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RPCUS DDRESSES

LETTER TO PRESI ENT

GEORGE BUSH

The

following

letter

was sent by the RPCUS regarding

the murder of

Terry Schiavo to President George Bush

Vice President Dick Cheney Representative J Dennis Hastert Speaker

of

the House and Chief Justice William

H Rehnquist.

Covenant Presbytery

Reformed Presbyterian Church

n the

United States

Pastor Jeff Black

Stated

Clerk

jvblack@allvantage.com

June

24,2005

President George Bush

The

White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington D C 20500

Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church

PO Box 374

Wytheville VA 24382

Honorable President George Bush:

Covenant Presbytery

of

the

Reformed Presbyterian Church In The United States does formal

register its grievance regarding the death of Terri

Schiavo.

We unanimously declare

her

death

be a national tragedy, which will have tremendous moral implications

for

the future welfare of th

nation.

Proverbs

14:34 states,

Righteousness exalts

a nation, But sin is a disgrace to

any

people

We

do

hereby

petition the

executive,

the legislative, and the

judicial branches

of the feder

government to

repent

of

their failure

to carry

out their

moral and

constitutional

responsibili

to

save

human

life.

This is but another

example of

the serious

moral declension

in this nation. Not

only

has th

nation tolerated the murder of the

unborn

through abortion,

but

the

death of Terri Schiavo

a

major step

in

the

public

acceptance of euthanasia.

Terri

Schiavo's

death

was

a

murder. T

deliberate denial of

food

and drink, which allowed her

to

slowly die was

barbaric.

The

fact

that

this

case gained such national prominence

and

engaged

the three

major branch

of our government - the executive,

the

legislative, and

the

judicial- makes it a national traged

While

there were attempts by some in these respective bodies to save this woman's life

t

government as a whole miserably failed

to

perform

its

fundamental

responsibility

- to defend

citizenry

and

punish

evil doers.

The

government failed

to

protect Terri Schiavo a person

w

was unable to defend

herself.

And, the government failed to

prosecute

those responsible for

h

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murder - the husband

who

insisted that she be starved to

death,

the doctors who

deliberat

withheld the

sustenance

of life, the police force

that

arrested those

who

sought

to

render aid

her, and

the judicial officials

who ordered

that her feeding

tube be removed.

The

Church

Is

To

Call

Government To Obedience

While

the Reformed

Presbyterian Church

In

The

United

States

recognizes that there is a legitim

biblical

separation of

church

and

state,

it

also

recognizes

that there

is

much

confusion

about t

separation. The

biblical

view of

the

separation of church

and

state

recognizes the

jurisdictio

authority of

these

two institutions.

Neither

institution is

to

directly interfere into the dom

of

the

other.

The church of

the Lord

Jesus

Christ

does

not have

the

direct authority to carry out

the

responsibi

of

the

civil governme nt. Th e church

has

no

authority to punish

evildoers; the church is not

become a police

force.

However, it is the

authority

of the church

to

call upon all of a natio

institutions to

submit

to the law

of God

as revealed in the Bible. It is the moral

responsibility

the church

to preach to

the civil government.

It is

the church's role to rebuke the civil government's

failure

to carry out

its

God ordained responsibil

It is the

role of

the

church

to

warn

the government that the sovereign God who

reigns

above

human authorities will not tolerate the

blatant

violation

of

His holy law.

The Biblical Basis For The Church's Preaching

Role

To Civil

Government

The constitution of

the

Reformed Presbyterian Church In The United States is the origi

1646

edition of the

Westminster

Confession of Faith with

its

accompanying Larger and Shor

Catechisms,

Form

of Church

Government,

and

Directory

For

Public

Worship. In

chapter

section I Of the Civil

Magistrate

we read:

God, the supreme Lord and King of all

the

world, hath ordained civil magistrates

to be

un

him

over

the

people, for

his

own

glory, and

the

publick good;

and,

to

this

end, hath

armed th

with

the power of the

sword,

for the

defence

and encouragement of them that are good, and

the punishment of

evil-doers.

This statement from the

Westminster

Confession is based upon

the

biblical teaching found

Romans 13: 1-4 which says:

Let

every

person

be in subjection

to the governing authorities.

For

there

is

no authority exc

from

God, and those which exist are established by God.

