It Really Isn’t Personal: “It’s FINANCIAL!”

     “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” – Lou Gehrig (1941), Ben Townsend (2014)

It is amazing to me how the Lord works. Now, I am “sarcastically” using the words “lucky,” “accident,” “accidentally,” and “fortunate” for this blog post. I am quite loved for my sarcasm from those “other” Christian Law people (that was said sarcastically).

Yesterday, Sunday, November 16, a pastor whom we completed the unincorporation of his church a couple of years ago happened to drop by our services. He called me the afternoon before and let me know that he got back from a month vacation to his church a week early, and another young man from somewhere else was preaching. He did not want to be there and intimidate the young man, so he asked if he could join us in our services. Boy, was I LUCKY. After services, he asked me how things were going. I said, “Great! An attorney is really blasting me for my writings on the Declaration of Trust.” He guessed the attorney, having spoken to him on the phone while searching for help unincorporating. He said immediately, “That’s amazing! I just got an email yesterday (Saturday) from the BLC, and it mentioned this attorney. It seems to me like they are wanting to do away with your take on the Trust all because of money.” He explained to me how much the other groups were charging for unincorporating their churches. He said, “You did it for nothing, and led me through it all also.” He volunteered to send me the email, which I received from him this afternoon.

     “Does ‘In Depth’ mean 28 Years of Legal Scrutiny by Judges and Legal Professionals?” -Ben Townsend

The salient paragraph reads thusly: “Bro. Jerald Finney is almost finished with an in depth study on the origin of the Declaration of Trust, which, as you know, is the main instrument that the BLC uses. It should be finished withintwo to three weeks, for me to send it to you. I think that you are really going to appreciate what he has found.”

     “Oh what a tangled web we weave… when first we practice to deceive!” - Sir Walter Scott (1808), Ben Townsend (2014)

This is a wonderful revelation. It tells me that “007 Spies” and that “Wilson” character were not the real reasons for the excoriation of myself and the teachings of ELC. The REAL reason was, Dr. Baldwin is out there now with the BLC, and pastors are Googling “Declaration of Trust” and finding my articles on this subject, warning pastors to NOT let them make you a “Trustee.” So, their trying to pick a fight with us is mere rhetoric. They do not want to know what we teach or why we teach it. Therefore, I am not going to answer their false charges with any of our methods of Unincorporation. I WILL answer their MOTIVES though.

     “PASTORS, DO NOT BECOME A TRUSTEE!“ – Ben Townsend (2014)

And their motives S-T-I-N-K! They really should have left our chapter 17 in our second book, “Approved by Man,” alone. That would have been my final word on the subject. That that whole chapter was our (I am including the actual writer of the chapter, Dr. John Wright, Ph.D in Business) response to the BLC’s statement that the “Declaration of Trust is NOT a Trust.” That is all the ELC was disproving. Attorney Finney can change the question to, “The ELC teaches the DOT makes the church a legal entity,” all he wants. But the truth is the truth. We were MAKING FUN of the BLC Bulletins which made the statement which we answered. And I believe we heralded the warning that Pastors should heed – “DO NOT BECOME A TRUSTEE!” Let me repeat – “DO NOT BECOME A TRUSTEE!”

     “Not just a Pastor/Trustee, but a Pastor/Trustee/LandLORD.” -Ben Townsend 2014

There was a certain church we were using to demonstrate the truth that Scripture never wants the pastor to be any legal officer of any legal “instrument,” including an “Ordinary Trust” (Attorney Finney’s term) or a “Declaration of Trust” (BLC’s term). These are not Biblical instruments for Lordship Churches. They attempt to tell us that their “Trust” is not like any other Trusts. And MY dog is not like any OTHER dog! You have your “Business Dogs,” your “Revocable Dogs,” “Living Dogs,”  “Charitable Dogs,” and I am sure Attorney Finney has an “Ordinary Dog.” And just because he may call his Ordinary Dog’s tail a leg, it does not make it have five legs. Actually, I would have preferred to use the BLC’s terminology and just say that I have made a “Declaration” that I HAVE a Dog. (Note: I use Dog here not making fun of anyone in the BLC or “whatever the name that other group is” who happens to be Dyslexic.)

