Remembering John Calvin Grier It was late Monday morning, July 7, and I had been out to an appointment. When I got home, the phone was ringing. The voice on the phone said, “Chuck, John Calvin is dead; he died this morning from a heart attack.” Shocked, I thought, “We talked yesterday. He turned 65 just two weeks ago! Why couldn’t it have been me? He’s needed more than I am!” When I first met John Calvin Grier (and his…

I was late getting home, and I was hungry. When I walked in the house, in the living room, parked around the television, were my five teenage children, my mother, my wife, and our dog, Rennie. I went into the kitchen and got a bite to eat. Walking back into the living room, the conversations were about some crazy thing Phoebe had done and her horrible singing about a smelly cat. They were watching the new series, Friends. I was…

I like tub baths better than showers. One of the great pleasures of life is a long, soaking, hot tub bath on a wintery day. It’s almost as good as a Miami vacation – but not as expensive! Well, if one is going to take a long, soaking tub bath, it might as well be a bubble bath. Bubble baths are wonderful! For me, it’s a sensory indulgence in lavender amid a warm blanket of bubbles. Not only is a…

Christmas is a time for music. As I was thumbing through the hymnbook for Sunday’s hymns, I was struck once again that so many of the “great” Christmas hymns are in the minor key. “Joy to the World!” is an exception. Isaac Watts composed it in a major key as a celebration of Jesus’ Kingship and His Second Coming. Notwithstanding, the minor key is the dominating voice of time-honored Christmas music. The minor key is soulful: (1) it calls for…

In the last issue of ARPTalk, I said Chuck Wilson, the Reprobate and Heretic, may his name be cursed by all ARPs, was wrong. Well, yes, he was, but he was also right. Wilson miscalculated the actions of the Executive Board. In refusing to take up and declare the complaint against Second Presbytery by Dan Eller as an emergency matter, Eller was left with mud on his face. At Eller’s request, the moderator called for a meeting to take up…

Chuck Wilson was WRONG! Can you believe it? Chuck Wilson was wrong! And he’s willing to admit it! In the last issue of ARPTalk (Eller’s Complaint Before the Privy Council of the Hierophants), Chuck Wilson, the Reprobate and Heretic, may his name be cursed by all ARPs, reported that an emergency meeting of the Executive Board had been called by the moderator of General Synod, Alan Broyles, for Thursday, September 26, 2024, to consider Dan Eller’s complaint that Second Presbytery…

Click to read the original Complaint as written by Dan Ellers The moderator of the ARPChurch, Alan Broyles (compliant tool of Pope Kyle Sims, His Fatness, blessed be his name forever, and Patrick Malphrus (the pope’s lapdog) has called for an emergency meeting of the Executive Board of General Synod (that is, the Privy Council of Yes-Men and the Kangaroo Court) for this Thursday, September 26, 2024, to take up a complaint by Dan Eller (attorney and elder in the…

PDF of the Worship for Lower Long Cane Presbyterian Church Homecoming 2024   Last Sunday (September 15, 2024) was Homecoming at the Lower Long Cane Presbyterian Church. Organized in 1771 as an Associate congregation, (1) we celebrated the 253rd year of the congregation; (2) constructed in 1849, we celebrated 175 years of worship in the present sanctuary; and (3) we celebrated the 80th birthday of Reverend Eleredge Kelley. The Cedar Springs ARP Church, the Lower Long Cane Presbyterian Church, and…

[Read and view the following before reading ARPTalk (185): “Questions Answered Regarding ARP Seceders” and paying close attention to the video of Andy Putnam speaking at General Synod. ] Click to hear Andy Putnam Lie on the Floor of Synod If you were to ask most ARPs what is wrong with the ARPChurch, they would probably answer, “Nothing!” Their answer reveals the insular, xenophobic, and inward-looking attitudes of most ARPs. To illustrate: at a meeting of the General Synod a…

Well, maybe not! In the goings-on around the ARPChurch, we are too old to rumble. About all most of us can do is wobble. However, if we were a Friday Night SmackDown event, I would introduce the participants in this manner: “Ladies and Gentlemen! Let me have your attention! In the top corner, wearing blue, Alex Lott, an ARP loyalist who holds the ARPChurch authoritative and inviolate. In the bottom corner, wearing red, Seth Yi, one of the founders of…

Two “called” meetings of Second Presbytery, ARP, took place on Tuesday (August 12) at the Due West ARP Church, Due West, South Carolina. Yes, I said there were TWO called meetings. They occurred back-to-back. The first was CHAOS. The second was BEDLAM. One at 11:00 AM, and the other meeting followed immediately after the first. Expected but not present, Pope Kyle Sims of the ARPChurch, His Fatness, blessed be his name forever, was not present for the festivities. Later, it…

The article below is co-authored by Drs. John Cook and R. J. Gore and was read before the meeting of Second Presbytery by Dr. Cook last Friday (August 16) at the Due West ARP Church, Due West, SC. The article was also placed in the minutes of Second Presbytery and specified for distribution. For you who do not know them, Dr. Cook (retired) was pastor of the Ballston Center ARP Church (NY); the Thomson ARP Church (GA), the Peachtree Corners…

The article below first appeared in The Aquilia Report (https://theaquilareport.com/constitutional-crisis-in-the-arp-church-what-is-the-point-of-a-complaint/). As reported by Seth Yi, his article, on the meeting of the Executive Board, reflects the attitude of the ecclesiocrats of the ARPChurch: MACHTPOLITIK. This attitude was clearly expressed by the sentiments of Rev. Jeff Kingswood (as he functioned as Temporary Parliamentarian) at the meeting of General Synod in June; and he made it crystal clear that it didn’t matter what is written in The Form of Government or The…

