[Vision2020] P A S T O R A L S N A R L

[News of Christ Cult]

*http://dougsplotch.org/busted.htm
*

*
*

*
*

*B U S T E D*

* *On December 5, 2001, after two months of illegal activities, the Morton
Street Casino (MSC) was discovered. Chris Schlect was the first Christ
Church elder to be notified. One day later, on December 6, Douglas Wilson
learned about the extra-curricular gambling. Five days later he wrote the
following email (below), which he carbon copied to all of the Christ Church
elders (including Roy Atwood).

Unfortunately, this blistering rebuke constituted the sum total of pastoral
care shown by Wilson to many of the young gamblers. Most of them never heard
from him (or any other elders) again.

Even more unfortunately, this email also includes the pastoral blunder of
the millennium. In it we see that Douglas Wilson cancelled all gambling
debts owed to the casino house, and at the same time he ordered all the
players who won money from the house to pay their winnings back to him.
Wilson issued this pastoral bull *ex cathedra,* apart from any threat of
disciplinary sanctions.



—— Original Message ——
*From:* Douglas
*To:* —@juno.com; —@hotmail.com; eatwood at hotmail.com; —@aol.com; —@
hotmail.com; —@uidaho.edu; —@usa.net; —@juno.com; —@hotmail.com; —@
hotmail.com; —@aol.com; —@hotmail.com; —@hotmail.com; Patch
Blakey<canon at moscow.com>;
Doug Jones <credenda at moscow.com>; Matt Gray <crfmatt at moscow.com>; Roy
Atwood<nsadean at nsa.edu>;
Chris Schlect <nsaregistrar at nsa.edu>; Wes Struble <struble at turbonet.com>; Stan
Miller <eresyst at hotmail.com>; Bob Hieronymus <bobh at uidaho.edu>; John
Howell<showell at pullman.com>;
James Nance <IvanXII at turbonet.com>; Matt Whitling <mtwhit at turbonet.com>
*Sent:* Tuesday, December 11, 2001 4:00 PM

Gentlemen,

I am writing you all this way because you are related in some way to the
recent gambling events at the house on Morton. Your relationship might be
tenuous or not — the fact that you are receiving this does not mean that you
are accused of anything. It simply means that you are connected in some way
— whether through personal involvement, residence there, or because you have
somehow learned about it afterwards.

First, you need to know that this situation is not a secret, but neither is
it fully public. We don't mind if you talk amongst yourselves about what has
happened, or if you pass on what has happened to anyone who needs to know.
But if you pass it on, please include the contents of this email in what you
say. We are not trying to hush anything up, but if you talk about it, please
include this.

For those who were involved, there were three gross sins in all of this. The
first was the grievous lack of love for one another displayed in various
ways. Some supposed friends encouraged others to get in serious financial
trouble, and helped them to do it. Some just knew about it and said nothing.
Some *should* have known about it. Some others found out about it
afterwards, and are now wondering what the elders are going to do. And so
forth. Scriptures do not command us all to love our neighbor, except for the
young men who get to be irresponsible. The Bible does not say that males in
your age group are allowed to treat one another with the kind of contempt
you have shown one to another in all of this. No one that I know of is
maintaining that the placing of a bet is necessarily sinful — the problem is
not penny ante poker, or betting with chips. Please do not think for a
moment that we are obsessing over a friendly game of cards. The problem
rather is the unfriendliness, the stench of selfishness, the astonishing
me-first-ism, the aroma of death that exudes from virtually everything your
circle of young men has done. If it came out in the church that your group
was now talking junior high girls into a getting tattooed on the rear end,
why is it that many of those who know about your behavior the last few years
could only say *that figures.* And somebody over there would probably want
to argue about it — "where does the Bible say we can't talk junior high
girls into whatever? They were just *small* tattoos." The answer is that you
do not love God, and you do not love your neighbor, and a number of your
neighbors know it by now. So the first great problem here is selfishness and
a self-willed *lack of love.*

The second sin was the lack of interest in all the issues of reputation and
testimony that we have been urging upon you in the proverbial fathead talks
for several years now. By now, the pattern of stubbornness in the face of
such exhortations shows that a number of you are either really stupid or *bona
fide* hypocrites, and quite possibly both. We know that some of you are
hypocrites who will say and do anything to get out of trouble. And we know
that others are just simply foolish. In the midst of this, the Bible
requires us to take professions of repentance at face value, and so we do
(Luke 17). But we want you to know that this obedience on our part does not
mean that we are gullible. The fact that you are being obtuse about your
spiritual direction and drift and reputation does not mean that we are
obtuse about it. The reason we give so many warnings is because we see so
many who need them. I am writing to a group, so you may apply this as
needed. Your carnal mindset, your lack of spiritual concern, your love of
the flesh, are the reasons we give such warnings. Jesus told the parable of
the ten virgins, all of whom had the lamp of covenant membership. But not
all of them had the oil of grace. Put bluntly, some of you do not understand
the warnings we have been giving because you are intent on going to Hell,
and I am not speaking metaphorically. Hell is capitalized here, because it
is a place, like Seattle. Reputation is the least of your worries, but the
fact that many of you are incapable of seeing the problem here indicates a
far deeper problem. Take heed to your souls — you are drifting. What does it
profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?

