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Carl McIntire broadcast against the Confession of 1967.
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- speakerGood morning. Good morning, everybody. Yes indeed this is Carl McIntire. I am speaking to you by
- speakerlong distance from Portland, Oregon and the sessions
- speakerof the one hundred seventy ninth General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church are
- speakerbeing held here, together with the special Synod of the Bible Presbyterian denomination of which we're
- speakera part. And, today, I want to start a series of broadcasts.
- speakerSo I'll be broadcasting here now for several days, dealing with the high points of this Assembly.
- speakerAnd it is, of course, the most important meeting of the Presbyterian General Assembly
- speakerin the last three hundred years because they are laying aside as the binding confession
- speakerof the Church the great Westminister Assembly's confession. This historic
- speakerconfession, which the denomination has been bound to by the most solemn ordination vow
- speakeris no longer to be the creed or the confession of the church,
- speakerbound by the vows that we believe the Bible to be the infallible word of
- speakerGod The only infallible rule of faith and practice. What they've done with this confession
- speakeris to move it into what they call a book of confessions. Then which they have
- speakera record of confessions of the past. And this one represent the views of
- speakerthe people three hundred years ago. But the view of the church today
- speakeris represented in the new confession or what they call the Confession of Nineteen Sixty-
- speakerSeven. And, even this new Confession of Nineteen Sixty-Seven is not bound
- speakerto the church by these solemn vows which binds the church to
- speakerthis system of doctrine. The old ordination vow, they no longer have it any more,
- speakercommited the minister and the elders and the office bearers of the church to
- speakerthe system of doctrines, set forth in the doctrines or in the Confession and
- speakerthen set forth in the Holy Scriptures. That is now gone, ladies and gentlemen. and
- speakerthe Presbyterian Church, the largest in the world, is no longer a confessional church,
- speakerin the sense in which it is bound to a confession. Now, they can look at their Book
- speakerof Confessions with these historical documents in them. They can study it and they can
- speakerget inspiration out of it, but these documents no longer state
- speakerthe views of the church as of nine hundred sixty seven. The one that they have
- speakernow adopted as of nine hundred sixty seven, they are going to adopt it today, of course,
- speakersets forth the views of the church as of this moment. But, it will soon be out of date
- speakerand as the church grows and continues to experience these
- speakerdevelopment in religion and in social action, there on the need for a Confession
- speakerof nineteen seventy-seven and nineteen eighty-seven and ninety ninety-seven, and
- speakerso on up the road. This is history. I would say that this is the most
- speakerimportant meeting of any church assembly since Christianity came to
- speakerthe new world. This is the first major denomination in this country
- speakerto lay aside its great creed. I've never yet been understood, been able to understand
- speakerjust why they wanted to do it. Because the liberals already had control, the modernist already
- speakerhad control of the machinery and the agencies of the denomination and were able
- speakerto carry out their activity. But it appears that they felt that they needed a new confession
- speakerso that they could advance the cause, which is their
- speakercause of social revolution more rapidly. Now I'm
- speakergetting into this problem with you today, I might also say that they had a an ecumenical
- speakerservice to worship last night. And, for the first time, in the history of the
- speakerPresbyterian Church, a Roman Catholic priest representing
- speakerthe Roman Catholic Church participated in the leadership of this service of
- speakerworship. I'll be giving you that report. But, they lay aside the Westminister Confession of
- speakerFaith. And, at the same assembly for the first time, they bring in the representative
- speakerof the Vatican and a spokesman for the pope in Rome. And, the presiding
- speakerchairman for the evening said that the presence of the representative of the Roman Catholic community
- speakermade this service truly ecumenical. Now a word of prayer.
- speakerOur Father, we thank Thee, that we can speak to the people out of our hearts and we can
- speakertell them what's happening down here on this earth, as men no longer
- speakercan endure sound doctrine. And they turn instead to the fruit of their own thinking.
- speakerAnd, they would keep to themselves as thou has sent teachers having itching ears.
