COMPLAINT AGAINST MIDWESTERN PRESBYTERY
The General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church,
Evangelical Synod.
Fathers and Brethren: This communication is a complaint
against an action of the Midwestern Presbytery taken on October 12, 1973, and
an appeal to Synod to reverse the action.
In 1972 Midwestern Presbytery illegally voted to waive a
provision of the Form of Government, and on this illegal action proceeded to
ordain a certain licentiate. On an appeal to Synod, Synod approved this action
by adopting the Report of the Presbytery Records Committee, signed by the Rev.
Wilbur Siddons. Synod thus declared that Midwestern Presbytery had not been
improper in altering the ordination requirements, since it had waived the
provisions of the Form of Government by proper vote (Minutes of the 150th
General Synod, p. 110). The next year Synod rescinded its approval of
Presbytery's minutes (Minutes of the 151st General Synod, pp. 104-105).
On October 12, 1973 the Moderator of Midwestern Presbytery
ruled that "Mr. Middelmann was legally and properly ordained," and
that he is therefore a member of Presbytery. The Presbytery sustained this
ruling.
This ruling of the Moderator is, in the judgment of the
undersigned, a patently false statement. The undersigned therefore appeals to
Synod to reverse this action for the following reasons:
(1) Presbytery's action in waiving the provisions for
ordination in the Form of Government was admittedly illegal. The actual service
of ordination, which depended on the illegal action, was therefore itself
illegal. This means that the Moderator's ruling is a statement contrary to
fact. Presbytery's sustaining vote does not make it true.
(2) Neither those who used this illegal procedure nor the
individual who was ordained in consequence of it should profit by it. Otherwise
further violations are encouraged, since the violators can hope that their illegal
actions can be made legal and effective by a moderator's sustained ruling. This
results in the complete destruction of Presbyterian government.
Respectfully submitted,
Gordon H. Clark
Oct. 17, 1973
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