A fifth instance of a secret trial against RE Clay David was held last night.
In the name of the Presbyterian Church in America, the Session of Midway Presbyterian Church charges Ruling Elder Clay David with acts of divisiveness, slander (or false accusations), and insubordination against the congregation of Midway Presbyterian Church, members of the Session of Midway Presbyterian Church, and the Northwest Georgia Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America. These acts are contrary to: • Matthew 18 and 23, Romans 14 and 16, 1 Corinthians 1, 6, 10, and 12, Philippians 2, 1 Timothy 5 and Titus 3 • Westminster Confession of Faith Chapters 20 and 22 • Westminster Larger Catechism Questions 144 and 145 • The Book of Church Order 16–2, 24–6, and 57–5. and against the peace, unity, and purity of the Church, and the honor and majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, as King and Head thereof.
So read the words of the Midway Session Majority’s indictment of Ruling Elder Clay David. Even as an SJC Panel exonerated Ruling Elder Philip Dudt of similar false charges, the Session remains defiant and undeterred. The night of March 21, 2022 marked the fifth session of the never ending trial of Ruling Elder Clay David at Midway Presbyterian Church.
Laying aside a focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, neglecting the ministry to West Cobb and the surrounding community, and disregarding the administration of responsible spiritual government at the church, the Session under Senior Pastor David Hall instead spends its time perfecting the practice of presiding over a kangaroo court. And it is all done in the names of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Senior Pastor David Hall, surrendering his role as impartial moderator, continues to preside as Inquisitor General, advancing the purge of all officers who threaten the authority structure and the kingdom he has built inside of God’s house.
Ruling Elder Clay David stands accused for signing a credible report that exposed, among other things, written false attestations made by Senior Pastor David Hall. Credible reports are constitutionally protected forms of complaint as defined by Book of Church Order 40-5 and the highest court of the PCA ruled specifically regarding Midway that no man is to be persecuted for exercising their right to bring complaint. But the report is damaging to Senior Pastor David Hall, so is there any wonder that the Inquisition started?
Boldly standing undeterred as did Martin Luther before him in the face of an unreasonable sham trial, Ruling Elder Clay David and his representative continued their defense against manmade offenses that cannot be proven from Scripture no matter how many references the accusers drop into the indictment. One would think that if Clay David’s sins are so apparent, that the trial wouldn’t need to take so long. Note that Ruling Elder Philip Dudt’s indictment erroneously claimed all manners of violations, only to have them shown to be completely false by an SJC Panel nearly two years later. Throughout that entire time, with the Session actively presiding over the damage of his reputation. As history teaches, the Inquisitor General isn’t in the apology business. His job is to convict.
Like the Pharaoh of the Exodus, the hearts of the leadership at Midway Presbyterian Church are hardened. It didn’t matter to Pharaoh that the land was plagued by frogs, locusts, flies, and boils… he was right and his pride and power had to be preserved. It similarly doesn’t matter that the basis for the Session’s charges, the so-called “Talley Resolution” on officer vows (which promises discipline on any church officer who disagrees with the majority) was utterly repudiated by an SJC Panel — the Session has to be right, and their pride and power have to be preserved.
The Session and its Inquisitor demanded that Ruling Elder Clay David and his brothers Ruling Elders James Scott and Don Barnett remove their names from the credible report, insisting that they must repent and repudiate it. To date they have not. The same offer was extended to Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms to which he replied that if he “were to retract these writings,” he would “lend additional strength and audacity to the Roman tyranny” and “open the floodgates to the torrent of impiety…”
The tyranny and spiritual abuse at Midway Presbyterian Church may not be Roman, but know it is cut from the same mold and may have the same motivations. The church leadership would have you think it is complicated. It is not. It is really simple: the prevailing power structure David Hall has spent years building has been exposed for participating in wrongdoing in the credible report, and therefore those who have made it known must be discredited and dispensed with. Remember, was not exposing Session misbehavior in an email in part what triggered judicial process against Ruling Elder Philip Dudt? He now stands vindicated.
If the so-called “Talley Resolution” on officer vows is Biblical and proper as the Session purports, one might wonder why Martin Luther did not resign his office in the church first before authoring and distributing the 99 theses that disagreed with the majority…
David Hall and the Session majority at Midway Presbyterian Church have been shown to be in error over and over and over and over again…yet they continue to stubbornly and pridefully cling to their manmade kingdom of authority in the church as they run headlong into the sin of misusing church discipline for manmade objectives. A little repentance would go a long way.
Of Midway Presbyterian Church, it seems unlikely that “the Lord Jesus Christ, as King and Head thereof” is smiling about what is being done in His name in His father’s house.