And the third sin is the slander and false accusations that have been made
against me, the elders, NSA, and so forth in the immediate aftermath of
this. Some of you have participated in this, some of you have just listened.
We know the kinds of things that have been said, and the fact that such talk
can gain any currency at all shows how twisted your perspective can get when
you care more about being cool than about holiness.

So consider this a severe rebuke from your pastor. Some of you are being
rebuked, and some of you are simply observing the delivery of a rebuke to
others. And I know that the circumstances have varied, and I do not yet have
all the information, and so there may be more coming. But this is where it
is right now. And so, what do we do now? Our understanding of the
circumstances (since the problems with larger bets started) is as follows.
If any of you know of facts that are otherwise than this, please let me
know.

*——* served as the bank, or the owner of the mini-casino.
*Ethan Atwood* served as the manager. He is currently owed a little money.
*——* owes a little money. I don't know how much.
*——* played very little, never going in for more than five dollars, and is
currently owed a little.
*——* played frequently, and owes over $2,000 to Brett.
*——* played frequently, and owes over $2,000 to Brett.
*——* played frequently and is even.
—— played less frequently and owes $100 or so.
*——* played only once, and played with very little money. He was paid in
cash at the time, making $20
*——* played only once, and with cash, not credit. He went down only $8 or
so.
*——* played one time.

What we want is for all of you to do what it takes to get back to the *status
quo ante* — the way it was before the big money betting started. In other
words, if you got a check from Brett for three hundred dollars, we want you
to get that money back to him. If you cannot do this for financial reasons,
please let me know. If you owe money generated out of credit, then the
elders have determined that you no longer owe the money. All the betting was
illegal in the state of Idaho, a misdemeanor, and as soon as the elders
discovered that brothers in the church were treating one another this
illegal and unloving way, they determined to cancel the obligations on the
basis of the principle contained in Numbers 30. The day we heard of it, we
said that brothers in Christ under our charge were not to be permitted to
act this way. Therefore, to the extent that real money changed hands, we
want it to go back to the original owner. To the extent that bets were made
on credit, those obligations are now cancelled. If anyone has any question
about what they are to do, please ask me.

There are other possible ramifications from this which do not concern you
directly as a group. Please seek God's forgiveness, one another's
forgiveness, and ours, and pray for us that we would have wisdom in the
situation. And do not assume that if you do not know about something that it
is being covered up.

I am also willing to meet with you singly or in groups.

[*Douglas Wilson did not sign this email*]


http://dougsplotch.org/detective.htm



*D E T E C T I V E      W I L S O N*

Having already ordered the young gamblers to pay back their winnings to the
casino house, Pastor Douglas Wilson took command of the scandal and
appointed himself chief investigator of the MSC. Strike that. Pastor Wilson
became the *only* investigator of the MSC.

Now, for most people, this would seem like an open-and-shut case — a real
no-brainer. It's not as though he had to explain the origin of Stonehenge or
decipher some mysterious crop circle in the middle of Kansas. He didn't even
have to find the one-armed man. He simply had to cross-examine the players;
interview the residents who lived in the house (not all the residents were
players, but all of them were members of Christ Church); notify the
gamblers' parents, etc.; and then crack the whip to make sure that everyone
paid up. And of all men, surely the author of *Future
Men<http://dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=885>
* would know how to hold the young bettors accountable. After all, he wrote
the book.

Notwithstanding Detective Wilson's simple assignment, some of the boys'
parents complained that Wilson failed to notify them of their children's
illegal conduct, and that they heard about the casino through the grapevine.
Indeed, it is highly probable that some parents still do not know about
these events. (*Caveat emptor:* it's for good reason that the New Saint
Andrews College catalog <http://dougsplotch.org/images/caveat.htm> and its
website states, "We refuse to act * in loco parentis."*)

Furthermore, there is no evidence showing that Wilson bothered to
interrogate any witnesses at all. In fact, several young men who lived at
the house said that he never even asked them one question. Perhaps this
explains the reason why two weeks into his investigation, Detective Wilson
still didn't have a clue. He was flat out of leads. The trail ran cold.
Therefore he listened to a tape-recorded telephone conversation between the
casino manager (Dr. Atwood's son, Ethan) and the casino house (Brett).

