Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Very serious post today

Okay, here it is. I am going to warn you first. I read this and was sickened, appalled, terrified and as a Christian and as a parent, extremely bothered.

I have a MySpace account. I used it to talk about my revival that I did back in October of 2007.
The church that I used to attend had a couple of little girls who liked me and they asked if I could add them as a "friend" on myspace. So, I added them. Every now and then, I send them a message just saying hi and how is the family doing. That sort of talk. I let them know I am praying for them and hope all is well for them. Since they are a part of my friends list, whenever anyone of my friends post a bulletin, I can see it on the side of my site.

I got an email this morning saying I had a message from someone, so I went to it to read the mail. When I got to my site, I noticed a new bulletin on my sidebar.

Here is what it said...
Name Date Message
Paige Jan 29, 2008 "if u were alone with me for 24 hours wat would u do?????????????

I did not like the way this looked. This girl is only 9 years old, maybe 10 by now, not sure.
I clicked on it to read the message.
if u were alone whith me for 24 hours wat would u do??????? Body: IF YOU HAD ME ALONE... LOCKED UP IN YOUR ROOM FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS & I HAD TO DO WHAT EVER YOU WANTED ME TO, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH ME? TELL ME IN MY INBOX... CUZ ITS A SECRET... THEN REPOST THIS IN YOUR BULLETIN... YOU MIGHT BE SUPRISED WITH THE RESPONSES YOU GET. THEY COULD MAKE YOU LAUGH OR EVEN SMILE .. lol IF YOU DONT REPOST THIS YOU ARE A COWARD AND IS TO AFRAID TO SEE WHO ACTUALLY LIKES YOU...........DONT BE SHY...love,paigexooxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxooxoxoox

This is how little girls (and little boys) get kidnapped, sexually abused and even murdered.
This girl is from my own hometown.
I have sent a message to MySpace asking them to have it removed for her safety (as of 2pm CST it is till there)

I have sent her a personal message asking her to remove it. I told her how dangerous it was to put something like this on the Internet. I told her as a Christian, this is not the kind of things we should be doing. God wants purity, wholeness and godly behavior. This is just inviting sin to come into her life.

I have sent a messge to her pastor so he can confront her and her parents on this. I have sent a message to the mother of her best friend. I want to make sure this message gets out. I am borderline thinking of calling the police. If it is still there tomorrow, I will call them. Not to have her arrested, but to stop by the house and warn her about the dangers of something like this on the Internet. Maybe it will wake her up to the truth.

Speaking about the truth. I am going to scream this out so bear with me. I have to scream it because this also makes me sick.

PASTOR! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. YOU HAVE IGNORED SIN TOO LONG IN YOUR CHURCH. YOU HAVE TURNED A BLIND EYE FOR THE SAKE OF NOT OFFENDING ANYONE. DO YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DO NOT CONFRONT SIN? LITTLE GIRLS SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH PROMOTING SEX ON THE INTERNET. (THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME IT HAS HAPPENED IN YOUR CHURCH!) HOMOSEXUAL BOYS FIND NOTHING WRONG WITH THEIR LIFESTYLE. ADULTS THINK IT IS OKAY TO FLIP PEOPLE OFF AND JUST SAY, "I AM SO HAPPY THAT GOD FORGIVES ME WHEN I DO THAT!" WHEN YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY CHURCH DISCIPLINE IN YOUR CHURCH, YOU ARE OPENING THE DOOR FOR WEAK AND WIMPY CHRISTIANS TO LEAD THE FLOCK. YOU HAVE A HOMOSEXUAL BOY IN YOUR YOUTH GROUP AND ALL OF THE OTHER YOUTH ARE FINDING IT AS AN ACCEPTABLE THING. THEY SAY THEY DO NOT THINK GOD WILL JUDGE THEM. YOU KNOW WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THAT, DON'T YOU? AND YET YOU DO NOTHING TO CURB IT. YOU SAW THE EVIDENCE OF IT WHEN THE GROUP OF ORIGINAL MEMBERS GOT UPSET ABOUT SCRIPTURE BEING READ FROM THE PULPIT DURING PRAYER TIME! WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU ABOUT THE HEALTH OF YOUR CHURCH?

