Sep 15, 2006

Open Letter to Dr. RC Sproul

Dr. RC Sproul,
2741 Deer Berry Court
Longwood, FL 32779-3071

Dear Dr. Sproul,

We are so grateful to you for all the years of incredible Bible teaching you have imparted into our lives. You have taught us about the holiness of God and why He wants us to obey Him. You have helped change our hearts and our lives to live in a way that glorifies Christ and enjoys our Creator. We are so appreciative of all that you do for the work of the Lord in this fallen world.

Yet we have this against you: Ligonier Ministries, under the direction of Tim Dick, is blatantly violating I Corinthians 6, by filing a lawsuit against Frank Vance, a fellow believer. We know that Mr. Vance has made some allegations against Tim Dick in particular, and Ligonier Ministries as well, but you yourself said that the Gentiles should never judge between the Israelites, just as the world should not judge between Christians.

We respectfully implore you to have Ligonier Ministries and Tim Dick, as president of Ligonier Ministries, drop this lawsuit which is contrary to the ways of the Lord.

In addition, we would ask that you answer the charges Frank Vance makes against Ligonier regarding duplicity in a contract with Don Kistler.

We would also hope that in all the areas of your family over which you have control, that you would meet the qualifications of an elder according to God’s Word. I Timothy 3:4-5 says that an elder is “one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?)”. Only you know the truth in this area. Please set a good example for the rest of us in ruling your own house well.

These are all important issues to the kingdom of God as a whole, since you are a public figure in that arena. The “world” is watching. God is watching. We plead with you to repent for the sins listed above, to immediately drop the lawsuit, and to set the godly example of an elder for all Christians who have been so blessed by your ministry.

It is with profound regret that we will need to discontinue our financial support of Ligonier Ministries if the lawsuit isn’t dropped by Friday, September 29, 2006. We pray that you would have a teachable heart like David did when Nathan confronted him with his sin and say, like David said, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Our prayers are with you daily.

Your grateful servants,
Mark and Jennifer Epstein

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

As I have already stated, your lack of conviction of the character of the leadership at Ligonier, I release you of your pledge to support Ligonier financially on a monthly basis, based on our good conscience.

Anonymous said...

Tim, why are you posting here instead of under the open letter directed to YOU? Maybe Dr. Sproul humself is so insulated or just hiding...or maybe you are confused as to who you are.

Will you also post in the letter addressed to your mother-in-law and the board?

Lindon said...

If the writer is Tim Dick, this is certainly a sad and arrogant response for everyone involved. My heart breaks for all involved.

Kevin Bussey said...

Amen,

I said the same thing earlier in the week!

Jen Fishburne said...

If you click on "Tim" in his comment, you will see who is commenting.

Jen Fishburne said...

Thank you, John, for posting links to my letters all over the web today. We need to get the word out to repent.

Anonymous said...

Jen,
I appreciate your letter to the Ligonier Ministries. I think withdrawing your financial support from them is appropriate and extending prayer support in needed from all of us! We all need to hit our knees for them and for other ministries that Satan is working hard to defeat. Also, I wouldn't give too much credence to "tim's" comment anyone can have their name linked to another person's ministries. For example, click on my name it leads to the same place.

Jen Fishburne said...

Thanks, Sarah, but I know for a fact that the writer is Tim Dick, President of Ligonier. Just take my word for it for now.

Anonymous said...

Huh, yeah! That isn't proof.

Mark said...

Anonymous,

Regardless of whether you believe these statements to be from Mr. Dick, our ISP knows for sure. :-)

As both Jen and I have repeatedly stated, this issue for us boils down to one issue: an unbiblical lawsuit. We can discuss a plethora of related issues, but at the end of the day they lack relevance.

Reformed theologians are quite familiar with the concept of "oaths" in this country and, therefore, they fully understand their final accountability to God. My wife and I also understand our accountability to God, which is the reason we've taken a stand on this issue of a Christian ministry suing a professing Christian in a heathen court.

Jen Fishburne said...

I had posted proof here that Tim Dick wrote these comments, but my husband asked me to remove my comment. We do know that Tim Dick is posting the comments in his name.

Anonymous said...

Jen,

I saw your earlier post regarding the email content. There is a way to "prove" the emails by looking at the full internet headers, but this depends on your email program. In there you could see what mail server it came from because it is possible to mask an email address, as spammers do it all the time. I can help you in finding this information if you desire.

Anonymous said...

Mark and Jen appear to have dealt with everything so far in an honorable matter, so I see no need to demand proof that Tim Dick posted the first comment in this thread.

Besides, if someone else posted in Tim's name, he can defend himself with a letter on official letterhead or a post on Ligonier's website. If that occurs, then Mark and Jen can respond with their own evidence, and we can all decide between them.

That's how the blogosphere works: it isn't perfect, but it provides the opportunity for very quick corrections.

Under the circumstances, the fact that Tim has declined to disavow the comment is further evidence that it is, in fact, his. He may regret what he says now, but he probably knows that, if he did in fact post the first comment, then Mark and Jen will be able to prove it, and denial would only make things even worse for him...

Anonymous said...

I have read through all the posts on all the open letters and am just sick to my stomach.

There is a level of egomanical pride and tyranny that seems surreal coming from anonymous posters and Ligoneir supporters whether it is Tim Dick or not. It is truly appalling and very childish in nature. Anyone who questions anything is called an immature believer who must repent(as per passerby, who claims to be a senior manager at Ligonier, on Slice) yet, those calling us immature filed a lawsuit! Passerby even called for Frank to release names of his elders so he could be held accountable! Yet, Ligoneir seems upset that some donors want to hold them accountable.

The hypocritical irony seems to be lost on them.

What more, there is factual information out there on 990's and recent results from the Jr. Scandal of defrocking that should point us all in the direction of asking serious questions of this ministry.

Where is Dr. Sproul? Sir, so many have defended you. Have kept back criticism out of respect for you. Please do not take advantage of this. I personally think that time has

What good is their orthodoxy if their orthopraxy does not match? It becomes just head knowledge.

Anonymous said...

I appreciate what you are doing. I received a comment from Tim Dick and I did confirm it was really him. My son actually got involved in an email dispute with Tim Dick and decided not to pursue further discussion with him because the man was so immature.

We have spent this week in amazement that RC turned his ministry over to these people. It is just heartbreaking. We quit giving to Ligonier several years ago because they started calling us almost daily to ask for money. It really made us suspicious. I think I know now why they changed tactics at that time.

Anonymous said...

If you've read other comments in the blogosphere by Tim Dick (most notably they started showing up regarding RC Sproul Jr.'s defrocking), you will know that this really is Tim Dick posting, and my evidence goes beyond technical IP addresses and email headers.

What is the evidence? Well the majority of Tim Dick's writings all have in common some of the most horrible grammar I have ever seen from an adult. His comments often seem incoherent because he can't seem to write a complete english sentence.

I know this sounds petty, and my tongue is somewhat in cheek, but it always strikes me as weird that someone who commands a quarter-million dollar salary has such poor writing skills.

Jen Fishburne said...

Actually, Steve, that is certainly one of the main reasons why I know it is Tim Dick. We have exchanged numerous e-mails and I know his style of writing. It is what you say it is!

Unknown said...

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