In the following email (below), Detective Wilson admits listening to a
secretly recorded telephone conversation between Ethan and Brett. Dr.
Atwood's son recorded the conversation without asking Brett's permission and
without informing him of the covert operation. The conversation took place
after the casino was discovered, when both men were members in good standing
at Christ Church, and, as noted, Wilson had no problem with Ethan's
behavior. He also had no problem listening to the tape.

Detective Wilson justified his unethical conduct by saying, "he told you
that someone was potentially listening." Of course Wilson couldn't know that
Ethan said this unless he first listened to the tape. But that doesn't
matter. The phrase "someone is potentially listening" is not the moral
equivalent of "I'm recording you so that I can play it for Detective
Wilson." It's not even close. No, Wilson couldn't wait to feed on this tasty
trifle, and "someone is potentially listening" gave him all the "plausible
deniability" that he needed. Unfortunately, Detective Wilson gained no new
information from the tape, and once again he had no more leads.

The propriety of Detective Wilson's conduct is a matter for others to worry
about, unless of course you're a member of Christ Church. Then you have good
reason to believe that eavesdropping is your pastor's standard operating
procedure. If he did it once, then he would do it again — and there's no
reason to believe that he hasn't done it before. Worse yet, if he's willing
to invade the telephone privacy of a member in good standing, then what
other violations would he commit at the drop of a hat? Put another way, if
he seared his conscience here, then where else has he seared it?

(Please note that the unidentified "companion [who] was listening in
unbeknownst to [Wilson]" was Dr. Atwood's son, Ethan.)



*From:* Douglas <dougwils at moscow.com>
*To:* brett <bret—@com>
*CC:* nsadean at nsa.edu
*Date:* Wed, 19 Dec 2001 10:15:46 -0800

Dear Brett,

This letter is to follow up on our last phone conversation, and to tie up
some loose ends.

First, in our conversation you indicated some confusion about your status as
a member. I checked on this, and in 1999 you signed a statement with the
same vows now taken by those new members who go to the front of the church.
You are in fact a voting member of Christ Church, in good standing. At the
same time, our Constitution requires that when a member moves out of the
area that we give them six months to find a new church home to which we can
transfer them. If they have not done so, then we drop them from our
membership roll with a strong exhortation to find a church. Since we are at
that place with you, could you let me know if there is a church there you
would feel comfortable joining? And if not, then you can consider this our
exhortation for you to find one. In short, if you would like us to transfer
your membership we will do so. If not, then please find one soon, and this
email indicates that you have been dropped from our membership.

Second, I know that you know how unhappy I am with your role in the recent
events. This unhappiness, however, is not church discipline, or a part of
church discipline.

Third, I told Ethan he needed to break off his friendship with you. This was
not church discipline of you, formal or informal. It was the result of a
pastoral judgment on my part that given Ethan's state of spiritual
immaturity, and your unfortunate understanding of Christian liberty, a
friendship between the two of you is a bad mix, not only for the two of you,
but also for the whole church.

Fourth, Ethan told me after the fact that he had recorded his phone
conversation with you, which I had not asked him to do, and did not know
that he was going to do. Because he told you that someone was potentially
listening at the start of the conversation, I felt free to listen to it. If
he had not done so, I would not have listened to it — a standard which you
apparently do not share. The line you took in our phone conversation was
mystifying to me at the time, but the fact that your companion [Dr. Atwood's
son, Ethan] was listening in unbeknownst to me makes more sense of the
situation. The deceptiveness involved is revealing to me. At the same time,
this was not disconcerting to because of anything I said. I want to
reiterate what I said there — you are playing the fool in this.

Fifth, we still need to sort out the financial details. You should soon
receive checks from those or on behalf of those that you paid out money to.
If you believe that you have not, by two or three weeks from now, please
contact me.

And sixth, please bear with one last exhortation from me. The fallout from
all of this is not yet complete. Roy Atwood has now submitted his letter of
resignation from the board of elders, and that process is working its way
out. Ethan has been suspended from NSA for Nicea and Chalcedon terms. I am
probably going to lose one of the best elders I have ever had, and not
because I have demanded it. And a good part of the reason the consequences
are so significant is the attitudes displayed in the first few days after it
came down. Please consider your ways, your demeanor, your heart, and your
encouragement of those patterns of thought and speech that have created so
much trouble here. The oath you signed, and apparently had forgotten, said
that you promised submission to our government and discipline, while
pursuing its purity and peace. I wish you had taken all this more seriously
than you have, but I still encourage you to it now.

