Email from Nikki Geronimo, a church member in Dubai

Dear Chris, Good morning. Apologies for sending you this letter at this very hour. I just read Andrei’s email, and my initial reaction was to just dismiss it as I’m sure we know better than to believe all his claims and accusations here. He so admire you and spoke to our group how wise you are (although in his email he spoke about how you misinterpreted the Scripture) to see his “truth” by telling him that he is 99% correct and 1% incorrect. He seemed not to understand that this is a figure of speech and polite way of telling him that he is not correct at all. I don’t know how far removed he is from civilization for him not to understand that we are trying our best to bear with him, to not disrespect him and so we deal with him with politeness and respect that he cannot give to his brothers and sisters. To help you make a sound judgment on what really happened within our bible talk relating this issue and on the recent Bible talk / family talk we had last Tuesday, I felt the need to let you know my personal account and testimony on some of his claims where we (me and my husband) were personally mentioned. And I am doing this by the freedom that I found in Christ which even Andrei supports and encourages as he stated in his email that we women should be given a chance to “complain” (although I don’t want to just be known and heralded as a complainer because the identity that I found in Christ is not being so). Let me then “complain” how untrue are the following claims: 1) Case study 1 – Arthur obeys Andrew rather Jesus - This is not true, this is just some of his twisted interpretation or shall I say misinterpretation on a lot of things of which some I will discuss here. - Hebrews 13:17 & Romans 13:1-5 are just 2 of the many Scriptures that commands us to obey our leaders. So if my husband obeys his leaders, it should not be questioned, it’s a fulfillment of this command. What’s questionable is if my husband shows rebellion to his leaders for no reason at all. We are not blind to the imperfections of our leaders, but we don’t see any reason to disrespect them and rebel against them just because they sin differently than us. We are all sinners and imperfect before Him to whom we must give account. - Arthur was appointed to assign speakers on every Bible talks we have. I don’t see a problem with this as delegation of tasks within the church has been a practice by first century Christians (Exodus 18:13-26). I believe this are one of the many practices that are worthy to be imitated to ease the burden in leadership. - As what I’ve known, Andrei approached Arthur for a couple of times to speak to our Bible talk. On the first instance, he wanted to take Jesh’s turn to preach. For fairness sake, Arthur felt that it is not right, and that he should wait for his turn. And that if he is insistent, he should speak to Andrew as the leader of our group. It is not true that Andrew didn’t want Andrei to speak to our group. He was given chances to talk. And when he talked, we all listened to him, and when it’s our time to speak, he will interrupt us and take it against us that it was us who is not giving him time to speak when in fact most of the time was given for him to speak. - The second time he messaged Arthur to ask a chance to speak to our group, Arthur didn’t allow him, not because Andrew said so, but because he personally felt there’s a need for others, especially the weak and young Christians to be protected as not everybody can manage all his judgments and accusations (e.g. “you don’t have the Holy Spirit in you”, etc). - I personally believe, whether it’s Arthur or someone else delegated to assign preachers, we should always notify our leaders for any changes in the line up. This is a basic communication etiquette, which I don’t think I need to elaborate further. - We don’t look at Andrew, or any leaders in particular, as God. We don’t worship any person in the church except God. We saw their imperfections and we would rather deal our disagreements with them (if there’s any) with utmost care in private. And our actions are not solely influenced by any leader. 2) Case Study 3 - It is true that Andrew gathered our Bible talk last Tuesday to have a family talk, and we were advised not to bring any friends. He had the intention to let Andrei again to speak to our group for the second time. Let us first define what is the meaning of family talk. As far as my memory is concern, whenever my parents gathered us before to have a family talk, it could be any of these reasons: there’s major changes or decisions to make; good news & bad news; or someone is in trouble and needs to be reprimanded or warned or encouraged in front of all family members. - The first time Andrei was allowed to speak in our group, this were one of the many things we endured from him: he disrespectfully dismissed and silenced the sisters because he has this twisted interpretation that whenever sisters speak it's like we are teaching or lecturing the brothers (although now we can complain according to him - am I just the one confused here?); he accused the leaders and church to be tolerating sinners; he disrespectfully dismissed Sada when he spoke because according to Andrei, he is still under restoration; he accused us that we no longer have the Holy Spirit in us, and so many other hurtful accusations which stemmed from his twisted way of thinking and interpretation of things. He uses Scriptures, yes, but even Satan uses scriptures and copies the voice of God. The Bible ever tells us to test every Spirit. And to be honest, I can’t see the fruit of the Spirit in Him. He once told us when he was in our house that he will be very happy if the 3 brothers who are involved in pornography and impurity will be expelled from the Church. I cannot fathom where is the love for his brothers that he is claiming he has if he said those words with smile and smirk in his face. Yes, that face of arrogance and self-righteousness. I’m sure that even if God will have to discipline and count out a single soul from his church, it is with a grieving heart. - I would never wished for any sisters to be silenced and