Augustine said separation is vain, harmful, and sacrilegious

 Institutes of the Christian Religion IV, xii, 13

“For counsels of separation are vain, sacrilegious, and pernicious, because impious and proud, and do more to disturb the weak good than to correct the wicked proud,” (August. ^[1]

 

Meaning:

13. Augustine requires discrimination in discipline*

^cAugustine especially commends this one thing: if the contagion of sin invades the multitude, the severe mercy of a vigorous discipline is necessary. “For advice to separate,” he says, “is vain, harmful, and sacrilegious, because it becomes impious and proud; and it disturbs weak good men more than it corrects bold bad ones.”²⁴ And what he there enjoins on others, he himself has faithfully followed. For, writing to Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, he complains that drunkenness (so severely condemned in Scripture) is raging unpunished in Africa, and he advises calling a council of bishops to provide a remedy. He then adds: “These things, in my judgment, are removed not roughly or harshly, or in any imperious manner; and more by teaching than by commanding, more by monishing than by menacing. For so we must deal with a great number of sinners. But we are to use severity toward the sins of a few.”²⁵ Yet he does not mean that bishops should on this account condone public crimes, or remain silent because they cannot punish them more severely, as he explains afterward. But he wishes the method of correction to be so tempered that, as far as possible, it may bring health rather than death to the body. Therefore, he concludes as follows: “That precept of the apostle on the separation of evil persons must accordingly by no means be neglected when it can be applied without danger of violating peace. For he did not wish it to be done otherwise. And this principle must also be kept: bearing with one another, we should try to keep ‘the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ [1 Cor. 5:3–7; Eph. 4:2–3].”^26[2]

My Comment:

I pray that fundamentalists have mercy in their judgment!

 

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^[1] John Calvin and Henry Beveridge, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 3 (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1845), 258–259.

* following a section title indicates that the title has been supplied by the present editor.

^c edition of 1543

²⁴ Augustine, op. cit., III. ii. 14 (MPL 43. 93).

²⁵ Augustine, Letters xxii. 1. 4. 5 (MPL 33. 92; tr. FC 12. 54 f.).

²⁶ Augustine, Against the Letter of Parmenianus III. ii. 15, 16 (MPL 43. 94 f.).

^[2] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion & 2, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 1, The Library of Christian Classics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 1240.

Be Still My Soul

 

Give space and place to Holy Spirit

If you reconcile with your brothers and sisters in Christ, in BPC, accepting their differences, accept them as your beloved brethren in Christ. You united with them as one under one roof, at the same time, worship together as one under one roof.  And you forgive one another under one roof, together you pray for one another under one roof, you love each other under one roof. No more criticize your brothers who disagree with you, you will be good as gold purified 7 times. 

You will live together peacefully, no more hostile feeling between you and brothers in Christ, in BPC. You love God and love them.

Do not impose anything strongly unto those who oppose your view, give space and place for the Holy Spirit to work among us. If you are honest to say that is your personal view, not to impose rudely on anyone, you will continue to grow in peace. You will be blessed greatly. Be strong in the Lord. Love is the greatest. Be gentle to everyone who opposes you.

Give space and place to the Holy Spirit to work in you and the people living around you. Listen to those who disagreed with you. Learn from your enemy, and love your enemy, and you must love your brethren in Jesus Christ. This is your testimony for Christ on earth. May the good Lord continue to use you for His Kingdom, may His will be done.

I pray for the sake of unity, none of the BPC will attack you when you are teaching a personal view in your own place. The peace of Christ is onto you.

Distinguishing between spirits

 

1 Corinthians 12:10 

10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[1] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[1]

Hebrews 5:14 

14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

“The spiritual gift of discernment is also known as the gift of “discernment of spirits” or “distinguishing between spirits.”  The Greek word for the gift of discernment is Diakrisis. The word describes being able to distinguish, discern, judge, or appraise a person, statement, situation, or environment.  In the New Testament, it describes the ability to distinguish between spirits as in 1 Corinthians 12:10, and to discern good and evil as in Hebrews 5:14.