See people, when God's Word is not only preached in church, but BELIEVED, it will keep people from doing these kinds of things. When a pastor says he preaches from the Bible, and yet is unwilling to practice church discipline, he is allowing Satan a foothold in his church.

I have contacted everyone I can think of in order to get this off of myspace. The little girl is most likely going to hate me for doing this. I DON'T CARE. I care greatly about her and I will say it again and again...

If you want to show TRUE CHRISTIAN LOVE, you will say things that might make people mad. They might end up hating you. But it is a message that needs to be given. If all I did was to call her up and say, hey Paige, let's go out for a coke. I want to talk with you over the next few days about something (never mentioning what it is I want to say), what would I do, if during the next day, or even later that same day, if a man shows up at her house or at her school and kidnaps her, rapes her and kills her? Do you think it shows love to ignore the true message that needs to be given if in fact it will save her life? I tell you, when friendship evangelism started taking over our churches, we are in fact, doing the same thing. We see someone in trouble, but we fear offending them so we don't mention anything that might make them mad at us. If a blind man was headed for a cliff, would you just say, HEY, DO YOU WANT SOME COFFEE??? or would you say,
BLIND MAN, STOP RIGHT NOW! YOU ARE HEADED FOR A CLIFF AND ARE GOING TO FALL OFF!!!!!!!!

Do you think he would stop? Sure he would, he does not want to die. no one wants to die. But we know that 10 out of 10 people do die. We just don't know when. This little girl needs to hear the truth. She needs someone to step up to the plate and be a real man or woman of God and proclaim the news she needs to hear. She might reject it at first, but later on (when it matters) she will be thanking you for all eternity!

here we go again, please bear with me...
PASTORS! DO YOU NOW SEE WHY TELLING JOKES AND A BUNCH OF STORIES IS NOT THE WAY TO GO FOR A CHURCH SERVICE? DO YOU NOW SEE THAT GOD'S WORD IS TRUE AND IT IS A LAMP UNTO OUR FEET. IT WILL DIRECT OUR PATHS. WE DO NOT NEED MULTI-MEDIA AND HIP HOP MUSIC AND A LOT OF STARBUCKS COFFEE AND DONUTS. WHAT WE NEED IS GOOD OLD FASHIONED BIBLICAL PREACHING. PREACHING GOD'S LAW AND THE NEED TO REPENT OF SINS. WE NEED TO HEAR HOW TO PUT OUR TRUST AND FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST AS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR. WE NEED TO HEAR THE NEED TO BE OBEDIENT TO GOD'S WORD. AND WE NEED TO SEE PASTOR'S WHO ACTUALLY DO ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!! THAT IS WHAT IS MISSING. OBEDIENT PASTORS!!!!!!!! THEY SAY THE RIGHT THINGS, BUT THEY DO NOT DO THE RIGHT THINGS. IF YOU HAVE SIN OPENLY DISPLAYED IN YOUR CHURCH BY A LEADER OR EVEN A MEMBER, YOU NEED TO PRACTICE CHURCH DISCIPLINE. THE IDEA IS TO SET THEM APART SO THAT THEY CAN REPENT OF THEIR SINS AND COME BACK INTO THE BODY. YOUR WORDS ARE NOT EDIFYING THE BODY IF YOUR ACTIONS ARE NOT CONSISTENT WITH SCRIPTURE. HOW MANY PEOPLE DID YOU WITNESS TO TODAY? ARE YOU FULFILLING THE GREAT COMMISSION. MOST PASTOR'S I KNOW, THE ANSWER IS A BIG AND TERRIBLE NO!

Telling jokes while little children are being raped and murdered. Telling stories while teenage boys think it is okay to be gay. Wearing the coolest looking outfits so the members can say, I am glad God forgives me every time I flip someone off!! does that sound like the church that God intended? NO it does not!

Please keep this little girl (and all children who are doing the same thing) in your prayers. Please pray for the pastor's who have decided that doing things their own way is better than doing it the way Jesus did it.

Law to the proud and grace to the humble.
Oh, God, please help our little children and remove from the pulpit those pastor's who are deceiving their congregations. Remove from the pulpit those pastor's who are not obedient to your word. Those pastor's who are not truly evangelizing. Because if they do not love you enough to want to tell people about you, I have to wonder, what kind of love do they have.

