IN THE ECCLESIASTICAL COURT OF 
THE CENTRAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF TACOMA & THE WORD IN ACTION MINISTRY, WASHINGTON

409 Tacoma Avenue North, Tacoma, Washington 98403
Mailing Address: PO Box 1441, Maple Valley, Washington 98038
Tel: 206-409-7025 / 253-203-5482    Fax: 206-274-4816
Email: scripturalaw@yahoo.co.uk

Causa ecclesiae publicus aquiparatur; 
et summa est ratio quae pro religione facit

“The cause of the Church is equal to public cause, 
and paramount is the reason which makes for religion.”

PARTIES TO THE MATTER

1.	Several hundred individuals, hereinafter, “Believers” resident of various states in the United States of America.

2.	The Governors of the fifty state governments of the United States of America, United States government (hereinafter “USA) through the Solicitor-General ; the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank (hereinafter “The Fed”); the Secretary of the Treasury, the Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office, and the Comptroller of Currency.

REASON FOR CONVENING THIS ECCLESIASTICAL COURT 

The Believers are negotiating the purchase of a 500-acre ranch in the state of Kentucky for the purposes of conducting church-related activities for people who have approached the Believers for assistance and counsel in their personal, vocational, professional and spiritual lives.

The Believers wish to raise funds for the purchase of the aforesaid property without adhering to, or violating, the government’s rules, regulations, laws, procedures and processes although they are at variance with God’s Commandments as contained in the Holy Bible - the Code of Conduct for the Believers and the Church. These funds can potentially emanate from a writ of restitution/enforcement following a Declaratory Judgment - if this honorable Ecclesiastical Court chooses to issue one - should the Believers prevail in this Petition necessitated by the recent Wall Street crisis and ensuing panic where reliance, trust, and belief in the government’s current monetary polices, practices, processes, procedures and protocols are suspicious and doubtful. 

The Believers wish to reiterate that it is not suing the fifty state governments of the Union; the United States government ; the Federal Reserve Bank; the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Comptroller of Currency. The Believers merely wish to invite these Parties’ Representatives to participate in this ecclesiastical hearing in the spirit of “good fences make good neighbors” in that the tradition of the ill-defined metaphor that “state and church are separate” is not applicable to this Petition.

JURISDICTION OF ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS

This Court has exclusive jurisdiction to determine these Issues brought before it by virtue of the following premises:

First Premise

Article 1, Declaration of Rights, §11 of the Constitution of the state of Washington provides that:

“Absolute freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment, belief and worship, shall be guaranteed to every individual, and no one shall be molested or disturbed in property on account of religion….. [AMENDMENT 88, 1993 House Joint Resolution No. 4200, p 3062. Approved November 2, 1993] 

Legal Reasoning & Argument:

The intent, content, extent, substance, scope, scale, effect and impact of “absolute freedom” does not hide the principal purpose of this constitutional provision because “absolute freedom” is not subject to any other interpretation except for its plain meaning.

This constitutional provision is also assuring the people of this state that when it comes to religious matters the government guarantees no disturbance from any quarter when it involves our individual rights and property rights. The Laws of the Holy Bible are a compelling reason for Believers to not look for secular acknowledgment of a primary scriptural Law, for example the Ten Commandments which spawned many of the secular legal codes. 

Evidence of judicial recognition of the Ten Commandments’ foundational role in the affairs of our country was well recognized by the United States Supreme Court in the following cases:

•	McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420 (1961)[Frankfurter, J.] (“Innumerable civil regulations enforce conduct which harmonizes with religious concerns. State prohibitions of murder, theft and adultery reinforce commands of the Decalogue.”
 
•	Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 529, n.2 (1965)(“Most criminal prohibitions coincide with the prohibitions contained in the Ten Commandments.”)

•	Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39, 45 (1980) (“The Ten Commandment, undeniably, have had a significant impact on the development of secular legal codes of the Western world.”)

