Pilgrims Covenant Church
Public Ministry Update
January 13, 2010

"Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest." Luke 10:2

Dear Friends,

I want to first express to you our appreciation for your interest, prayer, and support of our PCC Public Ministry. A number of you have told us it is not necessary to send out a thank-you note for each gift sent to this ministry, but we generally do so anyway. Old habits die hard, and we certainly do want you to know how much we appreciate your support. However, in the interest of frugality, I hope it is all right if this newsletter serves as our thank-you note to all who have recently sent gifts to PCC Public Ministry. Also, as that special time of year is drawing nigh, please feel free to request a receipt for your giving.

With this newsletter, I have included a short public statement on the Manhattan Declaration. This was sent out to our e-mail list and to the Christian media. You will also find enclosed an article I wrote on the MD. I gave a much deeper analysis of the MD in a sermon which I preached on November 22 as well as on a number of "Heart of the Matter" programs. But since some of you do not have the Internet, I thought it would be good to send those statements. If you would like us to send you a CD copy of the sermon I just mentioned or the "Heart of the Matter" programs, please feel free to let me know.

In this mailing, you will find a new piece of literature which I wrote and our Mike Foht designed. This is a very inexpensive, short, and to-the-point addition to the literature we keep in stock for our ministry, which includes a pro-life tract, three different gospel tracts, our tract An Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics (English and Spanish versions), and now three tracts which deal with homosexuality. We make most of these tracts available to others for a gift to cover our overall cost and in some cases at no cost. The new tract in this mailing is available for just three cents plus postage.

Before I share a brief summary of our ministry the past several months, I would like to invite you to attend our PCC Spring Preaching Conference. Our featured speaker, Pastor Pooyan Mehrshahi, grew up in a Zoroastrian family in Iran. In God's providence, Pastor Mehrshahi eventually ended up in England where the Lord was pleased to save him and call him into the ministry. Pastor Mehrshahi is very active in ministry to Farsi-speaking Iranians in his own country and also is faithful in open-air evangelism. He has close ties and many contacts in Iran and is the host of a gospel broadcast into that nation as well as the nation of Afghanistan. In his two one-hour addresses, Pastor Mehrshahi will be covering a wide range of issues including his own upbringing and conversion, his ministry, and the Iranian church. I do believe you will be richly blessed by meeting and hearing this godly man preach. In the not-too-distant future, I will be sending out specific information on our conference, which takes place on Saturday, March 27, in Juda, Wisconsin. Pastor Mehrshahi will also be preaching twice on the Lord's Day in our church near Monroe. All are welcome to join us on that day as well.

May the Lord bless and keep all of you in the coming year.

Sincerely,

Pastor Ralph Ovadal

Sharing the Gospel at Camp Randall

On Friday, November 20, a small group from PCC took the gospel to tens of thousands of mostly high school football fans. The event was the WIAA high school football championships. The place was Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. While one of our number held a large Scripture sign and handed out gospel tracts as best as she could, the rest of us concentrated exclusively on handing out our Heaven or Hell? tract. Over the course of the day, we shared the gospel with fans attending three different games, which means we were able to share Christ with people from all around our state. We had virtually no problems from police and fans (other than a little mocking), for which we thank the Lord. We did have some encouragement from some of the fans who claimed Christ. We were blessed to give out approximately 2,150 tracts, the very vast majority of which went into pockets, purses or were read immediately. "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14). We went home encouraged and blessed to know many thousands of people, mostly youth, received the gospel at Camp Randall November 20th.

A Small Parade. A Big Blessing.

As is our custom, a number of our church members shared the gospel at the Holiday Parade in Monroe, November 27. We set up several large Scripture signs along the parade route and handed out the gospel tracts The Value of Our Souls and How Long Have I to Live? Considering how much ministry we have done in Monroe and how well known we are by virtually everyone in the area, we gave out a very good number of gospel tracts. We continue to be blessed to be reminded that Zechariah 4:6 certainly has application to evangelism: ". . . Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."

