Corruption
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Ryan,
I am glad you are enjoying your stay in the Philippines. But no, I won't be taking the web site down. The one point you don't want to face is that it is accurate in what is being reported. As I said before, I do report most of what I can find or is sent to me concerning the matters at hand. Both sides have made statements which are not accurate, I tried to note those when it is provable. But the reporting of what each side accuses the other is still an accurate assessment of what is happening.
I must also point out that the web site gives me zero benefits, so your accusation that it is done for selfish purposes is false. The funds for running the site come from my own pocket. Since you are living with the Gumpads at the moment, you are not currently in the same position of not benefiting from your expressed point of view.
In regards to causing a division, well, sometimes that must unfortunately happen. "For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you" (I Corinthians 11:18-19). The reporter of problems is not the cause of the problems. If it wasn't for the fact that I ran across strong evidence of corruption, I wouldn't have anything to say.
I'm quite a few decades older than you are. This is not my first encounter with corrupt practices by preachers. My first big one happened when I was just 23 years old. An elder in the church taught me both what to look for and how to handle such problems. I selected this method for handling the problems in the Philippines because it gives people wishing to support preachers in the Philippines:
I am glad you are enjoying your stay in the Philippines. But no, I won't be taking the web site down. The one point you don't want to face is that it is accurate in what is being reported. As I said before, I do report most of what I can find or is sent to me concerning the matters at hand. Both sides have made statements which are not accurate, I tried to note those when it is provable. But the reporting of what each side accuses the other is still an accurate assessment of what is happening.
I must also point out that the web site gives me zero benefits, so your accusation that it is done for selfish purposes is false. The funds for running the site come from my own pocket. Since you are living with the Gumpads at the moment, you are not currently in the same position of not benefiting from your expressed point of view.
In regards to causing a division, well, sometimes that must unfortunately happen. "For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you" (I Corinthians 11:18-19). The reporter of problems is not the cause of the problems. If it wasn't for the fact that I ran across strong evidence of corruption, I wouldn't have anything to say.
I'm quite a few decades older than you are. This is not my first encounter with corrupt practices by preachers. My first big one happened when I was just 23 years old. An elder in the church taught me both what to look for and how to handle such problems. I selected this method for handling the problems in the Philippines because it gives people wishing to support preachers in the Philippines:
- A chance to make up their own minds by reading the evidence for themselves,
- Gives them access to documents most people wouldn't think to look for or might be difficult to obtain, and
- Gives an awareness of how fraud is perpetuated so that they can make better decisions and send funds to those who actually deserve support.
Jeffrey W. Hamilton
[Editor's Note: This is in reply to Ryan Thomas' note.]
[Editor's Note: Thomas sent one more objection.]