49 comments:

Anonymous said...

Praying for Paige...

Anonymous said...

Already praying! God knows, but I'll look forward to knowing more so I can pray more specifically.

Thank you for sharing. God bless and have a beautiful day. ~el

Thoughts From Jeff said...

Prayers being lifted up

Anonymous said...

"Faithful are the wounds of a friend, deceitful are the kisses of an enemy." Proverbs 27:6

This is indeed a troubling matter. I'm praying and including prayer for wisdom and assurance on your part, that you would proceed as the Lord would have you and that through it all, He would be glorified.

Tim Brown said...

Brian:

You KNOW I'm with you on this. Like I said, I barely remember the girl since Jackie and I weren't there long before we all left.

Maybe this tragedy is the thing God will use to wake this pastor up.

We can only pray and keep hope.

Tim

Unknown said...

Wow... it's amazing to realize that Pastors really are becoming socially acceptable instead of being Scripturally based. I just took a test today at the World View website (sorry, not really sure what it's called) to see if I have a biblical world view, or a worldly world view. It's an interesting test.

Anyway, I'll definitely pray for her, and that the Pastors will realize the dangers of not preaching about sin and the dangers of sin!

pastorbrianculver said...

I think some pastor's just don't get it. They don't realize there is consequences to their style of preaching.

CindyMae said...

I am praying for Paige as well as you while you try and get this message taken off of myspace!

I agree with you so much on everything that you have said and yelled in your post, I feel the same way!

Bless you brother!
Love in Christ,
Cindy

Anonymous said...

You are obviously a bit new to MySpace. The girl probably did not put that up. It is very easy for people to hack into MySpace accounts and post emails, blogs, bulletins and comments that pull people in with a tagline and then a link to a porn website. So, it appears that you or someone you know posts it, but it is from a 3rd party pretending to be them. It happens proably 3 times a month with my MySpace profile.

Also, there are porn sites that use pictures of Children to draw in older men. This Paige person is probably a 48 year-old woman behind a computer screen, trying to attract people to a fake profile. On the profile, there will be hundreds of links to adult sites. I get about five of these a day.

Just yesterday I got hacked, and all my friends got a message from me to go to an adult website. You just have to change your password every week. That is the best way... and only accept emails from "friends"

MySpace is a GREAT tool for networking and communication. But, there are also lots of places for sin as well.

Hope that helps, and thank you for being a concerned person :)

pastorbrianculver said...

Thanks nathan,
I agree with what you said. In this case, I know the girl and the pictures are hers. She has also in the past done these kinds of bulletins (I know because I have asked her) so I am confident that this is her post. The original post most likely came from an old man or someone like that. Because it does say in the post to "repost" it on your own site. So, she is most likely reposting it. It is just that when a little girl repost something like this, it is very dangerous!! I had someone hack into my account last year once. All of a sudden several sexually explicit bulletins started appearing and linking to porn sites like you mentioned. I had to change my password and that fixed it. We really need to keep an eye on what our children are doing on the internet!

Anonymous said...

I'm still praying for this girl. My problem is is why does a 9 year old girl have a myspace page and where are her parents?

I deal with a lot of parents who don't take responsibility for their children. Children are an accessory for them. I'm not judging her parents but the fact that she's 9 (or 10) and has access to this stuff just screams that she needs parental involvement (or more of it).

I could go on and on about this but I'll hold my tongue.

I think you should call the police and ask them to do as you said, even if it comes off. Why? Because myspace will take it off. Perhaps her parents will tell her someone, but you know what, being 9 or 10 years old, that "it won't happen to me" attitude is coming.
Having police actually come to her home may shake her a little for the better.

That's my advice as a "mom" and as a former kid who was always in a ton of trouble...and the internet is what had started it all.

I think you can actually report her to myspace and they will remove her because of her age...

Unknown said...

Nathan,

I also have a MySpace account and have had one for 3 years now. I know a post is fake (or hacked) when I see one. This one is not. This is one you copy and post. She even signed her name at the bottom, which hackers do not do. I've asked people whether or not this post was theirs, and everyone I've asked says "yes"...

