Below is what I put on a listserv called AR-Talk that goes to many prominent apologists. It seems to me that another member of this forum, a Mark Scheiderer has become obsessed with this Trinity Foundation issue, and has even gone on this list with personal insults against me and my wife, Jackie Alnor. I have never posted anything here until now. He has been evasive with his answers to me and has given false information on at least two occasions on this list, especially his lying statements that my wife Jackie has "retracted" her Trintiy Foundation statement. After he first made that statement to this list, he e-mailed me and asked if we had changed our minds on the Trinity Foundation situation. I told him, no! In fact our positions were more hardened.
He even accused me in an e-mail of making money off the Trinity Foundation, which was never true in any sense of the word at all! My wife, was an independent consultant for the Trinity Foundation in 1994, which went on for an 8 month time period. She was taping TBN and other checkered televangelist and was sending transcripts of outrageous moments to them and duplicating tapes. It ended when TFI did not want it to continue and began doing the work internally. Jackie never lived there, but visited TFI on several occasions and subsequently had various phone conversations, numerous e-mails and even phone conversations with the Duncans. I provided to the Duncans through Jackie some of my thoughts on the matter, including the fact that they should read Dr. Ronald Enroth's fine books, Churches that Abuse and Recovering from Churches that Abuse.
Jackie stayed with Wendy Duncan during at least one of her visits and provided counsel to her, even suggesting that she follow her heart and leave the group. Is the TRI an "off-centered" group? Yes. Nevertheless, their gripes should have been brought directly to TFI leaders, and especially to Ole Anthony. This was never done. Griping to a small number of former TFI leaders at a chance meeting does not fit the muster of Matthew 18. And no one is hiding behind Matthew 18. It is interesting that after some people brought their concerns to Anthony over various matters, Anthony listened and some changes were made.
I am neutral on the TRI situation. I esteen the Duncans. Yet, I can see both sides. We don't need people like Mark Scheiderer making false statements and doing things that are not helpful. The scriptures demand a Matthew 18 approach for dealing with personal sins one on one. I have no objection with people going after TFI on the basis of their public teachings, and there are things there that are unbiblical.
At any rate, below is my post to AR-Talk. I was talking about Mark Scheiderer and this RickRoss list in my post. BTW, I know RickRoss and am thankful for many of the services he provides.
- William M. Alnor, Ph.D.
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Dear Colleagues,
In recent days a renegade "apologist" has put several
messages up on a listserv about the Trinity Foundation
of Dallas in which he asserted that my wife, Jackie,
"retracted" her statment on apostasyalert.org on the
matter. The URL for her statement was announced on
AR-Talk some time ago. As some may know, I have
avoided taking a public stand on the Trinity
Foundation both in my public statements and on the
cultlink.com web site. I respect both the Trinity
Foundation and Doug and Wendy Duncan, who have written
a book on the topic. We are hopeful of
reconciliation, and we believe that is possible if all
parties truly try. I am neutral on this matter, and I
think both sides have made good points.
But this "apologist" is not helpful. He wrote me
several weeks ago (and we have since had many
discussions) via e-mail on the matter. I will provide
copies of these e-mails to anyone who is interested.
(Write me privately.) They are quite revealing. He
first announced to the unnamed listserv without asking
us about it whether my wife had "retracted her
statement." He then wrote me several days later asking
if that was true. I told him in very direct and in
very strong language that it was *NOT* true, and she
was holding firm with it. (I agree with her
statement, though I had nothing to do with its
writing.) Here are some snippets from the AR-Talk
post that were put up:
"Jackie Alnor (my wife) independently ...
> released a statement on the Trinity Foundation and
> Wendy's Duncan's book "I Can't hear God Anymore"
that
> can be accessed at her Apostasy Alert site. This is
> her opinion and was not edited by me... :
>
> [
www.apostasyalert.org]
>
> Respectfully,
>
> William M. Alnor, Ph.D."
Nevertheless the "apologist" today went on the
listserv and once again announced that my wife had
retracted the Trinity Foundation statement because it
was "filled with mistakes." He then followed it up
with a post for us to "give it up!" This statement
was not retracted and it was never taken down from her
Apostasy Alert site since Jackie put it up.
It is very true there there is not a link from the
Apostasy Alert home page to the statement, and that
was done deliberately because me and Jackie both want
to be in a position of being helpful if both sides do
come together on what is dividing them.
This is yet another indication of what some of us have
been talking about in recent years: in apologetics
circles there are many renegades operating without
accountability. I support EMNR's membership
application in which it asks for information about
present and past church membership and related data.
Paul stated to "note those who cause divisions and
offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned,
and avoid them." Romans 16:17
William M. Alnor, Ph.D.