This happens because much of what they print - which is intended to convince others about the wayward motivations of their targeted enemies - is filled with innuendo, statements taken out of context (or worse, completely recontextualized), outright lies, and deceptions cleverly composed by those whose `mission' forgives their lack of scruples.

This happens because these deceptions are written to people predisposed to hear something incriminating about those named enemies to begin with.

This happens because some of the people fed by their hatred and vitriol turn into bullies who impose fear and silence upon their fellow congregants and pastors.

But something happens when light is shed into these dark corners; when their motivations are named; when their tactics are disclosed; and when the deception and lies inherent in their writing are exposed.

When I met in early February with Rev. Sheldon Culver and Rev. Kent Siladi as part of a task force formed by our Council of Conference Ministers to research the attacks on our churches, we first discovered the newly formed renewal group Faithful and Welcoming. We went to their website and discovered a number of things. One of the most surprising was that when you clicked on the `Links' tab and opened it up, it had a direct link to the Institute on Religion and Democracy. In our report to the Conference Ministers (who met the very next week in Cleveland) that link was mentioned, among other things.

Within a matter of days, Bob Thompson - President of the Faithful and Welcoming renewal group - fired off a letter to the Conference Ministers denying that he had ever had any contact with anyone from the IRD, and the link on their website disappeared. The letter also claims that they voted NOT to affiliate with the Association of Church Renewal - the arm of the IRD that feeds the destructive appetite of these renewal groups. The following quote can be found on their website (faithfulandwelcoming.org) in their Frequently Asked Questions page:

"There has been no communication or cooperation between the IRD and FWC. The FWC President briefly attended part of an ACR meeting, and subsequently recommended to our board that FWC not affiliate with the ACR."

This is most interesting, since their `Links' tab will still to this day ask you to go the IRD's Association for Church Renewal page.

When Brandon Woosley appeared on the campus of Eden Seminary March 16, 2006 he was asked directly about the intent of this renewal group to remain connected to the United Church of Christ. This was an important question, since the group has been claiming that their intent is not to separate churches from the denomination, but to keep them connected. One questioner wondered, if this were the case, why their annual meeting in July was not being held at a UCC church (it was arranged to take place in a Nazarene church) and why the keynoters included a Lutheran theologian, a former director of the activist group Exodus International, and the current president of the Presbyterian Layman (one of the most strident and active renewal groups affiliated with the IRD's Association for Church Renewal - with whom they have had no contact and with whom they voted NOT to affiliate) - but no one from the United Church of Christ , the denomination with whom they were intent on talking churches into staying.

This week, their website indicates that they are moving their National Gathering so that it can be held at a UCC church.

Last week, I wrote the following in my article on this web-site:
"Sometimes I forget how important is this work of exposing attacks on our churches from the right. Many people will contact me each week asking me to stop doing this for one reason or another - and I will confess there is a small part of me that wishes I didn't have to do this.
And sometimes you get to wondering if you are not just seeing things that aren't there because you have been looking for them so hard for so long. You wonder if you aren't as paranoid as your accusers say you are.
But while sitting at our Association Council Meeting last week I was reminded why this work was so important."

A piece of that quote appeared on the Front page of the Biblical Witness fellowship. Taken out of context, it ran at the very top of their page with the headline "Prophetic Words." They did not choose to mention that in the quote I talked about how important this work of exposing attacks is. They did not mention why I thought it was so important that this work continue - both essential pieces to understanding the piece they pulled out of its context.

 But it is clear that they are reading, and needing to respond in some way.

Pulling the quote out of context is indicative of the ways in which they will deceive in order to achieve an end of their choosing, but what is more fascinating is what they did with the quote: they created a link to a cartoon (http://www.biblicalwitness.org/Cartoon.htm) which shows the UCC headquarters being attacked by military helicopters, and some unknown voice inside blaming the whole scene on the BWF.

Please.

Ok, renewal groups like BWF and Faithful and Welcoming are being exposed, and they have to respond in ways they never have before. But is this their best response? Deniability about clear connections to groups they still have connections with; quotes taken out of context; and cartoons (and not very clever ones at that)?

They are clearly on the run, and we who have dedicated ourselves to exposing them for who they are have them scrambling somewhat.

This is good.

Bob Thompson says he wants nothing to do with the IRD (because he knows now what we know about the IRD and that he can't afford to be KNOWN to have any connection with them).

Faithful and Welcoming, after months of promoting their National Gathering, has to move its location in response to direct accusations about their true intent.

The IRD cannot find a president within any of the denominations represented by their active Renewal Groups, and hires Dr. James Tonkwich of the Presbyterian Church in America (a splinter group that broke from the Presbyterian Church USA in 1973 over the ordination of women - among other things). On their web-site, they mention one of the reasons they broke away: It separated from the Presbyterian Church in the United States (Southern) in opposition to the long-developing theological liberalism which denied the deity of Jesus Christ and the inerrancy and authority of Scripture. (Who other than the IRD and their minions would accuse Presbyterians of `denying the deity of Jesus' and the `authority of scripture'?)

And David Runnion-Bareford, needing to respond to what he is reading, prints some ridiculous cartoon and chooses to call me prophetic. If he finds my words so prophetic, let him print the following on his website: "Despite decades of harassment and deception by the BWF targeting the United Church of Christ for attack, the UCC's message of extravagant welcome continues to draw new members and churches to them in record numbers."