Well it’s been one year since Werner Peters, my pastor, took a chance and helped me set up my own web site. He created a sub-domain of his own web site The Reclaimer, for me and I gave it the name The Apologetic Response. It is still a work in progress as I learn html bit by bit and I may set up my own sometime but not for a while. I’m still an ‘internet baby’ I wanted to let my readers know just what has been happening behind the scenes of The Apologetic Response and also offer you some examples of the kinds of responses that I’ve been getting. So I’m calling this my First Annual Report!

The Apologetic Response
First Annual Report
February 2004 - February 2005

Postings

Since first posting an article about Apologetics on February 8, 2004, I have posted a total of 22 entries to date which have been responded to by 98 comments posted on site (some positive and some negative), 492 personal emails (some positive, some negative, many regarding ministry correspondence directly and indirectly related to The Apologetic Response), and 565 spam comments posted on site and then removed (comments advertising gambling, pornography, etc..). The web site counter has counted 3277 hits as of February 28, 2005, averaging 8-10 hits a day.

Responses

The article that has generated the most response, both on site and in personal emails, has been ‘Seventh-day Adventism - Christian or not?’
Most of the responses came from Adventists themselves who found themselves not only disagreeing with me and my research, but also disagreeing with what the SDA church itself teaches! For example:

“I think you have your facts mixed up about the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. I am from the SDA Church and I find that many things you say are things that we do not believe. I especially feel strongly about the “under grace” one. Suppose that a criminal was put on trial for some great wrong he had committed. The judge decides to forgive him and give him grace. No longer is he under the law, but under grace. Now, would it be reasonable for that person to go back and do the same wrong(s) he had done before? No! He would have to keep the law! Just because he’s under grace doesn’t mean anything! In the same way, we are bound to God’s law because we love Him. “If you love Me, keep my commandments,” Jesus said. And Jesus Himself kept the Sabbath. Why shouldn’t we follow Jesus’ example?
The Sabbath wasn’t made just for the Jews. “Remember the Sabbath,” says the 4th commandment. That means it was made before Sinai. It was actually made during Creation. God made it holy so we could spend time with Him. You can search the entire Bible, and not one verse will say that the Sabbath was changed. We keep the Sabbath because it is God’s day to meet us. If we don’t meet Him then, we miss out. It’s as if we went to the airport to meet someone on Wednesday instead of Tuesday, as they asked.
Posted by Eunice at September 17, 2004 06:55 PM”

Then of course, there are the comments I get from Jehovah’s Witnesses which are not quite as polite as the SDA example:

“YOU ARE A BLOODY LIAR. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT SATAN THE DEVIL HAS BLINDED THE MINDS OF THE UNBELIEVERS SO THAT THE GLORIOUS GOODNEWS ABOUT CHRIST MIGHT NOT SHINE THROUGH. NOTHING GOOD COMES EASY AND I BELIEVE THAT THE END WILL TELL.SO I URGE YOU YO REPENT AND ACCEPT JW AS THE ONLY TRUE RELIGION.
Posted by ruth ekpo at November 15, 2004 01:44 PM”

There are many more examples but most of them have been personal emails which I will not repeat. But of course not all comments and personal emails are from angry or confused people. Some responses I get are very encouraging:

“David, once again, an excellent article. You are honest, forthright, and yet steadfast in your commitment to biblical truth and history. 
’The Da Vinci Code’ reveals the plight of many in that there is a profound lack of discernment between what is fiction and non-fiction. When these lines of demarcation are no longer discernible, we are in a state of spiritual emergency. 
People no longer value the importance of truth as a moral absolute. We are seeing in our days a frightening fulfillment of Paul’s prophecy that people will “turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Tim.4:4 NASB)
In the words of the old hymn, “Lift high His royal banner, It must not, it must not suffer loss.”
Posted by Pastor Tony Costa at November 27, 2004 12:20 PM

And this one:

“This is a great blog. I remember when Heaven’s Gate hit the news. I didn’t know there was so much occultic involvement in their formation though. I’ve been fishing for blogs that are good for Christians and seekers so I can link them on mine. I’m going to link yours. (You won’t believe how hard it is to find clear, interesting blogs suitable for seekers - even the ones listed as Apologetics!)
My blog isAllthings2all
I also have an apologetics site of my own linked there:
Cosmos Chronicle
God bless you!
Posted by Catez at September 20, 2004 05:32 PM”

Speaking of links, The Apologetic Response has been linked to at least five other sites that I know of.

