the Spirit Watch
An Open Letter To Tedd Anger At Remnant Fellowship - Nashville
By Don Veinot, MCO with remarks by Rafael Martinez, TVBSA - March 6, 2003
The following text in blue is the text of a letter dated February 18, 2003 and was written to Tedd Anger, a key leader of the Remnant Fellowship movement headed by "prophetess" Gwen Shamblin. It was authored by Don Veinot, president of Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc (MCOI), a Chicago-based discernment ministry and mission to new religious movements, which the TVBSA has jointly worked with, off and on, through the years.
It was sent to Anger by certified letter, and the United States Postal Service
website has verified Mr. Anger's receipt of them as having been
delivered on March 4 at 11:32 AM.
Scanned copies of the actual letter Mr. Veinot sent to Mr. Anger may be viewed
here.
To this date, Mr. Anger has yet to respond to Mr. Veinot's correspondence. We
are posting this
open
letter for 3 reasons:
1) to further demonstrate our willingness to dialogue with Mr. Anger and Remnant Fellowship and to hear out counterpoint arguments to the objections raised by MCOI, Adam Brooks and myself regarding their teachings and practices in a public setting to ensure objectivity and accountability
2) to accurately document our invitations in the past few months for such public meetings as well as Mr. Anger and Remnant's non-responses
3) to provide all parties interested in the issues and differences that exist between Remnant Fellowship and ourselves an opportunity to hear both sides and make informed decisions and reasonings on them on the basis of real-time interaction and not hearsay.
February 18, 2003
Tedd Anger
PO Box 689099
Franklin, TN 37068
Dear Tedd,
I was encouraged to see your December 6, 2002, 11:44 AM statement on the NewsChannel9 website posting the following:
We have been in the word for hours with many of our critics unlike what has been said. We love our critics and pray for them as well.
I was encouraged as that has not been the case up to this point. I spoke with Gwen by phone on August 24, 2000 and followed up with a letter which included the following:
I want to thank you for taking the time to talk with me this afternoon. I find it a little disconcerting that you started out accusing me of being deceptive. I was clear about who I was, the organization I represented and the purpose of my call. Again, the purpose of my call was to clarify your Statement of Faith, particularly with regard to the nature of God and your view of salvation. We didn’t get to discuss your view of salvation however; you were very clear that the Son is a separate being from the Father and came into existence at a point in time. As I explained, I was hoping that the language which was being used was imprecise but you have confirmed that what you have written is what you intended to say.
Not long after that she was in Carol Stream, IL., not far from our office in Lombard, and I went to the meeting in hopes of talking face to face with her after the meeting. I took a seat in the back row to observe. Once Gwen realized who I was she had Joe Langsdon come back, tap me on the shoulder and ask me to step outside with him, which I did. There I spoke with Joe and David Martin, both of which were quite emphatic that Gwen was not interested in talking. I am also aware that Hank Hanegraaff from the Christian Research Institute attempted to set up a time to talk with Gwen but, according to him, his calls were never returned. I and others saw your new public statement of willingness to meet with critics as a positive step.
Adam Brooks responded on December 12 at 9:56 AM on the same site with the following:
I do agree that, given all the controversy that Remnant Fellowship has sparked throughout churches in America, a public discussion would be very helpful perhaps to resolve some of the doctrinal issues and Scriptural questions. Of course, I will call tomorrow to talk to you personally, but it kind of hit me that it would really be great if we could get yourself and the leadership of Remnant Fellowship into a session of really opening the Bible with myself and some of the other more outspoken critics. That would just be awesome. That way, we are all in one room, we can hear each other's point of view, listen, pray, and respond with the Word. In fact, to avoid secrecy, we could have the meeting moderated publicly. For example, we could invite some of the major Christian periodicals to observe, and we could have a neutral religious leader (someone Gwen and ourselves mutually respect) to serve as moderator, to keep things fair and orderly. This would give all of us some time to hear the other's view, think about it, and prayerfully respond.
I affirmed this on the same day at 4:31 PM:
I would be more than happy to participate in a public dialogue regarding the issues with Weigh Down Workshop/Remnant Fellowship. It is indeed refreshing to find that Ted Anger has publicly expressed a willingness to meet with their "critics." I find the format as outlined agreeable and look forward to hammering out details of such a meeting in a public venue to be reported on afterwards. If Mike Dello Stritto is unavailable we might also suggest Dr. John Ankerberg (the John Ankerberg Show) who is also in Chattanooga, TN.
This seems to me to be a reasonable way of discussing the issues and coming to a resolution in a way that all involved can observe and make well informed decisions. This is particularly important since claims have made that we have slandered Gwen and/or WDW/ Remnant Fellowship in some way. This is somewhat disconcerting as we have been very careful to document anything we comment on directly from WDW/Remnant Fellowship material. The dictionary definition of slander is:
A false and malicious, usually oral statement injurious to a person’s reputation. (The American Heritage Dictionary, Third Edition, Dell Publishing, Copyright 1994, Houghton Mifflin Company, page 767).
If we have slandered we would welcome documentation to that effect in order to make the appropriate corrections and public apologies at least to the same degree as the claimed slander went out initially.