•	Edwards v. Aguillard, 482 U.S. 578, 593-94 (1987) [Brennan, J] (“The Ten Commandments have played both a secular and religious role in the history of Western Civilization.”)

•	County of Allegheny, 492 U.S. at 652-53 (“Carving of Moses with Ten Commandments alongside famous secular lawgivers is a fitting message for a courtroom.”)

•	City of Elkhart v. Books, 532 U.S. 1058 (2001) (“Undeniably, however, the Ten Commandments have secular significance as well, because they have made a substantial contribution to our secular legal codes.”)

Second Premise

Article 1, First Amendment, Bill of Rights provides that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;…….”

Legal Reasoning & Argument:

The Free Exercise Clause of the Bill of Rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution has even motivated some state courts to look to the Ten Commandments as playing a foundational role in Anglo-American jurisprudence:

•	Pennsylvania: Bertera’s Hopewell Foodland, Inc. v. Masters, 236 A. 2d 197, 200-201 (Pa. 1967) (“This act of 1794 – Pennsylvania Sunday Closing Law – itself traces an ancestry back to the Ten Commandments fulminated from the smoking top of Mt. Sinai. This divine pronouncement became part of the Common Law inherited by the Thirteen American colonies and by the sovereign states of the American union.”)

•	W. Virginia: Moore v. Strickling, 33 S.E. 274, 277 (1899) (“It is said that the illustrious King Alfred adopted the Ten Commandments as the foundation of the early laws of England, contained in his Doom Book. These commandments appeal to us as is coming from a superhuman or divine source, and no conscientious or reasonable man has yet been able to find a flaw in them. Absolutely flawless, negative in terms, but positive in meaning, they easily stand at the head of our whole moral system, and no nation or people can long continue a happy existence in open violation of them.”)

•	North Dakota: State v. Gamble Skogmo, Inc. 144 N.W. 2d 749, 768 (1966) (“Thus, for temporal purposes, murder is illegal. And the fact that this agrees with the dictates of the Judeo-Christian religions while it may disagree with others does not invalidate the regulation. So too with the questions of adultery and polygamy. The same could be said of theft, fraud, etc., because those offences were also proscribed in the Ten Commandments.”)

•	N. Carolina: Commissioners of Johnson County v. Lacy, 93 S.E. 482, 487 (1917) (“Our laws are founded upon the Decalogue; not that every case can be exactly decided according to what is there enjoined, but we can never safely depart from this short but great declaration of moral principles without founding the law upon the sand, instead of upon the eternal rock of justice and equity.”)

During the Constitution’s 150th anniversary in 1937, President Franklin D Roosevelt likened the Constitution to the Holy Bible, saying it should be read over and over again. It is an apt simile because the Constitution as served as the nation’s Scripture.

The point to be made is that even in the Executive branch of government, the Holy Bible is referred to as a crucial and vital standard and vanguard.

Third Premise

Congress enacted Public Law 97-280, Senate Joint Resolution 165, Congressional Record, Vol. 128 (1982), October 4, 1982 which designated the Holy Bible as the Word of God and codified as 96 Statute at Large 1211.

Legal Reasoning & Argument:

The Holy Bible, as a source of law, especially the foundational role of the Ten Commandments were also invoked and explained in these cases:

•	Nebraska:  O’Rourk v. State, 53 N.W. 591, 592 (1892) (“Free discussion, however, is the outgrowth of free government. All free government is based on the divine law. God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, which contain rules designed to apply to the whole race. Although given to the Israelites, they were designed for all humanity.”)

•	Florida: Anderson v. Maddox: 65 So. 2d 299, 301-302 (1953) (“’Thou shall not steal’ and ‘thou shall not bear false witness’ are just as new as they were when Moses brought them down from the Mountain.”)