We have in our possession the document between the local church and the Pastor/Trustee, with RESOLUTIONS from the church body. Now, I am putting my neck out there and stating this is just paperwork that is done for you, and that NO ACTUAL business meeting was called by the church to pass these “Resolutions.” Let me define “Resolution:” “A corporate action, sometimes in the form of a legal document, that will be voted on or has been voted on at a meeting of the board of directors for a corporation.” I also have the Declaration of Trust from this same church, naming the pastor as “Pastor/Trustee.” I also have the document from an “entity” which rented part of the church’s building, naming the “Pastor/Trustee” as the “LandLORD” This “Pastor/Trustee” (according to the legal lease) “herein known as Landlord, has the right and authority to sub-let any portion of said leased premiseshe so desires.” (UNQUOTE ACTUAL DOCUMENT, emphasis added) And may I add something that Peter said: “Not for filthy lucre…neither as being LORDS over God’s heritage. (1 Peter 5:2-3)”

Do you see? There is no need for Christ to be over His own church, the Pastor/Trustee/LandLORD can handle it just fine.

“Give to the Poor…Take up the Cross” (Mark 10:21)

This is a “Response Blog.” It is in response to a Christian Attorney who has made some claims against the Ecclesiastical Law Center and its leadership (mainly me) that I would deem outrageous. So, I thought between two Law Ministries I could be the first one to make some “Stipulations.” Lay people (those of us who do not know the law but just “lay” around picking our teeth) would call it “Give and Take.” Some would call these “Admissions and Confessions.” I suppose I am not really trying to convince a bevvy of attorneys of anything anyway. But maybe a pastor or two will stumble upon this response and understand where I am going with it.

     GIVE – “Ben Townsend does not know much about Trusts.” – Ben Townsend

Okay, I admit it. And when pastors are questioning the “other” attorney from the “other” really good law ministry, he can actually have my blessing to say, “Dr. Townsend admits that he does not know much about Trusts.” Then he can snort through his nose a little giggle, and the pastors in the audience can smile and nod to each other and chuckle. They can even designate one of their own pastors (at that moment) to cackle out loud. I would like him to stipulate that at that point he will tell the congregation of pastors, “Dr. Townsend has the same amount of knowledge on Trusts as Paul, Peter, John, and all the other writers of the Bible.” Whenever anyone would call the ELC and ask about Trusts, I would say, “Dr. Wright, phone call,” and hand the phone to Dr. Wright. Mainly, those would be people whom Dr. Wright had set up their Trust as an individual. He  personally set up hundreds of those Trusts. Some were Unincorporated Business Organizations (UBOs), some were Bare Trusts to just hold properties and assets, and one he set up for me to hold money to be used to help other missionaries and ministries in my son Jeremy’s name after his death. He sincerely tried to show me how it all worked once, and I smiled and nodded and said “Hmmm…” a lot. And with Dr. Wright having a B.A. in History, graduating from Central Baptist Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Business Administration, I figured he knew what he was talking about. Besides, I am a pastor. The only thing I really knew about Trusts was “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.” I was not confused into thinking that was a legal Trust though.

     TAKE – “ELC Saved Church $25 Million Dollars.” – Ben Townsend

This other Christian attorney made the statement that he first met Dr. Wright when he came to speak at his church in Texas in July of 2002. He stated, “Years ago, the church I belonged to in Austin paid Robin Wright of the Ecclesiastical Law Center (“ELC”) to spend a few days at the church teaching the church on how to stay under the Lord Jesus Christ only. I, as an attorney, was asked by my pastor to talk with Mr. Wright. I spent quite a few cordial hours so doing.” So, now I will show you what “Take” means. No one on ELC staff over the years, neither Dr. Wright nor myself has ever been “paid” to do anything. We have gone wherever, free of charge, with no expectations of payment for any services rendered. Now, this church in Texas, Capital City Baptist Church, has never supported financially the ELC. The real reason Dr. Wright was invited to come to the church was because the parents of the boy who was beaten by the pastor’s sons were attempting to sue the church for $25 million dollars. Dr. Wright meeting with the church’s insurance company that week was the primary purpose for his trip. His “speaking to the church” and “cordial hours” of speaking with this attorney was incidental. I was on the phone with Dr. Wright all week because I was doing the research in Texas law concerning unincorporated churches being sued. When I presented Dr. Wright with the Texas laws that stated the unincorporated church could not be sued, he presented this research to the insurance company. The insurance company used this research to convince the parents’ attorney to drop the lawsuit against the church. Plus, the insurance agent when thanking Dr. Wright for his help, confided that they had planned to “settle” out of court with the parents for “six figures,” but decided against that when they found out the church could not be sued because it was not incorporated. The parents did end up suing the boys and got a judgment of $1.5 million, which the boys will have to repay when they get out of jail.

