The Mendacious Mullah of Moscow

Patrick Poole really knows how to turn a phrase, and he’s not bad at turning the blade either. As you read this, make a mental note that everything Wilson asked the world to do vis-à-vis RC Jr, he has refused to do in the Wilkins case. And make another note that Douglas Wilson says that Patrick Poole acts with integrity.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006
The Mendacious Mullah of Moscow

“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight.” — Proverbs 12:22

Here’s a joke: How do you know Doug Wilson is lying? His fingers are typing.

The most recent example of this is his blog post from over the weekend with reference to the R.C. Sproul, Jr. scandal, entitled: “R.C. Sproul Jr.” A Justice Primer. Now the fact that he equates his mendacity with justice is full of all kinds of pathetic irony, but I am struck with how utterly we can become so invested in the lie that we are forced to continue with it even when it is in our own best interest to be truthful. Such is the case with the Moscow Mullah.

Before I address the substance of his obstinate obfuscation, let me just point out that Douggie can’t claim to be ignorant of the facts of the matter: his statement makes it clear that he represents to be in the know. Also, the facts under consideration are a matter of public record. Anyone choosing to take fifteen seconds to do an Internet search can view practically the entire body of evidence at issue (if you’re too lazy for that, go here). So this clearly is not about Douggie not understanding nor having insufficient evidence to know what is going on as he is blog bloviating.

The Pasha of the Palouse tells us: “Responsible Christians everywhere should wait patiently while these responsible adults sort this one out.” And just who are these responsible Christians that he refers to? The RPCGA, the former (note the qualification here) denomination of R.C. Sproul, Jr. and his Gang of Ecclesiastical Thugs (known in the 1970s as R.C. and the Reprobate Band). Douggie apparently puts himself in that category of “adult” as well (LMAO!).

But the assumption that he is wanting you — no — is demanding that you make, and which predicates the entirety of his statement, is that the RPCGA is still involved in adjudicating the case of these defrocked degenerates. If this were true, he would be entirely in the right in terms of telling everyone to pipe down to allow these men a fair hearing, though he would have no more authority to say it than any other blogger. However, the assumption he is peddling is entirely and deliberately false.

Now if you go to his blog post, it is dated “2/11/06,” a full week after the RPCGA dismissed these men from their denomination — ample time for him to get caught up on the matter before he started slinging crap from the trees at anyone daring to disagree with him. The simple point of fact is that following their dismissal from the denomination the RPCGA has no further jurisdiction over these men, and any investigation or report the RPCGA would issue at any time would be as valid as Douggie clearing out the opium den at the New St. Andrews men’s house and convening his own ecclesiastical show trial (not that he’s discounted that option yet; that’s what he seems to be angling for). Even further, any slime-ball micro-denominational outfit willing to credential these spiritual sodomites would equally have no jurisdiction to try or authority to clear or convict them with reference to past charges. Douggie lectures us all enough on the topic such that we are only left with the conclusion that he understands presbyterian church polity (remember, “Reformed is not enough”!). R.C. and the Gang are freelancers (putting it charitably) and renegades (putting it more accurately) at this point, notwithstanding what Douggie says, and not subject to any further sanctions by the RPCGA or any cult of personality they might happen to join down the road. This is so plainly clear that Wilson telling the rest of us to ignore the man behind the curtain immediately tips his hand.

What exactly is he expecting us to wait for? R.C. and his lackeys need more time for the cover-up story to stick. This isn’t a matter of principles for Douggie; it is bare-knuckle pragmatics and propaganda. You see, having been justly defrocked for monstrous behavior towards members of their own congregation and other assorted illegal activities (all of which they admitted to in writing), and then having been reinstalled to their offices by their newly minted independent congregational church two days after being released by the RPCGA, they are spinning the story that the defrocking was due to their bizarre adherence to paedo-communion (a practice completely unknown throughout the entire 2000 year history of the Western Church), not because of their admitted ungodly and vicious behavior towards God’s flock.

But the Declaratory Judgment of the Westminster Presbytery tells a different story:

The consistent pattern of actions taken by these men are duplicitous in nature, and demonstrate that they willingly and knowingly act in an arbitrary fashion in violation of their vows of ordination and in violation of our denomination’s Book of Church Order. Most importantly, their actions manifest that they lack the qualification for the ministry (1 Timothy 3:1–7). It would be unwise to allow these men to continue to hold an office for which they are not qualified. They have no interest to govern themselves appropriately within this Presbyterian system of government that they vowed to submit and conform to its rules and regulations with conduct becoming ministers of Jesus Christ. (Declaratory Judgment, p. 11)

According to the unanimous decision of Westminster Presbytery of the RPCGA, these men are morally and spiritually unfit and unqualified for the office of church elder. As I said previously they have shown themselves to be butchers of God’s sheep, not shepherds. This rightly rendered verdict was immediately rejected by R.C. and the Gang (and apparently by Wilson), who agreed to allow themselves to be reappointed to their offices hours after they were free from any attachment to the RPCGA. Furthermore, R.C. has taken his case to the Internet, first to declare that they had been wronged by the presbytery in their demittal from office; and then when dismissed, to claim vindication. If this isn’t thumbing their nose at the RPCGA and their lawful decisions, I don’t know what else could ever be. That is the real issue at hand and the source of scandal.

Douggie, if this public conversation is too adult for you, maybe it’s time for you to go to bed. This is no longer a matter of private discipline; it is a matter of public scandal, and fair game for public comment. There’s no further waiting required by anyone at this point. Let me be crystal clear: if anyone on the Internet is “shoveling excrement” on this matter, it is Douggie Wilson himself. There is nothing forthcoming from the RPCGA that means anything authoritatively, as Wilson tells us to expect. And he knows this.

But his friends have been shown to be the knaves that they are, and Douggie has admitted on his blog that there are plans afoot to usher these men into the CREC, Wilson’s own boutique micro-denomination, so he has to bang his pots and pans to scare away the presbyterian predators while these men are brought into safe harbor. It doesn’t seem the slightest bit of concern to Wilson that he is utterly discrediting himself in the process, begging the question, of course, that he hasn’t already done so. If that’s what passes for “justice” in Moscow these days, I gladly want no part of it. And I certainly don’t need lectures on it from Douggie Wilson any more than I need to hear sermons on effective church government and Christian leadership from R.C. Sproul, Jr.

One final thought: having read the comments section attached to his post, what is even more pathetic than Wilson’s lies are the plethora of mindless Wilsonistas who applaud his brave stand for godless autonomy, falsehood, and deceit. And to those mindless Wilsonistas, let me say that when they start passing out the Kool-Aid at the tragic but inevitable conclusion of The Great Moscow Meltdown, you can’t say that you haven’t been warned.

POSTED BY PATRICK POOLE AT 5:20 PM

Thank you.