 10: 1-9]. He condemned sexual acts outside of marriage as sin, either fornication or adultery. Therefore Jesus did condemn homosexual acts. But this only applies if people take God's Word seriously."
Linda Schauer, CWA’s South Dakota director, said, “The Church was silent and passive when abortion was legalized. The Church must rise up and get involved before a clearly unbiblical practice overwhelms it. I applaud Rev. Thornton for his bold crusade to alert his Church to the camel that is getting his nose under the tent. God bless Rev. Thornton for his diligence and courage in upholding the truth of God’s Word.”
Hope College President James Bultman said he shared Thornton's concerns over Myers' book, but couldn't do much about it. Although Myers' office is at Hope College, he does not teach courses there or receive a paycheck from the college, Bultman said.
"Professor Myers' position on homosexuality is contrary to the position of the RCA and Hope College," he said in an e-mail to Thornton. Neither the college nor the RCA condone the commission of homosexual acts, he said.
But how serious about this is the RCA?
While president of RCA’s New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Jersey, Norman Kansfield last year performed the “marriage” of his daughter to her lesbian partner. Although the denomination recently stripped Kansfield of his presidency and removed him from his ministry and teaching positions, a backlash has developed.
"The Christian Century says that 150 [RCA] pastors wrote supporting Kansfield," Thornton said. "One hundred and fifty out of about 900 churches--a dangerously high number of lost pastors."(Click here to see the magazine article.)
On its own Web site, the RCA boasts of its close "ecumenical relationship" with the United Church of Christ (UCC), the liberal denomination that recently authorized pastors to perform “gay” marriages. The UCC has long been in the vanguard of the gay-affirming, Bible-rejecting theology movement, and has even produced a television ad attacking other churches for not accepting homosexuality.
In New York City, RCA’s Middle Collegiate Church features an active "gay and lesbian" organization and has a float in the city's annual Gay Pride Parade.
Despite such instances of open acceptance of homosexuality, RCA leadership continues to insist that it holds to traditional Bible teaching.
"Our stance [on homosexuality] is very clear," said Paul Boice, the RCA's director of communications. "We did reaffirm traditional marriage at our last general synod, and we did vote very strongly to find Norman Kansfield guilty and remove him from his post."
Kansfield may be out, but his seminary will co-sponsor and host "a conference on theology and sexuality" October 16 through18, featuring eight prominent advocates of homosexual "marriage" (including David Myers).
Meanwhile, John Thornton, who had both hips and both knees surgically replaced and can barely walk, continues his one-man crusade. His opposition to the advance of homosexualism springs not only from his reading of the Bible, but also from his 10 years of experience as a nurse in an AIDS/HIV ward.
"I saw a lot of folks die," he told CWA. "I do have difficulty with ambulation, but thanks to God, I am still able to stand for my beliefs."
"I don't disagree with the pastor who's trying to rally us around the Bible," Boice said. "We do have to continue to look to God's Word for our guidance."
But actions speak louder than words, and Rev. Thornton's actions are eloquent.
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This article was reprinted here with the permission of the author Lee Duigon and Concerned Women for America where it first appeared.
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