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Final writhing of a corpse
Just as we had thought, in the space of a couple of days - we also had been REBANNED, when California found out we had been back. One person who commented on this was:
[3:10] Smuckola Tapioca: (Sun Sep 23 2007) oh. it's coz they're psychos. in jesus's name, we bring down psalms 109 on them, as false accusers. we call on the scripture that says that the teachers are held more accountable than others, and we call them false teachers. in the spirit of psalms 109, we ask that the Lord will make them wear their sin like a cloak of shame, instructively, until they can see what they've done. In jesus's name, may it bring them to godly repentance. amen
[3:10] Smuckola Tapioca: the Lord's building a stand in me, on this issue. i dont know what, but i'm not complicit in the enemy's plans, no matter how passively or unwittingly.
[3:10] Smuckola Tapioca: I just faced off with California Condor, and i left. He is a master of rhetoric, but thankfully so am i. I logged him and his supporters directly usurping God's authority in favor of earthly authority -- that if you buy something, you have absolute power over it and anyone who you grant authority to (like him, in banning) has the same. The end. Just like how you exposed Abner.
I wrote one last time to Benjamin and Mariposa, in the faint hope that they might adhere to Christian principles, overthrow injustice, practise forgiveness, and allow us back to Truth. In this of course I was sadly mistaken - they have no concept of forgiveness.
Can You Forgive Us Please?
As you know, California banned us - myself and my husband - from Truth permanently. I'm writing to ask you as Pastors, Benjamin and Mariposa, to consider lifting this ban for the following reasons:
The original cause of it was a silly and almost trivial incident where I made a childish joke about California, which was not intended to do any harm. Such jokes are common in the discussion area of Truth, as everyone knew. Nobody who was there thought it was meant viciously and it wasn't a challenge to his authority.
But secondly, I believe after thinking and praying for many days over what California said at the time, the real reason for the ban was Cal's belief that we are somehow associated with a griefing group that has caused trouble in the past, especially Calliope Simon. Cal said that we were griefers and had been banned before, which actually is not true. We have never been banned for anything, anywhere, and we don't use alts to do anything. We are not associated with anyone who has harmed Truth, in fact quite the reverse - we have protected it and spoken up for yourselves. We have been here since 2005 and nobody has ever said we are griefers before - you can ask our friends who know us well. Nobody can understand why we are being singled out for this punishment, and it's upsetting us deeply.
Simply, we are not griefers! It just is not true. We haven't visited Truth in other avs to cause trouble and we wouldn't dream of doing that. We did know Calliope Simon at one time when there was a lot of argument, but I can assure you - I speak the truth before God - that we are NOT involved in any of her activities and we befriended her merely as a PERSON who was being hurt (some months ago).
Both of us are honestly and sincerely sorry if there has been a cause for concern, if we have said or done anything to offend. ~We are sorry that authority has been insulted or upset. We have both apologised in public and told members of staff we have repented before God, and before them. We are no threat to Truth!! I don't know how to say it any more convincingly.
We have a lot of friends on Truth and we feel rejected, upset and lonely, and they are missing us. If we deserved a temporary ban for misbehaviour we would accept that, but a permanent ban for doing nothing more than having a silly joke seems so harsh. Please please, find it in your hearts to forgive us and restore us to fellowship.
There may have been rumours going around - I don't know - I have tried to find out what has been said against us, but I can't. Whatever there is, is heresay. All I can do is assure you that we as Christians support and honour you and what you do, even though we might have opinions as to how some people have acted on Truth. But as one person said to me, you shouldn't be banned for having an opinion. I can see that Cal doesn't like us, but can agree to differ? We promise to be respectful, and to keep out of his way, and not speak to him if that is what it takes.
Please I beg you to reconsider and tell us that we can return. You don't need to unban us from the church building itself or the cafe or anywhere but the discussion area, if you think there is any kind of danger to your property (although there isn't in fact.) But if you are worried, you can keep an eye on us. And if you cannot do this, please let us know quickly because it's hurting us to be away from our fellowship.
Abner Likewise Banned
But we were not the only ones banned from Truth.
