Steve Schlissel: "God lies"


July 2005

Steve Schlissel: "God lies"

Dear Friends,
Speaking earlier this month at the 2005 Christian Worldview Student Conference sponsored by the Calvary Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Hampton, Virginia, pastored by Pete Hurst and Byron Snapp, Steve Schlissel, who has been preaching lies for years, emphatically claimed that his God lies, too. His exact words were:
"God freely chose to lie to Ahab [in 1 Kings 22] by an appointed surrogate. He did not wince, did not squeal, did not seek to shift responsibility. In fact, he boasted about it to Ahab and Ahab's colleagues.... Someone says, 'God lies.' Yes, He does."
Of the many PCA Elders who were present at this conference of several hundred students, apparently only one, Calvin Beisner of Knox Seminary, objected to Schlissel's lies.
Schlissel said that God lies, and God is responsible for his lies: "Consider the facts. God solicited the plan [to deceive Ahab], God had his choice of plans, God approved THIS specific plan, and authorized it, and commissioned the lying spirit. According to the Word of God, presiding judges are responsible for their decisions and commanding generals are directly responsible for their instructions."
Not only does Schlissel directly contradict the explicit statements of Scripture when he says that God lies (see Titus 1:2: "God...cannot lie"; Hebrews 6:18: "impossible for God to lie"; 1 John 2:21: "no lie is of the truth"; Number 23:19: "God is not a man that he should lie"), Schlissel also regards God as a man and thus compares him to a presiding judge or a commanding general. Schlissel has no grasp of the distinction between the Creator and the creature, and he makes God subject to the same rules that apply to mere men, who are held accountable by God.
God is not responsible to anyone, especially not to Steve Schlissel. The concept of responsibility, as Dr. Gordon Clark pointed out 70 years ago to those who have ears to hear, implies that one is legitimately required to give a response, to give an account, to a superior. God has no superior, especially not Steve Schlissel. No one can require God to give an account of his actions. God, therefore is not responsible to anyone for anything. When Schlissel says that God lies, Schlissel lies. When Schlissel says that God is responsible for his lies, Schlissel lies.
Furthermore, Schlissel says that some lies are good. He seems to have learned this lie from the Reconstructionists (or perhaps it was the situation ethicist Joseph Fletcher), who have taught the virtue of lying for decades. So when God lies, he is doing good. And presumably Schlissel thinks that when he lies, he is also doing good. He is deceived and a deceiver.
Question: What heresies, what blasphemies, what lies have to be told in PCA churches before the members rise up and throw out the liars? The Elders of Calvary Reformed Presbyterian Church, who invited Schlissel to speak to the students, stand by his remarks. They have issued no statement contradicting him, and do not intend to do so. What heresies, what blasphemies, what lies do PCA pastors and Elders have to endorse before Presbyteries remove them from office?

Calvary Reformed Presbyterian Church is a member of the James River Presbytery in the PCA. Will the Presbytery take any action against Schlissel and the Session of Calvary? Don't hold your breath.

John Robbins
The Trinity Foundation
July 29, 2005
www.trinityfoundation.org