Therefore he

who resists

autho

has

opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation up

themselves. For

rulers are

not

a

cause of

fear for

good

behavior,

but for

evil. Do you want

have

no

fear of authority?

Do

what

is

good,

and you

will have

praise

from

the

same; for

it

minister of God

to

you for good.

But if you

do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear

sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God,

and

avenger who brings wrath upon

the

one w

practices evil.

This biblical text explicitly states that

the civil

government

is

a minister of

God:' It is

a minister

of

God

in

being a

punisher of

evil

men and a defender of good men. The civil government does not have absolute power.

Its power is

derived from God, not

the

people per se. Since the Bible says that

the

civil government is

to

protect

the good and

punish the evil we must be cognizant of the fact that good and evil are moral concepts. This automatically implies a

moral standard

that

defines

what

is good and

evil.

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RP US Letter to Predident lfb

In Romans 13:8-10 we find this moral standard

that

the civil government is obligated to uphold. The text reads:

Owe nothing to anyone except to love

one

another; for he

who

loves his neighbor has fulfilled

the

law. For this,

You shall

not

commit adultery,You shall

not

murder,You shall

not

steal,You shall

not

covet, and if there is any other

commandment, it is summed up in this saying, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a

neighbor; love

therefore

is

the

fulfillment

of the law.

These commandments mentioned in Romans 13:9 are a portion

of

the Ten Commandments. A

citizens are obligated to keep

the

Ten

Commandments,

and

the

civil government in its vario

executive, legislative, and judicial branches,

is

obligated to

keep

these

Ten Commandments. Th

is

the

standard of

good and

evil for what is mentioned in

Romans 13:3,4.

The Historical Basis For The

Church's

Preaching

Role To Civil Government

Our founding

fathers

never envisioned a nation that was lawless, nor did

they

seek to expun

Christianity

from the

government,

rather the intent

of

the founding

fathers

was to avoid

t

establishment of a national

church

funded by tax dollars.

It

has been the historical

precedent

since

the

early days of this country for there to be annu

election sermons,

going back as

early

as 1634. This

is

still a tradition in many

churches

througho

America. It was

the

historical custom in earlier

days

for

state

legislatures

to invite ministers

preach sermons, addressing

the

Biblical principles regarding

lawmaking. Several

of

the

signe

of

the

Declaration

of

Independence

and the Constitution relate incidences

of

attending su

sermons.

In

1892 the

U.S. Supreme

Court

conducted an historical review

and

after

citing

more

than six

historical precedents,

the court

declared:

There is no

dissonance

in these

declarations.

There is a universal

language

pervading them

a

having

one

meaning;

they

affirm

and reaffirm

that

this

is a

religious

nation

... this

is

a

Christi

nation (Church of

the Holy Trinity

v. U.S., 143 U.S.

457,

470,471

1892).

The perspective of Joseph Story, a Supreme Court justice of

the

nineteenth century,

noteworthy:

The

real

object of

the

First Amendment was

not to

countenance, much

less to advan

Mohammedanism,

or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity, but to exclude all rival

among Christian sects

(denominations)

and

to prevent any national ecclesiastical

establishme

which

would give

to an hierarchy the

exclusive patronage of

the

national government (quoted

Judge

Brevard

Hand, in

Jaffree

vs.

Board

of School Commissioners of

Mobile

County, 544

F Sup

I 104 (S.D. Ala.

1983)

in

Russell

Kirk, ed., The Assault on Religion: Commentaries on the

Decli

of Religious Liberty (Lanham, NY: University Press of America,

1986),84).

Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist

stated:

The Framers intended

the

Establishment Clause to prohibit

the

designation of

any

church

a national

one.

The Clause was also designed to stop

the

Federal government from

asserting

preference for one religious

denomination

or sect

over

others (Wallace v. Jaffree,

472

U.S., I

Quoted

in Dougherty, Separating Church and State,

686).

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RP US Letter to Pre Jident BlUh

A

Call

To Repentance

All of our governmental institutions from the local, to the

state, and

to

the

federal

levels a

morally

obligated to

uphold the law of God as

revealed in

the Bible.

The

sixth commandment sa

Thou shall not kill. The unlawful

taking of human

life is murder, and the deliberate

withholdi

of the sustenance of

life from Terri Schiavo was a

murder.