The article below appeared in The Post and Courier on July 30, 2024. For those who live in the Upstate or who live in other states and are unfamiliar with South Carolina newspapers, The Post and Courier is the Charleston newspaper, and one of the most important newspapers in South Carolina. It’s been a long time since news about Erskine College has been reported on by both The State in Columbia and The Post and Courier. Erskine has made the…

The article below originally appeared in The Aquila Report. The author is Rev. Seth Yi, pastor of the Newberry ARP Church, Newberry, SC. The article is a bit long; however, it is worth reading. Click to read the whole article on The Aquila Report https://theaquilareport.com/how-a-224-year-old-arppresbytery-was-dissolved-in-a-day How a 224-Year-Old ARP Presbytery was Dissolved in a Day In truth, the title of this article should be How a 224-Year-Old Presbytery was Dissolved in a Year not in a Day, since the unprecedented…

On June 4, 2024 (ARPTalk(173): “How to Throw Away a Million Dollars”), Million Dollars”), via an article in The State Newspaper, the editor of ARPTalk reported (1) that the Erskine board, on August 1, 2021, voted to make an unsecured loan of $1,000,000 to Icelaven Development Group (founded by James Galyean); (2) that, after only one payment of $35,000, Icelaven defaulted on the loan; and (3) that Erskine has filed suit against Icelaven for non-payment of the loan. The action…

On July 5th and 8th, two COMPLAINTS were filed with the Executive Board regarding actions taken against Second Presbytery at the June meeting of General Synod. With regard to the first COMPLAINT, Rev. Anthony Locke argues two points. ECCLESIASTICALLY: there is a Form of Government (FOG) issue, for the FOG prohibits Synod from influencing the direction or outcome of a presbytery’s process to dissolve. According to the FOG, the role of General Synod is limited to counseling a presbytery on…

Everybody said my Grandma Katie was different, and they were right. She wasn’t unique; she was sui generis (and I hope you caught what I did!). When a boy, many of my relatives said, “I declare, Charles, you’re just like your Grandma!!” That pleased me! Grandma Katie was my mother’s mother. She is the source of the best memories I have of my childhood. She lived on a 90 acre farm, in the middle of Nowhere, Georgia, past Johnson’s Corner,…

The Court of Thieves on Display. Can you find those who are not thieves? Breaking from tradition, I have been told delegates did not sing Psalm 133 (No. 280 in the Bible Songs: “Christian Unity”). Instead, with hearty voices, the delegates gleefully sang, A thieving we will go A thieving we will go Hi-ho, the derry-o A thieving we will go. Actually, they sang the ditty a number of times. To the Ends of the Earth Together – to Thieve!…

Follow the Money At sixteen, I was chosen out of my Civics class to spend a day with a councilman on the Winter Haven, Florida, City Council. I attended a council meeting and was the councilman’s guest for a very nice lunch. I was so excited. I was to watch how democracy worked and report what I saw to my Civics class. I was disappointed in what I saw. I was young and naīve. I expected something grand and wonderful,…

In the memorable words of Forrest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does!” The action by the Erskine Board on August 1, 2021, has to be the Home Run of stupid things done at Erskine. In the name of education and sweet Jesus, the members of the board voted to lend ONE MILLION DOLLARS to a flimflam charter school operation which has no assets (HTTPS://ARPTALK.ORG/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2024/05/PROMISSORY-NOTE-TO-ICELAVEN-DEVELOPMENTGROUP-AUG-1-2021.PDF). The only asset Icelaven has is a piece of paper (HTTPS://ARPTALK.ORG/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2024/05/ICELAVEN-DEVELOPMENT-GROUP-LLCARTICLES-OF-ORGANIZATION.PDF.) Here is a copy of…

According to the “Statistical Report” (pp. 164-193), in the 2023 Minutes of the General Synod, the health of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPChurch) is in freefall. Warning lights are flashing and storm flags are flying. Does anyone care? It is no stretch to say the leadership of the denomination is unconcerned and focused elsewhere – flittering away as they are Facebooking in a fantasy land of self- importance. Though not an exact depiction, the photograph above is an uncomfortable…

When I was a boy, I fished a lot with Daddy in the lakes of Central Florida. This wasn’t sport fishing. Daddy fished for food: bass, crappie, bluegill, warmouth, sunfish, catfish, and, occasionally, he brought home a soft-shell turtle or a small gator. All these were cleaned and fried for the table – and the eating was good! Early one Saturday morning in the spring of 1959, Daddy got up early to go fishing with Homer Brown at a lake…

Dear Chuck, You have been an ARP for more than twice as long as I have, so I write you with you a question. I was struck this afternoon by the apparently-terrifying fear of sunlight shown by the Executive Board in the matter of my complaint. As you recall, I complained in March to the Executive Board that they had no business taking up your complaint as an emergency given the pace at which they handled the matter (at least…

Dear Chuck, You have been an ARP for more than twice as long as I have, so I write you with you a question. I was struck this afternoon by the apparently-terrifying fear of sunlight shown by the Executive Board in the matter of my complaint As you recall, I complained in March to the Executive Board that they had no business taking up your complaint as an emergency given the pace at which they handled the matter (at least…