S.J. Walker said...

Brian,

I pray all is resolved Biblically and compassionately. Someone very close to me in my family was molested back when he and I were both kids. I see first hand the results from monsters who prey on naive and preylike children. I pray no one hurts her and that she is enable to grown up rightly instead of by the loss of some manner of innocence.

God Bless

pastorbrianculver said...

Thank you SJ. I joke around a lot and I know you do too, but we both realize how serious this is. Someone pointed out to me that it is possible she has already been sexually abused, considering how her pictures look. The person who took the pictures needs to be questioned as far as I am concerned. A detective will be notified tomorrow and I am sure I will be sending him some links in an email. I do not want anyone to miss anything in this.

Lovingtheword, thank you for your prayers as well.

Jeff, thanks for your prayers too.

Stella, Tim, Jessie, Cindy, and Nathan, thank you all so much for your prayers.

Tim Brown said...

What compounds this is that another girl at this church at least USED to be involved in personal evangelism. She seemed so strong and outspoken.

Brian, am I wrong or when we were talking earlier did you say that this girl is being influenced in the same direction as Paige?

This just sends ripples out and effects so many people.

Moon said...

I'll be praying for you, for her, her pastor and her family..

God bless ya!!

pastorboy said...

we had this same problem in our church and school a few years ago. We went through and printed up the pages and sat down the parents and the kids and handed the myspace pages to the parents in front of the kids. For the most part it was very effective. Some parents blew it off, saying kids will be kids. They got kicked out of school, because they did not live up to the school contract.

This stuff was pornographic! And these kids, young teens, had stuff on their pages that made me sick, and if I had it on my page, I could be arrested (child porn) We reported the parents to the authorities. Lost several families, but better for the school/church.

Praying for this girl, her parents, the church, and the Pastor.

Thoughts From Jeff said...

Brian,

Since you know this person, have you contacted the parents or guardians as well ?

Stella, I want to echo what you said. We have a 10 yr old and an 8 year old andthey can not get on the computer without us there.

They are not allowed to participate in any network sites as well.

We even personally type in disney.com and such for them because one accidental slip of the inger on the keyboard can go to a wrong site.

Not to take away from your message Brian, but I also want the message out there for all parents reading your site; be proactive with your kids and their web presence.

Nicholas Z. Cardot said...

Wow. That is crazy that a nine year old would do or say something like that. I can hardly believe it. I will definitely pray for you. God bless you!

Drew said...

Hi There,

yes this is serious, & those in positions of influence SHOULD be stepping in to help - especially the parents.

We recently banned our 12yo from MSN due to the nature of some of the messages from other kids (whose parents don't care to monitor their childrens internet usage).

Drew (Gold Coast, AUSTRALIA)

S.J. Walker said...

Gentlemen,

With all and more respect my dear friends. Let us pray and let that suffice for the time being. I know no one here would intend gossip or the like, but this is the internet here as well. Let us pray dear friends, it was not wrong at all to call for prayer. It was indeed the exact right thing. But give the law and moreover God a chance to work before we get too analytical.

Brian, your point about what so many churches teach (or don't) is so right. That is ONE of the catalysts for rampant sin and is a direct cause for sin in the church. The church does not, in that case, interpose anything out of the norm for the culture, it is not different if for no other reason than that it is not different 6 days a week. This problem, as you said, can be anywhere.

I'll be praying for the situation Brian. That is a tough one and I wouldn't want to be in your shoes today. But, praise God, we're all in your shoes with you. Isn't that cool?

Be encouraged brothers (and sisters, I'm always getting in trouble for that one)

michelle said...

you can very easily contact myspace and have her page removed because their tos says nobody under the age of 13 is allowed... i've had people's pages shut down before... it's actually pretty easy and they were pretty prompt in removing the offending page... i was also going to suggest the page was hacked but i see you've addressed that... this is sad... parents really need to be more aware of what their kids are doing... even if she doesn't understand what her actions could lead to, her parents should know better... will be praying for her...

Tim Brown said...

Brian:

If you get a call from me while you are at work, it will be a report from the woman at the public safety building here, returning her call with the detective's advice.

