Church Split from

10,000 Ft. to 6-Ft Under

A Response To Donald Sanduskys Jun 2015 Blog Post
by Gail Henderson - January 8, 2016

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out all fear because fear hath torment John 4:18

Response to an Expose
A Church Split From 10,000 Ft
Donald Sandusky wrote and published a document to scribd.com, a popular open platform
for publishing and sharing documents of all kinds. There is no criteria for this literary
platform application other than to purchase membership. The following is an open letter to
Donald Sanduskys expose titled A Church Split from 10,000 Ft. Names and references
used here are editorialized and not intended to harm any person or organization.
Dear Don,
Do you mind if I call you Don? We barely know one another yet, welllets just say you got
my attention. I am compelled to respond to this June 2015 publication of your expose on a
specific church split that you are obviously passionate about and have strong opinions.
Im thinking about that ancient proverb, The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Using
social media, you have recently targeted individuals (using their initials) and I'm just
wondering who you see yourself as in these scenarios - friend or enemy? Christians hating
one anotherits disturbing. But, lets move on while you ponder this and address a few of
your talking points. You don't mind a little critique or tete for tete, do you? You FB-posted a
tally of 98% approval rating for A Church Split from 10,000 Ft. Thats impressive but
statistically, my rationale is that this percentile is based on nebulous responses, not on 2,992
views. You show 1 likeon Scribd. Many blog readers chose to remain silent and move on.
Up until now, I was one of the silents. But, lets get back to expose talking points:
1. THE VICTIM, THE DOCTOR, THE LAWYER - You begin your expose by confiding in the
fact that you were victimized by your surgeon and went to your trusted attorney for
guidance and he gave you his perspective. As a result of your internal turmoil, you were
inspired to connect the dots and make some comparisons. I get that.
2.

THE DOCTOR - Your tale of the old, establishedphysician who lost his practice to the
younger, cunning physician is a sad and messy business. It focuses on the poor old doc
who lost his patients - and his court case. Technically its professional client theft but I
wonder about the back story. Is the old doctor a good, honest practitioner or in fact, a guy
who got away with doing bad business? Maybe this why the upstart MD was motivated
togo across the street? I guess well never know. ..

3. MY OWN DOCTOR ANALOGY - I knew a young, brilliant specialist with a major East
Coast hospital (Yes, I traveled with my job too, Don). Well call them Dr Old and Dr

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out all fear because fear hath torment John 4:18

Young. Dr Young started his career in a small practice led by an older, more experienced
doc. This founder was legendary so Dr Young looked forward to working with him.
Over time, Dr Young realized his new mentor was treating patients with costly toxic
drugs; plunging families deep into debt while knowing full-well that his patients had
advanced, deadly disease with no real chance for survival. Whatever it takes, Doc!, the
patient would declare. Dr Old's patients loved him for offering these convincing
remedies. As you say, its a revenue-producing business. Dr Old held hispatients fearof
dying in his hands and profited greatly from these deals for life extension. He infused
them with ineffective drugs until the day they died (which was usually sooner than later).
Dr Young knew Dr Old had begun with an excellent reputation but was horrified that
what he now witnessed was so ethically wrong. In good conscience, he could no longer
work for his senior colleague who preyed on patient fears. It may have been acceptable to
lie to patients 50 years agofor their own good but not in this century. Dr Young
informed the Medical Board. Itwas taken out of his hands so he worked in a research lab
for one year (due to noncompete laws) and later opened his own practice. Word got
around that Dr Old was a bit shady. You left out of your story, Don. Patients can make a
choice by intelligently asking questions and choose to leave their physician. In this
information age we can quickly fact-check the past and present. Have you ever used
Google charts? Its amazing! Yes, a patient can choose to leave their once trusted
physician at anytime.

4. DEFINITION OF A BUSINESS

-Thank you for sharing your knowledge about 501c3

orgs. No surprise info there, Don. Many hospitals were built by non-profit orgs and
pay their CEO hundreds of millions per year in salary. Im just wonderingdo you
support large, random church salary payouts? And what about fiscal accountability? Tell
me if Im being naive here but if churches should be held to a higher standard, then surely
every-single-solitary-penny donated fromchurch members hard-earned money
shouldbe accounted for. Churches (and ministers) serve PEOPLE and PEOPLE are not a
Commodity because acommodity(by def.) can be bought, sold or traded. Free-will
donations run churches, dont they? Surely you arent saying those who left Church A for
Church B (of hyper-Grace and Love) were bought by anything but the blood of Jesus
Christ? And Im quite sure you wouldnt indicate that those who stayed at this fictitious
Church A (by Founder, Pastor, President, CEO, etc. etc, etc.) were paid to stay because
THAT would mean there truly is such a thing as Christian congregational theft due to the
issue of ownership.
5. CHRISTIAN CONGREGATIONAL THEFT - Help me understand this definition, Don.
One cantsteal that which one does not own. Going back to the ugly affair of church
splits, do you honestly think 250 people just blindly and ignorantly left a church en masse
based on the premise of rumor and hype? Even if the things you say about a confused

