OPEN LETTER to ANTONIO da ROSA, aka: The (Mr.) Truth Detector

Dear Guests of IDOTG:

This blog is dedicated to a defense of the Gospel against the twin errors of Lordship Salvation and the Crossless Gospel. I rarely stray from these subjects.

Certain highly disconcerting events have been in play since September 2007 and have come to the fore in recent days. If the issue I am about to disclose had not involved my blog as well as one of my contributors it would never have become an issue here. I’d prefer NOT to disclose the following, but the issue is so serious and the stakes so high I feel that it must be addressed. You will appreciate the gravity of the situation as it unfolds below.

Brother Antonio da Rosa:

On Tuesday (3/31) Michele (Sanctification, who attended the 2009 Grace Evangelical Society [GES] National Conference) directed the following statement to me from her blog:

“Also, you were right. Today in one of his sessions brother Antonio confessed to the thing which you have broadcast...It was at the start of his session and a sound guy walked up a little bit later and turned his mike on, so it may not show up on the mp3.”

On Thursday morning (4/2) Michele sent this to me:

“He (da Rosa) is confessing over the unrighteous charge of another brother as you have presented it.”

Michele’s meaning is that at last week’s Grace Evangelical Society National Conference you have privately confessed your public personal attack (under cover of two false identities) against Brother Ron Shea.

DISCLAIMER:
If you had not been blocking my attempts to e-mail you in private and had not been unreceptive to my earlier attempt to discuss this with you privately there would be no need to publish this open letter.

HISTORY:
To refresh those who are familiar with the history of what you did, but primarily those who are not familiar, I am going to provide a brief synopsis of the events and then address you personally.

On September 8 & 12, 2007 you publicly libeled and defamed Brother Ron Shea in one of the most heinous ways imaginable and to a lesser degree offended me in the process. *You used an “Anonymous” handle to post at my blog what was no less than criminal libel and defamation of Brother Shea. In four subsequent e-mails you sent to me and Brother Shea you used The Truth Detector as your alias. In the e-mails you reiterated your libel and defamation of Brother Shea, plus you also revealed your motive for the attacks on him, which was blackmail.

Within days it was irrefutably proven by a professional IT investigator that you (Antonio) were one and the same as “Anonymous” at my blog and The (Mr.) Truth Detector in the four e-mails. Even though we knew you were the infamous Mr. Truth Detector we did not disclose this to the public.

Just a few months ago you were asked in public by another blogger if you had anything to do with the Sock Puppet: fg me and the personal attack on Ron Shea. To the first you confessed to being the **Sock Puppet: fg me.

***To the second, however, you emphatically stated that you had nothing to do with the incident involving Brother Shea.

Just a few weeks ago one of your Crossless blog partners (Rose of Rose’s Reasoning’s) at the pro-GES gospel blog, Unashamed of Grace (UoG), stated that she asked you if you had anything to do with the libel and defamation of a brother in Christ. She published this statement on March 20, 2009 at the UoG blog, “I (Rose) am certain that you (Lou) have no such proof, because Antonio told me that he did not do it.”

In March 2009 I sent you (Antonio) a private e-mail in which I openly, for the first time, confronted you directly and personally with what you did at my blog by way of the libel and defamation of Ron Shea. You decided to publish that e-mail at your UoG blog. This was IMO foolish of you to do that. Nevertheless, it was, therefore, with that posting by you, that your actions as The (Mr.) Truth Detector were “broadcast.”

****The week prior to the GES National Conference I sent to Bob Wilkin, Rene Lopez, John Niemela, Bob Bryant and Kyle Kaumeyer a full disclosure of your blog comment and four subsequent e-mails. I included details of the investigation that proved you are the originator of these personal attacks against Ron Shea. You received a carbon of the documentation that Wilkin and Kaumeyer acknowledged receiving.

All of the above has been groundwork leading up to what, according to Michele, transpired at GES this week.

RESPONSE to ALLEGED CONFESSION:
Michele indicates that off microphone, prior to your first GES workshop, you confessed to being the man who, under two different false identities, libeled and defamed Ron Shea. Without the advantage of having heard your remarks it may be that you offered much less or possibly much more than that. Furthermore, it is not known at the present if you attempted to qualify and/or justify your unethical actions against Brother Shea, which has been your pattern in previous lapses of commonly accepted ethical norms.

Once Wilkin reviewed the documentation of what you did to Brother Shea on his (Wilkin’s) behalf, it is my opinion that he (Wilkin) insisted on your alleged confession before allowing you to begin your first workshop.

I commend him for this, if in fact it happened that way. What I do not understand is why a Christian leader would feature any man or woman at a national conference who is infamous for this and additional examples of serious lapses in ethical behavior. IMO, the alleged private confession of your heinous libel and defamation of Brother Shea would have been enough reason for a responsible Christian leader to dismiss you from the speaking schedule.

Nevertheless, even now you still refuse to publicly confess and repent of what you did to Brother Shea in the public arena. You refuse to publicly confess to the offended party, Ron Shea, and seek reconciliation with him. In September 2007 you were quite eager with a stated motive to publicly defame him, but now you show no eagerness to publicly resolve the matter with him. Why?

All you did at GES is privately confessed (to a friendly crowd that was not the target of your personal attacks) to being caught in yet another gross public lapse in ethical behavior, and embarrassing the GES. That is NOT biblical repentance!

Nothing has been resolved because nothing has been confessed, apologized for and repented of. Your sin remains! In my opinion, private sin may only require only private, discreet resolution. Public sin, however, demands public resolution!

“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift,” (Matt. 5:23-24).

Your sin remains! Secretive confession of a public sin in the form of personal attacks is a dodge and is IMO as sinful as the act itself. You have done nothing to lift the cloud of sin that hangs over you. The convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit is inescapable.

“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me,” (Psalm 66:18).

You have not satisfied the demands of true biblical repentance and reconciliation. IMO, what you did was political to protect GES from your actions and keep your workshop speaking opportunity in tact.

Do the right thing Antonio: Publicly confess your libel and defamation of Brother Shea, which you committed at my blog and in four subsequent e-mails to me and Brother Shea.

Publish an unqualified confession, apology and genuinely repentant response to Ron Shea. If you want to return to where you published your attack on him I will give you permission to post your public confession and apology to Brother Shea at my blog in the same thread in which you personally attacked him.


LM

*See the place of da Rosa’s libel and defamation by following THIS LINK. Because of the henious nature of his first post as “Anonymous” the content was deleted, but the posting is still present. His public blog comment in which he attacked Brother Shea and the e-mails have been archived. They are available for viewing upon request.

**See- Sock Puppet: fg me

***See Rachel’s note in the comment thread below, which includes Antonio’s denial of personal involvement in the libel and defamation of Ron Shea. Antonio wrote,

“Concerning your question about Ron Shea, I have never posted any anonymous comments, at all: good or bad, concerning this man. Until now, I have not heard of such a thing, nor have read anything remotely resembling anonymous slandering of this person.”

****A copy of this e-mailed documentation sent to the GES leadership is available upon request. You will need to disclose your full legal name in an e-mail to me.