November 19, 2002 Danny Edwards Replies to Brent's Appeal
Brent,
Below are my responses to a couple of the things that you have asked about. I originally wrote much more, but have prayed and decided that I am not going to continue a dialog with you as I see that you are insisting on seeing things dealt with in your way alone. I will not discuss with you many areas regarding our decisions within this local gathering. I am praying for reconciliation with all parties and believing the Lord that this is possible.
You have accused me of being blind and applying wicked double standards to this whole affair. I will not respond in kind, but just say that you do not know or understand what is taking place among the leadership in SLO or in the conversations in this ministry at large. Maybe one day it can be clearly seen, I hope not just in that day. He does say not to judge before the time, God is able to work out all of these outstanding issues in His perfect way and time unmixed with any other motives.
You have said that you think you know why I am doing what I am. Once again you, don't know this because you have not been where I have been in the last 1 1/2 years. I am not going to justify myself before you, I praise Him that He sees it all and knows what I have done and am doing and the motives of my heart.
You said that I had the opportunity to fix things when I first came here. I cannot fix anything, the Lord has to fix what He shows needs to be fixed. I am praying for God's will to come to pass in every aspect and am believing in His tender mercy and care for all of His little ones.
I will not be going over your articles with you. Many of your statements are just plain wrong. Maybe one day the Lord will make this meeting possible, but I think there are more important issues at hand.
I am praying that the Lord will keep you and He will bring you to Kingdom and Glory with an abundant entrance.
Danny Edwards
You wrote,
"You made a point of telling me that your visit was "confidential," yet you went over to Kirk's immediately after leaving my office and told him you visited me. Lynda and Suzie went to a meeting at EV Free that night, and the first thing Lynda said was, "I hear Brent had a visitor today." What am I supposed to make of this? I am to keep it confidential, but you aren't? Why? For what purpose?"
The confidential part to me was what we talked about, not that we met. As far as I remember, I did not tell Kirk what we talked about. If you understood that we would not even tell anyone of our meeting, then once again, please forgive me for that miscommunication.
You wrote,
"You asked me to forgive you for not following up on discussing my concerns, as outlined in some of my essays. Danny, I do forgive you, and I am ready to get together at any time, yet again, you haven't followed through. If you ask me to forgive you, aren't you admitting you were at fault? If so, do you intend to rectify your mistake, or do you have a different idea of what forgiveness and repentance means? I have forgiven you, for much more than not meeting with me, but our Lord's goal is restoration, which cannot occur until you perform the act you neglected the first time, which is what you asked forgiveness for in the first place. I am ready, and you are welcome to approach me at any time."
I asked forgiveness on a specific point, that I said I would meet with you and did not. I had decided not to continue to meet with you because of the tenor of our first meeting and the need for me to assess the situation from all sides. I was wrong for not communicating with you that I decided not to meet with you any longer.
You wrote,
"You admitted that you were wrong in the way you excommunicated me. I agree, it was and is wrong. However, I am somewhat confused (I loathe the idea of being sure about why you said this, because it does not indicate goodwill at all) on this point as well. If you went about it the wrong way, after publicly instructing people to shun me, shouldn't you publicly apologize to me and the saints?? Were you saying to me that you shouldn't have excommunicated me at all, or just that your protocol had a few minor faux pas. If it is the latter, please don't think that I am comforted in the least by your apology. If it is the former, than why has so much time passed and still you have not done anything besides saying you're sorry?"
We only encouraged the saints to avoid you and those who are involved in
similar activities. You have been gone for several years, so to answer the
question of many and because you have become more aggressive in your articles
and making yourself available by name and number, we did what we had to do.
The apology is that we should have shown you the courtesy of communicating to
you before we told the fellowship.
