"We're Not Going to Defend Ourselves"

"And by the Way, Linda's Daughter Is a Liar"

"And Linda Is a Pawn in Satan's Hand"

Many of the points brought out in the August 10, 2006, 3ABN Live program were great. But in the context of the allegations against 3ABN president Danny Shelton of sexual assault, leveled at him just one month before, we question the appropriateness of it all.

What follows are selected quotes from that broadcast, presented topically.

Selected Quotes from the August 10, 2006, Broadcast of 3ABN Live

"Danny Is God's Chosen Leader, Like Moses"

"I entitled it, 'Going Forward.' And the focal point of the character of this book is the man by the name of Moses." (John Lomacang) "But like Israel of old, many are asking the question of despair, 'Is the Lord among us or not?' " (John Lomacang) "In the position of Moses I stand here to tell you that God has commanded all of us to simply go forward" (John Lomacang) "Moses was the instrument that God used as Danny Shelton is the instrument that God uses here at 3ABN. ... He's simply the chosen servant of God." (John Lomacang)

"It's Wrong to Disagree with Danny"

"The Israelites had to acknowledge that God had chosen Moses to lead them. I want to stop and say that we may not always agree with who God chooses, but when God chooses someone, disagreeing with that one can brings on us adversity, discouragement, and the loss of our vision." (John Lomacang)

"Don't 'Attack' Danny"

"And then they turned on God's chosen leader, and in this case, it was Moses." (John Lomacang) "They began to attack God's chosen leader. They rejected the message that Moses gave them from the Lord. They told Moses that their words are more important than God's words." (John Lomacang) "Thirdly, they began to attack God's chosen leader." (John Lomacang) "They began to attack God's chosen leader." (John Lomacang)

"These Allegations, We're Being Persecuted"

"Tonight I would like to talk to you about persecution, and God's plan to overcome persecution." (Shelley Quinn) " 'Blessed are ye when men shall hate you ... and reproach you and cast out your name as evil.' " (Danny Shelton) "... I can't do anything ... or ... so and so is talking about me ...." (Danny Shelton) "... or speaking negatively or whatever against you." (Mollie Steenson) " 'David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning him.' People ever speak of stoning you? You know how people stone us these days? With their words. So we get stoned." (Mollie Steenson) "Nobody ever speaks of stoning you, or any such thing?" (Mollie Steenson) " 'You may be assaulted, wronged, insulted, slandered, wounded, and rejected. You may be abused by force, forsaken by friends, and despised and rejected by men.' " (Mollie Steenson) " 'Blest are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely ... for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.' " (Shelley Quinn) "But sometimes when I'm suffering persecution, and we all do, eventually, especially if you are on the front line for the Lord ...." (Shelley Quinn)

"Everyone Has These Sort of Allegations Told About Them, Including You"

"This program's about tonight is about you, what about your life. Everywhere we go, every church I go to, and you all will testify to this, people are in trouble. Satan is out there." (Danny Shelton) "We know what you're fighting at home is certainly just as strong as what each of us are fighting here, because Satan hates all of us. ... And he wants to make us look foolish, he wants to make us sound foolish, he wants to do everything he can do to discredit you, but you don't have to allow that to happen. Keep at your work, let the liars lie, let the editors publish." (Danny Shelton) "Each of us are going through things in our own life. We're all, it's all the same." (Danny Shelton)

"I'm Not Going to Defend Myself, I Promise"

"And that's what Brandy always encourages me is, uh, ... 'And ye shall hold your peace.' But man, that's hard to do. ... It's the toughest thing in the world to do. I'm a fighter by, by nature. Other words, you know, if I, boy, if somebody says that I want to stand up and say, 'No, that's not right,' or if they say something about me pers[on]ally, 'That's not true,' you know, 'Prove it,' or whatever else, but, the Lord says, and here's what's happened. I'm learning, and she's really helped me, I can't tell you how much, 'cause I'm learning, and I'll try it sometimes, I'll try to talk to people, and I'll say, well let me explain, and then I walk away and say, 'What in the world have I done, you know, whatever I say never works ....' " (Danny Shelton) "But I am learning, let God fight the battles, hold your peace." (Danny Shelton) "... sometimes I fight this thing, you know ...." (Danny Shelton) "I can't defend myself. You can't defend yourself. I have nothing. The Lord showed me one time, when I said, 'Lord, I'm not guilty things these people are saying.' And the Lord said, 'You are guilty.' ... And I said, 'But I'm not.' And He said, 'No, you're a sinner. And as a sinner,' we're all sinners, and so we're all guilty, 'and you either have to let Me be your attorney all, all the time or not at all.' So I said, 'Okay, Lord, I'm guilty. You take it.' " (Danny Shelton) "Our greatest and most difficult test under persecution is to resist responding in our own defense." (Shelley Quinn)

"Danny's Like John the Baptist Too"