- speakerOh Father in Heaven wilt thou bless this broadcast ministry. WE thank for the thousands
- speakerand the millions who are listening. And, we ask that every man, woman
- speakerand child who loves thee, may take their instruction from the infallible
- speakerword of God. May we love the Bible as we never loved it before.
- speakerMay we turn to it for truth and for comfort. May we look to it for strength
- speakerand for power. And may we rejoice in the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
- speakerwhich cannot be amended and which cannot be changed, for
- speakerThous hast given it unto us as the power of God unto salvation.
- speakerOh, take care of our shut-in friends. And, all we ask is in the name of our Saviour.
- speakerAmen. Well, I want to turn with you, of course, to Jeremiah.
- speakerI think it most appropriate that we are in Jeremiah right now. I think I also want to say that
- speakersince I last talked to you on Friday we've had two magnificent twentieth
- speakercentury Reformation are rallies. One here in Portland and one in Eugene. Magnificent
- speakerthey were, ladies and gentlemen. Great spirit, wonderful crowd.
- speakerPeople coming in from great distances. Some drunk driving as far as five hundred miles.
- speakerTwo hundred miles. I've also been on two of the radio stations out here that carry
- speakerour program. One of them for one hour and a half, answering questions from
- speakerthe public. And the other one for two solid hours. And, on both stations I
- speakerhad an invitation to return if I have time. But let's turn please
- speakerto Jeremiah, the seventh chapter. This is the place where God told Jeremiah
- speakerin verse two. Go sit in the gate of the Lord house and proclaime
- speakerthere this word. Saying, hear the word of the Lord, all ye of
- speakerJudah. And then verse four. Trust ye not in lying words, saying the temple
- speakerof the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. Trust ye not in lying words. I'm
- speakerthe church, the church, the church. Then we move on now, a little further in this
- speakergreat passage. And, if you'll turn to verse twenty-three. But this thing commanded
- speakerI them saying obey my voice. And I will be your
- speakergod. And you be my people. and walk ye in all
- speakerthe ways that I have commanded you that it maybe well with you.
- speakerThen there is verse twenty-six. Yet, they harken not unto me nor inclined their
- speakerear but hardened their neck. They did worse than their
- speakerfathers. Therefore, thou shalt speak all these words unto
- speakerthem, but they will not harken. They did worse than their fathers, ladies and gentlemen.
- speakerAnd this is the spirit, as I see it out here with this new confession.
- speakerThey are laying aside the belief of our fathers
- speakerthat the Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice. They're
- speakerlaying aside the inerrancy and the divine inspiration of the holy scripture.
- speakerAnd, must I say to you people today across the land, has the church
- speakerbeen wrong for two thousand years? Is it true that for two thousand
- speakeryears the people who trusted in God and made these great confessions out of the Bible
- speakerwere mistaken? Is it true that now only in nineteen sixty seven,
- speakerafter all these centuries, the church has arrived at a confession which
- speakersets forth the will of God to the people? Have we reached an hour such as this?
- speakerWell that, ladies and gentlemen, is the clear implication on the clearly
- speakerdefined position of a new confession. We don't need a new confession,
- speakerladies and gentlemen. All we need today is to go out and preach the Word of God into
- speakerpower that tells no sinners that they are lost or bound for hell. And there is no hope
- speakeroutside but Jesus Christ. There's none other name under heaven given among men whereby
- speakeryou must be saved. It is the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
- speakerLast evening, I attended this ecumenical worship
- speakerservice. I must say I didn't take part in the worship in
- speakerany way. I want to make that very clear to everybody. I went in and got the program.
- speakerand I went out and when the president of the National Council of Churches [Arthur S. Flemming] made his amazing speech,
- speakerI, of course, stepped in and heard the entire address, so that I could report it to
- speakeryou. He spoke about the church as being
- speakerlukewarm. And believe me they are, so far as the National Council
- speakerChurches program is concerned. They were rather lukewarm here last night I would say.
