Speaking of Morecrafts

[GenerationCedarchip]

The chatter about the Morecrafts in the Unmarried Fundies thread jogged something in my memory and so I hopped on Google.  Sure enough, Joe Morecraft has left the denomination and the church he founded (Chalcedon) under discipline. It happened months ago, but I couldn't find a reference on here. Here's the denomination statement:

https://rpcus.wordpress.com/articles-essays/public-statement-joe-morecraft-friday-april-17-2015/ 

I noted that Morecraft is now with Hanover Presbytery, which is an uber-conservative small denomination revived by a crony of his. I tried to find information about the disciplinary charges, but was unsuccessful.  I'll admit I'm a little curious because I know quite a few people who either know the Morecrafts or at least follow his sermons. 

[Howl]

Vicky Garrison posted this about Joe Morecraft in April 2013

Quote

 

In a recently posted You Tube sermon, the pastor of Chalcedon Presbyterian Church, Dr. Joe Morecraft says in a Biblical society, the godly must own “the fool who despises God’s wisdom” because it’s the only way to keep those with a “slave mentality” from ruining other people’s families.

Based on Proverbs 11:29, Morecraft makes a case for Biblically justified enslavement of a man who does not “trust in Christ” since slavery is the only way to “keep a fool under wraps.”

The dominionist pastor interprets the Proverb to predict that in a Christian theocracy, an unbeliever will “lose his family, his property, and his freedom,” and “his energies, talents and life will not be used as he himself pleases, but in the service of wise people who work hard to benefit the community.”

“Put him in somebody’s service where they can watch over him and make him do right even though he doesn’t want to do it.”

According to Pastor Morecraft, the consequences of being a “foolish person who is unwilling to live by the Word of God” is to “become a slave of somebody who is godly and who is wise.”

 

....but when it comes to HIM, he doesn't hang around for a big ol' dose o' church discipline.  These types never do.   He'll just move right along to optimize the possibility of doing major damage somewhere else. 

[hoipolloi]

Not being familiar with the denominations or that "crowd," this is a big deal, isn't it? 

Here's some input from a Morecraft sympathizer: http://pastormathis.com/index.php/2015/09/01/joseph-morecraft-removed-from-presbytery-while-under-discipline/

[GenerationCedarchip]

4 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

Not being familiar with the denominations or that "crowd," this is a big deal, isn't it? 

Here's some input from a Morecraft sympathizer: http://pastormathis.com/index.php/2015/09/01/joseph-morecraft-removed-from-presbytery-while-under-discipline/

It could definitely be a big deal. But maybe not for those outside the RPCUS.  In some of the small and very conservative denoms, it can also be a battle of egos or a disagreement about how to serve communion - things that are big within the denomination, but not necessarily a scandal in the eyes of outsiders or a blot on someone's inner character.

[hoipolloi]

8 minutes ago, GenerationCedarchip said:

It could definitely be a big deal. But maybe not for those outside the RPCUS.  In some of the small and very conservative denoms, it can also be a battle of egos or a disagreement about how to serve communion - things that are big within the denomination, but not necessarily a scandal in the eyes of outsiders or a blot on someone's inner character.

Re: bolded. That seems to be the consensus in Pastor Mathis' blog post. People seem to be more offended about the process, or lack thereof.

[DomWackTroll]

GenC-- we must have been googling at the same time!  (I posted the same link in the Unmarried Fundies thread) Not a whole lot of info on this. I wonder if it complicated Mercy's wedding plans. 

[GenerationCedarchip]

24 minutes ago, DomWackTroll said:

GenC-- we must have been googling at the same time!  (I posted the same link in the Unmarried Fundies thread) Not a whole lot of info on this. I wonder if complicated Mercy's wedding plans. 

Not to my knowledge. Morecraft seems to have landed on his feet at a new church called Heritage Mission, which is part of the Hanover Presbytery. I noticed that their FB page seems pretty busy, and it appears that quite a few people followed him from Chalcedon. From what I saw on FB, it appears that Bill Potter(Landmark Events) is one of that number.

[Palimpsest]

It is amazing to me that these guys can insist on church discipline, and those all important church covenants, until it applies to them. Then they scamper away like scared little bunnies and find another warren to take them in.

Re. Morecraft, It could just be a doctrinal difference not anything truly scandalous.  Long before joining Ashley Madison cooked his Godly goose RC Sproul Jr was dumped from Ligonier for preaching paedocommunion.  Or perhaps that was just scandal-mongering by the vile Peter Kershaw?

[Walking Cat Bed]

Interesting, very interesting.

 

I'm more familiar with the Virginia branches, but encountered the various leaders over several summers. (Not a congregant, but I worked at the location they held their annual conference.) Morecraft wasn't as fake-nice as the Virginia leaders, but there was something...odd.

[hoipolloi]

5 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

It is amazing to me that these guys can insist on church discipline, and those all important church covenants, until it applies to them. Then they scamper away like scared little bunnies and find another warren to take them in.

Looks like it only took a few months for Joe Morecraft to become a full member of his new church.

They're out-and-out hypocrites, all of them. 

Here, bots, do your stuff: Joe Morecraft, hypocrite, whited sepulchre, liar, RPCUS, Chalcedon, Hanover

[Seven Severn]

These Presbyterian off-shoots of off-shoots are interesting. How many adults in good standing per congregation are we talking about with Hanover and Chalcedon and the like? 500? 200? 1,000??? I can never get a reading on size.

[Walking Cat Bed]

1 hour ago, Seven Severn said:

These Presbyterian off-shoots of off-shoots are interesting. How many adults in good standing per congregation are we talking about with Hanover and Chalcedon and the like? 500? 200? 1,000??? I can never get a reading on size.

The annual conference was about 500, if I remember right -- but that included kids.