Author Archives: vanguardpresbytery

In the nineteenth century, there were two leading publications that enlightened orthodox Presbyterians on doctrine and life. Charles Hodge was the general editor of The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review. James Henley Thornwell was the editor of The Southern Presbyterian Review. Both men were committed to Old School Presbyterianism and were the leading theologians, respectively, in theContinue reading “Evangelists in Old School Presbyterianism”

The courts of the United States only recognize two forms of church government—hierarchy or congregationalism. The first question, therefore, that is considered in all church cases before the civil courts is whether the denomination is hierarchical or congregational. The answer to that question determines how the court rules in the case. I agree that thereContinue reading “If Not Independency or Hierarchy, Then What?”

In his great work, The Apostolic Church” Which Is It?, Thomas Witherow makes the following observations concerning the form of church government known as Independency:  It is difficult to ascertain the particulars of ecclesiastical order approved by Independents, inasmuch as we are not aware that they have embedded their views of what the Scriptures teach onContinue reading “Shall We Be Independents?”

            One of the questions I get asked very frequently is why Vanguard Presbyterian Church was started. Perhaps the best way for me—individually—to answer that question is to give some of my personal Christian history. In my early life, my parents took us to Baptist churches in West Virginia and Kentucky where we lived. At theContinue reading “Why I Left the Methodist Church”

The lives of Jesus and Herod Antipas were entwined in many different ways though they had never met when reports of the miraculous works of Jesus began to filter back to the Tetrarch (Cf. Matthew 14:1, 2; Mark 6:7-16; and, Luke 9:7-9). Herod Antipas became the Tetrarch of Galilee at the death of his father,Continue reading “Herod’s Troubled Conscience”

In my nearly forty-seven years in the ministry, there have been seven times that Christmas Day has fallen on the Lord’s Day. The most recent time was a few weeks ago in 2022 and I think I am correct in saying that the next time that will happen will be in 2033. Something strange happenedContinue reading “Christmas and the Lord’s Day”

It was in the Spring of 29 A.D., shortly before the Passover, that the brief life of John the Baptist came to an end. Ever since his imprisonment at Herod’s Machaerus palace the previous year, the destiny of John had been very tenuous. Herod was severely conflicted over John. Herodias had a Jezebel-like hatred ofContinue reading “John Beheaded”

I want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas as we remember the birth of our Savior into the world. The great Samuel Davies preached a sermon on Christmas Day in both 1758 and 1760. The former occasion was to one of the churches he supplied in New Kent County, Virginia and the latterContinue reading “Merry Christmas”

Last Thursday, December 8, 2022, the US made one of the worst prisoner exchanges with Russia in the history of our two nations. The US received back into this country Brittney Griner, a WNBA basketball player who was serving a sentence for a minor drug offense. In exchange, Russia received Viktor Bout, a dangerous armsContinue reading “Fleeing Apostate Denominations”

Ian Murray wrote a biography of J. C. Ryle which he titled, Prepared to Stand Alone. In the history of the Church, it has always been those men who were ‘prepared to stand alone’ that God used the most to effect reformation and revival. John Charles Ryle was certainly one of those men. He was theContinue reading “Prepared to Stand Alone”