I pray all the BPC to come together as one, come together to pray, praising God together, no matter what backgrounds, first the Fundamentalist BPC, then the Evangelical BPC, and then the normal BPC, and then the Charismatic BPC. Together we come to give thanks to God under one roof. We will sort things out after we come together, other small issues will be settled one by one. 

 

We are not joining hands with the harlot church. We are joining hands together with BPC. To be a good witness for Christ. 

In between the old manuscripts, God speaks

The Holy Spirit is speaking to us in between the Byzantine Texts and Alexandrian Texts, do not quench the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit is still speaking to us today through KJV, NKJV, ESV, NIV, TEV, CUV.......do not quench the Holy Spirit.

God may use a friend, a teacher, a parent, or a preacher to convey His message of truth to us. Their words may come as a warning, a blessing, or as a prophetic truth about our lives. Whether we choose to hear it or ignore it, depends on us. Do their words line up with Scripture? Will God confirm or affirm that truth in us? “The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere” (James 3:17, NIV).

I pray that a Greek Text can be made out from these Byzantine texts, Alexandrian Text, and other manuscripts. That will be the good one.

The Holy Spirit waited until they were united

In the early church, when all the disciples of Christ, come together, they united in prayer and praises to God, after this the Holy Spirit came unto them.

The Holy Spirit waited until they came together.

The Holy Spirit came after they come together as one, He did not come when they were separated, alone. He came when the disciples came together as one Body of Christ. God wants them to be united as one.

I personally want to share my experience, when I went into fellowship with brothers and sisters, in prayers, in praises to God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit easily controls me, easily fills my heart in such a meeting. In such a meeting, I feel the action of the Holy Spirit came unto me to speak and to serve, boldly. The Joy of the Holy Spirit will fill us after we fulfill the will of God. 

Even though the Holy Spirit may fill us when we are alone, but He is happiest, when He sees us come together.

When we come together as one, the Holy Spirit joyfully comes and fills us.

Acts 2

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.

History of BPC

First split[edit]

In 1955–1956, a fairly acrimonious split occurred in the Bible Presbyterian Church, resulting in the Bible Presbyterian Church Collingswood Synod and the Bible Presbyterian Church Columbus Synod.

While the Bible Presbyterian Church Collingswood Synod remained under the influence of McIntire, the BPC Columbus Synod, which included such men as Francis Schaeffer and Jay E. Adams would eventually move beyond its Bible Presbyterian Church heritage and eventually would take the name the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in 1961 (which is not to be confused with the current denomination of the same name, founded in 1981). In 1965, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church merged with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod, a denomination of "new light" Covenanter descent, to form the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (RPCES). The RPCES would eventually merge with the Presbyterian Church in America in 1982.

Shortly before the split, the Bible Presbyterian Church had established Covenant College and Covenant Theological Seminary, both of which would be supported by the BPC Columbus Synod/Evangelical Presbyterian Church and both would follow the Evangelical Presbyterian Church into first the RPCES and then the PCA.

Second split[edit]

The remaining synod retained the name Bible Presbyterian Church. The group experienced another split in 1979; the American Presbyterian Church left the BPC over roughly the same concerns that led to the original OPC/BPC split decades earlier.

Third split[edit]

On March 28, 2008, the South Atlantic Presbytery voted by a wide margin to disassociate from the Bible Presbyterian Synod, in opposition to formal relations recently established between the Synod and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The presbytery took the name Faith Presbytery, Bible Presbyterian Church.

Recent history[edit]

Today the North American body has 33 congregations. Bible Presbyterians do not have synod-controlled boards for missions and education, but annually approve independent agencies for mission work, as well as colleges and seminaries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Presbyterian_Church

Which version(s) of the bible do Presbyterians predominantly read?

When asked “What is the best version of the Bible?” One theologian replied, “The one that you will read.” I second his opinion. I believe that the Holy Spirit can speak to us through whatever particular translation we pick up to read, and I believe that it is wise, for serious study, to read from a wide variety of translations to help get the full range of subtle meanings from the original texts that cannot be adequately captured in a single translation.