For those of you who may be more active on the internet than I, this may not seem like much but as I said before, ‘I’m an internet baby!’ Even so, This has been a great year that has presented a number of ministry and personal growth opportunities that have come, directly and indirectly, as a result of this internet ministry.

Prayer Opportunities

I often receive prayer requests like this one:

“My daughter “Anna” (16) [names have been changed]
has for the last month been approached by a 15 year old JW named
“Kaddie” with questions she has of the 
Watchtower. These conversations are happening at their school
in small town Saskatchewan Canada.

I will give you the background of this situation.

Kaddie comes from 2 generations of Jehovah Witnesses, raised in 
the Watchtower Society. She is wrought with emotional problems 
including anorexia that she almost died from. She also has had 
problems with cutting herself. Her mother and father are an integrated 
family. Her new father married Kaddie’s bio mom when his own wife died
from the WT ban on blood after a serious car accident only 5 years ago. 
If she took the blood transfusions, this woman would be alive today.
This happened in our community, population of 320 individuals. It 
caused much pain to us all, the entire town and all the school kids 
attended the funeral.

The fact that Kaddie is speaking to my daughter is a miracle from 
Christ because our family name “Smith” is marked as “opposers.” 
Our family name has been announced as the evil slave in the JW
congregation at the Kingdom Hall and all JW’s are ordered to shun 
all Smith’s. Kaddie knows this, and is secretive with her discussions
with my daughter Anna. Kaddie is not well liked by the kids at 
school, and amazingly enough last year was having problems with 
my own daughter when the shunning order was announced on us. 
Anna says that no one will be-friend Kaddie and she has been 
coming to Anna for secret talks. Kaddie knows she is not supposed 
to talk with any member of the Smith family, so she is going against
instructions. If found out, Kaddie will be in very much trouble from
her parents and the JW elders.

I have spoken to Anna about the delicateness of this situation
for Kaddie. That she is only 15 years old and bound to her JW family.
I told Anna to talk to Kaddie about Jesus Christ and that He
is calling out to Kaddie to have a personal relationship with her.
Anna knows that the WT has a different jesus different spirit
and different gospel. Anna has been studying with me on the 
errors of the WT for many months now.

Please pray for this situation that my daughter leads Kaddie towards
Christ and prick the parents hearts towards the real Jesus. The family
has an integrated home that includes 3 children. They are all between
the ages of 13-15. I don’t know what the Lord will do with this 
situation, please give us the strength to be calm and loving Christians,
and have His love and wisdom in our actions.

I’m very worried for this situation and we all need guidance and prayer.
If anyone has advise for us in this situation please email us both,
***especially Anna on how she can handle speaking with Kaddie
without getting her into trouble with her JW family.***”

It’s always a privilege to be asked to pray for people in situations like this. I was also privileged to help a woman overcome her fear of remarriage. Although I have not posted anything about this on my site, she wrote me to ask my opinion on it. She believed that she would lose her salvation if she were to remarry even though she had divorced her husband years before becoming a Christian. I was encouraged by her response:

“Thank you so much for your time and concern and PRAYERS. I hadn’t looked at it in this way before and I have been encouraged. I pray God blesses you and your ministry. 
Sally”

Ministry Opportunities

I have been privileged in many other ways as well. This past year I have been invited to churches to share my testimony, teach about Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and Cults on Campus. I have also had two articles published in The Protestant Challenge. I also had the honour of being invited to lunch with Nizar Shaheen of A Light For All Nations at CTS studios and having breakfast with Paul Carden of The Centers for Apologetics Research in southern California last summer. As a result of that meeting, we in Toronto can look forward to meeting him at the Toronto Missions Fest this year April 8th and 9th, or you can meet him at my church, Westmount Park Church, April 10th!