"And this is going to be a story some of you are familiar with. It's about a man who was called by the Lord, he was loved by the Lord, and he lived his early life in relative obscurity. But when God called him to public ministry, great multitudes of common people were drawn to him. Now to look at him you would not think that he was any candidate for this job. But what happened was, when you looked at him you would see that his manner of dress was very informal. He did not go to the religious universities, but he was still in the ministry of reaching broken people, and he pointed them to their true creator God. His manner of speech could be best described, I guess you'd say as bold and direct and his preaching was very practical. He tried to wake up a people who were spiritually sleeping. They were spiritually dead. He was a simple man of the country and he emanated humility and faith in God." (Shelley Quinn)

"And the Doctor and Evil Linda Are like Herod and Herodias"

We do not understand why Shelley would tell a story that could so easily be taken to be talking about Linda Shelton and her daughter, especially in light of the section above where they made it plain that they and Danny weren't going to defend themselves.

"As a faithful witness for God, he spoke out against a couple who had entered into a sinful relationship. Now the woman entangled in this situation became offended. She was embittered, and she felt scorned. And you know, there's something about her, that she was unconcerned about her relationship in the eyes of the Lord. Her worry revolved more around the possibility of losing her prominent position. So what did she do?" (Shelley Quinn)

"Linda's Daughter Is a Liar"

"She devised a plan to eliminate this one who had exposed her, and she enlisted the help of her young daughter. Now prompted by her mother, this daughter became entangled in the web of deceit, and she set out to set her mother's position and save it by destroying this man of God. What we see here is that the scheme was to go forward and go straight for the throat and have his head served up on a platter. "[Camera angle changes. Shelley is now holding a notebook she wasn't holding previously.] Does this story sound familiar to you? To whom am I referring? John the Baptist, of course." (Shelley Quinn)

"These Allegations Against Holy, Spirit-Filled Danny Are Vile Persecution"

"Now, how could such a holy, Spirit-filled man, who was hand-picked by God and called to such an important ministry, fall victim to such vile persecution? Why would God allow it?" (Shelley Quinn)

"We're Being 'Mentally Molested,' but Believe You Me, We're on a 'Journey' 'of Purity' "

Why in the world would Shelley Quinn and John Lomacang use terminology like what follows when Danny had had allegations of sexual assault leveled at him? Do they make a habit of embedding into programs terminology that could be understood as being secret messages?

"But the Bible forewarns us that we will face various fiery trials and persecutions. It tells us we'll be ill treated, we'll be discriminated against. We will be tormented, hounded, slandered, even mentally molested, if you will. People will speak evil of us and they will try to ruin our reputation with lies." (Shelley Quinn) "The wilderness journey that we are now involved in is not one of uncertainty but one of purity." (John Lomacang)

"It's All the Devil's Doing, It's Satan at Work"

"Our donors this year are up, uh, despite everything Satan is trying to do, Satan loves to destroy ministries ...." (Danny Shelton) " 'Don't be discouraged, 'cause even in heaven, Satan had an advantage over God, because Satan could use all the sinful and terrible tactics to discredit God. So if people are using terrible tactics to discredit you,' he told us, 'Don't when you're being, uh, discouraged he said or discredited, or people are writing things about you,' and I want to say this to you at home, our temptation is let's fight back, let's .... ' If Satan used that tactic to win a third of the angels in heaven, don't be discouraged because on earth you know he's going to do all of these things. Each one of us here, you at home. And so, just be encouraged, no matter what Satan is trying to do to you ...." (Danny Shelton) "... use those tactics that he used in heaven to destroy you, to discourage you. The devil, uh, as Wintley Phipps said to me, He, God doesn't use his tactics. So the devil has an advantage, so to speak. ... So it is a fact that the devil may be able to rob us of our home, our physical home, he may be it rob us of our health, he can rob us of our finances, uh, he can rob us of a lot of things." (Danny Shelton) " 'So surely as God has given you a work to do,' Danny, 'Satan will try to hinder you .... He may assault you with slander, torment you with false accusations.' Now that never happened, would it. 'Set you to work defending your character,' which is what we're talking about, lettin' the Lord do that. 'Employ pious people to lie about you, editors to assail you, and excellent men to slander you.' " (Mollie Steenson) " 'Can you not see that the whole thing is brought about through the craft of the devil ....' " (Mollie Steenson)

"Linda Has the Spirit of Antichrist, Her Daughter Is Her Pawn, and They Both Are the Devil's Pawns"

"Now her mother's using her as a pawn." (Shelley Quinn) "So what should we do? First, we must recognize that all those who persecute us are just pawns in the devil's hand." (Shelley Quinn) "And what happened when John told Herod this and Herod told Herodias, they were both offended and they had to be offended because of their pride. The Lord once shared this thought with me: 'The spirit of offence is the spirit of pride, and the spirit of pride is the spirit of Antichrist.' " (Shelley Quinn)

"God Talks to Us, So We Must Be All Right"

It really is amazing how many times the various speakers refer to God speaking to them. The previous quote was also an example of this, and so was the quote where Danny said that God told him that he was guilty, which is the fourth quote under the section we've given a heading of, "I'm Not Going to Defend Myself, I Promise."