In your December 6th posting you gave your phone number with the invitation to call. Adam Brooks not only responded on the NewsChannel9 website but also called and left a message. He then posted again on December 16 at 2:22 PM the following:
It has now been almost a week since I left a message on your answering machine at work giving you my work and cell phone number so that I would not miss your return call. You really did seem to give the impression that you welcomed getting into the Word with your critics, and I was really looking forward to talking about the book of Hebrews with you.
He went on to say:
When I logged on today and noticed that you are still posting here (more testimonies, I see), but have not bothered to call me back, I am now starting to believe that maybe your posting of your number and your claim that Remnant Fellowship is always looking forward to talking with critics might not have been sincere.
He and I have no way of knowing your sincerity on this issue but the lack or return calls does seem to call the sincerity of the invitation into question. In fact, he went on to write:
We are still hoping that you and the rest of the leadership at Remnant Fellowship are thinking about getting together for a public and open discussion of concerns and doctrine.
That is a hope that I held as well. He further stated:
All these charges of "slander" that Remnant Fellowship members are accusing their critics of could probably be cleared up and sorted out if there were a public meeting, with the interchanges recorded so that others could access what was said. We could find out what Remnant Fellowship means when they accuse someone of being a slanderer. The Biblical definition is to tell lies publicly, but I am starting to think that RF folks use the term whenever anyone is telling unflattering truths about RF
The definition Adam gives is very close to the dictionary definition and he is correct that it is also the biblical definition. I have been given to understand by some of the families Remnant Fellowship members that Gwen has claimed that I “fired” a member of the Board of Directors of MCOI because the agreed with Gwen. Now, I have now way of confirming if she actually said that or if they misheard or simply made it up. However, for the record it should noted that I do not have the power to fire a member of the Board of Directors even if that was my desire. Their role is to keep me accountable and the Scriptures teach. Not only is it the case that a Board member hasn’t been fired but we have the same Board members as we originally had with additions to the Board of Directors.
On December 17th, Rafael Martinez posted on the same website the following:
If Remnant Fellowship members who have asserted that free inquiry and exploration of questions are readily admitted in Remnant social circles, I would invite therefore all Remnant membership to read the article [which he posted on his website] and then discuss the issues involved among yourselves in a free and candid manner. If there are comments made there which are untrue, exaggerated or inaccurate representations of Gwen Shamblin or Remnant Fellowship, I would like to hear your concerns. I have no desire to spread half-truths or lies, and would welcome any serious discussion privately or here on this forum about the issues raised in it. IF Remnant is the fullest embodiment of truth on the planet, then a little proving of that truth will never hurt it.
As you can see, Spiritwatch.org and MCOI are open to correction and repentance if indeed we have misrepresented anything. Rafael went on to write:
Secondly, I am waiting, along with Adam Brooks and Don Veinot to hear of any realistic attempts by the leadership of Remnant Fellowship to actually communicate a reciprocal willingness with us to meet and discuss our mutual differences. I am aware of no serious contacts seeking such a discussion by Gwen Shamblin or any of her Remnant Fellowship International leadership. Such a meeting would prove that Remnant is serious about communication and frank yet constructive discussion with its critics. Mr. Anger's recent posts inviting dialogue have been followed up and yet steadfastly ignored. Whether Remnant members want to admit it or not, this kind of feigned candor speaks volumes about the true nature of their leadership. It refuses real discussion, avoids contact with those who would best engage in it, and is at best insincere or worst downright hypocritical. The time for such a face to face sharing is now, and yet Remnant seems to be saying it doesn't want to do anything but avoid a public forum to discuss the critical issues at hand in real-time interaction.
Unfortunately, that does seem to be the case for on 12/16/02 you had posted on another site:
(http://pub110.ezboard.com/fgeoparentfrm127.showMessageRange?topicID=412.topic& )
Open public debates with people who do not believe that you must do the will of God to enter heaven was never offered as it would be unscriptural. Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:1-16 "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town."
First, the text is clearly not saying that open public debates was never offered as it would be unscriptural. If that were the case than Jesus, Peter and Paul were all sinning when they were engaged in open public debate with those who didn’t agree with them (cf. Jn. 8:48-58; Acts 4:1-22; Acts 17:10-13 & 16-34 among many, many others).
In light of the foregoing, we again invite you and the leadership of Remnant Fellowship to meet in a public forum, with a moderator, to layout in 60 or 90 minute increments what we believe and teach and areas where slander has occurred, to be directed to the moderator and audience. Each side would make their presentation uninterrupted with times of rebuttal after both sides have presented. With that sort of real time interaction those who are observing would have the opportunity to listen and make accurate decisions.
Yours in His Service,
L.L. Don Veinot
President
Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc.
Cc: Gwen Shamblin
Mike Dello Stritto, WTVC News Channel 9
Stan Guthrie, Christianity Today
Hank Hanegraaff, Christian Research Institute
MCOI Website, www.midwestoutreach.org
www.spiritwatch.org
At 10:00 a.m. ET, on 28 February, 2003, I phoned Mr. Anger at the number he provided in the NewsChannel 9 bulletin board and found only his voice mail. I left a message identifying myself as a person he characterized as a critic, and reminded him that Don, Adam and I were still desiring to dialogue with him about Remnant's questionable teachings and that I hoped to hear from him that day about a possible meeting. As of the publication of this page on March 6, 2003, Mr. Anger has not returned my phone call.
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