The Christian admiral is the name of a hotel. It was originally named the hotel

Cape May and when it was opened in 1908 with its 333 rooms it was the largest

hotel in the world. During World War I it served as a naval hospital and then

as a naval convalescent home and that got its name changed to simply the admiral.

Then in 1962 the property was purchased by Karl McIntyre who renamed it the

Christian admiral and turned it into a Christian conference center. Next to it he

built a 3,000-seat auditorium that would serve as a meeting space. Who was Karl

McIntyre? Well let's find out. Karl McIntyre was born in 1906 while his

future hotel was under construction. When he died in 2002 the Washington

Post obituary declared him to be a fiery radio preacher with unswerving right-wing

views. He was born in Michigan but grew up in Oklahoma. In 1928 he entered

Princeton Theological Seminary. He was elected president of that entering class

his colleagues knew that he had leadership qualities. This was a time of great

controversy at Princeton. Last week we looked at our friend Jay Gressa Machen. It was

right at this time that Machen left Princeton and founded Westminster Seminary.

Karl McIntyre went with him. McIntyre graduated from Westminster in 1931. He

and Machen were also together when they were ousted from their church over the

controversy regarding the independent board for Presbyterian foreign mission.

Machen died in 1937. One year later there was a split. McIntyre held to

dispensational pre-millennialism. Others in that new denomination did not.

And so the orthodox Presbyterian church went one way and Karl McIntyre and

the Bible Presbyterian church went another. McIntyre had been pastor in

...