The Gospel v. Guadalupe

On Saturday, December 12, a group of us traveled to Des Plaines, Illinois to share the gospel with thousands of Roman Catholics arriving at the local Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. December 12 is the "Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe," and we are told that 100,000 Roman Catholic "pilgrims" visit the Des Plaines shrine to worship and pray to the goddess of popery. This particular shrine covers a fairly large swath of real estate and has two main entrances. We set up at both entrances. As the event features quite a number of masses, the signs we used included an English and Spanish version of an excerpt from Hebrews 9:28—"Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." We also had two more large signs bearing, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved (Acts 16:31)," and, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near (Isaiah 55:6)." Although we spent a good portion of the day, cold as it was, at the Guadalupe event, we only got out a few of our tracts. The reason was that most of the traffic into the shrine was vehicular—in fact, long, crawling lines of cars filled with Roman Catholics reading the word of God on our signs! So though we would have loved to get more tracts out and have had a chance to preach to the poor bondslaves of popery, we rejoiced in knowing they heard the word in their hearts by our signs, and, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Without going into details, we did note that there were police officers among the many present who were happy to see a gospel witness. We also learned that we were apparently the only evangelical witness at the event, which is a reproach on the local church. Finally, we found out that if we would have come a day earlier, we would have had even more access to the pilgrims. And so, Lord willing, next year we will have an even better chance to share the gospel at the Des Plaines shrine, including we hope at a march of thousands. I would encourage other Christians to find out what Roman Catholic shrines are near you and the feast day of the particular "lady." The evangelical church's lack of love and concern for the millions upon millions of perishing Roman Catholics in this country is simply shameful.

A Christ-Mass Ministry

On the evening of December 24, three of our church members braved an intermittent, extremely cold rain to share the gospel at two different Roman Catholic masses in Monroe. I was not among that intrepid little band as I was snowbound at the end of our long driveway. But I was very blessed by their "work of faith, and labour of love" (I Thessalonians 1:3). The good news is that a very good number of Roman Catholics did accept the good news in the form of our An Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics together with The Value of Our Souls.

PCC Lit Distribution Summary—October 28-January 13

The following literature was distributed by PCC in the following places: • Heaven or Hell?: Albany, Evansville, Blanchardville, Madison, Messmer High School (Roman Catholic) in Milwaukee, and Mukwonago, Wisconsin; Orangeville, Illinois. • The Value of Our Souls: Monroe, Wisconsin; Des Plaines, Illinois. • How Long Have I to Live?: Monroe, Wisconsin. • An Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics: Monroe, Wisconsin; Des Plaines, Illinois. • Our new "Warning" tract: Bayside, Beloit, Brown Deer, Cottage Grove, Franklin, Janesville, La Crosse, Madison, Waunakee, and Wauwatosa area, Wisconsin; Rockford, Illinois.

PCC provided quantities of literature free of charge to trusted brethren for distribution in the following places: • An Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics (English): Kasson, Minnesota. • An Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics (Spanish): Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Kasson, Minnesota. • Our new "Warning" tract: Milwaukee, Wisconsin. • What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality: Platteville, Wisconsin. • Homosexuality: The Truth: Platteville, Wisconsin.

PCC provided our literature for cost for distribution in the following places: • Heaven or Hell?: Milwaukee, Racine, and Waukesha, Wisconsin; Kasson, Minnesota; Omaha, Nebraska; Lynchburg, Virginia. • The Value of Our Souls: Waukesha, Wisconsin; Kasson, Minnesota. • An Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics (English): Waukesha, Wisconsin; Kasson, Minnesota; Lynchburg, Virginia. • An Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics (Spanish): Kasson, Minnesota. • What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Kasson, Minnesota; Fort Worth, Texas. • Homosexuality: The Truth: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Kasson, Minnesota. • No Excuses!: Kasson, Minnesota; Milo, Missouri.

Read our new tract here.

http://www.pccmonroe.org/Ecumenism/2009.11.23.htm
November 23, 2009
A Short Statement in Response
to the Manhattan Declaration

The Manhattan Declaration is an ungodly manifesto, contemptuous of the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an ecumenical treatise, complete with a Romish gospel and shot through and through with popish error. Those evangelicals who have authored this document and who have led the way in signing it show themselves to be in rebellion to God. It is, in their case, a brazen manifesto of treason against the Lord Jesus Christ. And they are not friends but rather are enemies of Christian liberty in that they disobey and provoke the Author of liberty with their spiritual fornication, even wresting His word and corrupting His blood-bought church. It is the biblical duty of all faithful Christian pastors to stand against the evangelical authors of the Manhattan Declaration and all evangelicals who sign it or promote it in any way. Such betrayers of Christ and His church must be separated from and called to account by all faithful Christian ministers and people.

