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The
following text is a copy of an email sent to all full
members of the Iona Community in January 2004. Please use the
hypertext links in the individual sections. This gives access
to the text of the letters of Witness relating to each of the
three denials of The Holy Spirit.
To
:
Members of The Iona Community.
Copy
to : Ruth Harvey, Editor
of Coracle,The Community Magazine.
From
: Ian McLean,
(one time) Associate Member of The Iona Community
Subject:
The Threefold Denial of The Holy Spirit by The Iona Community
Preface
. A Witness is not the vessel
thereof nor the content, but (the) Spirit therein. As such it
is Truth and cannot therefore be refuted as distinct from denied.
This accounts for the apparent indifference of silence as the
response to the Witness placed before the Community during 2003.
No detail in any of the letters of Witness has been specifically
refuted by any recipient or member of The Community.
Witness
does not use The Iona Community's website bulletin board for three
reasons. Firstly by definition, Witness stands outwith itself.
The board does not reflect community as the requirement for a
password excludes the community at large. Finally there is too
much detail in the Witness to be posted as a contribution to a
bulletin board.
The
opportunity for reply in public and private has been available
without a password throughout the period of Witness on the message
board of this site. Please see "Let The People Speak"
-----------------------------
This
email Witness gives
a summary of the three denials of The Holy Spirit .
As previously the full detail of the present Witness is posted
on the internet as Current Issues Nos. 1 and 8 (new) of the above
website. The front page of Issue No8 is a copy of this email which
has hypertext links to the detailed Witness placed before the
folks involved. It is now placed before The Community . The Wind
of Change web site is used as a location for the broadcast of
the Witness to the community at large. There is no promotion of
the vessel of Witness, neither are any of the services
described in other sections of the site for sale. The Witness
is concerned solely with the Spirit of The Iona Community as one
amongst others in Scotland.
The
denials of The Holy Spirit involve our leader Kathy Galloway ;
Coracle as the Community's mouthpiece ;
and now a member and associate members. The latter when they represented
the Community to the public and to other members or associates
in the event known as "Walking the Labyrinth" described in the
February 03 issue of Coracle. Further details are given
below.
There
is a spiritual cancer in the heart of The Iona Community which
unlike it's biological counterpart is also contagious. This dis-ease
will continue to grow, but that is no concern of the vessel of
Witness. The Witness is now complete insofar as no further examples
will be cited - there is no need of them. Updates on The Wind
of Change web site will be posted from time to time. They will
not apparently be concerned with The Iona Community - for the
moment.
The
Leadership's Denial
Our
leader Kathy Galloway published her own orientation to The Holy
Spirit in a Coracle interview shortly after her appointment. This
is that "spirit (small "s") "will orientate in the direction of
our hopes and main concerns". This is to have The Holy
Spirit follow in Saul's wake upon his road to Damascus.
Only after his dramatic leading by The Holy Spirit in his
blindness was his name changed to Paul in recognition of the Creation
/ Blessing of his ministry.
Kathy's
response has been the silence of apparent indifference. Were the
Witness false it could be refuted in one sentence. Kathy's denial
is a denial of her true self. Until and unless our leader's published
denial of The Holy Spirit is specifically and publicly withdrawn
it remains extant. This is not a demand or threat, it is a statement
of Spiritual fact.
Please see the first letter to Kathy in
Current Isssue No.1 for details.
The
Ongoing Public Denial within Coracle, the Community's Mouthpiece.
The
first example of published denial relates to the article "Walking
The Labyrinth" in the Feb.03 edition of Coracle. This article
by a community member describes her (?) use of a psychological
tool perceived and promoted by the intellect as a " spiritual
tool "
(small "s"). The Holy Spirit is not; and can never be a tool in
the hand of any human being. This denial is to (mis)use The Christ
-- as a tool. The falsehood lies in the very phrase "spiritual
tool". The editor has not been advised of this Witness.
The
second example of published denial is seen in the work entitled
"Fractured Beatitudes" on page 26 of the December 03 edition.
This prose work implies in the form of a statement that the first
Beatitude describes those of us with a sense of low self worth
as inheritors of The Kingdom of Heaven. We need only look at the
last Beatitude for confirmation that such personal self judgement
cannot be consistent with the characteristics of the other
community to inherit The Kingdom of Heaven, namely those persecuted
for righteousness sake. The first Beatitude refers to those
of us who are not self spirited and thus await the guidance of
The Holy Spirit. The editor declined to address the issue of whether
the author of the work was in error regarding this significant
Biblical text. He received a copy of this Witness forwarded from
the editor and has remained silent in his falsehood. The readership
are thus Spiritually misled. Details of the Witness can be seen
on The Wind of Change website.
Please click here for details
Denial
by a Community Member and Associate Members .
This
denial relates to the involvement of three of our members / associates
in the staging on two occasions of the event "Walking The Labyrinth"
mentioned above. Firstly with the participation and thus spiritual
involvement of a group of Edinburgh Associates in November 03
and then again on Hogmanay with the reported precedent of "400+"
members of the public. I assume that both of these events took
place as advertised, and that both were in churches. This assumption
arises from the response of silence to the Witness from the three
members / associates of our Community. The Witness was dispatched
approximately three weeks before the date of the first event .
This is not only a denial of The Holy Spirit within The Iona Community
membership, it is also a denial in public and is thus a progression
from the published denial. Details are set out on The Wind of
Change website.
Please click here for details.
----------------------------------------
Lest
Peace Break Out.
The
publication of the listings of members' email and postal addresses
raises a democratic issue. As members we are each holders of the
list which is published within the Community. We have also had
the opportunity to exclude our individual details. The spirit
of such publication is surely as an aid to the democratic right
of free speech. Whether between a member and one other, or two
hundred others the principal remains unaltered and irrefutable
in community. In these circumstances we (should) have no concern
with the Data Protection Act. Whilst this may be disruptive to
the more usual communication process this is not a concern of
the vessel of Witness as far greater disruption is to follow.
Apologies to the five members who previously requested no further
emails. Names were not retained.
The
threat of war can be un-nerving, so can the perceived threat --
of Peace. Amen ( The Lord's Will Be )
In
Conclusion
What
follows is the entry for 23rd December from "God Calling", a devotional
diary edited by J.A. Russell. The Biblical
references
thereafter have been added.
The
World's Song
Bless
us, O Lord, we beseech Thee and show us the way in which Thou
wouldst have us walk.
Walk
with Me in the way of Peace. Shed Peace, not discord, wherever
you go. But it must be My Peace. Never a peace which is a truce
with the power of evil. Never a harmony if that means our life
music being adapted to the mood and music of the world.
My
disciples so often make the mistake of thinking that all must
be harmonious. No! Not when it means singing the song of the world.
I,
the Prince of Peace, said that I came "not to bring Peace, but
a sword."
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Please see also: John
12. 47-50 incl.
Mathew
13. 29&30
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