|
February, 2007
My warmest greetings,
A couple approached me with tears in their eyes and said,
"We have just missed you and we wanted to see you to make sure
you were okay." As I saw the pain in their eyes over the events
that have transpired in my life in the last few years, it was
as if my heart was pierced again. "We are just so happy to see
you smiling, in church and still serving God." Our meeting took
place a few months ago at the Bible Chapel Seventh-day Adventist
Church where I am a member. I enjoyed my visit with this caring,
Christian couple, along with the compassion and love they showed toward
me.
Some people act surprised that I am still a member of the
SDA church. But why? God is still the same awesome God that He
always has been, the incredible Bible truths embraced by
Seventh-day Adventists are still just as true today as they ever
were, and although a "thousand shall fall on my right and a thousand
fall on my left," nothing will ever change these facts. We must
hold firm to our faith during troubled times!
Many have written to me over the past many months asking me
to update my website. This I have prayerfully considered for
quite some time, nearly a year. Quite frankly, I just have not
known what to say. I feel that this scandal has made a large,
festering, open wound in my Church. Perhaps the truth revealed
will ultimately bring the healing that everyone needs. Then we
can grieve together and move on. I am certain, in essence, I
have died a thousand deaths over the events of the last couple
of years. But, with the Lord's blessing, I will try to address
issues which have been brought to my attention in the kindest
manner possible.
For the first time in nearly three years I will not simply
deny the accusations, but will directly address certain issues.
I do not take pleasure in speaking of these things. I think I
have always been the one who would rather receive hurt, than
be the one to inflict hurt upon others. But during the course
of this last year I learned some valuable lessons through Dr.
Mable Dunbar
of Polly's Place Network; she has been an incredible
support and help to me. Mable is a woman who truly loves the
Lord and is not afraid to stand up for what she believes is right,
even if a whole army would stand against her.
Polly's Place Network
is a ministry which empowers abused lives
and aids them through their difficult circumstances. It is a
marvelous organization and so needed for this age when Satan
has focused his wrath upon breaking up the security and circle
of love God intended for our families. I videotaped some interviews
for Polly's Place at the SDA Conference office in Spokane, Washington
with several individuals who had been through incredibly painful
situations. Each of them, in essence, had the same healing story.
It was when they were able to come forward and express the
truth about what happened to them that their healing came. Inspired
by these individuals, now I can accept and believe it is God's
job to protect the ministry I have loved and co-founded, and
it is my right and my healing to tell the truth about what has
occurred.
I am co-authoring a book and its purpose is to share the silver
lining of the amazing lessons the Lord has taught me through
this crisis. I feel the Lord has lifted a veil and allowed me
to see the world that He sees, a world far different than we
see. I see that the darts of false allegations that Satan has
thrown toward me and my ministry were not directed solely for
my downfall, but the aim was much wider. Although I was the apparent
target, Satan was attempting to destroy the ministry I loved
and co-founded and cripple the witness of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church. My perspective has been forever changed through my experiences
and my book will give me the opportunity to share these lessons
more fully with all of you. (I will keep you posted as to the
release date of this book.)
John Knox once said, "Kings [or leaders] have not an absolute
power to do in their government what pleases them, but their
power is limited by God's Word; so that if they strike where God
has not commanded, they are but murderers; and if they spare
where God has commanded to strike, they and their thrones are
criminal and guilty of the wickedness which abounds upon the
face of the earth, for lack of punishment." John knew his Bible.
It is a Biblical principle that if we see a wrong and only look
the other way or feebly say, "I will let the Lord deal with that
one," then that wickedness is applied to our slate, plain and
simple.
The most devastating blow a televangelist can get is the false
accusation of adultery. Although I have already made this statement
on my website I want to address those of you who have loved and
valued my Christianity, integrity and my ministry for the 19
years that I was at 3ABN. I want to clearly emphasize that I
was 100% faithful to my husband. I loved, trusted and believed
in him to a fault. Imagine my shock when I realized that the
false allegations in the form of libel, slander and defamation
directed my way were initiated by two of the closest people to
me on planet earth; one was my beloved partner and the other
was my closest lady friend. I loved them both and trusted them
both to the point that their close communication did not bother
me in the least. I know that sounds naive, but I did not believe
that Dan would do anything that would harm the ministry we had
built together.