Fourth Premise

77 Corpus Juris Secundum §84: 

Ecclesiastical questions are to be determined by the churches and their appropriate tribunals, and their decisions are binding, conclusive, and not reviewable by the civil courts. The following cases have settled the issue:

•	Sims v. Green, D.C. Pa., 76 F.Supp. 669

•	California: Maxwell v. Brougher, 222 P. 2d 910,  99 C.A. 824

•	Florida:  First Free Will Baptist Church of Blountstown v. Franklin, 4 So. 2d 390, 148 Fla., 277

•	Kentucky: Jones v. Johnson, 175 S.W. 2d 370,  295 Ky. 707

•	Missouri: Longmeyer v. Payne, App., 205 S.W. 2d 263

•	Pennsylvania: Church of God  at Markleysburg v. Church of God at Marklesburg, 50 A. 2d 357,  355 Pa., 478 

Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS) is a complete restatement of the entire body of American Law published by the American Law Book Company. Its content, based on common law, case law, statutory, ecclesiastical law, Roman Law, sound legal theories, principles, maxims and doctrines, can be traced as far back as 1658 according to the Publishers.

Fifth Premise

Definition of “Church” according to Black’s Law Dictionary, 6th edition at page 242:

“In its most general sense, the religious society founded and established by Jesus Christ, to receive, preserve, and propagate His doctrines and ordinances. 

It may also mean a body of communicants gathered into church order; body or community of Christians, united under one form of government by the profession of the same faith and observance of the same ritual and ceremonies; place where persons regularly assemble for worship; congregation; organization for religious purposes; religious society or body; the clergy or officialdom of a religious body.”

Definition of “church courts”, page 242 Black’s Law Dictionary, 6th edition:

“Tribunals within the structure of a church charged with adjudicating disputes of an ecclesiastical nature which may not be adjudicated in civil courts.”

Legal Reasoning & Argument:

Black’s Law Dictionary is the result of dedicated work from many scholars, eminent law professors, learned judges, lawyers, academics, and editors. It is one of the most quoted books in almost every court in the land. Judges, lawyers, and academics refer to constantly it to arrive at a precise or near precise definition.

Black’s Law Dictionary, in the Seventh edition, literally mentions the Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, by name when defining the meaning of the word ‘church.’  This unique reference makes it all the more important to the Believers that the legal system and codes of America today subscribe to the belief in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ

These five premises unequivocally and decidedly exhibit the fact that the government of the United States of America through its three organs of state – Legislative, Executive and Judiciary – recognizes the Church and adherents to the doctrines of Jesus Christ as sovereign. These laws were passed for the singular purpose of recognizing the sanctity of the Scriptures as God’s Law.

KEY ISSUES TO BE DECIDED

WHETHER THE BELIEVERS ARE ENTITLED TO A JUDGMENT IN GOLD EQUIVALENT TO AN AMOUNT OF ONE HUNDRED MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS BECAUSE:

1.	The federal government and all the state governments within the Union ( the United States of America) have indulged in certain activities involving dishonest weights, dishonest merchants, and dishonest money which affect the beliefs, principles, and doctrines of the Holy Bible.

2.	The Believers, in order to engage in commerce in the secular realm, will violate the beliefs, principles and doctrines of the Holy Bible.

3.	The Believers may seek alternative means and methods to raise revenue for ecclesiastical purposes according to the beliefs, principles, and doctrines of the Holy Bible with the recorded, and evident support and acquiescence of the state and federal governments in order not to transgress any scriptural or secular laws.

4.	They are eligible to qualify for using biblical principles to create wealth for the Church without any interference or obstruction from the secular governments.

KEY ISSUES NUMBERED 1, 2, 3 AND 4 FOR DETERMINATION BY THIS HONORABLE ECCLESIASTCAL COURT:

Whether the federal government and all the state governments within the Union called the United States of America have indulged in certain activities involving dishonest scales and weights, dishonest merchants and dishonest money which affect the beliefs, principles, and doctrines of the Holy Bible.

In reference to Ezekiel 28: 18 – “By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned the sanctuaries…..” – 

This passage from the Holy Bible warns the Believers in this case that God is displeased with unrighteousness in trade which has found expression in our national economy in the USA by violating the Coinage Act of 1792 which established that one United States dollar was 412.5 grains of silver or 1/42 ounce of gold. In other words, currency money was printed based on the value of silver and gold, and this power was established by the federal Constitution – the supreme law of the land – and placed in the hands of Congress.

