Greetings, Thank you for your response. Please note that this is the first response after a whole lot of queries over a period of years. The leadership of Meadowview, in violation of the clear commands in Scripture, have spurned my queries, closed their hearts, and even sent the police to intimidate me for the crime of seeking reconciliation. Clearly some of the people involved are still part of leadership of your institution. Do note that a change at the top will not absolve the institution of past deeds, but rather consider what love would do. Consider also what I should do, keeping for example Ephesians 5:11 in mind. Meadowview leadership, Chris Bitterman in particular and clearly many others in leadership, have been directly involved in destroying my family rather than doing what they could to restore my family. Since I have been public about this I find that I am not unique at Meadowview. What would an institution that claimed the Bible as their final authority, assuming Meadowview still does, do in this situation? It is NOT to simply say that it was done by a leader who is no longer here, so we will wash our hands of it, as that would be cold and callous. Let me be specific and directly quote the last email from Chris Bitterman on Wed 8/6/2014 3:15 PM, a long time ago: John, You work very hard at not repenting. Please do not contact me anymore. Chris Considering the other emails, which I can provide, do you seen someone aware of things like Proverbs 18:17 “The first to plead his case seems right, Until another comes and examines him”? Do you see in lived out Psalm 17:10 “They have closed their unfeeling heart, With their mouth they speak proudly.” As an institution, do you not see you are living out 1st John 3:17 “But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” I have appealed for years to those who had the world’s goods, in particular my family, and your heart was closed. Is it still closed? Do you say in your heart, we have a new leader, so we don’t have to love anymore? If so I hope your new leader does not use the Good Samaritan passage, as it might be condemning since it ends with “Go and do the same.” Note this is to live out love, not a closed heart. I have previously written to several that I have an outline to express the sentiment I saw in a video on YouTube where Chris Bitterman spoke of the problem of a growing use of drugs in Lexington. He spoke of driving by what apparently was a store and now a drug rehab center and praying for those people. He talked about his desire for them to come to Meadowview and grow it to three services. That was CALOUS AND UNLOVING. My response at that time was “don’t drive by, GO IN!” It has become a theme that I do use as I live “going in”. The sparseness of your email suggests that your new leader, George Sayour, also drives by. May I suggest that if there is any love in the leadership of your institution, you will consider what has happened, not write it off as “that was then”, but actively pursue reconciliation. This includes between those who conspired against me, and used Detective Blake at the Davidson County Sheriff's office to do what might be a crime in the sight of man to intimidate me. If you dust off one of those Bibles you have you might find 1st Corinthians 6 and notice that there is a contrast in what the Lord commands and what Meadowview leadership did. You might consider the simple summary line that I have been using that “marriage begins with sex and ends with death” and either endorse that by working to keep intact marriages in your flock, or prove me wrong from Scripture. That would require dialog, not a closed heart. I do not know about my family now as they have been closed off to me, in violation of man’s law, and I won’t mention what the Lord commands. However, I do know my 19-year-old son George spoke of Meadowview as he reached out to me last year. He has been kept isolated from me. Do you care? He sat in your congregation for years. If he is not there now, do you no longer care? My youngest son Zadok has never had a face-to-face conversation with his dad. He sat in the congregation and listened to Chris Bitterman, but has not been held by his dad in 8 years. Do you care? You had him there for years while his dad was appealing for anyone to help restore his family and remained with hard closed hearts ignoring the appeal. Do you want to continue that now that you can say he is no longer there and we can now feel good about ourselves? There are really multiple things on the table before us. My family is obviously foremost in my heart as I remain in love with my wife and kids. This can be seen with the video I did for my wife’s birthday in 2018 “Marriage Defined and a Commitment Beyond” (http://kozlowski.org/2018-12-08+1) that I put on BitChute but still assume no one in my family has seen it. It might be a bit confusing as I use the Scripture to make my case for the importance and permanence of marriage. Jim Cross, my father-in-law seems to use the Talmud as a reference. Do you use the Talmud? Consider Mark 7:7 which speaks directly of the Talmud a couple hundred years before it was written. There is the issue of Meadowview leadership using the police. Do you take pride in that? I have been public about that event, and plan to continue on that. Intimidation does not work when you deal with someone who actually believes that obedience to Christ is important. That again might be a new thought at Meadowview. There is the absolute coldness of Chris Bitterman. If you spend any time at http://Family.Kozlowski.org, you will find that there is a constant refrain of my desire to reconcile with three gentlemen, Jim Cross, Render Caines, and Chris Bitterman. This is not a “let bygones be bygones” as Jim Cross has suggested as I point out that is more in keeping with the Quran rather than the Scripture, but true reconciliation where we can both honestly state, as Peter did about Paul in 2nd Peter 3:15 and call each other “beloved brother”. It takes both parties and I’m not going to stop pursuing all three until reconciliation occurs or death comes. Finally what is suggested by your email is that Meadowview is absolved as this is now past. That again is cold and callous. Please let it be known that this email is public at: http://kozlowski.org/Reconcile,Meadowview-2020-08-21+1 and it will be shared in other ways. As I have stated, I am not playing at this, I am using the Scripture, and I’m not going to stop. While it seems Meadowview leadership might have the attitude of “God, I thank You that I am not like other people” (Luke 18:11) and therefore I have no hope with you, I will still pursue you as one who the Lord has shown mercy to in the hope that the Lord has shown the same mercy to you and we can live that out with mutual encouragement. Are you interested in the latter? The email you sent was simply cold and writing me off. I hope you see my response is serious, but laced with love in obedience to Christ. When the email arrived from my son George in November of last year, the response from me was continuous, but ignored. However, the evidence is there (http://family.kozlowski.org/Reconcile,George). You state that “Our new Senior Pastor is not aware of these circumstances.” This is very public, so many others will know to the point at just a moment ago a new section was added to the reconcile area on the Kozlowski.org website: http://kozlowski.org/Reconcile,Meadowview. The choice is yours. Will you be like Jim Cross and “tuck you Talmud between your legs and run”, or will you consider the often quoted Matthew 5:24 and live it? What is more important to you, your institution or the Lord? If all continues as it has for years, then next Wednesday, August 26, 2020, I will be leaving consecutive voicemail #1,000 (http://Family.Kozlowski.org/Voicemail). This is a physical demonstration that my wife has no regard for the Lord’s commands (1st Corinthians 7:11), or man’s law that allows me access to my kids, or consideration for the promise she made to me 30 years ago that I continue to live out. I still hope she will one day resume with me. This doesn’t have to continue. Your institution was part of starting this unfortunate saga. Is there any love in with anyone in your institution to help see it end well? I have been at this for over 8 years. This is stamina. This is “enduring to the end”. Respectfully, From: Meadowview Secretary [mailto:secretary@meadowviewpca.org] Sent: Friday, August 21, 2020 7:43 AM To: John@kozlowski.org Subject: ... Dear John, We just received both emails. We hadn’t previously received the June one. Please know Chris Bitterman has not been a Pastor here for 1 year. Dorothy-Jane and the kids have not been attending here for over a year at this point. Our new Senior Pastor is not aware of these circumstances. We are praying for God's best for you. |