It was forty months ago (on October 31, 2019) that I petitioned Church[1] leadership requesting they address several long-standing errors in doctrine and practice[2] to help conserve the truth of God’s Word and His free gift of salvation. Several months later they finally agreed to a meeting. Unfortunately, they declared they would provide no formal response and urged that I recant of all the observations in my request. They stated that I should not expect them to acknowledge any errors, nor should I expect to receive any specific corrections according to God’s Word.[3]
Nevertheless, I waited for a response, because there is nothing on earth more important than the salvation of souls. Meanwhile, to avoid the common spread of misinformation on proceedings such as these, I documented every jot and tittle of my interactions with them in a weblog. In the spirit of openness and transparency I offered to include their own conclusions so that those interested may consider multiple points of view on what transpired. Out of respect for the long-standing human tradition within the Church for extreme privacy, I kept the weblog private, essentially locked-up[4] to all but those with a need to know. I invited just a handful of people to read the weblog, but few had the curiosity to learn about what had transpired over the last several years. After many months of waiting, it seemed highly unlikely that Church leadership would ever respond to my original request. Therefore, it was better to obey God[5] rather than the traditions of men[6] with the open and joyful proclamation[7] of His Word.
It was today (February 28, 2023) that I unlocked the weblog to enable public access. Now, anyone can anonymously[8] read the article posts and any Internet search engine can discovery them. The goal of making the weblog public is not to embarrass anyone. In fact, I have redacted the names of those involved within Church leadership to avoid making it personal. The intended focus is not on specific individuals, but rather on the larger systemic errors in doctrine and practice[9] that continue to threaten eternal salvation within the Church body. Clearly, the Church itself through its trusted leadership has demonstrated they have no interest in correcting errors. However, there may be a few within the Church or others within the numerous branches of American Laestadianism that may be seeking the truth. If you are one of them, please do not despair! God desires that no one perish but all come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3-6).
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
Do you think forty months was a sufficient length of time to wait for a response from Church leadership? Should I have waited forty days, forty weeks, or forty years?
“Let your reasonableness be known to everyone” . (Philippians 4:5a)
Please reply below and let me know what you think would have been an appropriate length of time and why.
[1] Minneapolis Independent Apostolic Lutheran Church (M.I.A.L.C.) at Dayton, Minnesota.
[2] “I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God” (Jude 1:3b-4a).
[3] Matthew 18:15-17
[4] The original weblog required site registration to view articles along with the entry of a pass-code pulled from the red songbook Songs and Hymns of Believers to view more detailed private content. This approach served to avoid anonymous access from across the Internet and limit access only to those within the Church.
[5] Acts 5:29
[6] Mark 7:8
[7] Psalm 96:3, Psalm 67:2, Matthew 5:14-16, Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 13:10, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:47.
[8] Article replies will still require site registration to avoid bot spam and malicious content.
[9] 2 Peter 2:1, Jude 4