In researching an upcoming posting on this blog I have followed some interesting trails.  One of those led me to the blog "Barlow Farms," a blog written by a member of the Presbyterian Church in America. Lots of interesting and intelligent perspective on there but one in particular, about Presbyterian polity, caught my attention.  Entitled "The Presbyterian Bishopric" and posted on November 30, it looks at a concentration of power at the national level of the PCA.  In particular, the author writes at one point:

We find ourselves in the PCA right now in a peculiar position. The same man is moderator of the GA, chairman of the Standing Judicial Commission, and editor of the online denominational press. In the current Federal Vision brouhaha (a controversy about theological positions taken by some ministers), this one person has:

1. Nominated the men who make up the investigative committee
2. Chaired the standing judicial committee that has recently forced a presbytery to investigate one of its ministers because some other presbytery complained about the way that a voluntary investigation of a minister was conducted a few years ago.
3. Decided when to advertise and when not to advertise in the weekly news email the existence of books written by pastors in the denomination based upon the theological content of the books

By controlling the courts, the legislative branch, and the press, this one person has quite a bit of power, to say the least.

Not only does this one example suffice to demonstrate how presbyterianism can very easily become a luscious democratic candy shell on an episcopal chocolate filling, but there are other things we all know to be true that illustrate our de facto episcopal system.

Got to love that visual about the candy shell and chocolate filling.