"And the Lord says, 'I can trust Him. Just entitle it, "I Can Trust Him." ' And when you said, the two words that Wintley left with you were, 'Trust Me,' I thought, Hey, the same day He tells both of us, who didn't talk about anything today, I didn't, I haven't spoken to Wintley in a long time." (John Lomacang)

"Danny, You're the Lord's Anointed"

Due to what Seventh-day Adventists teach about Daniel 9, many or most Adventists are familiar with the fact that the Hebrew word for "anointed one" is Mashiach or "Messiah," and the Greek is Christos or "Christ."

The last place where the terminology "Lord's anointed" occurs in the Bible is Revelation 11:15 where it says, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ." That passage is actually a reference to a prophecy found in Psalm 2. In Psalm 2 the "heathen" or nations, the people, the kings, and the rulers oppose the Lord and "his anointed," and the Lord promises, "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance" (vss. 1, 2, 7, 8). Revelation 11:5 pictures the time when Christ will finally, literally inherit the nations.

In the light of these passages, the following quotes are a bit disturbing.

"Danny you'll appreciate this, because, we've got to come to this conclusion. Uh. When I, and I'm saying this, I'm not blowing my own horn. But when you know ... when the Lord anoints your life ... when the Lord anoints you, along with that anointing comes a promise. ... So when the Lord anoints you as He has—it's obvious, Danny, that the Lord's anointing is on your life—does that say that the Lord anoints perfect people? No. There's not a writer in the Bible that was perfect. I mean, Moses, we looked at, what a great man!" [John looks at Danny and asks:] "Have you killed anybody?" (John Lomacang) [Danny answers John:] "Not recently. No, never, I hope." (Danny Shelton) [John interjects:] "Ah, never!" (John Lomacang) [Danny adds:] "But, you know, we can kill people with our words. And I've probably been guilty of that. So I ask God to forgive me." (Danny Shelton) [John continues:] "Moses killed an Egyptian in his anger ...." (John Lomacang) "So when God chooses a man and God chooses a woman and anoints them, along with that anointing comes the promise of God, 'He is the saving refuge of His anointed.' " (John Lomacang)

"Once Anointed, Always Anointed"

"It's, it's neat, John, that, that that anointing, or that choosing is not only for a day or two." (Walt Thompson)

"God Warns, 'No Church Discipline, No Court Case, No Investigation Against Danny' "

"And then other thing, there's a promise that God has for us, and there's a warning that God has for others. He says, 'Touch not the Lord's anointed, and do my prophet no harm. Now when we look at the men in the Bible that were prophets, not a one of them were faultless, not a one of them without, were out mistakes and sin in their lives. But God says, 'When I anoint a man, when I anoint a woman, it's my job to straighten them out.' Anyone who takes that job is stepping on God's territory, and God will deal with those who try to usurp the thing that belongs only to Him." (John Lomacang)

"We're Going to Ignore Every Allegation, Every Criticism, Every Question"

"The Bible says, 'The Lord will fight for you. You won't need to lift a finger.' Isn't that good news? Don't even lift a finger. God's got the battle under control." (John Lomacang) " 'Do your work. Let liars lie.' " (Mollie Steenson) " 'He has not set you at work to contradict falsehoods with, which Satan and his servants,' and his servants, have, have, uh, 'may start or peddle.' " (Mollie Steenson) "It was not until Moses turned from listening to the complaining of the people, to listening to the instructions of the Lord that the obstacles were removed and the people moved forward." (John Lomacang)

"If We Investigate, It Could Delay the Second Coming"

"We were nearing home. I want to say this, friends. When you go through all the trials of life, and you finally see the gleams of the golden streets of heaven ...." (John Lomacang) "But all we wanted, friends, is what everybody else wants, we wanted to get home. The distance between Florida and California had not changed. The distance between heaven and earth is the same. So the longer we stood around and complained about the distance, the circumstances, the vehicle, the people we met on the way, we would just delay getting home." (John Lomacang)

"Linda, Linda's Daughter, and All You Critics, Shut Up!"

" 'And you shall hold your peace.' In other words, just shut up and let God handle God's work." (John Lomacang) "God is fighting our battles for us. It's time to stop complaining, because we have no idea of real, hard times." (John Lomacang) "Stop complaining! Stop backbiting! Stop faultfinding! Stop trying to tell the Lord how to finish His work. Stop spinning your wheels on the same old issues, and go forward!" (John Lomacang)

"I Plan on Remaining President of 3ABN"

"We want to be able to help lead in a min, in a ministry in leadership position, but what we need before we can help others is revival and reformation, so, I'm not ashamed to say that we're all sinners saved by grace, that we all make mistakes, and sometimes we have to set back and just say, 'Lord, help me. Sometimes I tend to fight my own battles. I want You to do that.' " (Danny Shelton)