Burke Shade: Proto-Federal Visionist

One of the common denominators of the Federal Vision is confusion — confusion about what they’re saying, confusion about what they’re writing, confusion about what they believe — it’s just plain old confusion. And in this respect, deposed minister Burke Shade represents the quintessential proto-Federal Visionist.

You will recall that the PCA defrocked Shade in April 1999, for “apparently” holding to an erroneous view of baptism, and when you read P & R News’ account of his trial, it’s clear that Frank Smith was skeptical about convicting a man for “apparently” doing something. And in that limited context, Frank had a point. In hindsight, however, Shade was a FV test case demonstrating the FV’s slippery nature. Moreover, Illiana Presbytery was right.

Shade said that he believed X but members of his congregation testified that he taught Y. Hmmmm. . . . does this sounds familiar? Once again a FVist used the English tongue to communicate something that everyone understood in English, but he meant it in FVish.

The Bible requires elders to be “apt to teach.” So if they regularly confuse the flock when they teach, they do not satisfy this requirement. Unfortunately, this is not the case with FVists. Everyone understands exactly what they’re saying; they simply won’t admit it.