A very noble man I know, who is close to the Aritao abuse, has suggested to me that we set up a situation in which the media (like CNN) will cover our story. That is a very noble idea, however, I have already contacted CNN, MSNBC, CBS News, Fox News Network, NBC News, The New York Times, and a few others. I also brought attention to the media about the G.R.A.C.E. Report, and none of it was carried on National News. So have others on the these Forums. To organize hundreds of thousands of people to protest publicly is realistically not going to happen, not unless it has touched them somehow on a personal basis (ie not everyone has a relative who was a victim on Aritao).
I have prayed for several months to our God, and my prayers are this. "Father, please use me. Use me as your servant to do your will, to help my friend heal. To help other victims heal, and to take this man Les Emory off the streets so he can no longer harm any children. Father I pray that you will give me strength and guidance to serve you in your name, and Father I pray that you use me to help future generations be spared from the atrocities that were committed against the victims in Aritao."
If you are reading this, I would like to ask you, if you don't mind, what are your goals in this? What do you want to see happen? I mean besides the obvious (get Les and the other molesters OFF the streets). What happens if he is locked up? Is that going to fix the reasons why the children in Aritao and the other dorms were put in that situation to begin with? Has anything REALLY changed besides getting one more child molester off the streets? Has anyone been held accountable for the string of bad decisions that let him go to molest another day? Is NTM more or less likely to Do the right thing from now on? Have any policies been changed? Are they all still afraid that "if any word of this gets out, that will ruin all of our good work?"
There could be, Right now, as I am typing this, a dorm dad molesting an MK somewhere in the world. What kind of FEAR have we put in the back of his mind that will deter him from doing these things? Nothing! Here it is 17 years after Les left Aritao, and he hasn't even been brought in for questioning by the authorities yet! Why not? THAT is the problem that needs to be fixed! That is the problem in Aritao, Fanda, PNG, Tambo, Vianapolis, Paraguay, Venezuela, and these are only the ones that we know about.
If you are a believer, I ask that you pray on this really really hard. Inside every one of us, is a that part of Christ. The voice that is from Our Lord can be very subtle, and sometimes can be easily drowned out by our own thoughts, emotions, prejudices, etc. If your belief is that to expose certain names brings disgrace to Christ, then I ask you to please realize this - as was pointed out by my Noble Friend, "the name of Christ has already been disgraced by NTM." Call these men out by name and by doing so, help to stop the name of Christ from being continuously smeared.
I know that there are family members and friends of victims who have or had close ties/relations to people in leadership at NTM. I can only imagine the difficult position in which they find themselves. I can only guess that because of these ties, there is some question and/or hesitation on how exposing the people within NTM will affect those ties and relationships. I can only remind those family members and friends, that exposing NTM's decisions and lack of actions is NOT ATTACKING those in leadership on a personal level - what is being exposed and brought to light and needs to be addressed is their actions as a whole. NTM leadership is not and was not just one person - it is a group of men and yes, even God-fearing men are human and do make wrong decisions, whether out of fear of public humiliation, whether out of selfish motivations, or even for just one moment, CHOOSING to NOT FOLLOW what is BLATANTLY RIGHT. It says in the Bible if you see a brother sinning, point it out to him. If he continues, take someone with you, and if he continues take it to the church. NTM was alerted and nothing was done. GRACE was brought in, and partial action was taken. With the most recent developments, it is time to get the church involved. WE are the church and it is OUR responsibility to hold NTM accountable - please note this - we are to hold them accountable, NOT JUDGE - for that is God's right and responsibility, and He certainly does not need our help with that.
Please pray hard on this. To put Les and the other molesters behind bars, is simply not enough. What happens when its our grandchildren being molested by a dorm dad somewhere? Will you wish then, that you had held those in leadership accountable?
Think about it.
~Mahal Ko~
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