Andrew Smyth Profile picture
Jesus is Lord. Good things are good; bad things are bad. OPC Minister, Hamill, SD (https://t.co/JKH9ZlLD3h) Co-host, @OFADPodcast. Husband, @heidias86.
Jan 18 20 tweets 5 min read
It is here that some of my former fellow Escondidans might jump in and say "But it's a Venn diagram! They overlap! VanDrunen's book even has it on the cover!" But while that overlap is claimed, the political is thought about/talked about in an almost exclusively negative way. 1/ In this camp, the church is what matters, the political doesn't. So even if someone from the camp happens to be politically positioned and active, they're more or less expected to do so in a disinterested fashion, primarily preserving the American status quo. 2/
Dec 24, 2024 11 tweets 3 min read
You will see a lot of Meredith Kline sympathizers mine quotes from historic Reformed sources about things like the Covenant of Works. Going back to the sources is certainly good, but if we're going to do that, we need to go all the way back. You certainly can find forms of republication in the tradition. However, it's not enough to say, "republication exists therefore Kline vindicated." One must look deeper, not only into the context of quotes but into doctrines that are prior to particular covenantal formulations.
Nov 11, 2024 23 tweets 6 min read
So it seems Peter Bell is gearing up to release something Wednesday to prove he didn't misrepresent his licensure to churches. I don't see what exactly this accomplishes. 1. The major misrepresentation was not that Bell was a licentiate, but that he was a pastor. This misrepresentation was published for over a year by GGG. We determined in our investigation that Bell no longer had valid licensure, but that was secondary.
Nov 10, 2024 12 tweets 3 min read
We confirmed with the Presbytery of Southern California (OPC) that Bell was not licensed to preach or approved as a stated supply. One minister said they had plans to ask the PSC to take Bell under care (a step before licensure) but to our knowledge this never occurred. Image I confirmed with an elder at Oceanside URC that Bell was no longer licensed or a member there. This was doubly confirmed by friends who have access to the URCNA licensed exhorter list--Bell was not on it. Licensure expires, he either gave his up or didn't maintain it.
Oct 21, 2024 11 tweets 4 min read
Reposting this today for those who might have missed it, and to comment on some new developments.

Sons of Charlatantry: On Peter Bell, host of the upcoming “Sons of Patriarchy”

(1/10)onceforalldelivered.com/p/sons-of-char… A trailer for SOP released today that names many contributors to the project. Among them are many egalitarians (like Du Mez and Barr), slanderers of the brethren (Moore), proponents of CRT (Anyabwile), and various confessional P&R ministers. (2/10)
Jan 30, 2024 13 tweets 6 min read
I'm going to do a living thread of various Reformed and Reformed-adjacent ministries that took federal COVID bailout money through the Paycheck Protection Plan.

Data is from here. 0/pandemicoversight.gov/ppp-simple-sea… I did a piece on Reformed seminaries doing this about a year ago. Rather than duplicate those efforts, here you go. 1/onceforalldelivered.com/publish/posts/…
Jan 10, 2024 5 tweets 2 min read
I was going to write something up on this, but I have no idea when I'll have time, so here's a spreadsheet with some numbers on it.

I guess my questions are these: who ends up paying for this, and what are they paying for? Image This is where I got the data. studentaid.gov/data-center/st…
Dec 21, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
Since we're quoting Charles Hodge, let's quote some more Charles Hodge. (ST 3.343-344) Image Almost like he knew what was coming. (3.344-346)
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Aug 21, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
I'm not sure this is the last speaker I would pick for a rural ministry conference but he'd definitely fall below the "if these are my options, I'm not having a rural ministry conference" threshold. Image Anyone within a 39 1/2 foot pole's reach of TGC probably isn't going to resonate with rural congregants, as TGC and related entities have been champions for the vision and goals of The City ™️, often at the expense of diverting attention and resources away from rural churches.
Jul 7, 2023 10 tweets 2 min read
Where he says he is now, I was in my 20s.

I wanted to put politics aside and just focus more on the gospel, and in doing so to be more at comfort, peace, and rest for myself. Maybe for a time I needed to, there was a lot of the baggage of legalism and vain tradition in my belief and practice. But after a while, what ended up happening was that I found myself believing and running cover for many of the wicked ideologies of our age, while thinking...
Jun 29, 2023 13 tweets 5 min read
Merit and Meredith

This quote from my alma mater is from Covenant Theology Under Attack--an article that was released (heavily edited in ways Kline disapproved) in New Horizons, the OPC's magazine.

Link to unedited version: (1/13) https://t.co/upnMy9Xb7Vmeredithkline.com/klines-works/a…
In that article, Kline gives a succinct description of his own ideas of merit and simple justice. A key contention for Kline is that Adam must have been able to do properly meritorious works in the garden, or else Christ as the second Adam could not merit our salvation. (2/13)
Mar 27, 2023 23 tweets 6 min read
I haven't dealt directly with too many Rushdoonyites, but I have lived for some years adjacent to Klineanism. I prefer the terminology of "sect" to "cult" but whatever you want to call it, there's a real issue that needs to be talked about. 1/22
For the purposes of this thread, when I talk about "Klinean" this or that, I'm assuming some familiarity with the issues and associations surrounding Meredith Kline I've raised before. If you need to catch up... 2/22
Jan 16, 2023 11 tweets 3 min read
Meredith G. Kline and the Trinity, Christology, and Pneumatology: A Thread

(h/t to my @OFADpodcast co-host Caleb Castro for sourcing this, though he is not on Twitter and won't see this, probably) 1/10 In 2006, Meredith Kline published God, Heaven, and Har Magedon, his last book before his death about a year later. GHHM has already appeared in this series as it was where Kline most clearly articulated his doctrine of the Sabbath, against the Westminster Standards. 2/10
Jan 14, 2023 17 tweets 4 min read
Meredith Kline and creation (and flamethrower rhetoric): A thread 1/17 In his essay, "Because it Had Not Rained," Kline argues for the implausibility of creation in 6 days of ordinary length (and any linear narrative view at all). Essay here: meredithkline.com/klines-works/a… 2/17