Ralph Ovadal, Pastor of Pilgrims Covenant Church, Monroe, Wisconsin, http://www.pccmonroe.org/

http://www.pccmonroe.org/Ecumenism/2009.12.03.htm
December 3, 2009
Where Is the True Evangelical Fire?
by Pastor Ralph Ovadal, Pilgrims Covenant Church, Monroe, Wisconsin

"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." 2 Timothy 4:2

The release of the Manhattan Declaration has sparked much controversy and conversation. The document attacks the very biblical foundations of the Christian faith, including, in practical application, the doctrine of justification. The evangelical signers—my focus in this article are the ministers and leaders—can deny that all they like and indulge in all the sophisms which many have. But the truth is, the document declares that the gospel of the Roman Catholic Church, which is also the gospel of her estranged sister the Orthodox Church, is "the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." The Manhattan Declaration also states over and over that the signers are all "Christians" and bears the false testimony that all the signers are members of "the church." Further, as I wrote in a statement our church released to the public and the press on November 23, it is "shot through and through with popish error." Those familiar with Romanist social doctrine, as well as her incessant affixing of the term "gospel" to various social and moral causes, will pick up on that without much trouble. I have spoken in depth on these things when addressing the Manhattan Declaration in a sermon and on our "Heart of the Matter" program—not that I could not think of more things to address! The document is a veritable wellspring of error and deception, obvious and subtle.

But what has motivated me to write a few lines for those interested to read them are the responses to the Manhattan Declaration from Christian leaders on "our side." What I mean is that much of it seems so tepid, so lukewarm, so lacking in evangelical fire, and utterly devoid of a call for repentance. After all, the evangelical signers of the MD have yoked with false brethren, open idolaters, even Roman Catholic archbishops, bishops, priests, and Orthodox clergy in a brazen assault upon the blood and righteousness of Christ, as well as the purity of the church which He "hath purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28). In this, the MD evangelicals have not only shown utter contempt for Christ, the gospel of grace, and the true church; but they have also cruelly confirmed to Romanists and the Orthodox everywhere that they are "children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" and members of the "household of faith" when in reality they are "without Christ . . . having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). And then, with their "good words and fair speeches" (Rom. 16:18), the MD evangelicals have gone on to defend what they have done, adding deceit to deceit. If this does not qualify them as the sort of "grievous wolves" (Acts 20:29) the Apostle Paul warned of—and by the way showed no quarter to—then what does it take to qualify? When our Lord warned us of "ravening wolves" wearing "sheep's clothing" (Mt. 17:15), He taught us to discern them by "their fruit" (Mt. 7:16). The Manhattan Declaration speaks for itself in that regard!

Now, when writing to the Galatians, Paul rebuked those brethren calling them "foolish Galatians" and demanding to know "who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?" (Gal. 3:1). "Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2) had been clearly set forth before the Galatians by the faithful preaching of the gospel. And those whom the Lord had saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone had received the earnest of the Spirit, who had powerfully manifested His presence among them. But now the Galatians were accommodating, fellowshipping with, and even giving audience to those Judaizing teachers with their gospel of works, such of whom Paul declared, "Let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8-9).

I believe it is proper to state that the Roman Catholic religion, with its "infallible Vicar of Christ," its priestcraft and sacramental salvation, its open idolatry and gross superstition, is even worse than that of the Judaizers! Yet the professed evangelicals who signed the Manhattan Declaration have declared to the whole world, and the unbelievers with whom they have yoked, that the Romish gospel is "the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." It follows then, at the very minimum, to ask them, "Who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?"

But, as I just pointed out, those MD evangelicals are doing even more than giving ear and fellowship to false teachers. By leading the way in signing the document, they are acting as false teachers justifying and teaching a false gospel. This gives us pause to ask if they even have, by faith, seen "Jesus Christ, and him crucified"? But they declare it to be so; they protest that they hold to the free grace of God in the salvation of sinners; they call themselves evangelicals; and most come from what are considered to be at least "conservative" evangelical churches. So then they ought to be held accountable as such, even as we urge them to "examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2 Cor. 13:5).