     GIVE – “I am not a Prude.” – Ben Townsend

I think anyone who knows me, knows that I really enjoy having a great time, and really enjoy making fun of legalists and Baptist Pharisees. Dear Brother Ben Mott, very proper mind you and very ethical, but not a prude, heard me singing a bunch of my silly songs after one of our conferences were all over. People were still hanging around and I went to the piano and started singing “The Cat Got Dead” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQMDgVCikP0 or “If My Nose Was Running Money” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nhSW6QxGPs at 5 minutes into the radio video, and many others. Bro. Mott at first did not know what in the world was happening. Afterwards he came up to me and made this statement in perfect English, “Dr. Townsend, I now know what you are all about; you shine a light on Pharisees.” He was right. I blast Calvinists with “Super-Hyper-Calvanistic-Predetermined-Theory” sung to the tune of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Knit-Pickers with “Swallow the Fly,” and I help pastors with songs like, “If You Don’t LIke My Apples, Don’t Shake My Tree” and “Don’t Tell the Pastor.” Sometimes I get flak from people who do not understand what I am all about. Usually it is from those who completely believe one should be serious about everything. Now, I am serious when I preach in the pulpit. But even when I joke from the pulpit, I am very serious. I never make fun of the things of the Lord. I do tend to make fun of myself and people who need to loosen up or consider themselves too high and mighty to laugh at themselves. And it’s okay, I can take this criticism of not being a prude. Or worse criticisms like, “He calls his attacks on certain other believers ‘sarcasm;’ I do not look at it that way.” “He sets himself up as a legal authority and he is anything but.” Hey, I just do whatever I can to be a blessing to people. I don’t set myself up as anybody. I don’t even care what people think of me, only what the Lord thinks. I have an audience of One. I only want to please Him.

     TAKE – “That Other Attorney IS a Prude.” – Ben Townsend

Now, a “Prude” is defined as: “One who is excessively concerned with being or appearing to be proper, modest, or righteous.” (The Free Dictionary.com) Examples of terms from his writings that expose his prudishness are “I started an intense study,” “after years of intense study,” “having done extensive studies,” “knowing the tactics of ELC,” “are thoroughly covered in” his teachings, “I myself instructed them (somehow meaning ELC),” “extensive knowledge,” and the many times he states that he will “repent and publish” his repentance if someone shows him he is wrong. It is so funny to me how guys will state they will repent when so many times in their writings they show that they already know everything so intensively, extensively, and exhaustively that there is no other knowledge left in the world which could ever make them change their minds. (sigh) He even stated in an email he sent me that when he was with the BLC, “I was straight on everything.” Folks, when everything the person deals with is referred to as a “very serious matter,” something is prudish about the fellow. But my nature as a Non-Prude is to point out the mistakes of the Prudish every chance I get. Does that mean we will never get along? Well, I can meet a person like this half-way. I can even go overboard, meaning just say the things I want to say out loud just to myself, and smile a lot. I know God uses all kinds of personalities and Spiritual gifts. My Spiritual gift (Exhortation) is to get everyone to “lighten up” and do not think to seriously of themselves all the time. Now, if this fellow says my calling him a “Prude” is an “Attack” on his character, then everyone will finally know he is a Prude. If he were ever to just say, “That Townsend, what a nut. I can’t believe he would say I was a Prude. He’s so flaky,” then Revival might just break out, or the Lord might just return. But please do not tell me a man is “humble” when he gets mad about what is said about him. True Humility is realizing we are worthless, so whatever anyone says about us is just not that important. Besides, if they knew ALL my sins, they would realize that I am much worse than what they think I am.

     “Confused, Illiterate, and Already Defeated“

Yes, I suppose I am sitting here confused, illiterate, and already defeated. And I do not even know how it started. I was just minding my own business, playing my little piano, singing my little songs, preaching messages about Jesus to the church I pastor. Suddenly, someone gets really mad at someone else, ties that someone else (falsely) to me and my teachings, and blasts away at me. Why? They admit they got “in the  flesh.” Of course, “they in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:8).” So, this all started because someone did not want to please God? Maybe. I mean, “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God (James 1:20).” So, here I sit, typing away, getting ready to answer someone whom ethically I cannot share everything I do as ELC Director, or else people who read this will know what we do and how we do it, and some will try to take those things and have a “do it yourself” unincorporation party and wreck what has taken the ELC twenty-eight years to accomplish. I am wondering if they will even be satisfied with anything I answer anyway. They have already declared that I am “defeated.” I take that to mean they are pretty confident that the last word has been declared.

