Following Judah's Lion

***UPDATED***

A Lesson to be Learned

As of yesterday, 7/26/08, it seems that Ken Silva's blog named Apprising Ministries has been taken down by the server due to Mr. Richard Abane's complaint about one particular article. I print one ofv several comments I left at a blog named crninfo which was created to confront inconsistencies and falsehoods they see in Ken and other's writings.

"I have spoken out about some of Ken’s tone and verbiage, however that is not the question at hand. Mr. Abanes was and is completely wrong and refuses to accept responsibility. The overall question is also can any ISP be petitioned to remove offensive material by anyone other than an “award winning” author? How about the post here abot Bentley, can he claim libel and demand it be removed?

This needs to be a lesson learned by all of us. Every writer here, past and present, has gossiped and slandered and libeled in private and sometimes in some public comment, and yet where does God the Holy Spirit get to minister? If we submit to the secular words police about one thing then we are submitting to them in general.

Will a message about the exclusivity of Christ, or the sinfulness of homosexuality, or the wrongness of Islam, or the sin of divorce, and a thousand other things be considered offensive enough to some so that the server demands their removal? This particular issue is not about Ken, this is about the church and how we deal with issues.

Mr. Abanes should have withdrawn his request, but he remained not only defiant, but ridiculously suggested he never actually sues Ken as if that exonerated him from guilt. What if someone who isn’t wn award winning author with a ton of books and with Rick Warren’s influence contacted the ISP, would they have succombed to their pressure.

Of course Ken could have taken the article down and rewritten it or petitioned the server or whatever, but the fact remains, the action By Richard was unbiblical and despicable. To any “objective simpleton” Mr. Abanes is obsessed with defending Rick Warren from even the slightest criticism, and his comments sometimes seem to reflect that obsession.

No one can legitimately accuse me of being partial to Ken, but he deserves to be treated fairly regardless of how unfairly we might believe he treats others. Our squabbles within the church must NEVER be exposed to the world on purpose, and when it comes to words and opinions we should handle it as brothers. If this is how we as followers of Jesus Christ are to deal with language we do not care for, than take down this site and begin petitioning all the individual servers on the sites we do not care for. W e can use the same carnal leverage that Hugh Hefner, ACLU, and all the rest of the teeeming mass uses and we’ll blend nicely from under our bushel.

This entire thing is wrong and I predict Mr. Abanes will continue to use eloquence and his elongated literary style of question and answer to provide a well crafted defense of his actions. But this situation is where Ken’s ctritics within the body will be tested as to their objective Biblical position or if their disgust with Ken’s writings will trump dispassioned Biblical interpretation."

This, my friends is wrong. Regardless how I or anyone else feels about Ken's views and words, he should not be silenced by other brothers, especially in the secular marketplace. If that pattern continues, you and I will be next.

I Cor.6:1-2 - Dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

I grew up with two twin brothers two years younger than was I. We of course had our share of fights, but at a young age my mother gathered us boys at the kitchen table and told us that we should always stick up for each other outside the house. She taught us that just because we sometimes fought inside the house, we must always be brothers in the neighborhood.

Regardless of how deep our disagreements got sometimes, could you ever imagine brothers calling the police to settle our arguments? With the accessibility of communication these days, there will be a rise in disagreements and even confrontations. Our reputations and integrity will be questioned and even slandered, but we must never bring the world into our disagreements and even fights. Call Christian leaders to settle disputes, and if need be, suffer yourselves to be defrauded.

The opportunities for forgiveness in these days will continue to be many. Let us pray that God will give us the grace to exalt Him in these circumstances by stripping us of all selfish motives and not return evil for evil. Regardless of how strong and confrontational our differences may be, they must remain among us and the world has no part in God’s family. The recent issue between Richard Abanes and Ken Silva, both of whom are committed Christians, is a prime example. I have read the article in question and I saw nothing personal of the kind Richard suggested. But even if there were personal attacks, we must never seek justice from the fallen world. All of us have used verbiage that is unfortunate and incendiary in nature, but Richard was wrong in contacting the server that hosts Ken’s blog. I believe that crosses the Biblical line.

I pray this will be resolved without anymore rancor, but let this be an example in the future for all of us. All of our conversations and disagreements must be in house and the nose of the world’s camel must never be invited under God’s tent. Strong language, correction, confrontation, and even some things about which we later repent must never give place to malice that looks to world for justice. In fact, it would be better to fistfight than invite the world to stumble over Christ because of our actions.

We are brothers who stand by grace alone. I said grace alone.

If the Amish can forgive someone murdering ten of their precious little girls, surely we can forgive someone who says things about us.