And that brings me back to the proper response which a minister, or Christian leader, should make to the Manhattan Declaration. This could not be more important, given our responsibility as summed up in Acts 20:28 relative to false teachers: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

Now, it is a self-evident truth that the tenor and substance of our words are critical with regard to such an open assault upon the righteousness of God and the purity of His church. If our response to those who "pervert the right ways of the Lord" (Acts 13:10) is limited to a low-key explanation of why we demurred to sign the Manhattan Declaration and expressing that we are "troubled" by parts or all of it, then I believe we have fallen far short and even desensitized others to the grievous error and danger—even wickedness—of what the Manhattan Declaration evangelicals have done. I would ask those Christian ministers and leaders who take such an approach if they would respond in a like manner if they had just been grievously slandered and their own wives had just been solicited for prostitution by the MD evangelicals. It is a fit analogy but which even falls far short, as analogies do by nature, when considering the outrage which has been committed against the Lord Jesus and His bride, the church.

Our good Shepherd and Bishop of our souls did not so lightly deal with those who sought to lead His sheep into grievous heresy. The Apostles and first pastors of the New Testament church surely did not content themselves with mildly pointing out soul-damning error and respectfully distancing themselves from church-corrupting wolves. Certainly, the word of God does not teach ministers of the Lord's church to confront such men and women by, well, not confronting them but rather only making an essential, polite distinction between error and truth. It seems to me that to do so is to be half faithful, so to speak. When men rise up from within the evangelical church and publicly declare and support a false gospel and call the antichristian church Christian, they must be confronted, rebuked, and called to repentance by faithful ministers and those who hold positions of influence among the church. I will dare to say that there is no greater danger to the church and no greater affront to the glory and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ than gospel-perverting teachers within her.

In the case at hand, it should be without controversy that elders, including ministers, have a responsibility to frame the issue properly with language that conveys the magnitude and danger of the sin. Concerning the Cretians who were "teaching things which they ought not" (Titus 1:11), Paul instructs Titus, "Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith" (Titus 1:13). Certainly, the gross error the MD evangelicals have passed off as truth and the contempt they have shown for Christ Jesus has been committed before the whole world. So they ought to be sharply rebuked by faithful ministers, and that before the whole church. "Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear" (1 Tim. 5:20). Christians, especially the shepherds of Christ's flock, are commanded to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3). The meaning of "contend" in the context is "to struggle" against those within the church who pervert the faith of the gospel. This is a critical moment in the history of the church. This is a time for both ministers and their people to consider if their response to the Manhattan Declaration evangelicals would qualify as "striving together for the faith of the gospel" (Phil. 1:27).

But the point that I am making is so obvious that it seems almost an insult to the discerning Christian reader to belabor it. The command and example of the Scriptures ordain that the MD evangelicals must be confronted, what they have done must be condemned, and they must be called to repent of this grievous, very public sin against the Lord Jesus Christ. The love of Christ constrains us to that course of action. And anything less than that will advance the cause of infidelity and the antichristian church. If I am wrong in what I have written, I genuinely invite those who think so to please show me by the Scriptures my error.

Click here for an order form for the items listed below.

Books/Booklets
Romanizing America through Illegal Immigration by Pastor Ralph Ovadal (booklet)—gift of $.75
More Than These: A Call for Reformation by Pastor Ralph Ovadal (270 pages)—gift of $8.00—free online!
The Antichrist: A Biblical and Confessional View by Rev. David Silversides (booklet)—gift of $2.50

Tracts
Heaven or Hell? gospel tract—gift of $.06 each
The Value of Our Souls gospel tract—gift of $.06 each
An Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics—gift of $.07 each
SPANISH An Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics—gift of $.07 each
No Excuses! PCC's pro-life/gospel tract— gift of $.06 each
NEW! "Warning" tract—gift of $.03 each
What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality—gift of $.06 each
Homosexuality: The Truth—gift of $.08 each—currently unavailable

Subscriptions
Sermons—8 weeks on CD for gift of $13
Heart of the Matter—8 weeks on CD for gift of $13
Heart of the Matter/Sermon Combo—8 weeks on CD for gift of $19

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