Although I was unable to attend the Witnesses Now For Jesus Convention last October, I was able to support Lawrence Hughes, a former Jehovah’s Witness, in his fight against the Watchtower in a lawsuit against them for their “alleged” participation in the death of his 17 year old daughter Bethany Hughes, by participating in a protest rally last September outside of the Canadian Bethel (Watchtower Headquarters) in Georgetown. This event was covered by the CBC and his fight continues in Calgary Alberta. I also attended the Sola Scriptura Ministries International Toronto Conference 2004 held at St. Giles Presbyterian Church where James White and Richard Ganz, among others presented ways to reach Muslims and Jews and others for Christ in a conference called ‘Presenting the Truth in a Truthless Age.’

I am in regular correspondence with Keith and Lorri MacGregor of MacGregor Ministries. I always set up a resource table when I speak at churches and I get most of my materials from them. I am hoping to begin producing some of my own resources in the new year as I am able.

Ministry Challenges

Although this past year has been mostly an exciting growth experience, it has not been without it’s setbacks. The spamming of the web site has been a daily challenge as I have to check it several times a day to make sure that there are no inappropriate comments on the site. One such comment that was posted came with some kind of ‘virus’ or ‘bug’ attached which disabled the site entirely. The site was disabled for two days until I was able to find the offending file and delete it.

Nasty emails and comments have not been the only insults to come my way either. While attending the protest rally outside of the Watchtower Headquarters, I was confronted by a long time ex-Jehovah’s Witness friend who began accusing me of all kinds of things that did not make any sense to me. He was actively trying to provoke me into an altercation in front of the police and CBC cameras that were present. Fortunately, another friend who was in attendance arrived on the scene and interrupted the verbal assault that I was getting. I can only attribute this to spiritual warfare. I continue to keep him in my prayers.

Financial Report

Well, there really is nothing to report here as maintaining the web site doesn’t cost anything other than my monthly ISP bill which I would have to pay anyway to stay online. Also, since I have a full time job, I don’t ask for any financial support for this ministry. I do have expenses such as resource materials for the book table when I am at churches. I also had to buy a new laptop to use for giving powerpoint presentations and to use at work to monitor the web site. I’ve also had to purchase a new Laser printer to use for publishing mailings that I am hoping to start up this year.

Usually the honourarium I receive from churches when I speak combined with the sale of resources covers my expenses so I either break even, or I have to put in some pocket money myself to keep the bank account active. If I ever do actually come out ahead, I end up using whatever ministry money there is to purchase more resources.

I was starting to keep detailed accounts at the beginning of the year but since I am not a registered charity and I do not solicit funds or have a donor base and I never seem to make any money anyway, I just gave it up. For those of you who are concerned (”Should I not be concerned?” - Jonah 4:11) my ministry account currently holds a grand total balance of ten dollars! Now I am currently praying that the Lord will show me ways to increase that amount since I am currently preparing to give a seminar in the fall and I am in need of resources for that!

Future Goals

This is related to my outstanding financial report (that’s a joke friends!). I would like this ministry to be a registered charity with a Board of Directors for accountability. I would also like to expand the web ministry to include an online store for resources that I recommend and I would also like to see The Apologetic Response become a team ministry as opposed to the ‘one man show’ that it currently is.

This has been a great first year and I hope that there will be many more to come should our Lord tarry.

Please Pray:

- For wisdom, guidance and direction as I offer apologetic responses to the world around us.
- For those who are angry and/or confused, that the Lord would use what they read on the site to open their hearts and minds to receive the free gift of salvation that He has to offer.
- For protection from the Evil one who would seek to discourage this ministry.

Thanks

Thank you to Werner Peters for helping me start this. Thank you to my wife Heather and son Caleb who have been supportive as Daddy comes home from work and hides in his room with his computer. Thank you to all those who have written me encouraging letters this past year.

May God richly bless you all,

David

Posted by David_Upton at 06:57 PM