RPCUS ADDRESSES

LETTER TO PRESIDENT
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 in 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 formally
register its grievance regarding the death of Terri Schiavo. We unanimously declare her death to
be a national tragedy, which will have tremendous moral implications for the future welfare of this
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 federal
government to repent of their failure to carry out their moral and constitutional responsibility
to save human life.
This is but another example of the serious moral declension in this nation. Not only has this
nation tolerated the murder of the unborn through abortion, but the death of Terri Schiavo is
a major step in the public acceptance of euthanasia. Terri Schiavo's death was a murder. The
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 branches
of our government - the executive, the legislative, and the judicial- makes it a national tragedy.
While there were attempts by some in these respective bodies to save this woman's life, the
government as a whole miserably failed to perform its fundamental responsibility - to defend its
citizenry and punish evil doers. The government failed to protect Terri Schiavo, a person who
was unable to defend herself. And, the government failed to prosecute those responsible for her
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murder - the husband who insisted that she be starved to death, the doctors who deliberately
withheld the sustenance of life, the police force that arrested those who sought to render aid to
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 legitimate,
biblical separation of church and state, it also recognizes that there is much confusion about this
separation. The biblical view of the separation of church and state recognizes the jurisdictional
authority of these two institutions. Neither institution is to directly interfere into the domain
of the other.
The church of the Lord Jesus Christ does not have the direct authority to carry out the responsibility
of the civil government. The church has no authority to punish evildoers; the church is not to
become a police force. However, it is the authority of the church to call upon all of a nation's
institutions to submit to the law of God as revealed in the Bible. It is the moral responsibility of
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 responsibility.
It is the role of the church to warn the government that the sovereign God who reigns above all
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 original
1646 edition of the Westminster Confession of Faith with its accompanying Larger and Shorter
Catechisms, Form of Church Government, and Directory For Public Worship. In chapter 23
section I "Of the Civil Magistrate" we read:
"God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under
him over the people, for his own glory, and the publick good; and, to this end, hath armed them
with the power of the sword, for the defence and encouragement of them that are good, and for
the punishment of evil-doers."
This statement from the Westminster Confession is based upon the biblical teaching found in
Romans 13: 1-4 which says:
"Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except
from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore he who resists authority
has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon
themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to
have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same; for it is a
minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the
sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, and avenger who brings wrath upon the one who
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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RPCUS Letter to Predident Blfb
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. All
citizens are obligated to keep the Ten Commandments, and the civil government in its various
executive, legislative, and judicial branches, is obligated to keep these Ten Commandments. This
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 expunge
Christianity from the government, rather the intent of the founding fathers was to avoid the
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 annual
"election sermons," going back as early as 1634. This is still a tradition in many churches throughout
America. It was the historical custom in earlier days for state legislatures to invite ministers to
preach sermons, addressing the Biblical principles regarding lawmaking. Several of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution relate incidences of attending such
sermons.
In 1892 the U.S. Supreme Court conducted an historical review and after citing more than sixty
historical precedents, the court declared:
"There is no dissonance in these declarations. There is a universal language pervading them all,
having one meaning; they affirm and reaffirm that this is a religious nation ... this is a Christian
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, is
noteworthy:
"The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance
Mohammedanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity, but to exclude all rivalry
among Christian sects (denominations) and to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment
which would give to an hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government" (quoted by
Judge Brevard Hand, in Jaffree vs. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County, 544 F. Supp.
I 104 (S.D. Ala. 1983) in Russell Kirk, ed., The Assault on Religion: Commentaries on the Decline
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 as
a national one. The Clause was also designed to stop the Federal government from asserting a
preference for one religious denomination or sect over others" (Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S., I 13.
Quoted in Dougherty, "Separating Church and State," 686).
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RPCUS 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 are
morally obligated to uphold the law of God as revealed in the Bible. The sixth commandment says,
"Thou shall not kill." The unlawful taking of human life is murder, and the deliberate withholding
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 government
institutions to the moral law of God. It would be remiss of the Reformed Presbyterian Church In
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 the
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 band
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 an
abomination to the Lord."
If those responsible for this murderous deed are not brought to justice and if the levels of
government continue to sanction such abominable deeds, then there is One who will avenge the
shedding of innocent blood.
Psalm 106: 37-42 states:
"They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And
the land was polluted with the blood. Thus they became unclean in their practices, And played
the harlot in their deeds. Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people, And
He abhorred His inheritance. Then He gave them into the hand of the nations; And those who
hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, And they were subdued under
their power."
Those who think God is not a God who judges, are foolish. There are those who think that there
is no God reigning sovereignly over the affairs of men. This is irrelevant; the truth is the truth.
This truth is expressed in the book of Daniel. There was a great king of antiquity by the name
of Nebuchadnezzar who was the king of Babylon. Because of his arrogance in thinking that kings
exist by their own power, the true and living God had to teach this king a very serious lesson
for seven years. This great king did learn the lesson, for we read this king's acknowledgment in
Daniel 4: 34,35 which reads:
"But at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason
returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will
in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or
say to Him, What hast Thou done?"
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RPCUS Letter to PrutiJent BtUh
There is a God who holds nations accountable, and the United States is no different than any
other mighty nation that has ever existed. Great empires have risen and fallen, and if this nation
thinks that it can spurn the law of the sovereign God of the universe and not incur His wrath, it
is greatly mistaken.
Have we not learned anything from the tragedy of September I 1,200 I? We learned that we are a
vulnerable nation. It is only the providential, restraining hand of God that has prevented another
tragedy thus far.
This nation must not continually anger the Lord of Hosts; this nation must ask for forgiveness.
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 of
government, particularly the judiciary.
On this day of June 24th in the year of our Lord 2005, Covenant Presbytery of the Reformed
Presbyterian Church In The United States does hereby exercise its prophetic role to the government
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 write.
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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