Our deepest thanks and appreciation go out to Pastor Shaun Nolan for posting this insightful article on his blog. We're reposting it here in its entirety, rather than only posting a link to it, because stuff like this just has a funny way of disappearing.

What Pastor Shaun has done is to give us a play-by-play preview of the CREC's Saint Peter Commission and the items on their agenda for fulfilling their predetermined role, per Doug Wilson's directive, of exonerating the Saint Peter Four and ordaining them in the CREC. Doug Wilson's "A Justice Primer" blog series has only made that too obvious. Thank you Pastor Shaun for now making it even just that much more obvious. Oh, and we love your catchy title, "Clearing R.C. Sproul, Jr's Name." That's the exact title we should have come up with ourselves weeks ago!

At this point the CREC is really going to have to move quickly on that show trial, though. In most cases the phrase "rush to justice" has a real bad connotation, but in this case it doesn't really matter anyway. The only thing that matters is the outcome. After all, RC Sproul Jr does have that Generations Conference on "Honor" coming up real soon (May 5-6). It just wouldn't look right to have a defrocked minister behind a pulpit talking about "honor." Much better to have an exonerated defrocked reordained minister talk about "honor." Well, maybe not. You'd have to be real gullible to believe that getting exonerated by Doug Wilson and his CREC could be a badge of honor. Then again, there are a lot of gullible Christians out there, so maybe it'll work after all!

Clearing R.C. Sproul, Jr's Name

It was a great privilege to have lunch with R.C. and Vesta Sproul this afternoon. (Some of you may know that Vesta’s brother is our assistant pastor at View Crest. So, lest you think me important, the occasion had nothing to do with yours truly.) During the course of conversation, we turned to a discussion of the recent allegations against R.C.’s son. At the close of our conversation, I asked R.C. if I could share what he had told me via Postscript Posthaste. He said that would be fine.

Please understand that what I am saying here is by no means “official”. I recognize that many of my readers have a deep respect for both R.C. and R.C. Jr., and I want to ease their consciences about this matter. I also understand that there are those out there who find no greater pleasure than to slander another man’s character. For those in the latter group, you’ll want to stop reading now. I will offer you nothing of flammability and I do not wish my name associated with your diatribes. Even when I initially addressed this issue, my purpose was only to remind all of us of the deep necessity of Biblical accountability and not to issue judgment. Further, anything I say here is technically “hearsay” so it won’t stand up in any court. Nevertheless, I trust R.C. and believe he is telling the truth about his son.

So then, what is going on with R.C. Jr.?

Of late we have heard little about the situation surrounding R.C. Jr’s “defrocking” and this is for good reason. I am told that most, if not all of the charges brought against the session of St. Peters were themselves fraudulent. (I will address some of them below.) In case of point, no trial actually took place before the pronouncement of deposition was issued. This is highly irregular and because of this, the elders of St. Peters have sought to clear their names via examination apart from their former denomination, the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly (RPCGA). As I write, the Confederation of Reformed Evangelicals (CRE) is conducting a detailed examination of the charges. What this means is that the trial they did not receive is being conducted by a third party. The results, soon to be released, will then be examined by other groups for the purpose of validating conclusions and clearing the name of the men involved.

The Charge of Tax ID Misuse
The elders of St. Peter’s were charged with using the ARP (Associate Reformed Presbyterian) Tax ID number instead of the RPCGA number. According to R.C. Sr., a consultant had been called in to help St. Peter’s with their finances. That consultant discovered the ARP ID number being used (which was there because the church had formerly been ARP) and informed them they needed to fix that. R.C. Jr. promptly called both the ARP to apologize and the IRS to apologize and initiate changes.

The Charge of Lording It Over the Congregation
The elders of St. Peter’s were charged with not allowing members to leave. I am told the members in question were under discipline of the church and were told they would not be allowed to flee discipline. This is the normal process with members under discipline in Presbyterianism. We don’t want folks running from accountability. That people do leave anyway is beside the point. After they did leave, they complained to the General Assembly and their charge was thus included.

The Charge of Planting a Church and Ordaining a Pastor Without Permission of the Presbytery
What the documentation of the RPCGA fails to note regarding this charge is that a separate presbytery of that same denomination did, in fact, do these things. As I understand it, the church that was planted was not within the bounds of the presbytery which St. Peter’s was in. It was only later that the Moderator of the denomination ruled that church “unofficial”. (Please don’t ask me how a Moderator can do this. My understanding is that this is a very small denomination that places a great deal of power in the hands of its denominational Moderator.)

The Charge of Practicing Paedo-Communion
This simply wasn’t the case. Young children were examined by the elders for the purpose of discerning a credible profession of faith and some were admitted, but no infants were allowed to partake. Even the PCA Book of Church Order says that it is up to the discretion of the elders as to the age at which a child can demonstrate faith. This was the process at St. Peters.

In Conclusion
In conclusion, I must say that I am pleased to hear the “other side” of this story and I sincerely hope that justice is served in the most positive sense. I would love nothing more than for their names to be cleared and their ministries continue unhindered. I am making this information available only to do my part in maintaining balance, easing consciences pricked by what they had heard, and to inform you, my readers, of the upcoming report from the CRE.