It

is

the

duty

of

the

church of

the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

to

hold

accountable

those

governme

institutions to the

moral

law of God. It would be

remiss

of

the

Reformed Presbyterian Church

The United

States if

we

did not

exhort

our government to be faithful to its calling.

It

is our

duty to warn this nation that

the

living

God,

who sees all things

and

who

vindicates t

shed blood of the innocent, will not tolerate blatant

violations

of His holy laws.

Psalm 94: 20,21 reads:

Can a

throne

of

destruction be

allied with

Thee, One

which

devises

mischief by decree? They

ba

themselves

together

against the life of the righteous, And condemn the innocent

to

death.

Proverbs

17: 15 states:

He who

justifies

the wicked, and he

who

condemns

the righteous,

Both of them alike are

abomination to the Lord.

If those responsible for this murderous deed are not brought to

justice

and if

the

levels

government continue to sanction such

abominable

deeds, then there

is

One who will avenge t

shedding of innocent

blood.

Psalm 106: 37-42 states:

They even

sacrificed their sons and their daughters

to

the

demons, And shed

innocent

bloo

The blood

of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the

idols

of Canaan;

A

the land was

polluted

with the

blood.

Thus they

became

unclean

in

their

practices,

And

play

the harlot

in their deeds.

Therefore the

anger of

the Lord

was kindled against His people, A

He

abhorred

His inheritance. Then He gave them

into

the

hand

of

the

nations; And those w

hated them ruled over them. Their

enemies

also oppressed them, And they were subdued und

their

power.

Those

who think God is not a God who judges,

are foolish. There are those

who think

that the

is no God reigning sovereignly over the affairs of men. This

is

irrelevant;

the

truth is

the

trut

This truth is expressed in the book of Daniel.

There

was a great king of

antiquity

by

the

nam

of Nebuchadnezzar who

was

the

king

of

Babylon.

Because

of

his

arrogance

in

thinking

that

kin

exist by their own power, the true

and

living God had

to

teach this king a very

serious less

for

seven years. This great king did learn

the

lesson,

for

we

read

this king's acknowledgment

Daniel

4: 34,35

which reads:

But

at the

end of that

period

I Nebuchadnezzar,

raised

my eyes

toward heaven, and

my reas

returned

to

me, and

I blessed the Most High

and

praised

and honored

Him who lives forever; F

His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generatio

And all the

inhabitants of

the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does

according to

His w

in

the host

of heaven And

among the

inhabitants of

earth;

And

no

one

can

ward

off

His

hand

O

say

to

Him, What hast Thou

done?

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RP US Letter to PrutiJent tUh

There

is

a God

who

holds nations

accountable,

and the

United States is no different than

other

mighty nation that

has

ever existed.

Great

empires

have risen and fallen, and if

this nat

thinks that it can

spurn

the law

of

the

sovereign God of

the

universe

and not incur

His wrath

is

greatly

mistaken.

Have we not

learned

anything from the tragedy

of

September I 1,200 I We

learned

that we

ar

vulnerable nation. It

is

only the providential, restraining hand

of

God that has prevented

anot

tragedy thus

far.

This nation must not continually anger

the

Lord of Hosts; this nation must ask for forgivene

Without this repentance, God s judgment will only become more and more

severe.

The murder

of

Terri Schiavo was a

national tragedy,

calling for national repentance

of

all levels

government, particularly

the

judiciary.

On this day of June 24th in the

year of

our Lord 2005, Covenant Presbytery of the Reform

Presbyterian

Church In

The

United

States does hereby

exercise its prophetic role to the governm

of

the

United States of

America and formally

admonishes

it and calls

for

its

repentance.

Respectfully,

Rev. Jeff Black

Response

of

the Vice

President of

the United

States to our

letter

re: Terry

Schiavo

(Note

that

this is the only

response

as

of

September 14 2005, to the four letters we

sent)

Dear Friends:

Office of

the

Vice President

Washington

July 15 2005

The Vice President has asked me to reply to your letter expressing your thoughts on the death ofTerri Schiavo

Your

comments

have been carefully noted.

Vice President Cheney was pleased that you let him know

of

your views. Thank you for taking the time to wr

Sincerely

Cecelia Boyer

Special Assistant to the Vice President For

Correspondence

Pastor Jeff Black and Friends

Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church

PO

Box 374

Wytheville Virginia 24381-0374

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