2 Samuel 127,

For some time now, I have been persuaded that any idiot or charlatan,
especially one that hides his identity under a vague reference to Scripture,
can write a blog. No doubt, the same one would consider himself a scholar
and maybe even published author. You, sir, are perfect proof of my point. I
do not know you. I have no recollection of the two of us have ever met. You
came into my line of vision when a friend forwarded your scurrilous hit
piece on Dr. Derek Thomas, whom I have known for some forty years.

After close to fifty years of pastoral ministry, as I consider what you write
here, my mind takes me to three places, any one of which deeply concerns
me:
1. I ask myself, am I hearing from a person who is mentally troubled?
2. Or, am I hearing from a person who egotistically wants me to know that
he has appointed himself a prophet, albeit one who does not understand
the Bible’s teaching?
3. Or, am I hearing from an evil person who is an abusive, evil, verbal
bully?

There may be other possibilities, of course, but these three are the first that
come to my mind as I read your Email, 2 Samuel 127. What I do know, sir,
is that you need help. Frankly, anyone who has taken the time to do what
you have done has too much time on his hands and as they say, “Idle
hands are the devil’s workshop.” That phrase, by the way, is likely rooted in
Proverbs 16:27: “A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a
scorching fire.”

I must confess that I became suspicious about the credibility of your

scholarship when I read your quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, a self-
confessed transcendentalist, nature worshipper, and self-promoter who
wrote sexually charged poetry to another male student while he was at
Harvard. Then, as I read further down, I found out that your partner is a fan
of Margaret Mead. Really? Really? Margaret Mead???

Here are some questions that I have for you, 2samuel127: How many care
visits have you made while you were digging up dirt on Derek Thomas?
Derek Thomas does that pretty much every day! How many people have
you reached out to help while you have been trying to take down another
person? Where in Scripture do you find your commission to write what you
have written here and in prior blogs? The pharisees, perhaps? How has the
community you live in been enhanced while you were scheming against a
man God has used wonderfully through many years? Have you ever seen
a statue to someone whose claim to fame was that he helped the race by
taking down other people writing, well, let’s just call it what it is, “trash”?

Then, I wonder, just who appointed you Derek Thomas’s judge, 2 Samuel
127? (I’m thinking now about Matthew 7:1-3).

Let me say clearly, sir, that if my first thought is what is happening with you
is accurate, I will help you find the help you need to be well again. If that is
not it, then clearly you have a much deeper spiritual issue that needs to be
addressed.

When I go to the Bible (from which, I suspect, you have plagiarized your
pseudonym), I discover all kinds of refutation for your gossip. For example,
you chose not to “practice” our Lord’s clear instruction in Matthew 18:15-17.
You are commanded there to take specific steps, the first of which is that
you would contact Derek Thomas personally and speak to him in a
reconciling tone. Indeed, that whole passage is focused on reconciliation.
Have you done that 2 Samuel 127? Or, do you simply lack the backbone to
take that step?

2 Samuel127, self-appointed prophet and judge who would bend the Bible
for his own moniker, in addition to the passages already cited, you seem to
have disregarded the following passages, which I commend for your
prayerful consideration:
Psalm 101:5,
Proverbs 10:18,
James 4:11,
2 Timothy 3:1-5,
Matthew 5:11,
1 Peter 2:1,
Proverbs 16:28,
Ephesians 4:31-32,
Luke 6:45,
Proverbs 20:19,
Psalm 109:3,
Exodus 23:1,
Proverbs 11:9,
Mark 7:20-23,
1 Peter 3:10,
Matthew 7:12,
Psalm 50:20,
James 1:19-20,
1 Corinthians 4:13,
Proverbs 6:16-19.

I know that you would be aware of other passages that you have violated
by writing this and other recent Emails of yours. This list is a good place to
begin and I commend it to you. If you would use one verse, 2 Samuel127,
you would do well to use them all. After all, you wouldn’t want to be called
an “empty vessel” (see Romans 15:13; 2 Corinthians 4:7,16; Ephesians 5:18;
John 7:37-39; Acts 2:1-4)would you? What would that do for your arrogance
and egomaniacal writings?

You, sir, owe a number of people your apology and you need to seek their
forgiveness. You could, if you were half a man, begin with Derek Thomas
and his wife, Rosemary, whom you have hurt very badly by your perverse
and ungodly behavior. After that, you need to contact other people with
whom you have corresponded concerning this matter. I know only part of
your list but I am sure you have the full record.

2samuel127, consider this letter my Matthew 18:15 approach to you. I will

allow you a reasonable time (say, three days) to get back with me and tell
me that you have found the help you need to get better or that you have
begun the penitent reconciliatory behavior our Lord commands. If I do not
hear from you, then I will be forced to pursue the steps that follow, first, with
a well published letter to all my ministerial friends (there are thousands of
them!) warning them of your heresy. After that, in accordance with the
Matthew 18:15-17 passage, who knows? After all, it says, “tell it to the
church.”I guess that would begin with a mass mailing to all the
congregations I have the privilege addressing (again, many of them!). What
I do know is that, like him or not, Derek Thomas is a man God has chosen
to use powerfully and, forgive me, I suspect that any fellow who behaves as
you have been behaving recently will never be half the man Derek Thomas
is. I mean can you name for me just one person who has been drawn
nearer to God because of such behavior as yours?
Meanwhile, until I hear from you, I will be praying for you to do what the
Savior calls good.

Leslie Holmes, D.Min., Ph.D.

(the real me-nothing phony about that signature!)

Note: Received 8-6-2019