Who build BPC?

Does it have to be this way? Is this our only option as followers of Jesus? Granted, I believe that we should do all we can always to be working hard “as though unto the Lord” but be careful to consider all aspects of God’s desire for us in this life. We see a great reminder of this in Psalm 127, which says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (v. 1).

Spiritual Pride

Every week, I watch many online sermons and articles posted on BPC websites and YouTube, I have to tell you what I learned from each of you.

After studying many articles from this VPP camp, listening to many of their sermons and messages online, I find one thing in common among the VPP camp, they are saying one thing very loud and clear, in Singapore, they (VPP proponents) are the faithful one, we are all unfaithful, so they separated themselves from us. They do this to shame us.

Full stop.

God is testing us

God has given us the Byzantine Text and the Alexandrian Text, and other manuscripts, it is to test us.

Whether we love God or love our brothers, our neighbor, more than these?

When we ask why God tests us or allows us to be tested, we are admitting that testing does indeed come from Him. When God tests His children, He does a valuable thing. David sought God’s testing, asking Him to examine his heart and mind and see that they were true to Him (Psalm 26:2; 139:23). When Abram was tested by God in the matter of sacrificing Isaac, Abram obeyed (Hebrews 11:17–19) and showed to all the world that he is the father of faith (Romans 4:16).

Why I say they are heretic?

I believe the Bible is divine, and it is the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and Bible is eternal.  No doubt about this! 

I believe in a Perfect Bible in autograph, the one Apostle wrote. There is no mistake at all in this original text from the hand of the Apostles. That is the Perfect Bible I believed!

I also believe God preserved His Word, kept pure for all ages, but not in the single Greek text nor in a single TR. 

I believe God has preserved His words in the vast numbers of manuscripts, in Alexandra manuscripts, Byzantine manuscripts.........This is my personal view, I do not want to impose this view on anyone. This is my personal conviction. I do not want to fight over words, I give space and place to the Holy Spirit to speak onto the believers.

I do not believe there is a "Perfect Textus Receptus (TR) - Greek Text" underlying the KJV. 

When those crooks from FEBC promote a Perfect Bible, they are pushing the perfect TR!-Greek Text underlying KJV. Even nearly pushing the KJV to be the perfect Bible. We firmly reject their views! 

From this personal view, that The Greek Text-TR is perfect, so they created a doctrine call Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP), saying God preserved the Bible in a single perfect Greek Text-TR.

When a person keeps on saying "the TR is perfect, this is the Perfect Bible," at the same time, he sacrifices the unity of BPC, fighting with his own brother and sister in Christ, splitting the BPC, that is why I say he or she is a heretic. He or she is Satanic, splitting the church because of minor issues and personal views.

Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP) is a personal view. Let me ask you honestly, how many BPC support this personal view? Go and have a look, not many people believe in this VPP-personal view. Only a few naive people in the world believe in this personal view.

We do not have to fight every battle, but we choose what battle we need to fight. We have to fight the good fight, our enemy is Satan and demons! Not our own brothers and sisters in BPC.

I do believe there are mistakes in the translation of KJV, and even the underlying TR-Greek text.

But I believe God has preserved His Divine Word, 100% miraculously in the manuscripts, copies. They are kept pure in all ages in Alexandra manuscripts, Byzantine manuscripts, and other Greek manuscripts.

Please read the NIV, the message of Christ's salvation is the same as KJV's, we can be saved when we are reading the NIV. 

Because of this, I call on to our Lord Jahweh, to indicate to us, which is right which is wrong! Do something in the life of these false teachers and theologians, until they repent from fighting brothers and sisters in Christ, I urge you, to repent before it is too late, be faithful to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, not to a few crooks. 

1 Corinthians chapter 15

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

I humbly pray that the false theologians and false teachers repent from their errs and continue to preach Christ, not to preach any of their personal views.

To err is human; to edit, divine?