Their actions, words, and resolutions couldn’t be any plainer…
Vow Number 5 in the BCO for Ruling Elders and Deacons says this: “Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?“
The Tally Resolution codified the Session majority’s position. In their minds, they apparently imagine that the vow says this: “Do you promise subjection to your brethren on the session?”
Furthermore, their method of expressing their demands comes down to one question: Who carries the majority? Apparently, after years of cunning grooming and selection and court-packing, the Session is now full of “yes men”. You must submit to the dictates of the majority! And if you do not, the price is very high. To quote the Tally Resolution:
“Should a church officer feel compelled to communicate publicly his dissatisfaction with or any opposition to a decision or action of the Session, he should first resign his office so as not to violate his Vow #5.”
And if you press on in defiance, even if the majority is wrong? Removal.
A Well-Planned Strategy
This is the way infiltrators work. They slowly slip in and build up their power base. They call for peace until the time comes when they finally secure permanent control. And then, when there is absolutely no remaining threat of ever again losing a vote, the division starts. Instead of tolerating dissenting voices of opposition, they move to purge them from their midst in order to consolidate their power base and gain permanent control over the church finances.
The session majority describes this consolidation as the difference between “present” and “past” leadership.
How many people in the Midway congregation are afraid to speak up out of fear of some kind of retaliation?
This is all in stark contrast to the Lord Jesus Christ, who said: “But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren” (Mat. 23:8).
Nor is the session majority’s interpretation in accordance with that of the Apostle Paul, who declared “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise” (Gal. 4:28).
Could it be that the authors of Vow 5 had Paul’s admonition in mind to serve each other, as when he described “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God” (Eph. 5:19-21)?
The Session majority has charged its dissenting session brothers with division. But its actions reveal where the real source of division lay.
Key to RE Dudt’s case is his alleged “violation” of the Tally Resolution. Will the highest court overturn this unbiblical and destructive instrument and restore order and justice to our courts?