Normally, you know I try not to bother you at work, but in this case, I want to get the info to you as soon as possible.

Church leadership these days. Wow.

Anonymous said...

hmmm...it was quite easy for me to find her page...she's lying about her age as well...

i would contact her parents if i were you.

when i was in high school i used to run around with my "best friend." she used to meet guys from online. she always lied about her age, she was 12 and she said she was 16. we went to meet a guy who told her he was 18 and he turned out to be 27 with a baby.

it was the most frightening experience of my life. and the most stupidest decision i ever made. my mom never knew about it. i could have been killed that night (we went to the worst, crime/drug infested area in the bronx late at night).

Dawg said...

P.B.

Maybe this was not the little girl who posted that. My guess it was one of those things that I have seen on TV where the police lure people by acting as a child.

Whatever the case, you have done the right thing. It might be wise to go ahead and contact the police anyway.

pastorbrianculver said...

I am calling the police detective today!

Tim Brown said...

Nathan:

Regardless of you "words of support" ("thank you for being a concerned person :)"), I think you owe Brian a profound apology for this Judas kiss.

terriergal said...

Re: contacting her parents -- I hope not but it very well could be this is where she learned this sort of thing. I don't want to speculate though, and I do hope that you contact the police to let them know what is going on IMMEDIATELY.

It does kind of sound like a sting though too, almost. Keep us posted.

terriergal said...

BTW minors IMO should not even have an account of this sort. Her parents really need to be on top of this if they aren't part of the problem. Sadly, it sounds as if this girl would welcome the 'thrill' of being accosted by some older man on her way home from school, only because she has NO idea what fire she's playing with. Praying.

Dawg said...

Nathan -

Tim B. is spot on. You owe Brian a BIG Judas kiss.......

Tim Brown said...

Wayne:

We know you meant "apology" and not "Judas kiss"...

Tim Brown said...

I wouldn't recommend anyone go to the link in my message to Nathan. Not unless you can resist the temptation to post anything. All they want to do is defend weak pastors at all costs.

One commenter even implied Paige is similar to Judas...she would have defected even if she had a pastor preaching the truth...and this is in the midst of accusing Brian of taking advantage of Paige...

You'd be throwing your pearls at swine...

That man will not look towards men but towards Jesus! said...

No doubt this little girl is playing wih fire.

However I would say as a grown man and a Minister you should have wisdom to not add young girls to your friends list. And further you should not be sending them messages.

I am not saying there is any impropriety on your part. But a Minister of the Gospel should always use wisdom under such circumstances and always be above reproach.

myspace blurs the lines a little too much of what is proper. It can create appearances of "guilt by association" because of the links that can be built via a friends list.

A friend of a friend on your list may not be someone you would want to direct anyone towards or create a path to.

pastorbrianculver said...

I understand where you are coming from That Man...

when the girls came up and asked me if I would add them, the first thing I did was went to the mother of the girl that was at church that day. I told her that her daughter wanted to put me in her friends list and wanted me to put her on mine. I told her I did not want to pursue this for the very reason you mentioned. The mother assured me it was okay with her. If I talked to her it was to encourage her to evangelize (she wanted to hand out tracts to people at WalMart and so I encouraged her and we saw to it that she had some tracts to hand out)

I again want to stress how much I appreciate everyone praying for this little girl. The threat of some crazy guy out there trying to set up a rendezvous with her was a real threat. Myspace has removed her account so that ought to keep her safe. How anyone can read her post and not think it was dangerous for her to do so, amazes me!

Dawg said...

Yes, that's what I meant. Typed too fast.......

LeeC said...

I am praying for her.
When I was ten I had a foster aunt that was a few years older than me. She ran away to see her dad (a member of a notorious outlaw bike gang)She called the week before Christmas to say she was sorry and would be home by Christmas.

Christmas eve my parents got to help ID her body. She was tied to a tree and shot.

The day I get a whiff that my children are playing around with myspace is the day the internet is turned off. Better to pluck out my own eye than cause one of these little ones to stumble, with food and clothing be content, we dont NEED the internet.

That said, God is good, and he IS in control.

Thanks for loving her enough to do this.

Lee

Tim Brown said...