I urge you to continue to pray for these men and for the Reformed Church at large that is impacted by events like these. May God be glorified even through this.

We're grateful to Pastor Shaun that he would "inform you, my readers, of the upcoming report from the CRE." We know the report isn't quite finished yet, but since the outcome was predetermined weeks ago, all that's left now is to write the report in support of what was already determined from even before when the CREC "not judicial in nature" Commission was convened (CREC Moderator Randy Booth has that underlined because when he underlines something it really means that it's really the truth and that you can really trust him -- really). In our opinion, Pastor Shaun has done an excellent job of providing an outline for the CREC "not judicial in nature" Commission's Show-Trial Report.

We're also grateful to Pastor Shaun that he would "remind all of us of the deep necessity of Biblical accountability and not to issue judgment." Funny thing about that is he's issuing his own judgments -- calling the charges "fraudulent" is an extremely serious judgment. Of course, in Pastor Shaun's case he'd claim that he's not issuing a judgment, he's just telling us the truth. The truth is that "most, if not all of the charges brought against the session of St. Peters were themselves fraudulent." Pastor Shaun knows this because Dr. R.C. Sproul told him so. Of course, any pronouncements that Dr. R.C. Sproul would make about his son are entirely objective and must be taken as the gospel truth. However, anyone on the other side of the debate is "issuing judgment," and as we all know "issuing judgment" is bad. It's especially bad that the RPCGA issued judgment. "Touch not the Lord's annointed." Judging--bad. Love--good. "Love covers a multitude of sins," so let's all get busy and get to covering, um, clearing.

We don't really need to spend much time critiquing Dr. R.C. Sproul's analysis of the case, as retold by Pastor Shaun. It's all pretty well summed up in:

"I am told that most, if not all of the charges brought against the session of St. Peters were themselves fraudulent."

We were pretty sure the Sprouls and their true believers were going to use the "Liar, liar, pants on fire" defense. Now it's been confirmed. Alleging now that the charges were "fraudulent" is a real amazing claim, especially since R.C. Sproul Jr confessed to the charges. So what is R.C. Jr going to do now? Claim "temporary insanity" at the time of his confession (or maybe he was just drunk)? If it were true that the charges were fraudulent, that would not only put R.C. Sproul Jr's accusers in the worst possible light, it would also put the RPCGA in the worst possible light for having rendered a judgment based upon alleged "fraudulent" charges. When someone makes an allegation of "fraud" the burden of proof rests squarely on them to prove the "fraud," or in this case the burden rests squarely on the CREC "not judicial in nature" Commission Show-Trial. Considering the evidence that the RPCGA has already made public, not to mention all the other things they say that they have in the case file that they have yet to make public, an allegation of "fraud" would be mighty tough to prove.

Pastor Shaun isn't the only one who "would love nothing more than for their names to be cleared and their ministries continue unhindered." Dr. RC Sproul would also love to see his son cleared. No one can blame him for wanting to see his son cleared and reordained, but it's tragic that he can't come up with anything better than just alleging that the charges are "fraudulent." It's also real sad (in fact it's just pathetic) that they can't come up with anything better than Doug Wilson and the CREC to "clear" him with. The pickings must be mighty slim for RC Jr.

"In case of point, no trial actually took place before the pronouncement of deposition was issued. This is highly irregular and because of this, the elders of St. Peters have sought to clear their names via examination apart from their former denomination, the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly (RPCGA)."

Sure. They got screwed by the Westminster Presbytery of the RPCGA, and the Declaratory Judgment was just a hatchet job. That's why rather than appealing their case to the General Assembly, which is what all Presbyterians do when they think they've gotten a bum deal (and you know that, Pastor Shaun, because you're a Presbyterian minister yourself), and demanding the trial that they now claim they were deprived of, they wrote a letter or apology and begged to be released. In that letter they said,

"We want to thank you and the brethren of Westminster Presbytery (RPCGA) for your friendship, kindness, and gracious patience shown to this Session over the past four years."

Yes, it sure sounds like they thought they were getting screwed.

"As I write, the Confederation of Reformed Evangelicals (CRE) is conducting a detailed examination of the charges. What this means is that the trial they did not receive is being conducted by a third party. The results, soon to be released, will then be examined by other groups for the purpose of validating conclusions and clearing the name of the men involved."

So as we already knew the CREC "not judicial in nature" Commission is obviously judicial in nature -- just not judicial in the legitimate sense of the term. Everyone involved in the CREC Commission, and everyone in the know about the goings on of the CREC Commission (which would certainly include RC Sproul Jr, who can't help but talk to his dad, who can't help but talk to Pastor Shaun, who can't help but blog about it) already knows what the outcome is: "clearing the name of the men involved."

Is anyone really surprised to hear Dr. RC Sproul crowing that his son will soon be exonerated? Naw! We've been able to tell for weeks prior to the convening of the CREC "not judicial in nature" Commission that the only real agenda was to review the case and fabricate some bogus allegations for overturning it, as though they had any legitimate authority to do that. Can you say "Kangaroo Court"?