The USA’s monetary system was originally set up so that only “Congress shall have the power not to make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; to coin Money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.” See U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Sections 8 & 10.

In 1913 the Federal Reserve Act handed control of the U.S.A’s money supply over to the bankers, who then created America’s privately owned central bank called the Federal Reserve Bank (The Fed). The Fed is a privately held corporation with the majority of Fed stock being held by national and international member banks from around the world. Thus, since 1913, the Fed, not Congress, has had control of America’s monetary system. See page 37, The Planned Destruction of America, by James Wardner.

On June 5, 1933, as House Resolution 192, the Congress of the U.S.A., resolved that the right to require payment in gold or a particular kind of coin or currency of the U.S.A. was against public policy which unequivocally suspended, if not repealed the Coinage Act of 1792 and U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Sections 8 & 10.

This confirms the Believers stand that the state and federal governments have violated both ecclesiastical and secular laws by creating other laws to circumvent and replace the original laws of the U.S.A. for questionable purposes which qualifies for the admonishment of Ezekiel 28: 18 – “By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned the sanctuaries…..”

This turn of events have forced believers to break God’s Law by entering into commerce with the secular. The Believers have no further wish or desire to continue this practice and wish to be apart and separate from the monetary system of the USA. The Believers and the Church need no further proof and evidence regarding the state of affairs of the country with the recent Wall Street crisis that echoes the warnings of the Holy Bible regarding dishonest scales, dishonest weights and dishonest money.

The Holy Bible has warned generations of people that violations of God’s Laws will result in crisis and conflict as a preamble to punishment.

The Believers, in order to engage in commerce in the secular realm, will violate the beliefs, principles and doctrines of the Holy Bible.

The Believers are very well aware of the mandates and requirements of a separation from the secular explained in 2 Corinthians 6:17  - Therefore come out from them and be separate says the Lord, Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

The separation from the secular is also explained in James 4:4 – don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

This warning is again echoed in Romans 12: 2 – do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind……

1 John 2:15 manifests the same admonishment – Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone  loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

This principle is again mentioned in Colossians 2: 8 – See to it that no one takes captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. 

It is clear from these scriptural sources that the Believers ought not to participate in anything that the secular believes and practices that is abhorrent to God.

Since Public Law 97-280 [Senate Joint Resolution 165 of October 4, 1982], 96 Statutes at Large 1211,  declared that the Holy Bible is the Word of God, the Believers urge this honorable Ecclesiastical Court to take cognizance of this secular government law which strengthens the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights which guarantees freedom of religion and thereby places the Believers rights in a safe and secure footing free from interpretation or distortion as to its efficacy, authenticity and accuracy.

The Believers invoke the principles of Corpus Juris Secundum  77 § 84:  “when a person becomes a member of a church, he thereby submits to its ecclesiastical jurisdiction in ecclesiastical matters and he has no legal right to invoke the supervisory power of a civil court as long as none of his civil rights is involved. 

This is settled law:

•	Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for U.S.A and Canada v. Milivojevich, Ill., 96 S. Ct. 2372,  426 U.S. 696,  49 L.Ed. 2d 151 rehearing denied 97 S. Ct. 191,  429 U.S. 873,  50 L.Ed. 2d 155, on remand Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for U.S. v. Milivojevich, 363 N.E. 2d 606, 6 Ill. Dec. 792,  66 Ill. 2d 469, appeal after remand 387 N.E. 2d 285,  25 Ill. Dec. 629, 74 Ill. 2d 574, cert. Denied 99 S. Ct. 3096, 443 U.S. 904,  61 L. Ed. 2d 872.