     Been There, Done That.

So, where do I start? Well, I do remember a time before when I was “already defeated.” Satan, the confident enemy, had convinced me that I was his, lost in my sins, serving him in every way. Then I heard the Gospel preached and I was convicted that I was already going to hell because of my sins. Nothing I could do about it. I was truly defeated, dead in my trespasses and sins. I could not get victory over my sins. But I turned to Jesus Christ. I found Him to be Lord of everything. He had already taken all of my sins and paid the penalty for them on the Cross. I did not have to do anything but trust what He already did for me. Then I became “more than (a) conqueror(s) through Him that loved us” (Romans 8:37).

     My Brother “AND/OR” Enemy. :-)

Those thoughts took me to the time when Satan was so overconfident again that he had won. It was at the cross of Christ. Finally he had “defeated” his enemy, the One who a few short years before he was going to give all the kingdoms of the world. Christ was dead. Buried. Gone. Then three days later… well, you know the rest. Now, my enemy is not Satan, he isn’t even my enemy, but claims to be a “humble” child of God, I guess we could say we are brothers in Christ. He had it right when he called me “confused.” I did not even know the man. I did not know what he taught. Everything I had heard in the past about the man was positive from people I respected. I had never read his blog or his books. Was that mandatory? I guess I did not get God’s memo that I was supposed to read all that the man wrote. It is quite humorous to me though. Everyone in the past that this man talked to at different conferences that he assumed was tied to the ELC, he patiently tried to put forth his research on this subject, thinking that person would bring it back to me. He even wrote, “many times the ELC has been presented with truth about the matters involved. I myself instructed them.” I suppose he already thought that I had rejected both him and his research. I can understand his frustration. I have probably talked to some of those same fellows at other conferences. I do not automatically think they will go and tell him what I said.

     Distancing ELC From Radical Beliefs 

During the decade of the 90s, Dr. Wright and myself would be invited to churches to give our presentation against incorporation. Invariably, during the question and answer time, a pastor would ask if we believed like the pastor of a large Midwestern church. The discussion centered around whether or not the ELC was “anti-government.” It did not take long to discover that good men of good Baptist churches refused to even consider unincorporation because of the way this pastor treated other pastors who were incorporated. These pastors would ask us if we believed that they pastored “a government church.” Others asked us if we considered their church “a church of Satan.” These phrases and beliefs could be traced back to UBF speakers over the years. We were asked, “Why would you have a Mormon speak at your conference?” We were automatically tied to the UBF. Understand, there was no Biblical Law Center during this time period. There was no “Declaration of Trust” being touted. We very rapidly saw the need for redefining where we stood on the local church. And we consciously decided to distance ourselves from those very divisive terms and people. We outlined our position in our first paperback book in 1999, “A Treatise for Church Unincorporation.” This would become our first hardcover book in 2004. The decision was made to critique the IBT case in Chapter 5 of the book. Even knowing how unpopular that would be personally for me, I also knew it would make many more men look into unincorporation. I personally spent over $2000 in getting copies of all the case files in the IBT case. I met several times with the court clerk, the clerks of the judge, and even the judge herself. Chapter 5 was the result. Yes, I took the heat for that chapter. On the other side however were the dozens of pastors of unincorporated churches that were thanking me behind the scenes (“we can’t make _____ mad.”) for writing the book. One of the most sterling boosters was from one of the founding members of the ACUC who told Dr. Wright in 2006 in California that, “I agree 100% with ELC’s assessment of the IBT case.” This person, whom I admired for many years also, confirmed for us his disagreement with the Declaration of Trust, letting us know that he believed it was there to appease pastors who wanted a bank account. I did not know if he was correct in his assessment, but he did know a pastor who used his own Social Security Number to open a bank account with his “Declaration.” This pastor wrote in the BLC Bulletin in 2006, “We too  were able to open an account at the local bank with our trust  document, and it was not even necessary for us to show them the  document or give them a copy.” We found out later that this pastor used his SS#, which was just fine with the bank. It was comical to me, but I came down much harder on the Falwell case, and never received any flak from that camp. Believe me when I say, I considered what writing the truth about the IBT case would do to complete my personal destruction, but the overall cause of Christ was more important.