Every so often, we encounter somebody who is such a stereotype, so predictable in his responses, and yet so unaccountably illogical that we marvel. Such a person was "Abner Ibbetson" who arrived on Truth in the Summer of 2007 with a mission quite unlike Carlton Homewood's - Abner's mission was to damn us all to hell! (That is, everyone who did not fit his exact cutout shape of religious perfection.)
It very quickly dawned on me that Abner was the one with the religious and mental problem: he could not live with himself and felt such a depth of guilt and sin for some hidden reason that his only recourse was to turn it into a crusade against "all sinners" and to damn THEM instead. A typical psychology of transference.
Unfortunately, others were not so quick to spot the psychological flaws in Abner's condemnation routine and either took offense, or tried to fit in with him in order to be accepted.
Abner's dark secrets
Eventually it became known, as Abner confided in people, that his stand against what he saw as "idolatry" and "sin and evil" such as wearing black leather and being immoral and lewd (and especially his fear and hatred of attractive women) stemmed from profound problems in his own family. From what little we discovered, Abner came from a very dysfunctional family and he and his brother had been into BDSM, the Goth scene (black leather and so on) and it had led to his brother (or perhaps Abner himself?) shooting his mother and then trying to kill himself with the same gun!
Obviously, this kind of trauma had left its mark. We sympathized, but we also had to deal with Abner's setting himself up as an authority on Truth island (at first, then on his own land) and basically telling everybody what to believe and do - or else.
Unbanned, for a reason
A day or two after the total ban imposed on myself and my husband, friends rallied round (not realising the depth of California's hatred) and a staff member of ALM, Hope Winkler, took it upon herself to unban us. It turned out this was timely, as this was the very moment Abner decided to start his campaign - and it meant I was present and could take full screenshots (attached) of the boards that Abner displayed over his head.
(The full texts of his discussions, accusations and condemnations - and his explanations for the boards - are attached, along with the IMs I received from friends who supported me.)
Needless to say, after Abner paraded round the ALM church with his boards over his head, and annoyed just about every single person on Truth, he was duly banned and allowed there no more. Thus a large number of us voted with our feet and followed Abner to his new island sim, called LAKE ABYSS. There he set up court with himself as king and his regents around him.
One sample of Abner's display boards is here:
Bible Black
Christians (or anyone) wearing black was a very sore point with Abner, and he considered all such people EVIL and IDOLATROUS. I made the point that not everyone who wore black leather was evil. For instance, nearby we have a motorcycle club and the usual type of cycle clothing that a person can buy here is black, and made of leather for safety reasons. Therefore, I asked Abner, are all these motor cycle club members evil, if they wear black leather? YES, he replied. That was his logic and there was no arguing with it.
Insane Transference of Guilt
One occasion when he used voice with us all on Truth, Abner told me he knew all about me: that I was a "baby boomer" (somebody born in the 1960's) and therefore was by very definition rebellious, a druggie, anti-authority and out of control. (Above all he hated anything that was "against authority" especially his own).
Incredibly, he told me I was part of the spoilt generation that is responsible for the whole mess this world is in, and that I had caused people to commit suicide - "what, me personally, have caused people to commit suicide?" - "YES, you, and your problem is you brag about your upbringing and education, manners and culture and you have no regard for authority..."
By this time I was in fits of laughter because it was so ludicrous. Personally, I was a very disciplined and obedient child brought up by working-class parents with victorian values, almost two decades before the "baby-boomers". But Abner insisted he "knew me".
A definition is here: "In the United States, the Baby Boom Generation is stereotypically associated with cultural touchstones like Woodstock, and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement. In general, baby boomers are associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values" and so I was for ever damned as a POT-SMOKING HIPPIE REBEL, according to Abner.
Calliope summed up the problem like this:
"Understand something about Abner: he is describing the events of his own life, and then blaming them on people who cannot possibly be punished, and he looks to a fantasy to help. Abner is not mean, he's pathetic. People in Abner's life have suicided, people in HIS life are sick or evil, and he does what all Munchousens do - he prescribes those qualities to the world, so everyone he sees is a suicide, everyone he sees is dying or evil, and he yells and screams and gets worked up because externalized, there's nothing he can do about it. So, a suicide from his past becomes the suicide of a million people, and instead of blaming himself, he blames what he is - a baby boomer."
Abner the Righteous rejected and forbade anything and anyone in black, which he deemed satanic and evil
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