•	California:  Linke v. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 163 P.2d 44,  71 C.A. 2d 667;

•	Georgia: Stewart v. Jarriel,  59 S.E. 2d 368,  206 Ga. 855

•	Indiana: Kompier v. Thegza, 13 N.E. 2d 229,  213 Ind. 542

•	Missouri: Stamps v. Kirkendoll, App., 689 S.W. 2d 111
•	Texas:  Smith v. Lewis, Civ. App., 578 S.W. 2d 169, error refused no reversible error.

•	Virginia:  Reid v. Gholson, 327 S.E. 2d 107,  229 Va. 179, cert. Denied  106 S. Ct. 80,  474 U.S. 824,  88 L. Ed.  2d 65, rehearing denied 106 S. Ct. 548, 474 U.S. 1014,  88 L. Ed. 2d 477

A church may create tribunals to decide controversies with respect to its internal affairs and ecclesiastical matters. This provision was settled in

•	Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for U.S.A and Canada v. Milivojevich, Ill., 96 S. Ct. 2372,  426 U.S. 696,  49 L.Ed. 2d 151 rehearing denied 97 S. Ct. 191,  429 U.S. 873,  50 L.Ed. 2d 155, on remand Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for U.S. v. Milivojevich, 363 N.E. 2d 606, 6 Ill. Dec. 792,  66 Ill. 2d 469, appeal after remand 387 N.E. 2d 285,  25 Ill. Dec. 629, 74 Ill. 2d 574, cert. Denied 99 S. Ct. 3096, 443 U.S. 904,  61 L. Ed. 2d 872;

•	California: Maxwell v. Brougher, 222 P. 2d 910,  99 C.A. 824

•	Kansas: Kennedy v. Gray,  807 P.2d 670,  248 Kan. 486

•	Massachusetts: Antioch Temple, Inc. v. Parekh, 422 N.E. 2d 1337,  383 Mass. 854

•	Minnesota:  Russian-Serbian Holy Trinity Orthodox Church of St. Paul v. Kulik,  279 N.W. 364,  202 Minn. 560

•	Virginia: Reid v. Gholson, 327 S.E. 2d 107,  229 Va. 179, cert. Denied  106 S. Ct. 80,  474 U.S. 824,  88 L. Ed.  2d 65, rehearing denied 106 S. Ct. 548, 474 U.S. 1014,  88 L. Ed. 2d 477

Ecclesiastical questions are to be determined by the churches and their appropriate tribunals. This provision was settled in:

•	California: Maxwell v. Brougher, 222 P. 2d 910,  99 C.A. 824

•	Georgia:  Gervin v. Reddick,  268 S.E. 2d 657,  246 Ga. 56

•	Connecticut: New York Annual Conference of United Mehtodist Church v. Fisber,  438 A. 2d 62,  182 Conn. 272

•	Kansas: Hughes v. Grossman,  201 P.2d 670,  166 Kan. 325

•	Kentucky:  Kidwell v. Crawford,  182 S.W. 2d 968,  298 Ky. 380

•	Missouri:  Murr v. Maxwell, App., 232 S.W. 2d 219
•	South Carolina:  Turberville v. Morris,  26 S.E. 2d 821,  203 S.C. 287

•	Texas: Hughes v. Keeling,  Civ. App., 198 S.W. 2d 779

The questions in the form of Issues presented  are ecclesiastical questions to be determined by appropriate church tribunals which is, in this case refers to this  honorable Ecclesiastical Court. The government of the USA has decided and agreed, by virtue of the laws and judgments mentioned above, that the Church has autonomy and sovereignty.

The Believers may seek alternative means and methods to raise revenue for ecclesiastical purposes according to the beliefs, principles, and doctrines of the Holy Bible with the recorded, and evident support and acquiescence of the state and federal governments in order not to transgress any scriptural or secular laws.

The Holy Bible states in Hosea 4: 6 that: “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.”

It is clear from this passage that a relational violation between us and God will result in a generational disadvantage to our children and their children.

Therefore, it is crucial and critical that we Believers be free to utilize God’s commandments in securing wealth for the Church through scriptural principles without secular governmental intrusion and invasion.