- speakerAs a matter of fact I had prepared for a house full, some thirteen
- speakerthousand people, this great auditorium seats. and their own official report as I
- speakergot it last night in the press room, it was five thousand three hundred people in attendance.
- speakerAnd then I was much interested in the collection, which they took up for the National Council of Churches
- speakerDepartment of Christian education to promote Christian unity. And, you know what the collection
- speakerwas as they reported to me at the press room. One thousand six hundred
- speakerdollars. That was the total collection last evening. Twenty cents apiece. The
- speakerpresident of the National Council of Churches in decrying this lukewarmness,
- speakerspoke about religious illiteracy and spiritual illiteracy.
- speakerAnd, you know how he wants to correct the religious and spiritual illiteracy?
- speakerFirst in the matter of religion he wants the National Council to take the leadership
- speakerin having the public schools and colleges and universities teach religion.
- speakerObjectively, he says. Of course, we know that this so called objectivity of teaching,
- speakeras it has been done up here at the University of Washington, is nothing more than the higher critical
- speakerattack upon the Bible and the trustworthiness of the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus
- speakerChrist. That's right. There is no such thing as an objective religious teaching, ladies
- speakerand gentlemen, in the public schools. But the National Council of Churches now is going to organize
- speakerstates, local communities and all these different areas to get public
- speakerfunds for the Use of teaching religion in the public schools. That
- speakerwas his great emphasis yesterday evening. Now, so far as spiritual illiteracy is concerned,
- speakeryou know what your spiritual illiteracy consists of, ladies and gentlemen? Well, primarily
- speakerour failure to appreciate the need of our brother and to
- speakergo out and take the necessary political action to aid him in the area of
- speakerpoverty and such fields. Now that was what was served uplast night
- speakerin this great ecumenical service by the president of the National Council of Churches.
- speakerThey never told a single soul how to be born again or how to be saved.
- speakerThe message of salvation was not preached by the National Council president last
- speakernight. Now, in this order of public worship, I'd like to point out several things to
- speakeryou. They had an entering procession. And, it reads like this. Entering the Coliseum
- speakerwill be members of the clergy of the Portland area from the
- speakerwhole of Christ's church. I objected to that phrase "the
- speakerwhole of Christ's Church." This ecumenical crowd has gotten to the place where
- speakerthey think they're just about it; they're all of it. There's nobody else that counts anymore. They're it. The whole
- speakerof Christ's church! Well, I can assure you, the whole of Christ's church wasn't in there last night. "Amen."
- speakerI didn't take part in the outfit. And, I put it in just these terms.
- speakerI'm a part of the Church of Christ. And furthermore, the denominations that belong
- speakerto the American Council of Christian Churches and our international Council of Christian churches,
- speakerI can tell you people, are part of the whole of Christ Church. "Amen."
- speakerAnd, no representatives from the American Council of Christian Churches or any of the separated or independent
- speakergroups were present last night, taking part in the worship of what
- speakerthey called an ecumenical creation. Now,
- speakeras you run through this document, you know, after we have all these ecumenical
- speakerleaders. And, I'd like to read you their names, because I think it is very important. First, we have the chairman,
- speakerElder William P. Thompson, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly in charge. They didn't have their own moderator
- speakerin charge, of course. And then the first name that is mentioned is the very Reverend Francis
- speakerS. Shafer, Rector of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Portland.
- speakerNow, ladies and gentlemen, it was said last night by Mr Thompson that this was the first time
- speakerin the history of the Presbyterian Church that a representative of the Roman
- speakerCatholic Church had participated in one of their worship services.
- speakerI thought it was most significant because out goes, out goes the Westminster
- speakerConfession of Faith with its provisions in there against the Roman Catholic
- speakerChurch, so clearly stated by our fathers, and immediately in comes the official
- speakerrepresentative of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reverend Robert W..
