Chapter 7: The Bible Presbyterian Church - PCA Historical Center

The Bible Presbyterian Church 253The 1948 Synod commended the International Councilof Christian Churches (ICCC) soon to be formed after thepattern of the American Council. In 1950 a strong resolutionwas adopted warning the American Government and peopleof the menace of world Communism. In 1952 the Church,recognizing a „national emergency,‟ heartily recommendedthe „militant stand‟ of the American and International Councilsin their exposure of the errors of modernism and socialism—namely,the humanistic concept that the state is responsiblefor the economic and physical care of the individual,rather than the agent of the people for general safety andfreedom. The Church also called upon Christian parents towithdraw their children from public schools in which socalled„progressive education‟ is the basis of instruction, inorder to send them to Christian schools where God is recognizedand His Word taught. Moreover, it recommended thatall Sunday school teachers be required to subscribe to thesystem of doctrine set forth in the Westminster Standards. 25In the years following 1952 the dark cloud of controversywas to hover over the Bible Presbyterian Synod. However,this controversy did not develop overnight. Indeed, theSynod had always had its problems. As Robert H. Coxremarked in 1950: „The fact that there are problems is proofthat we are trying to do something. Dead movements have noproblems.‟ 26 Given the Synod‟s preoccupation with its distinctivetestimony, these problems, as might be expected,revolved around the testimony of the Bible PresbyterianChurch.Testimony of SeparationAs already noted, the Bible Presbyterian Church wasacutely conscious of its distinctive testimony from the verybeginning. For instance, a promotional pamphlet put out in1941 by the Synod‟s Committee on Publications maintains25. Ibid., 79-86.26. National Missions Reporter (NMR), 3:4 (Aug., 1950), 15.History Behind the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, pp. 244-296.