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out all fear because fear hath torment John 4:18

executive board who were suddenly whipped into a frenzy by this wheeler-dealer, church
thief who could wildly yet methodically postulate and spin unsubstantiated rumors were
true, could they really pull off such a large heist and keep all those congregants hostage in
a rented church building for nearly one year? Couldnt it be possible that one by one
these people of God discovered that Grace is a continuous action verb that does not stop
at Salvation? Can we entertain the concept that one can grow by Grace - not by scattered
rabbinical Hebrew translations and obtain everlasting life by walking in Jesus footsteps not by a tormenting fear of missing it by not obtaining one personsunique
knowledge? I go back to the premise that the church are people; you cant steal what
you dont own. Not even VPs or board members gathering in homes
6. PRIDE, SEX AND GREED - I wholeheartedly agree that these are most grievous sins and
contribute to the downfalls of man. Since greed usually denotes money, may I add one?
POWER. Even Gandhi realized,Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of
punishment and the other by acts of love. You know, Don - fear is one of the oldest and
strongestemotions of mankind. The other is fear of the unknown. Lets get Machiavellian
for a moment, OK? Many leaders reach a pinnacle where they have everything the world
has to offer - but then there is Nicollos philosophy,It is better to be feared than loved, if
you cannot be both. WOW! Thats a powerful concept when youre talking corruption.
To use either emotion to literally control the life and decisions of man with love OR fear?
Don, would you take it upon yourself to manipulate a persons life by tampering with
their powerful emotions of love and fear? Would you use them to cover-up, deny or
support immoral behavior or criminal offense? Dr. Old insisted he could save people
from death despite their prognosis with a sincere-looking smile as he poisoned their
bodies until the day they breathed their last breath. I noticed you enjoy reflecting on our
early baby-boomer years. Yes, I remember those good ol days too and while we were
hippies in 1967, most states had laws in place to deal with child abuse. Awareness and
research started decadesbefore that and the reason the government got involved was
because some families (and churches) will protect secrets at any cost. While we were in
college in the 70s, national laws were passed and sexual abuse came to the forefront.
Don, you indicated that aprivate way was a more effectual way todeal with
unconscionable abuse in the family, school or church. 1 Studies show otherwise - so does
recent church history. Im calculating in my head right now that AT LEAST over 40 years
ago, there were laws requiring the reporting of physical and sexual abuse. Many of the
people I have counseled in the past year were abused (in or out of a church) AFTER 1974.
You seem vague on these facts so perhaps these alleged church leaders who protect
perpetrators were uneducated on such matters; or perhaps they were well aware of the
laws Either way, they are accountable before man and before their God.

1https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/insights_law_society/ChildProtectionHistory.authcheckdam.pdf

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out all fear because fear hath torment John 4:18

7. WRAP UP - To be honest, Don...Im not sure the doctor and church are all that allegorical
orstrikingly familiar. To become an MD is to enter a profession requiring education,
strict standards of practice and accountability from peers. Then, his/her patients choose
to enter a relationship with him and trust him. Patients are summoned or threatened with
eternal damnation if they change doctors. His/her practice is sustained by fee-forservices rendered and there is nothing inspirational about the surgeon who did my hip
replacement this Sept. A church stays solvent by having a common cause and free-will
offerings. What do doctor and pastor have in common? Neither should play God.
Could it be that these patients stayed with Dr Old because they feared the act of dying; doing
anything to avoid it. And perhaps the church member stays loyal to a pastor - not because of
their intense love for their Savior but because they fear the pastors personal prophetic words
which allegedly determine the Spirit and Souls destiny after their body is six-feet-under. The
first could be physician malpractice. The second could be defined in the Christian world as
spiritual abuse and possibly mysticism.
Fast-forward three years after Dr Young left the practice. The facts came out about Dr Old.
He lost his medical license, charged with a felony and the IRS shut his practice down. This
can happen to churches too. I know youre upset but maybe this hypothetical hijacking that
your world-traveling business buddies think they witnessed on the 747 at 10,000 feet high
was in reality Gods carefully orchestration of a divine exodus for TLC. One day, we will
know
One last thing we know for certain. Your lawyer friend gets his cut because lawyers always
get paid whether they defend a client for the appearance of right - or for wrong; truth or for a
lie. Its how the litigious game is played. Personally, Id be cautious of any lawyers reaction
or advice from 10,000 ft up. Thankfully, our God is clear about how He defends
righteousness - And He doesnt play around.
I wont be posting or reposting on these matters again but I wrote this because 2 in the end we
will not remember the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends. My friends arent
perfect but they are doing a great work as unto the Lord. I pray you will do the same.
Be Well and may God bless you, my brother,

gail

Gail Henderson/AbbyG
hendersongail53@gmail.com
2 Quote by Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out all fear because fear hath torment John 4:18