- speakerBurtner, pastor of the Rose City Park Methodist Church of Portland, The Right Reverend James
- speakerW. F. Carmen, bishop of the diocese of Oregon of the Protestant Episcopal
- speakerChurch. Doctor Arthur S. Flemming, President of the National Council of Churches and the
- speakerPresident of the University of Oregon Eugene. Mrs. Morris B. Hodd,
- speakerPresident of the Greater Portland Council of Churches. She's the former president of the American
- speakerBaptist Convention. The Reverend G. E. Carter Jr, pastor of Allen Temple
- speakerChristian Methodist Episcopal Church of Portland, the moderator of the presemt General Assembly.
- speakerAnd, I might say, ladies and gentlemen, all the Moderator from the country, this preacher
- speakerfrom Tennessee, down there, with his seventy five members. All, they let him do last night, was
- speakerpronounce the closing benediction. Now, we have a statement here, concerning the
- speakeroffering which was taken. I've already reported to you that this crowd of five thousand three hundred
- speakerpeople gave, gave the great total of sixteen hundred dollars last night, was to be given
- speakerto the Division of Christian Unity of the National Council of Churches of Christ. Now, may
- speakerI read you what they say about the responsibility of this Division on Christian Unity. Quote. "It is
- speakeralso responsible for furthering a rapidly growing relationship with the
- speakerRoman Catholics, conservative evangelicals. That is the National Association
- speakerof Evangelicals, including Carl Henry of Christianity Today, of course, and evangelist
- speakerBilly Graham and this element now that's becoming the evangelical party inside the World Council of Churches.
- speakerAnd, listen to this. Two, ecumenical
- speakerstudy and dialogue among the laity and local ecumenical developments are focal
- speakerareas of the work of this division. So here you are developing
- speakerthe ecumenical movement with a Roman Catholic, with a conservative evangelical, and
- speakerwith the cues. And it is here published on the back page of this official
- speakerprogram, which was used last evening here in this great meeting here
- speakerof the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I
- speakerhave three or four things I'm going to offer to you this week. My time's running out
- speakeron me. It always does. But, the first thing that I want to give to
- speakeryou is their statement on Red China. Down
- speakerin the basement of this great assembly, they have their displays. And, as you walk through,
- speakerthere is one exhibit devoted entirely to the Presbyterians,
- speakerwho are in official positions in Washington, DC. They
- speakerhave the pictures here of the senators, who are Presbyterian. The members
- speakerof the Congress, the House, who are Presbyterian. And then they have the
- speakerPresbyterians, who are featured in the administrative branch of government. And, here is a very
- speakerfine prominent picture of Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State. And then there
- speakeris another very fine picture of the secretary of defense, McNamara.
- speakerNow, in these two areas, one of Defense and one of foreign policy, this
- speakerGeneral Assembly has these very, very important questions before it. And
- speakerthere are fourteen pages in this declaration on Church
- speakerand Society dealing with Red China. I
- speakerwant to place this in the hands of every person listening to me. Here is
- speakerthe pro-communist lie. The whole report starts out in a very very
- speakerinteresting way, talking about the flags on the staff poles of the United Nations.
- speakerOne flag is missing from the array of banners across the front of the United Nations Plaza,
- speakereven though over ten dozen others are there. Of course, the
- speakerreport calls for the admission the Red China to the United Nations, our recognition of the Red China
- speakeras the United States government. And then, ladies and gnetlemen, it comes down to the
- speakerconclusion. And, it outlines the program step by step
- speakerwhich, should be taken here in the United States to eliminate
- speakerthat separation and the veil of suspicion in our relationships with Red China.
- speakerAnd, we must go even though the point of extending our trust to
- speakerthe red Chinese. Quote. "at no little risk." End of quote.
- speaker"Say that again."Now, ladies and gentlemen, I want to present these fourteen pages to every
- speakerChristian in this country. I want you to see the line that is being laid down,
- speakerthe program that will be followed in the months and the days and the years
- speakerthat are just ahead of us. to lead this nation of ours to take the position of bringing
- speakerreal reconciliation to Red China. And we will have
- speakerto come to the place where we will bring our trust. We will extend our
- speakertrust at no little risk to red China.