The Church and its Believers, therefore, advance the proposition that they are Accredited Investors in that they are exempt from registration requirements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because the Believers, as an entity, have a net worth of at least one million dollars pursuant to Regulation D, Rule 501 under the SEC. See page 5, Barron’s Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms.

The honorable Ecclesiastical Court is urged to rule on this issue to secure an advantage for the Church in keeping with the requirements of Ecclesiastes 10:19.

The Believers are committed to the proposition that the use of gold and silver will not affect public policy as stipulated in House Joint Resolution 192 of June 5, 1933 because the Believers do not wish to live by the rules of the secular world which places money and commerce as supreme instead of God, Jehovah Jireh, our Provider.

Since gold and silver are considered no longer legal tender, and therefore presumed to be tax exempt and tax excepted, the Believers intend to monetize these commodities to create legal tender for Church use, benefit and advantage by offering ecclesiastical legal education and other evangelizing activities pursuant to Ephesians 4:11 – 13.

They are eligible to qualify for using biblical principles to create wealth for the Church without any interference or obstruction from the secular governments.

The Believers and the Church wish to engage the services of Christian-owned banks and other financial institutions around the world to use biblical principles to create wealth as tax excepted entities.

The ways and means of this ecclesiastical wealth creating and generating mechanism is solely controlled by these Christian-owned banks which has the potential of distributing a significant quantum of much needed financial assistance for the Believers.

The secular government need not defend its position regarding the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the House Joint Resolution 192, and the non-adherence to the Coinage Act of 1792 or the constitutional provisions of Article 1, Sections 8 &10; neither does it bear the responsibility of having to pay the Believers one hundred million dollars worth of gold in the event this honorable Ecclesiastical Court finds for the Believers in this Hearing.

The Believers seek a Declaration from this honorable Ecclesiastical Court, and if available another Declaration at the indulgence of the secular governments to grant us leave and relief to seek scriptural ways and means to fill the Treasury of the Church of the Believers.

In the words of the 17th century Spanish Jesuit, Baltasar Gracian “We are to use human means as if there are no divine ones, and divine ones if there no human ones.” This is the predominant reason to come to this honorable Ecclesiastical Court. 

In The Concept of Law, 206, H.L.A. Hart declared that “what surely is most needed in order to make men clear-sighted in confronting the official abuse of power, is that they should preserve the sense that certification of something as legally valid is not conclusive of the question of obedience, and that, however great the aura of majesty or authority which the official system may have, its demands must in the end be submitted to a moral scrutiny.”

It is to this scrutiny that we seek this honorable Ecclesiastical Court’s assistance so that morals, virtue and ethics can stand as pillars of certainty, consistency and conformity of God’s Law.

RELIEF SOUGHT AS AN ECCLESIASTICAL COURT’S  BINDING JUDGMENT

A Declaration and Order of Judgment - in gold in an equivalent amount of one hundred million United States dollars - which would be utilized as a (fungible) negotiable instrument that has the potential of being used in an asset enhancement protocol overseas to empower the Treasury of the Church. No harm, disadvantage or injury is imputed or contemplated to the state or federal governments, the Federal Reserve Board, the United States Department of Treasury and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency.

 AFFIDAVIT OF THE BELIEVERS

We, the undersigned, firmly and strongly believe that the state and federal governments of the United States of America have gone too far in disobeying God’s Law especially in regulating and monitoring operations of the capital markets in Wall Street. We are convinced that we cannot participate any longer in this illegal commerce.

We have therefore decided to take stock of this dangerous monetary situation in this country by applying the principles of the Holy Bible in securing financial security and wealth for the Church without any assistance, aid or counsel of these governments, their representatives, agencies and instrumentalities.

The laws, constitutions rules, regulations and ordinances of this country do not prohibit the adherents of the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the Church to do that which God has allowed, ordained and commanded. This is the primary reason that impels these Issues to be brought before this honorable Ecclesiastical Court.

This Petition has more than 300 signatures and addresses contained in an electronic database viewable at www.gopetition.com/online/22553.html.