I received yet another packet in
the mail this early am. Please save yourself the postage and do not send me "your" material anymore. (I do not remember requesting
it... similar to many others who did not ask for your info.) (Man's Name Removed) in (Town Name Removed), (one of our members) recently
on a visit also asked me to convey the same request regarding the packets/letters you are sending him...
Some things never seem to change...
Answered on March 10, 2001
Dear Scott,
In regard to (Man's Name Removed), I actually do not even know (Man's First
Name Removed), and until I received this letter from you, I had absolutely no idea he was a member of the
United Church of God AlA.
On January 29, 2001, I received the following from (Man’s First Name Removed):
Greetings: Darwin & Laura,
I received your
informational letter yesterday, but you are so far away. I have no need for any more information, so please take me off your mailing
list.
Thanks!
Best Regards
(Man's Name Removed)
We took (Man’s Name Removed) off of our mailing list the very same day that
he requested to be taken off. Was I required to send him confirmation that his name was removed?
You state that you have partially
read our material, and unless someone else gave you our
111 page document, then we know that you didn't read that either, for we never
mailed that to you, and that disappoints me Scott. I would think that you being a deacon and all, that you would know what your Bible
says. Read this:
Proverbs 18:13
#1--King James--He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
#2--New
International--He who answers before listening--that is his folly and his shame.
#3--Living Bible--What a shame--yes, how stupid!--to
decide before knowing the facts!
#4--New Revised Standard--If one gives answer before hearing, it is folly and shame.
Quite frankly
Scott, you and I have never discussed anything in regard to any of what happened between August of 1998 up until we were disfellowshipped.
This E-mail is the first correspondence I have received from you since I moved from Wisconsin in April of 1999 and actually even before
that I never received phone calls of friendship from either you or your wife, even when I only lived 16 miles away from you. You state
that you've known me for many years. A truer version of that, would be that you knew I existed for many years, and you knew my name,
and we had a few conversations, and I even came to you a couple of times and asked you a question or two, because you were a deacon.
Many of the conversations that we had though, would never have been, had I not mowed your lawn for you for 2 years. The relationship
which I shared with you and your family, was pretty much the same as many church members in a congregation have--very superficial.
I never got a feeling from you that I was like a family member to you or your wife.
We did not get any warnings from Paul Luecke
before he suspended me (Laura), I only ever had 3 conversations with the man before I received a suspension letter from him, and none
of those conversations had anything to do with telling me I was going to be suspended. We tried to get a meeting right away, it took
4 months. We were told that we could have a second meeting, and they kept refusing to set it up, because we wanted witnesses there,
and they did not. In my opinion Scott, the ministry seems to be the ones who are angry, because if they truly wanted reconciliation
with us, then they wouldn't have had a problem setting up meetings with us according to Matthew 18:15-17. We wanted to straighten
the matter out with them but one cannot do that if one is not allowed the time to do so.
Have you ever gotten mad at a person,
and then went around for a period of time not speaking to that person, because you were...what??? angry at them. Not talking to people,
shunning people, marking people, those are all actions which are carried out through anger directed at the other person. One does
not do those actions out of anything other than anger towards another.
If on the other hand, you feel bad, because you may have
offended someone, your goal would be to talk to that other person and try to make that relationship work on some level, even if you
decided that you do not agree on all matters, you might through talking at least be able to find common ground.
You have children
Scott, which method do you use on your children when they make you angry?? Since I have a daughter of my own, and understand that
concept, it is my opinion, that you, as I would, try to talk to your children and try to mend the break in the relationship which
happened. If I am wrong, and you would use the shunning method on your children for long periods of time, then I sincerely feel sorry
for your children.
My question to you, would be, what makes you think that I am angry at the
United Church of God AlA, its Ministry
and leaders? I am not shunning them, I am not refusing to speak to them, in fact I would welcome the opportunity to reconcile with
all of them according to Matthew 18:15-17, as God tells us to do. They, as you and your family, are all welcome in my home. Ask yourself,
am I welcome in yours?
Most of the material in my last newsletter was not even written by me, I just typed it and sent it. Both
articles written by Arlan Weight, were Biblical, and if you can find where these
articles go against scripture, then please show it
to me, and I will print it. The
letter which Norm Edwards went over, was written by my husband, and was a mix of facts and opinion.
Norm Edwards wrote what he did based upon reading not only our
111 page document, but other things also. Neither Darwin or I personally
really know or have ever personally met Norm Edwards. The other article was an actual
letter of Appeal written by Ned Dancuo in Canada.
I have never met Ned. I only know him through E-mail. In my opinion, the actions of the leaders in many corporation churches are disgusting,
and perhaps we need to look closer at these actions, because they in some cases, and probably more than we know, are discouraging
people from having a relationship with God. God wants to build a family, not destroy a family.
We also receive much un asked
for mail, every week, so I feel for you in that regard, however, our mailing list is actually none of your business, however, I will
tell you, many ministers in your
organization are on our mailing list and receive our
newsletter. Now, I believe that we are talking
about adults here, and all people on our mailing list including yourself were told right up front on the invitations that were mailed
in Nov, Dec, and Jan, that if they did not want to receive this information from us that all they had to do was let us know, and we
would be glad to take them off of our mailing list. We assume that as long as people do not request to be taken off of our mailing
list that they want to continue to receive our
newsletter. So if you wish to control our mailing list, you will have to do it from
your end, because you have no authority here.
If people are telling you that they do not want to receive our
newsletter, just
tell them to drop us a note stating that they no longer want to be on our mailing list, as (Man's Name Removed) did. Snail mail is
best. Another way to do it, is instead of opening the letter and looking at it, just write refused on it, and the post office will
see that we get it back. When we get refused mail we assume automatically that you do not want anything from us, and we automatically
take you off of our mailing list. If they use the telephone method, they may well not get good results in having their name removed
from our mailing list, as we have a digital answering system, which requires a person to leave a message before the beep tone, rather
than after the beep tone, as many have been trained to do for years. E-mail is also an option for letting us know that you want your
name removed from our mailing list. Here's one more thing to keep in mind, if they write me a letter as you did, I will respond with
a letter as I did with you. As per your E-mail request, your name has been removed from our mailing list.
Scott, I still consider
both you and Gayle and your children to be a part of God's family, just like I and Darwin are part of God's family. With that in mind,
as I said earlier, you and your entire family are always welcome in our home, should you ever be in the Bismarck, North Dakota area.
We thank you for your prayers, and we will also pray for you and your family.
With Much Love,
Darwin & Laura Lee (Via E-mail)
3-10-2001
"We
took (Man's Name Removed) off of our mailing list the very same day that he requested to be taken off. Was I required to send him
confirmation that his name was removed?"
Of course no confirmation needed, just following up on his request. Thanks for doing
so. I will let him know he has been removed. No further comments on your letter Laura...
Scott Hoefker (Via E-lail)
Milton, Wisconsin
Editor's Note: The ... was the way Scott ended the above letter. There was no more to it.
Answered on March 11, 2001
Scott,
Ok, and remember you and your family are always welcome in our home.
With Much Love,
Darwin & Laura Lee (Via E-mail)