- speakerI want you to see this in relationship to Dean Rusk and the State Department. This
- speakermatter is of the greatest magnitude, ladies and gentlemen. And, I am
- speakerasking you to simply write me for the packet, which I call "Red China." Red
- speakerChina." Carl McIntire, 20th Century Reformation Office, Collingswood New Jersey.
- speakerAnd I'm giving you a service, and I'm rendering a service to our Republic right now that
- speakerI doubt whether any other man in the nation is in a position to render. I want you
- speakerpeople to thank God for this Twentieth Dentury Reformation Hour broadcast. Now I
- speakerhave the whole story here about this matter of risk. Even at risk to our
- speakernational security. There has been an Overture sent here by the Washington City
- speakerPresbytery asking that the new Confession already be amended to remove that paragraph
- speakerand that section wherever it is referenced about reconciliation across all lines,
- speakereven at risk of the national security. And, lo and behold, they now have a statement here from
- speakerthe Defense Departent of the United States of America that
- speakerthis statement in the creed
- speakerwould not constitute a security problem and that
- speakerthe Presbyterians don't need to worry about it so far as other security
- speakerclearances are concerned. Now, I want to devote some time to this. I can't do it on this
- speakerbroadcast, of course, today. And then I'm going into this great question out here of the
- speakerUnited Presbyterian coffee house and the press conference here by
- speakerF.B.I. undercover agent, Russell A. Cruger, who comes out and identifies
- speakercommunists by name and mentions all these various organizations which
- speakerhave been infiltrated by the communist out here. I believe some thirty six or thirty-seven
- speakerof them, including the Portland Council of Churches. One
- speakerof these outstanding young communists is being featured over here at the United
- speakerPresbyterian coffee house, a project on evangelism sponsored
- speakerby the General Assembly's Board of National Missions and the Board of Christian Education, the Board of Ecumenical
- speakerMissions. And, I ought to give this entire
- speakerrevelation to you people. Now, the list of these thirty some odd organizations, and
- speakerbecause of the Federal Communications Commission so-called fairness doctrine, I can't read these names to you
- speakeron the air. My radio station would probably be in great trouble if I read
- speakerall these names, accusing them of being communist-infiltrated and the like. So I
- speakercan't read them to you. You're going to have to write me for them. I will mention to you
- speakerthat the over the weekend we had two of these great service, broadcast service.
- speakerWe had one here in Portland, that just thrills your soul. Then, I went down to Eugene Oregon for
- speakerSaturday night, and we had yet another magnificent rally down there. Folks, you just ought to be at one of these rallies
- speakerof ours. But, anyhow, the city manager came out and they welcomed me and the chairman of the
- speakerYoung Americans for Freedom gave us greetings. And then, the committee there presented me with a
- speakerfull measure Oregon flag. The beaver, of course, is on the back of
- speakerit. And, here is this beautiful flag for the state of Oregon. To take the cake, a Christian
- speakeradmiral and used there. We are so grateful for it. But, I want to tell you an experience
- speakerwhich I had, which I will never never forget. You know we
- speakerwere raising our money last Christmas for our orphans in Korea that we're feeding every day. There
- speakerwas this dear saint of God out here, who was in the
- speakerwheel church, chair, you know. She was of our wheelchair brigade. And
- speakerMrs. Edith S. Williams.
- speakerWell the Lord carried her home to heaven the other day. And, her husband called, knew I
- speakerwas coming out, and wanted to know if I could arrange it that I would come to the City View Cemetery in Salem
- speakerat two o'clock Saturday afternoon at this memorial service. I told him I would. So, I
- speakerarranged we went down. Oh the drive down across this state, ladies and gentlemen, if there
- speakerever was a state with beautiful garments on her hillsides. You
- speakerwant to see the scotch broom that they have out here. The yellow that is just aflame. This spring time.
