Brian Schwertley Strikes Again

As of 7 February 2010, Brian Schwertley has renewed his attacks against me on Sermon Audio and in print. The majority of what he is currently presenting is merely a repetition of what he has said in the past, so my previous response on 28 December 2007 still applies (see also my "open letter" to Schwertley). However, one important factor has changed since I corresponded with Mr. Schwertley over two years ago: he is no longer a member of a legitimate presbytery or denomination. The presbyters of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in the United States to whom I wrote in December of 2007 have all since severed their ties with Schwertley. Consequently, without a presbytery, not to mention a synod or general assembly, the WPCUS exists in name only. A "one man denomination" is a contradiction in terms and is, in fact, the very definition of schism. Furthermore, according to eyewitnesses, Schwertley's own congregation has dwindled to "just a couple of cars in the lot – the lot at Brian’s house, that is." And yet, Schwertley continues to perpetuate the fraud on the internet that he is a Presbyterian minister in an actual Reformed denomination.

Additional comment (added 19 February 2010): I ask anyone who reads or listens to Schwertley's "review" of Judicial Warfare that they also read what I have actually written before they arrive at any conclusions. The book is now in an expanded second edition, and is posted in its entirety online for free, so there is absolutely no excuse for not doing so. Scripture commands Christians to "test all things," and yet Schwertley's followers have displayed an appalling unwillingness to compare what he claims I teach in my book to its actual contents. I am confident that Judicial Warfare can endure scrutiny and that its thesis will be found to be well within the bounds of Reformed orthodoxy, despite Schwertley's blundering attempts to prove otherwise. I also highly recommend another book that was recently edited by some faculty members of Westminster Theological Seminary in California that deals with much of the same subject matter as my own: The Law is Not of Faith: Essays on Works and Grace in the Mosaic Covenant. In this interview, the editors discuss how they also have been accused of propagating Dispensationalism, so I am in good company.

Additional comment (added 23 February 2011): In his latest lecture entitled "Christian Reconstruction and the Federal Vision," Schwertley vindicates the main thesis of Judicial Warfare by criticizing Rushdoony and Bahnsen on precisely the same points that I did in Chapters Four and Five of my book. He even acknowledges the importance of viewing the Mosaic law at least in some sense as a covenant of works, despite his attempt just a year ago to label me a "modified Dispensationalist" on that very point.