In 2004 there was a tremendous outcry at my departure. There
was suspicion over how swiftly I was fired from my position and
divorced. There was suspicion over the fact that I never had
the opportunity to talk to the Board and defend myself. There
was suspicion over the fact that every trace of my presence was
completely cleared out of the campus of 3ABN, even before my
termination, as well as the website, television and radio broadcasts.
I was made a sacrificial lamb in a scheme calculated to remove
me from both my home and my ministry through an orchestrated
campaign of malicious lies circulated around the globe. No words
can begin to describe the absolute agony this has brought to
my life, but there are other victims as well, and may God bless
and spare the young lives and tender souls who have also felt
the stinging thrust of this sword of scandal.
It has completely broken my heart to see the emails and letters
which have come from the Chairman of the Board, Dan and others
at 3ABN, to hear of the television and radio programs where erroneous
references have been made to the situation, to watch the ministry
that I helped build with much devotion used to destroy me and
also to hear of the reports of what is being said on the SDA
chat sites about me today by those bent on my destruction ... nearly
three years later.
It was the false accusation of adultery which caused the loss
of my marriage, my reputation, my employment, and everything
else. I challenge the 3ABN Board to produce the "irrefutable
evidence" which caused a co-founder, a lifetime Board member,
Vice-President and Secretary of the Board to be removed in that
May 2004 meeting! I am asking, no demanding, that the information
be made public at my request! Cast aside those pretended desires
to "spare me"! The world is waiting with baited breath!
The stakes are high. I, as well as others, have personally
experienced electronic surveillance, email theft, interception
of cell phone calls, post-divorce entry into my private residence
to the point where charges were filed with the police. It is
not easy to live your life when you feel that you can never know
for sure if you are being followed, watched or recorded ... even
now. I have had invitations to do ministry thwarted because of
continued allegations by those, who, like wolves in sheep's clothing,
attempted to stop my ministry.
I want to make this absolutely clear: I left my home because
I was not safe, I was not welcome. I was witnessing the murder
of my reputation and ministry day by day. I stayed as long as
I felt I could. I hoped, believed and prayed that things would
change but they only got worse. The statements made that I left
my husband for another man are absolutely and totally false.
Any thinking person would realize that I had everything a Christian
woman could have wanted in this life: a husband I loved and the
opportunity to minister to millions of people about the tremendous
love of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, though the ministry
that we spent so many years building together. Although two of
the people who I loved best have called me "Gomer," yet a more
accurate term would be "Hosea," which I would only discover later.
But I prefer simply, Linda, "SAVED by the Blood of the Lamb!"
I do not visit the chat sites. This has been a mega-trial
for me and my way of coping has been to try and focus on other
things. I realize that the individuals which make up our Church
need healing from this disaster too. And perhaps the chat sites
have served to help people give expression to their frustrations
and hurts in this situation. I am grateful to each of you who
have prayed and interceded for me. It has meant so much during
my dark days. You'll never know just how much!
Now my kids are grown and I am alone ... but not really alone,
although I have no husband. Now I belong to everyone and everyone
belongs to me! And I still sing, "Thank you for being my family,
thank you for being my friends: May God bless and keep you in
all that you may do until we meet again!"
It is my goal to just make your journey and mine a little
lighter and brighter. I have faith that the Lord still has a
work for me to do, a new ministry. I am ready and available for
church services, weeks of prayer, concerts, etc. as the Lord opens
the doors. I do not know what my future holds, but God does and
that's enough for me.
Just in closing I want to make an appeal to you to get out
your binoculars, dust them off, bring them into focus and then
search. Love your neighbor enough to be a Good Samaritan. When
he is broken and bleeding in the middle of the road, focus your
binoculars with the love of Christ, but don't stop there; reach
out and meet his need in his time of crisis. Christianity is
not something that "just happens." True Christianity occurs when
a decided action is taken ... when we search, when we fill a need,
when we mend a broken heart and when we are just "there" for
hurting people. There are a lot of them. But there are too few
Christians who focus their binoculars with love.
Thank you for being my family! Stay close to the Shepherd!
Blessings to you and yours,
Linda Shelton
|