Wayne:

Thanks for clarifying that. We were starting to worry about you... We can all breathe easier now... (Kidding)...

pastorbrianculver said...

just a quick clarification...
the mother of the girl I talked to was the little girl's best friends mom. Her best friend wanted to evangelize. I hope that clears it up.

I have done all I can to help her out. If she is safe, then to God be the glory! If nothing has ever happened to her and I overreacted, then praise God for her safety, and I am sorry for over reacting. This has not been easy for me. When you worry about the safety of a child, it eats at you constantly. Continue to pray for her as this is not going to be easy on her to lose her myspace account. She will be mad and angry at me. I know that. But so long as she is safe, healthy and happy, then that is all that matters.

pastorbrianculver said...

LeeC, thank you for sharing. I have a friend who met someone on the Internet and she was going to drive four hours down to St. Louis to meet this man. I was able to talk her out of it. It is too dangerous to meet people on the Internet. She was going to meet this man at his house. She had only known him through the Internet and she was going to drive down there by herself. I am so thankful that she did not go. It amazes me that people think I want to exploit this little girl. I only want people to pray for her so some Internet guy doesn't show up at her house trying to meet her. That bulletin she left was so dangerous for her, that she does not understand how dangerous it was. Thanks again for adding your comment

pastorbrianculver said...

Jessie and Jason have a brand new site, give them a look and support them over there too. They are young and anxious to witness to the lost.

Tim Brown said...

Here's something I posted just a bit ago. I think it is appropriate at this time...

Unknown said...

Yay! We're a link! That's exciting. I was beginning to think that no one was going to read our site :)

Kurtis, Aimee - Nadia & Lana said...

Yeah, I'm pretty anti myspace and facebook altogether now. I have a facebook account. I'm getting pretty sick of stuff on there. It's a big world of web out there. SO much to watch out for, and you don't know if it's real or not because it's all words from...somewhere and someone.

Tim Brown said...

Noticed the mother's comment over at crn.info. After her giving you credit for your concern, one wonders if your detractors will do the same...

Also noticed Nathan's comment about "things getting shadier and shadier". Well, in light of his backstabbing, I'd assume he understands "shadiness".

pastorbrianculver said...

I remember when the computers first came out (not the one's my dad worked with that were the size of behemoth) but the personal computer, I used to be on it all day long. Myspace and facebook are kind of the same way. You get stuck on it and it draws you in. Your time gets consumed by it and you neglect the more important things in life. Like evangelizing!!

thanks for your comments!

Beth said...

It was disturbing that you quoted so much of her post. I think that was dangerous and potentially erotic as well...but I am praying...

speaking_as said...

Thank God for your intervention, Brian! What on earth is a nine year old girl doing with access to a computer and the internet?! Have we all just lost our minds?! I shudder to think what horrors could have occured had you not stepped in and done the RIGHT and RESPONSIBLE thing. Where were this girl's parents? The internet and especially the Myspace are just cesspools of sin and sex! I don't understand why you have a Myspace, Brian, do you see what goes on on there?! (I don't have one, never have, never will, thank you very much.) It's all pictures of teenaged girls and men engaging in sin!
Again, thank God for your intervention Brian. And if the girl gets angry or "hates" you, don't let it get you down. You did the right thing.

Tim Brown said...

Not everyone is called to minister in an environment like MySpace. I view it like I do the world in general. There are places I'd go to and places I wouldn't. But that doesn't mean it's wrong for someone else to take the gospel to a particular place.

It's a call each one of us has to make. It would be easy to say "No one should be on MySpace to share the Gospel". But sometimes the darkest places are where the message shines the brightest.

I do have an account there but I rarely visit. I used to have maybe 10 or more friends but now I'm down to two...one being the guy who runs the thing. Don't know if my old "Friends" left or eliminated me because they never heard from me.

But I think it's a valid mission field. Just don't compromise the message.

pastorbrianculver said...

4 years have passed since this incident. I wonder how the girl is doing now. I wonder if the girls mother wishes she had been stronger with her back then. I pray that she is doing okay and that God is first in her life. It is sad to see the way people are drawn towards the dark side of the internet. Sorry I don't have an update on the situation. I am now living in Jacksonville, FL enjoying the beautiful beaches of the Atlantic Ocean!