I am very unhappy with you, but still wish you the best.

[*Douglas Wilson did not sign this email, and Dr. Atwood withdrew his letter
of resignation because he believed that another Christ Church officer gave
Ethan permission to open the casino.*]









http://dougsplotch.org/snarl.htm

*P A S T O R A L     S N A R L*

* *When Detective Wilson took command of the MSC investigation, he had one
single priority: protect Roy Atwood at all costs. Wilson knew that Roy was a
moral vacuum. If the poor guy came with an electrical cord, you could plug
him into an outlet and use him like a Hoover. To be sure, the dean of NSA is
so empty that he actually blamed the casino's existence on another Christ
Church officer, saying that Ethan "received permission" from that officer to
open the illegal casino. And Wilson countenanced this horse manure. But by
letting Ethan and Roy abdicate their responsibility, Wilson put Christ
Church between a rock and a payoff.

Of course Wilson's dilemma was the direct result of his own blunder —
canceling all debts owed to the house ($4500) and commanding the young
bettors to return their winnings to the house ($1000). Certainly he
*hoped*that everyone would pay their bills. If they did, then the
ledger would be
even and the scandal would disappear.

But things didn't go as planned. Six months after Wilson's pastoral bull,
the casino house still hadn't received a dime from his debtors. It turns out
that the young gamblers called Wilson's bluff. They had all the cards, and
they knew it. So they refused to pay back the house and suddenly
*Pastor*Wilson found himself in "a pastoral snarl, a tangle," created
by
*Detective* Wilson.

This was his dilemma: If he pressed the debtors to pay up, then they could
say, "Why should we? We did nothing wrong. Dr. Atwood says that his son had
permission to open the casino." And if Wilson threatened them with church
discipline for not paying their debts, they could say, "Oh, do you mean the
debts that you created when you took away our winnings — money we won at a
casino managed by Dean Atwood's son? If you discipline us, then you have to
discipline Atwood." Wilson had no leverage *and he knew it.* He was
completely compromised. So when the casino house asked, "Where's my money?"
Detective Wilson could only wish that Lieutenant Columbo had been assigned
to the case.

Douglas Wilson exchanged the following emails with the casino house. It was
the first communication between them since Wilson's December 19th email.



*From:* "Brett Bauer " <—@com>
*To:* <dougwils at moscow.com>
*Sent:* Wednesday, April 10, 2002 3:37 PM
*Subject:* Casino

Doug,

It was my understanding from your earlier email, pasted below, that we were
going to return to the status quo with regard to the money that was
transacted in the casino. Doing this would require various people paying me
a total of a little over 900 dollars. Ethan should know the exact amounts.
It is my understanding that a couple of months ago you were informed that
the people owing this money had not paid me yet. As of today no one has paid
me any money nor have they contacted me or even acknowledged that they owed
me anything. How would you suggest that I proceed in this matter?

Brett

"What we want is for all of you to do what it takes to get back to the
status quo ante — the way it was before the big money betting started. In
other words, if you got a check from Brett for three hundred dollars, we
want you to get that money back to him. If you cannot do this for financial
reasons, please let me know. If you owe money generated out of credit, then
the elders have determined that you no longer owe the money. All the betting
was illegal in the state of Idaho, a misdemeanor, and as soon as the elders
discovered that brothers in the church were treating one another this
illegal and unloving way, they determined to cancel the obligations on the
basis of the principle contained in Numbers 30. The day we heard of it, we
said that brothers in Christ under our charge were not to be permitted to
act this way. Therefore, to the extent that real money changed hands, we
want it to go back to the original owner. To the extent that bets were made
on credit, those obligations are now cancelled. If anyone has any question
about what they are to do, please ask me."



*From:* Douglas <dougwils at moscow.com>
*To:* "Brett Bauer " <—@com>
*Sent:* Wednesday, April 10, 2002 4:05 PM
*Subject:* Re: Casino

Dear Brett,

I had checked on this once or twice, and will do so again. But my
understanding is that you told — — (who is one of those who owes you money)
that you did not want him to pay you. Is that an incorrect understanding on
my part? As for me, I do want those involved to pay you back, and will
continue to pursue it.

[*Douglas Wilson did not sign this email*]

Revealing tale of corruption and hypocrisy continued at:
http://dougsplotch.org/payoff.htm

-- 


Juanita Flores
Advocate for the Truth from Jesus
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20071211/27b27c39/attachment-0001.html