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To me this is about seeing something for what it is.
An endeavor at which you are failing.
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I have though come to believe that there is a spiritual mystery which has been at work in TFI's members and I believe that selfish flesh does not take kindly to it. It is the spirit of Christ.
That is exactly the line that any cult would use about its former members. “Those poor people just couldn’t stand the truth.” Baloney! Trinity (using you as their water carrier) is just making excuses for abusing people in the name of God.
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That is why I am very careful about not joining in this supposed call to accountability for TFI(which at times seems more like an attack) that is, without at least possessing true understanding.
And yet, without possessing true understanding, you join in Trinity’s attack on us by repeating the lies, half-truths, and innuendo they whisper in your ear.
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There may well be some points that you are exactly right in calling them to repentence over Doug. I think they ought to hear those things.(I believe it is actually possible they would hear you)
They have Moses and the Scriptures, let them hear them. Let them read Wendy’s book with some honesty and true vulnerability.
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I just think Jackie Anon is right in saying that this is a private matter that you took way too publicly without making your very best efforts to talk with them about first.
Absolutely not true, and if they have told you otherwise they are lying. I have tried numerous times over the last few years to dialogue with John or Gary via email, with mixed results at best. Since leaving I have many efforts to initiate conversations with them, but they were not interested. And, what about the dozens of other former members, many of whom—like Boanerges—are hurting far more than we are. They are only interested in reconciling with [i:3c3ccea5d3]us[/i:3c3ccea5d3] because they are worried about their image. It is all a ploy to get us to pull the book off the market or to recant some of what we have said. The former members who can't hurt them they don't care about.
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You basically came out of the blue with this book. I do not believe that this should have been the public affair that you have turned it into.
Again, this would not have been out of the blue if they had engaged at all in the dialogue I have been trying to have with them for five years.
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There are other people affected by this that cannot even be mentioned here for their protection. This is not a book that should have been written. This is not a discussion that should have taken place. There are people in Trinity who have been deeply kind to you, who have loved you, who have carried your burdens, who have been your close friends. I can say that they still love you. Why has there not been a public response? It is because they believe that if you could still be reconciled,1) it isn't something that is likely to happen as a public feud, 2)there are other people who need to be protected from the public light whose information is involved in discussing these things, 3)the guilty may not be subjected to public embarassment over it.
I don’t even understand what this is. A veiled threat, or what? It is an example of you doing their dirty work for them and coming on this forum and spewing innuendo and spiritual poison. If there is something you want to say to clarify this and do not want to say it in public, please feel free to email me. But, what have I ever said to give you the impression that the people at Trinity Foundation were deeply kind to me? Oh, that’s right, I didn’t. You are just being their mouthpiece again.
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This is grace, rather than failure to acknowledge they have problems.
Grace is from our Lord through His son, Jesus Christ. It does not come from Trinity Foundation, in spite of what they seem to have convinced you of. Perhaps they have shown some discretion by not saying every nasty thing they could—and I applaud them for that—but I have shown the same discretion. I know where the bodies are buried, and they know that.
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But here you have disregarded that because you refuse to face your own faults, and are not brave enough to sit down face to face and admitt those faults, while humbly pointing out that they have faults too.
Since you and I have never met, how can you say I am neither brave nor humble? I have said some negative things about Trinity, but at least I know the people I am talking about. You do not know me from Adam. Once again, you are mindlessly repeating the things your handlers at Trinity feed you.
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It is my conviction at this point that a few of you here need to take a very serious and honest look at yourselves, because you are casting stones without acknowledging that you are guilty of the very same sins.
I am a sinner whose only hope of salvation is the grace of my Lord, Jesus Christ. I hope I have not presented myself as other than that.
If there is any truth to the notion that the folks at Trinity have some interest in reconciliation, I extend this invitation: Either John or Gary (Ole’s two chief lieutenants) are welcome to meet with me and a handful of former members at my house. All they have to do is contact me, and I will set it up. It could be the first step in the process, and one to which I am open. My bet is that they won’t show, but it could be the start of something that would be healing for everyone if they do.