- speakerWell, we went down to this cemetery, and I made my speech, and
- speakerpreached the Gospel. We met a lot of wonderful folks. And, then Captain Williams, her dear husband, who
- speakeris a great patriot, called me aside and said, "Dr. McIntire, here is five hundred dollars. I want to give a radio station
- speakerin memory of Edith." He says, "I'll get you another five hundred dollars. We would like
- speakerto have you get it around here, if you can." My friend, I was moved to tears.
- speakerNever before has anything like this taken place. For me to go to the cemetery and give
- speakera testimony to the wheelchair brigade, you know, gave one orphantwo
- speakeryears ago, two orphans she supported last year. This year she supported three orphans.
- speakerAnd here she was in her wheelchair. And I was able to go there at that cemetery and take
- speakerpart in that precious memorial service declaring our faith in Jesus Christ.
- speakerMy how I love it. Then we went on down to the great rally, you know. At that
- speakerrally we got two thousand dollars, ladies and gentlemen, for two additional radio stations
- speakerand thenas we were getting to leave, people were coming around, a dear man and his wife came
- speakerup to me. And, they wanted to talk to me. They had written to me earlier. And, they said Dr. McIntire, we have thirteen
- speakeracres of land out here in the state of Oregon. We're going to deed it to you for the broadcast.
- speakerAnd I said, "Well, how much is this land worth?" Well it's worth about eleven hundred dollars an acre.
- speakerThree minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, I guess. almost to loss. I said, "Thank God."
- speakerGone. Amen. Do you realize that on this little trip down to
- speakerEugene, Oregon on Saturday afternoon, and that meeting down there, we received
- speakerover sixteen thousand dollars to promote this radio broadcast across
- speakerthis country. Praise the Lord. Just think of it, ladies and gentlemen. And, last night, I went in on an
- speakerecumenical service with all these liberals and claiming to speak for everybody, as they did claim
- speakerto have all of the representatives of the Church of Christ in that meeting. And, I recoiled
- speakeragainst the thing. And, here was the official representative of the Roman Catholic Church coming in
- speakerand being commended. And, we were told it was truly and ecumenical service because he was
- speakerthere. And they got the sum total of sixteen hundred dollars, while in one
- speakerafternoon, I got this sum total of sixteen thousand dollars. Ladies and gentlemen, I want you
- speakerpeople to give us land, house, give us stock. Give us bonds. Give
- speakerus what we need, and let Doctor McIntire talk like he is talking today.
- speakerAnd, may I say my standing invitation applies to the General Assembly. If anybody representing
- speakerthat great General Assembly as they have adopted their new confession, desires now to come to this microphone
- speakerand make a reply to what I said, tey are welcome to do so on free rdio
- speakertime. Minute and a half.
- speakerThank you. That is Hal Webb speaking, ladies and gentlemen. Hal, you told me there was a story about Stalin's daughter [Svetlana Alliluyeva] on
- speakerthe air this morning. What is that? Well the front page of The New York Times has a story, byline
- speakerJames Reston, that tells about this latest essay that Stalin's daughter
- speakerhas written to express her deepest feelings about leaving the Soviet
- speakerUnion. But, the significant thing about it is down here in the middle of the story. The document
- speakeris an expression of the old pre-Communist Russian spirit of belief in God, love
- speakerof nature and compassion for the human condition everywhere. It is dramatically sympathetic
- speakerto the Russian people and therefore almost by accident, powerfully
- speakeranti-Communist. OK, Hal, that's the reason the State Department wouldn't give her asylum.
- speakerThat's right. Yet the State Department gave asylum to this diplomat from Hungary, who defected the
- speakerother day. They gave him asylum. But here she comes now producing this dramatic anti-Communist
- speakerposition and, ladies and gentlemen, when she said that communism and religion
- speakercould not co-exist, it must have shaken the State Department to its roots.
- speakerAll right, ladies and gentlemen, write back to McIntire today for his packet "Red China." Fourteen
- speakerpages of policy strategy, and remember Dean Rusk
- speakeris featured here in his picture as being a Presbyterian. I'll be with you again tomorrow from
- speakerPortland
