This site has been created for the purpose of providing members of the Canadian and American Reformed Churches with important information concerning the erroneous decisions of General Synods 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2007. We focus on the decisions which established and maintained relationships of ecclesiastical fellowship with the Presbyterian Church of Korea, the Free Church of Scotland, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the United Reformed Churches, the Reformed Church in the United States, the Reformed Churches of New Zealand and l’Eglise Reformee du Quebec.  We also focus on the 2007 decision to reject as “schism” a liberation from unscriptural decisions which has resulted in the formation of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands – Restored.(1)

We are convinced that even though many of these General Synod decisions have been unsuccessfully appealed, they are in conflict with the Word of God, the confessions and the Church Order. We believe that when consistories accept these decisions as settled and binding, they also accept the practice of an improperly supervised Lord's Supper, promote the false doctrine of the pluriformity of the church, impair the authority of the office-bearers in maintaining discipline, and undermine confessional membership.

On this site we have placed a number of documents which analyze the above-mentioned General Synod decisions in the light of Scripture, the confessions and the Church Order. We continue to encourage site visitors to examine the results of the studies we have undertaken and the correspondence we have posted here.  We ask them to determine for themselves whether the material we have placed on this site justifies the conclusions we have drawn. Therefore we continue to invite responses from site visitors.

Once they have determined that these conclusions are justified, congregational members should write to their consistories in order to show why these unscriptural decisions can not be upheld. At the same time they must ask their consistories to liberate themselves and their congregations from the consequences of these unscriptural decisions.

We know that it is impossible for living members of the Canadian and American Reformed Churches to accept a binding to unscriptural decisions.  In the event of persistent refusal on the part of a consistory to liberate itself from these unscriptural decisions and to support those who have previously seceded in obedience to Christ, they must liberate themselves from the consequences of these unscriptural decisions.  They are duty bound to call their brothers and sisters in the church to join with them.  They can then restore the church of Christ in their area in faithfulness and truth.

In the meantime we continue to make available documents that explain in detail the unscriptural character of the above General Synod decisions, why they cannot be accepted, and why we must liberate ourselves from these decisions. The quotations below serve as a summary of our responsibilities in this regard.

We do this in the prayerful hope that return from wrong paths will take place, and that this work may contribute to the preservation and increase of the Church of Christ.

(1) See a listing of relevant General Synod decisions here. (appendix)


I John 4:1-6 "Beloved do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

1 Thess. 5: 20-22 "Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil."

Phil. 1:9-10 "And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,"

Proverbs 18:17 " The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him."

 

Schilder's Struggle for the Unity of the Church, by Rudolf van Reest, page 404:

Church reformers are not people who fight for unity but people who fight for truth. The unity that follows is the fruit of their struggle.

The Liberation: Causes and Consequences, edited by C. Van Dam

Prof. J. Faber: Afterword: Liberation and Catholicity (Pg. 114, 115)

    "Luther acted in a catholic manner when he rejected a binding to human teachings and bound himself and his conscience to the Word of God alone: "Here I stand". When we are convinced by the Word of God's Spirit, and when it is proven to our conscience that an ecclesiastical doctrine is not taken from the Word of God, we may not yield for a moment. Indeed, we are then also obliged to try to convince others. That is practicing the communion of saints. That is an ecclesiastical way. We are not to run away and to secede immediately from a local congregation or from a federation of churches. But within the communion of saints locally and within the federation of churches we should liberate ourselves immediately from un-Scriptural binding. The Word of God has absolute and exclusive authority within God's church. No pope and no council, no elder and no synod can establish himself or itself above or even beside the Word of God. The Word of God has always had and will always have the exclusive authority for the regulation, foundation and confirmation of our faith. In the past it always was and for the future it will always be the sole rule for our faith and conduct. Our conscience is bound only by and in the Scriptures of God."

Bound Yet Free, edited by J. De Jong

Dr. S. Greijdanus: Scriptural Principles Concerning Broader Assemblies (Pg. 63-64)

    "A good shepherd is recognized by his sheep. They know his voice, he calls them by name and leads them out. "When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers," John 10:3-5.

This is also true when a synod takes on the role of shepherd. What matters is whether the voice of the good Shepherd is heard out of that synod, that is, the voice of God's Word, the correspondence, in word and deed, with God's ordinances or revelation in Holy Scripture. If this is lacking, if there is a conflict with what the Lord has revealed about His church and its faith and life in those Holy Scriptures, the sheep will flee, and they must flee, for the voice of the synod is not that of the good Shepherd, but of one who disturbs the flock, regardless of what shepherd's garment he has put on, and regardless of how flatteringly and softly he lisps, or how mightily he roars. The sheep should, therefore, not temporarily entrust themselves to such a shepherd, hoping later to be able to release themselves and be liberated from his corrupting care. That is too dangerous. By then such deliverance may be out of reach, and the corruption may have spread too deeply. The apostle Paul, for instance, did not write to the Galatians that they should continue to entrust themselves, for the time being, to the false teachers and their preaching, until he himself could come to them and straighten everything out again. Without any attempt to mollify them, without any compromise or postponement he said, as sharply as possible, 'But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one which you received, let him be accursed,' Galatians 1:8. When? Later? In a little while? After this or that? May or should matters continue for the time being? No, now, immediately. 'As we have said before, so now I say again, If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed,' Galatians 1:9. The apostle knows nothing of temporarily permitting and acquiescing in what conflicts with the Word of God, until others too will share your insight, and will admit, that this or that preaching, that this or that synodical decision, conflicts with the gospel of God, the Holy Scriptures. Everyone has his own responsibility, which cannot be passed off to others. Everyone must judge for himself, must decide now, when something does not conform to God's Word, to reject it and to break with it, not continuing with others in the wrong. No synod, no church federation affords you any excuse. People are not the lords of the church. Christ is its absolute owner and commander.

'Oh, that today you would hearken to His voice! Harden not your hearts,'
Psalm 95:7,8."