disrespected the way Andrei did. It is the total opposite of being Christlike. I would never ever put my sisters in a position to be insulted and disrespected the way he did to us. Although with this email I might be at the receiving end again of his harsh insults even using scriptures to justify those. But he himself encourage us to air our "complaints". It just happen that he is my complaint. - Yes, he spoke for 30 minutes or even more than that. But it is not true that we just provided him opinions. I personally quoted verses from the bible. But Andrei seemed to dismiss some scriptures and agrees to some based on his preference and how "true" they sounded to him. - On his accusation that elders/leaders became masters and that they manages the church, I quoted to him Titus 1:7 (Since overseers or elders manages God’s household…) to make him understand that managing the church are just part of the role of the elders or leaders. - On his accusation that having bible talk leaders are not biblical and he strongly disagree to having this kind of leadership tiers in the church, I quoted to him Deuteronomy 1:9-17. - Andrei mentioned in his email that some of us agree with him and some not. I was there the whole time and I can testify that NOBODY agreed with him. I mentioned that me and my husband agreed to him at some levels but we don’t agree to his approach and way of dealing things. We agree that sin should be dealt with. But not just the sins that he is concerned about. All sins should be dealt with. But not under Andrei’s terms and conditions, and not on his twisted interpretation of the scriptures on how we should deal them. - He said he speak of freedom and repentance. No, he spoke about not showing grace and just counting out people who sins differently than him. He accused church of tolerating sin. I asked him how does he define “toleration”? Cause for me, toleration is saying “it’s ok to sin”, “Keep it up bro, it’s ok to watch pornography”, “it’s fine”, “I’m proud of you, bro, for doing impure things”. These I haven’t seen in the church. Toleration of sin is not existing in our church. There might be a repentance needed in responding towards or dealing against sin, but this we can all repent. It’s not a hopeless case. It’s not a case same as mentioned in 1 Cor. 5:1-2 that they were even proud of it. No! It’s not happening in our church. - He accused Andrew that he lied to him because Andrei’s definition of “family talk” is as twisted as his interpretations of things. He doesn’t expect family talk to have talks of warnings and discipline. He directly accused people if they oppesed him and his ideals. Now tell me who is Lording over here? - Yes, his own wife doesn’t even agree and approve of his claims. - He was warned. Good for him he receives warnings. But we don’t get the same treatment. We were like directly served death sentence by Andrei. No warning at all. - He complains about the line up of the songs during worship service, he complains about the way leadership is handled, he complains about the preachings, and when he is questioned why he is still in the church if he don't approve of the way things are being carried out in our church here in Dubai, he will throw fault assaults of accusations that the leaders are expelling him. He can't simply understand that he was just being questioned because people are confused why he is still staying in the church if for him God's Spirit is no longer in this church, and that he has all this complaints against the church. It is just a logical question to know why. But to his twisted mind, he was already being tempted to voluntarily leave the church. 3) Elders do not allow sisters to pour their souls and complaints about the church - Your acceptance of this letter is a proof of elders allowing us women in the church to be heard. Us women allowed to have women’s day celebration is another proof of no cencorship against women in the church. - Personally, I never felt being silenced by leaders. It’s only Andrei who wanted us to be silent, but now completely change his mind. We can be heard as long as it’s a complain against the church. - There were many instances that I spoke to Jacob and to Andrew for some matters, and I felt being heard and not judged. They may not agree to me all the time, but I never felt disrespected or outrightly silenced. And I don't think Jesus will do the same. 4) Below are my personal conclusions on this matter: - Andrei is not a prophet as he claimed he is. We addressed this to him in our bible talk. No one beleived he is, even his own wife. He is very harsh, cruel and disrespectful to all who crosses his claims and his “truth” – obviously NOT a fruit of the Holy Spirit. - With due respect to Ces, Dima and Benjie who were dragged into this by Andrei as he claimed they, too, are prophets of God, no they are not, no we are not. And I don't think the 3 of them claimed they are. Again, Andrei has his own definition and twisted interpretation of a prophet - Andrei is bound by his own elaborate yet twisted interpretations of things. I join his wife in her prayer that Andrei will come to full understanding of how his actions are causing unnecessary hurt to God and to his brothers and sisters. - I believe there's a better way of dealing things and sins in the church. we may never really perfect these ways, but we should not stop pursuing them; godliness, holiness, and brotherly love and kindness. I don’t want to have anybody expelled or counted out from the church as I experienced it myself, although it served me right because it brought me to repentance and made me saw how small I am before God. Counting out should be the last resort and should be done to impose discipline, having the intention to bring a brother or a sister back to repentance. Having said that, I am one with you and with the leaders for any decision as to how you will take this matter further, as far as Andrei is concerned, to expel him or not, count my vote on your side. P.S. – I hope that there will be no need for me to address this issue from our end. But if you think there’s a need for me to testify, please do not hesitate to contact me. In Christ, Nikki Geronimo